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

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

The projections for every team at Jim Dahl's collegehockeyranked.com is good stuff Steve O. I believe the cut line will be 14 but you never know so 13 or 12 might be a better number to shoot for.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

MadCityRich said:
Im sitting here all day with a horrible cold, or something, watching Hockey Day in MN. This is what hockey is all about. I've watched before, but not all day.

A couple pints of thinner, lemon and honey and I'm really enjoying this. Well done again.
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You'll get a kick out of this, last night in Bemidji for the outdoor game, they had to heat the ice so it wouldn't become too brittle. Think about that. :D
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

The Rube said:
You'll get a kick out of this, last night in Bemidji for the outdoor game, they had to heat the ice so it wouldn't become too brittle. Think about that. :D
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I know for a fact that they didn't heat anything when I was playing neighborhood outdoor hockey in below zero temps growing up in Duluth.:eek: But we still had a blast...
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Bonin21 said:
Answer is clear now IMO. Best line in the land.
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Our vaunted D would make a lot of lines look good, especially when they get a 5 on 3 and however many PP's as the main unit.

Also when you stack one line and have zero depth outside of it that's not ideal big picture wise.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Should the Gophers lose the second game of this series against the B1G's bottom team, I will officially declare (for myself) this season to be a lost cause, and will look forward for a miracle next season when Motzko has more influence over how the team fares.
 
trixR4kids said:
Our vaunted D would make a lot of lines look good, especially when they get a 5 on 3 and however many PP's as the main unit.
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The D had nothing to do with awful penalties, an incorrectly waived off goal, as many as (3?) goals going in off deflections nor going 1 of 6 on the PP. And SOG were nearly even 42-38. Keep swinging slugger.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Slap Shot said:
The D had nothing to do with awful penalties, an incorrectly waived off goal, as many as (3?) goals going in off deflections nor going 1 of 6 on the PP. And SOG were nearly even 42-38. Keep swinging slugger.
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Yeah the waived off goal and the Walker penalty were tough to swallow. Just got done watching game (playing in a tourney yesterday) and it sucked.
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

And I generally don't join in on the 'rip the current scapegoat defenseman' that usually occurs most years (is it just that there isn't only one target this year that it hasn't happened?).

So I do want to say though, that Sadek can show a lot of poise with the puck at times in his own end, holding onto the puck (occasionally too long) in a corner despite forecheckers pressuring to wait for a passing lane to open. And I think he is one of the best D I can remember for the U at not waiting for a defender to slide out of the way when taking a shot from the point. I don't know if there are stats specific to number of blocked shot attempts from the point, but it seems like for Sadek that number would be around 75% (with most of those being within 10 feet of him). How can you hold the puck in your own corner with a couple guys bearing down on you and make a move to get around one and then make a breakout pass, but when on the point, a defender is sliding across in front of you, you can't wait the half second for him to slide out of the way before you shoot?
 
Slap Shot said:
The D had nothing to do with awful penalties, an incorrectly waived off goal, as many as (3?) goals going in off deflections nor going 1 of 6 on the PP. And SOG were nearly even 42-38. Keep swinging slugger.
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Right they had nothing to do with the team getting outshot at even strength like every other game this year (still not a single Dman above 50% in even strength shot differential) in fact they should never take any blame for anything! They should just keep throwing the puck away aimlessly and the forwards will eventually break the puck out and skate the entire length of the neutral zone themselves, it’s been working so well all year!

And yeah SOG were nearly even with double the number of PP opportunities. That further proves how bad the team was at evens lol (outshot 28-15 in fact, that’s amazing!).
 
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Koho said:
And I generally don't join in on the 'rip the current scapegoat defenseman' that usually occurs most years (is it just that there isn't only one target this year that it hasn't happened?).

So I do want to say though, that Sadek can show a lot of poise with the puck at times in his own end, holding onto the puck (occasionally too long) in a corner despite forecheckers pressuring to wait for a passing lane to open. And I think he is one of the best D I can remember for the U at not waiting for a defender to slide out of the way when taking a shot from the point. I don't know if there are stats specific to number of blocked shot attempts from the point, but it seems like for Sadek that number would be around 75% (with most of those being within 10 feet of him). How can you hold the puck in your own corner with a couple guys bearing down on you and make a move to get around one and then make a breakout pass, but when on the point, a defender is sliding across in front of you, you can't wait the half second for him to slide out of the way before you shoot?
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At even strength Sadek had 3 shots get blocked and one was on net. And yeah, it’s kinda telling that most good teams have a Dman who’s in the top 5 or so in scoring on the team, when Reilly/Schmidt were around that was the case.

I could probably do an analysis of the Gopher D in terms of shots blocked vs on net and see how it compares to someone we know is good like Perunovich or Hughes or something if ppl are interested.
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

1/6 PP, 3 deflections in, 1 ENG and there are 3 F on the ice during those supposed lack of SOG but your arrogant approach insists to put it all on the D. The D isn't helping but neither are the F.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Novak gets popped in the chin and they skate in and score to make it 4-2. Gophers just have no luck against this garbage squad.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

state of hockey said:
Novak gets popped in the chin and they skate in and score to make it 4-2. Gophers just have no luck against this garbage squad.
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JFC How many deflections and bounces can a team get in a weekend?

(Although MN let up a little after pulling within one.)
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

Gophers haven't been swept by MSU since 1976. :eek: Another infamous record for a Gopher team that showed NO HEART this weekend. Gophers were outplayed and outmuscled. They didn't come mentally and physically ready to play; and looked out sync and sloppy all weekend.

What I saw this weekend from the D was embarrassing. I stopped counting how many times they were out of position, standing around puck watching, failed on breakouts, gave the puck away or just threw it away. A few of those puck watching blunders led to goals.

I was thinkin' split, but this might be the PWR hole that buries this team for the season (#24). I hear golf season calling.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/7yoAIR7CdWOUE/giphy.gif" class="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 6px;" height="220" width="340">
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

It's amazing how nonchalant and careless the Gophers can be with the puck, that so often leads to prime scoring chances - and goals scored - for their opponent. And here I'm not talking exclusively about the D; the forwards are just as guilty of this, often even more so. Overall I thought the play tonight was pretty even, but if the Gophers could have cut down on their careless turnovers and needless giveaways they had a decent chance to win this game. Unfortunately, I've come to realize that that's just in their DNA, and with this group that's just the way it is.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

D2D said:
It's amazing how nonchalant and careless the Gophers can be with the puck, that so often leads to prime scoring chances - and goals scored - for their opponent.
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What we saw this weekend were players not mentally prepared for battle, and therefore not be fully engaged. That led to undisciplined play, very little physicality and continuity and consistent carelessness on both sides of the puck.

What was the coaching strategy to shut down the KHL line?? The Gophers forecheck AND backcheck were totally weak and ineffective. I could drive a car through some of those open shooting lanes in front of Robson, which was where the KHL line helped bury 60% of Sparty's 10 total goals scored. Overall, D zone play was a disaster.

Motzko told the press they were concerned about the team's "demeanor" going into Saturday's contest. If so, then partial blame for this poor performance falls squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff. They're getting paid big bucks to get this team ready mentally and physically to play by any means possible.

I don't know what Motzko and his staff are like in the locker room or in practices, but I suspect they're not tough enough on certain players on this team. IMO there seems to be a toxic subculture on this team and a need for an attitude/ego adjustment in some of the upperclassmen that continues to resurface.

The Freshman line is the only line that has their head on right. If it was up to me, some of the D and F would be warming the bench for the next game or series.
 
SteveO said:
I don't know what Motzko and his staff are like in the locker room or in practices, but I suspect they're not tough enough on certain players on this team. IMO there seems to be a toxic subculture on this team and a need for an attitude/ego adjustment in some of the upperclassmen that continues to resurface.
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Exactly this. There’s no way the team as a whole are actually as slow of skaters as the strides they make in games. I get the impression half the team is ready to Hirsch themselves off the team or hockey in general
 
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