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Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

Trying to find something positive about the current baseball season...Twins aren't providing much assistance towards that end.

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VpnXnrVYQfI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Nice catch eh?

Okay...back to hockey. :)
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

D2D said:
Agree with your groupings of the forwards, ARM, but I'm hoping that one or more of those who we think might be "sitting in the stands" will surprise and challenge for a starting spot. It's certainly reasonable to expect that the heightened competition in practice every day will make everybody better.
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Definitely possible. I remember the huge improvement that Whit Graft made from her freshman to sophomore year, in large part due to increased opportunity. I just went via the depth chart this past year and spliced in the rookies as a "for example" rather than meaning this is how people will line up. However kids slot in, I think it means that we are a line deeper provided everyone we expect is available.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

A lot of anticipation and optimism accompanying the 2011-2012 freshman class with what I think is a pretty universal belief among GWH fans that the rookie class will bring added scoring balance up front and some respectable contributions during their initial college hockey campaign.

Looking back I think fans have to be pretty happy with last season's freshmen as well. I think three of the frosh were in the top five in scoring. Kessel, Terry, Davis and Brausen all played quite well and had significant roles in the teams success. It will be great to have West back on the ice...and of course Schoullis. Just want to state my belief that with the experience and some seasoning achieved by the 2010-2011 freshmen, a few of whom performed in a leadership capacity last season, I think it's pretty easy to imagine each of them turning their game up a notch as sophomores and being an even bigger part of next season's Gopher success...and quite possibly a key element in accomplishing what GWH fans hope for the 2011-2012 edition. I'd definitely expect to see both Kessel and Terry continue to lead by example with the skills and intensity they bring to the team. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the this sophomore group can do next season.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

brookyone said:
Looking back I think fans have to be pretty happy with last season's freshmen as well. I think three of the frosh were in the top five in scoring. Kessel, Terry, Davis and Brausen all played quite well and had significant roles in the teams success.
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Add in Gillanders, who took a regular blue-line shift throughout. The surprising thing about Kessel, Terry, and Davis was that they were the top three in scoring through much of the first half of the season despite at least two of them dealing with injuries.

The difference between that rookie class and the one that we'll see in the fall is we really needed the sophs-to-be to produce right away. I don't think that there will be the same pressure on the new kids. If we had zero recruits this season, we'd still be able to put together a strong contingent of F and D, just lacking insurance depth. Last season, three frosh forwards were fixtures on the top two lines all season. We aren't likely to see any of the new rookies on the top two lines immediately. I think a couple of them will be on the PP eventually, but maybe not right out of the gate. This class will likely be brought along a bit more slowly.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

Obviously figures to be a typical WCHA conference schedule in 2011-2012, with no days / nights off vs. conference opponents. Still some clear points of heightened importantance will present themselves and hopefully new precedence can be established in contrast to what took place in 2010-2011. Better results vs. UMD, UW and UND should be significant goal and a major focus for GWH in 2011-2012.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

brookyone said:
Better results vs. UMD, UW and UND should be significant goal and a major focus for GWH in 2011-2012.
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Well at least UMD results were not nearly as poor as the other two! In fact they had a winning record against the Dogs, going 3-2 including the WCHA Tourney win. Pretty fair against the defending NCCA champs, I'd say. But against UW and UND, you are right there is room for significant improvement when you look at the Gophers' combined 2-7 record against them! I'd bet a dozen pucks they'll do better than that this coming season. ;)
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

Those records are true if you count a shootout win as a win and a shootout loss as a loss. Both the NCAA and the Gopher all-time record will call those ties, so it becomes 2-2-1 vs UMD and 1-3-1 against UW. In either case, the real problem was the 1-3 versus UND, and that has to be much better this time. The season marks of 1-2-1 against both UMD and UW were not terrible, but that 2-4-2 aggregate has to improve for the Gophers to move up.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

D1 Commitments 2012-2013
Player....................Position...............( Current Team).......................Hometown

(Based on reliable info, but to paraphrase Yogi, "It ain't official 'til it's official.")
* Denotes commitments are official, as announced by the school

Minnesota
Hannah Brandt ...................F ..................(USA 18s/Hill Murray) ...............Vadnais Heights, MN
Millica McMillen ....................D.......................(USA 18s/Breck) .....................Highland Park, MN
Lee Stecklein .....................D.....................(USA 18s/Roseville) ...........................Roseville, MN
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Let's not get ahead of ourselves! Ah...whynot? Pretty good start for the 2012-2013 rookie class.

...and so far as I know, the only WCHA schedule series dates we know of at this early stage are the four games with UND.

Dec. 2-3 — vs. MINNESOTA

Feb. 17-18 — at Minnesota

Hope we can start filling in some blanks with the help of other WCHA programs before long. About those four scheduled with the Sioux...no 1-3 BULL DOODY in '11-'12!!
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

Gopher women go to Wisconsin on October 14 and 15. I can leak some more game information later.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

brookyone said:
...and so far as I know, the only WCHA schedule series dates we know of at this early stage are the four games with UND...and two in Madison:

Gopher women go to Wisconsin on October 14 and 15.

Dec. 2-3 — vs. MINNESOTA (UND)

Feb. 17-18 — at Minnesota (UND)

Hope we can start filling in some blanks with the help of other WCHA programs before long. About those four scheduled with the Sioux...no 1-3 BULL DOODY in '11-'12!!
Click to expand...

123kidd said:
Gopher women go to Wisconsin on October 14 and 15. I can leak some more game information later.
Click to expand...

All schedule bits and pieces appreciated!
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

brookyone said:
All schedule bits and pieces appreciated!
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Using a common format, with home games in bold:

Oct 14/15 @Wisconsin
Dec 2/3 @North Dakota
Feb 17/18 North Dakota

If the pattern of previous seasons holds, we should be at Harvard at some point. There was also talk that UNH was coming here and mention of an early-season event with two opponents that I can't remember, nor could I find the post. Maybe that came from an outside conversation. (it's rough getting old, but the alternative is worse)
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

Syracuse and Union come to town early on and Gophers travel to Haaavard in late November. How do you like those apples!
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

ARM said:
Using a common format, with home games in bold:

Oct 14/15 @Wisconsin
Dec 2/3 @North Dakota
Feb 17/18 North Dakota

If the pattern of previous seasons holds, we should be at Harvard at some point. There was also talk that UNH was coming here and mention of an early-season event with two opponents that I can't remember, nor could I find the post. Maybe that came from an outside conversation. (it's rough getting old, but the alternative is worse)
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Could that have possibly been Syracuse and Union? 'Cuse could be an interesting opponent...fair amount of local players on their roster...that I recall were quite successful in high school. Those locals on the other bench always seem to get fired up, have a little extra jump and play well when returning to play at Ridder. Union...well, last seasons record looks like the Eastern version of St. Cloud. For an NC match-up, a win likely doesn't do much for ya...a loss would be a killer. Maybe not the ideal NC game. Games with the Crimsom have been some excellent games historically. Be happy to see UNH come to town...just have to hide the Whoopie Pies.

123kidd said:
Syracuse and Union come to town early on and Gophers travel to Haaavard in late November. How do you like those apples!
Click to expand...
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

Exactly how is each team's game schedule decided? Does each individual program have some degree of say in determining it or is it generated by the NCAA? I'm under the impression from things I've read that there is some input from each program but have no facts to confirm that.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

Blackbeard said:
Exactly how is each team's game schedule decided? Does each individual program have some degree of say in determining it or is it generated by the NCAA? I'm under the impression from things I've read that there is some input from each program but have no facts to confirm that.
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I don't believe that the NCAA is involved in individual schedules beyond general guidelines, such as restrictions on the number of regular season games and dates when those games may or may not be played. The conferences must have some template for scheduling conference games; however, the individual programs are able to move weekends around when they both agree. For example, IIRC, UMD and UM moved their games in Duluth from January of 2008 to November of 2007 to lessen conflicts with player national-team commitments, resulting in the teams playing two series in the first two months of the season. The out of conference games are up to the two programs involved to schedule.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Off Season 2011

...and now we know a little more about the 2011-2012 schedule:

11/4/2011 Minnesota Duluth @ Minnesota, 6:07 pm

11/5/2011 Minnesota Duluth @ Minnesota, 4:07 pm

1/13/2012 Minnesota @ Minnesota Duluth, 7:07 pm

1/14/2012 Minnesota @ Minnesota Duluth, 7:07 pm
 
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