Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

[SteveO]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

IMHO this Border Battle lived up to its moniker in a very close, hard fought series. Both teams played desperation hockey tonight demonstrated as well by an extraordinary amount of blocked shots. It's been a while since I've seen a total of 52 blks in a college hockey game. Over 50% of the shots for both teams were either blks or wide.

I thought both goalies played very well. Lebedeff got the breaks though with Sheehy and Gates hitting pipes. I thought Schierhorn performed well enough to give the Gophers a chance to win. He was screened on the winning goal by Ess and it went off the right pipe to boot. The BADgers overall improved over Friday and played hard for a full 60 for the split.

But once again the Gophers managed only one goal and that's not going to cut it with the parity as it is today in D1. Gophers are now 1-4 in their last five, scoring only one goal in each loss. The young Gopher D again turned the puck over (i.e. ENG turnover), and blindly played the walls far too much in an attempt to clear the zone. Too many penalties. Gophers better solve the scoring drought and the penalty parade as the most penalized team in the NCAA asap or they'll go nowhere this season.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

IMHO this Border Battle series lived up to its moniker in a very close, hard fought series. Both teams played desperation hockey tonight demonstrated as well by an extraordinary amount of blocked shots. It's been a while since I've seen a total of 52 blks in a college hockey game. Over 50% of the shots for both teams were either blks or wide.

I thought both goalies played very well. Lebedeff got the breaks though with Sheehy and Gates hitting pipes. I thought Schierhorn performed well enough to give the Gophers a chance to win. He was screened on the winning goal by Ess and it went off the right pipe to boot. The BADgers overall improved over Friday and played hard for a full 60 for the split.

But once again the Gophers managed only one goal and that's not going to cut it with the parity as it is today in D1. Gophers are now 1-4 in their last five, scoring only one goal in each loss. The young Gopher D again turned the puck over (i.e. ENG turnover), and blindly played the walls far too much in an attempt to clear the zone. Too many penalties. Gophers better solve the scoring drought and the penalty parade as the most penalized team in the NCAA asap or they'll go nowhere this season.

And that 1 goal was a PP goal.

Obviously "cute" is the theme this season, and have to get rid of it. It was a hard fought game tonight, and in most any 2-1 (don't count ENG) game, that's some tough battling. Some say "how come we can't beat a crappy team like WI?!" Well, as much as I hate WI, have you seen MN play? We are not great, either. Just sayin'. So a split on the road, against a hardcore rival....I'll take it.

 

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

I'm really not very high on this team.
The one good thing is the special teams definitely look better than last year, and if you get great goaltending and strong special team play it can carry you a long way in play-off hockey.

I know its early, but like I said, just not high on this team. Way too many guys that I would simply describe as "serviceable" and having watched them for 1-3 years now, I don't see that drastically changing.

 

[SteveO]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

I'm really not very high on this team.
The one good thing is the special teams definitely look better than last year, and if you get great goaltending and strong special team play it can carry you a long way in play-off hockey.

I know its early, but like I said, just not high on this team. Way too many guys that I would simply describe as "serviceable" and having watched them for 1-3 years now, I don't see that drastically changing.

Good point on the "serviceables". Maybe...just maybe, things may get better as the season progresses. New coaching staff, new faces on the roster and some new systems injected in the mix arguably take time for real chemistry to fire on all cylinders. But as you probably know, as was the case of UMD last season, a team that peaks at the right time can win it all. Keep the faith brother.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

And that 1 goal was a PP goal.

Obviously "cute" is the theme this season, and have to get rid of it. It was a hard fought game tonight, and in most any 2-1 (don't count ENG) game, that's some tough battling. Some say "how come we can't beat a crappy team like WI?!" Well, as much as I hate WI, have you seen MN play? We are not great, either. Just sayin'. So a split on the road, against a hardcore rival....I'll take it.

I know the old adage of 'split n the road...." is supposed to make one happy with the road split, but after winning a Friday game, I will always be disappointed with a split. (A split with a Saturday win feels a little better, as you end on a win, at least.) And it was one that felt like they should have won. Very close, but just seemed like their goalie had more big saves (and his pipes) than on our end.

Still not sure what to think of this team. Would be nice to see some more 7 goal games instead of 1.

Good to see Blake M out there. You will see that he appears to be one of those guys who can see a little further ahead in the game than others and make the occasional surprise move you didn't see was there. But last night, there were a couple times he did try to force a pass when he had a clearer shot to the net than who he tried to set up. Hopefully he will make those adjustments as the season goes on.

 

[Greyeagle]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

I know the old adage of 'split n the road...." is supposed to make one happy with the road split, but after winning a Friday game, I will always be disappointed with a split. (A split with a Saturday win feels a little better, as you end on a win, at least.) And it was one that felt like they should have won. Very close, but just seemed like their goalie had more big saves (and his pipes) than on our end.

Still not sure what to think of this team. Would be nice to see some more 7 goal games instead of 1.

Good to see Blake M out there. You will see that he appears to be one of those guys who can see a little further ahead in the game than others and make the occasional surprise move you didn't see was there. But last night, there were a couple times he did try to force a pass when he had a clearer shot to the net than who he tried to set up. Hopefully he will make those adjustments as the season goes on.

I was prepared for an up & down season before Lucia retired and given the team's defensemen there was no reason to expect anything different with Bob leading the team. First passes to get out of the one will be be a struggle all year so they won't be able to stretch the ice vertically and take the other team's D out of the forecheck. If we some blue line improvement as the season progresses but the overall ceiling for the team may get higher but to get there they will need to play with a lot more passion.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

...the overall ceiling for the team may get higher but to get there they will need to play with a lot more passion.

We're starting to see glimpses, but the intensity level is not where it needs to be. This team has no superstars, with overall average talent, so in order to win consistently they'll need to dial up the passion meter, game in and game out, shift by shift.

 

[trixR4kids]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

IDK if the passion is lacking as much as the skill and decision making. I kinda doubt Nanne lacks passion, he just makes a lot of dumb decisions either with the puck or going for big hits. I doubt Ramsey or Romanko lack passion either but we all know how effective they are.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

IDK if the passion is lacking as much as the skill and decision making. I kinda doubt Nanne lacks passion, he just makes a lot of dumb decisions either with the puck or going for big hits. I doubt Ramsey or Romanko lack passion either but we all know how effective they are.

I would have to say that those three are exceptions - they all skate and try hard. I just wish it were more contagious.

 

[gopher wes]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Am I way off base in saying Phillips hasn't been very good so far this year? Outside of the assists he piled up against tUMD, I can't think of a whole lot of good he's done this year.

I was willing to give him a pass on his half season desperation move by Lucia last year, but the way some folks talked him up coming in I expected more.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

...but the way some folks talked him up coming in I expected more.

Funny how some fans will do that. I'll try to watch him more closely - in person - this weekend against a mediocre St. Lawrence team, then come back and offer my 2 cents.

 

[gopher wes]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Funny how some fans will do that. I'll try to watch him more closely - in person - this weekend against a mediocre St. Lawrence team, then come back and offer my 2 cents.

He had the glaring turnover that directly resulted in the ENG to seal the deal for Wisconsin Saturday but he had some other 'oops' plays throughout the game as well. He had a lazy play in the Friday Kato game that pretty much directly resulted in a goal as well.

It's hard to pick on one guy in what has been a lackluster start to the season, but Phillips is going to frustrate me throughout this year if he keeps it up.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Am I way off base in saying Phillips hasn't been very good so far this year? Outside of the assists he piled up against tUMD, I can't think of a whole lot of good he's done this year.

I was willing to give him a pass on his half season desperation move by Lucia last year, but the way some folks talked him up coming in I expected more.

I guess I disagree. He's rough but he hasn't played that many games and he's got talent. Not sure he was that much worse than say Sadek last night.

 

[gopher wes]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

I guess I disagree. He's rough but he hasn't played that many games and he's got talent. Not sure he was that much worse than say Sadek last night.

That's kind of why I added

It's hard to pick on one guy in what has been a lackluster start to the season, but Phillips is going to frustrate me throughout this year if he keeps it up.

in my response to D2D. It's hard to blame one guy when the D as a whole is meh. Phillips has had some really bad plays, though. Maybe I am just singling him out.

 

[trixR4kids]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

You can kinda see where he has upside with his skating ability but so far the blue line is mediocre as a whole and nobody in particular appears to be clearly above the rest.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

You can kinda see where he has upside with his skating ability but so far the blue line is mediocre as a whole and nobody in particular appears to be clearly above the rest.

Frankly calling out the D is probably not best either. We've reverted to the Lucia legacy of having difficulty scoring goals - we got a lucky break in Friday's UW game. But normal 5 on 5 plays, our forwards are the primary issue.

The senior 'leadership' (Novak, Sheehy, Gates) scorecard is now at minus 17.

 

[trixR4kids]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Right but a lot of that stems from the fact that the guys on the back end aren’t good at breaking the puck out of the zone with speed or contributing anything other than bruising the other teams shins offensively.

But I agree that scoring is probably my biggest concern especially considering that it’s the main thing Motzko wanted to fix.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

A lot of that stems from the fact that the guys on the back end aren’t good at breaking the puck out of the zone with speed or contributing anything other than bruising the other teams shins offensively.

Mostly not true. Our three forwards (with 5 seniors) on the ice have scoring goals as their #1 priority vs. two defensemen (with only 1 senior) who need to have their #1 priority to stop GA. Secondarily, forwards support D and vice versa.

We have the 3rd worst goals per game in D1. Perhaps our forwards are copying you by blaming the defense for their inability to score goals.

 

[SteveO]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Right but a lot of that stems from the fact that the guys on the back end aren’t good at breaking the puck out of the zone with speed or contributing anything other than bruising the other teams shins offensively.

But I agree that scoring is probably my biggest concern especially considering that it’s the main thing Motzko wanted to fix.

Bruising shins...spot on Trix. I cringe when I see shot attempts into a forest of shin guards from the blueline. Gophers had about 25 of those on Sat.

 

[trixR4kids]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Mostly not true. Our three forwards (with 5 seniors) on the ice have scoring goals as their #1 priority vs. two defensemen (with only 1 senior) who need to have their #1 priority to stop GA. Secondarily, forwards support D and vice versa.

We have the 3rd worst goals per game in D1. Perhaps our forwards are copying you by blaming the defense for their inability to score goals.

Again, scoring doesn't only come down to the forwards. If they can't get out of their own zone because of the dmen that's a problem as they never even get to the other end to take shots that lead to goals. If the forwards pass the puck to a Dman in the offensive zone to create space for themselves and they just throw it in the corner for another dump and grind session, that additionally doesn't lead to goals. And if the Dmen shoot the puck off the other teams' shins constantly once they receive a pass from the forwards, it also doesn't boost goal scoring. Not having a Reilly or Schmidt on this team is problematic and a large part of why they get outshot every night at even strength.

Good Dmen in hockey are more like fourth forwards who are solid in their own end. Their only job isn't solely to prevent goals against, that'd be the goalie.

And none of what I said is absolving the forwards. This team still can't score goals much like last year except they lost their best player and now the centers are expected to move up a role. It's not a recipe for offensive improvement and the forwards deserve plenty of the blame for it.