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

[Bonin21]

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

The D sucks and the senior forwards have been horse ****.

Pitlick can be a game breaker and Ranta is already the second best player on the team. Two favorites on this roster.

Robson is third favorite. Fundamentally extremely sound which was a beautiful change from 37.

 

[5mn_Major]

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

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.

Which is why we don't score any goals...

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.

Forwards constantly passing it back to the D makes them 'cute'. Our senior forwards need to have a better than minus 17 for one month of hockey. They need to drive to the net.

No more relying on the D to save their bacon and no more hoping to win by having our D and Robson come up with a 1 GA.

 

[Happy]

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

As soon as we get to play some weaker teams at home, I am sure it will all get better.

 

[Bonin21]

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

Why do you say that? It's been like that every year. They win a few games they should and then people expect them to perform better than the fact that they are capable of being a good but not great team.

Making the tournament would be a solid success for Bob's first year. Expecting anything beyond that isn't really realistic.

 

[D2D]

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

As soon as we get to play some weaker teams at home, I am sure it will all get better.

There will be no better opportunity for it to "get better" than this weekend. St. Lawrence is 1-8, and second from the very bottom (#59 of 60) in the Pairwise.

Anything less than a sweep would be an embarrassment.

 

[trixR4kids]

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

Forwards constantly passing it back to the D makes them 'cute'. Our senior forwards need to have a better than minus 17 for one month of hockey. They need to drive to the net.

Passing it back to the D to open up space down low is a vital part of creating offense in this sport. Yes they need to be better at driving to the net but the D also needs to be better at play making and none of them appear to be good at it. Which is kinda ridiculous to think about because it's the main reason Zuhlsdorf and Phillips got recruited.

No more relying on the D to save their bacon and no more hoping to win by having our D and Robson come up with a 1 GA.

No argument there obviously, the offense has been bad for a while and things have mostly gotten worse under Motzko thus far (though the competition the first three series was tough).

 

[5mn_Major]

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

There will be no better opportunity for it to "get better" than this weekend. St. Lawrence is 1-8, and second from the very bottom (#59 of 60) in the Pairwise.

Anything less than a sweep would be an embarrassment.

ND is better than its record. But our performance there could qualify as embarrassing.

 

[Bonin21]

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

Like I said about the exhibitions, it's a weekend that you can't read into too much even if both games end up 7-1. Need to prove it consistently against good opponents. Take care of business this weekend then on to the next one.

On the flip side yes if they lose you can scrutinize.

 

[Slap Shot]

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

Making the tournament would be a solid success for Bob's first year. Expecting anything beyond that isn't really realistic.

I agree but I don't think a lot of people are on board with acquiescing those expectations including yourself.

 

[Bonin21]

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

I've been saying that would make a solid season since he was hired probably. Unfortunately right now they don't look like a tournament team but I've lost no faith in Bob whatsoever.

If he doesn't make it three years in a row I'll be calling for his head as loud as I was when the last coach did that.

Miss it this year and next and you'll have tons of ****ed people but the story of the season will determine who to be mad at.

 

[SteveO]

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

There will be no better opportunity for it to "get better" than this weekend. St. Lawrence is 1-8, and second from the very bottom (#59 of 60) in the Pairwise.

Anything less than a sweep would be an embarrassment.

In % shots taken vs opponents, Gophers are 56th and St. Lawrence 58th in the nation. Happy is right...this is exactly the shooting gallery the Gophers need to build their confidence. Let them eat cupcakes!

 

[D2D]

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

In % shots taken vs opponents, Gophers are 56th and St. Lawrence 58th in the nation. Happy is right...this is exactly the shooting gallery the Gophers need to build their confidence. Let them eat cupcakes!

56th (terrible!) vs. 58th (even worse!): you have to take the quality of opponents each team has played into account. The better ones will limit the number of quality chances and force shots from long range or bad angles. The relative quality of the opposition also explains the big difference in where the two stand in the Pairwise.

 

[D2D]

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

P.S. Had to go to Page 3 of this Forum to find a St. Lawrence thread, and in it there's a grand total of two posts. Apparently since the one reply three weeks ago there's been no reason for their fan base to become more optimistic about their season.

https://saintsathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=mhockey

 

[Koho]

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

Season ticket holder here for many years, and I watch and read all the emails from GopherSports as they pertain to men's hockey pretty carefully. I don't recall any special deals for $15 "guest tickets" and am pretty sure they are not being offered now. If I do see any attractive discounted offers for the Thanksgiving weekend games I'll try to post them here.

So I got an answer from the ticket office, special for season ticket holders is $5 off for guests, so essentially the 'discount' about covers the fees. Not as big as I thought. So wife's cousin got us tics for Friday but went with most expensive seats, so I'll be paying more for the pair to see a crappy opponent than I have paid in years.

I complained about a couple things to the ticket office and one thing mentioned is that while they don't sell advanced standing room tickets anymore, they do on game day. Does anyone know the price?

 

[SteveO]

So I got an answer from the ticket office, special for season ticket holders is $5 off for guests, so essentially the 'discount' about covers the fees. Not as big as I thought. So wife's cousin got us tics for Friday but went with most expensive seats, so I'll be paying more for the pair to see a crappy opponent than I have paid in years.

I complained about a couple things to the ticket office and one thing mentioned is that while they don't sell advanced standing room tickets anymore, they do on game day. Does anyone know the price?

I just checked at Gophersports and I didn't see a price for SRO. But I was able to order redline seats for $35 ea. Cheap seats are $21. Crappy team, but lots of target practice for the Gophers.

 

[St. Clown]

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

I just checked at Gophersports and I didn't see a price for SRO. But I was able to order redline seats for $35 ea. Cheap seats are $21. Crappy team, but lots of target practice for the Gophers.

Will the Gophers be shooting at the S, the L, or the U on their jerseys?

 

[D2D]

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

Will the Gophers be shooting at the S, the L, or the U on their jerseys?

Given the shooting accuracy the Gophers displayed in Madison, aiming for the center of the SLU goalie's jersey may be a great strategy.

 

[SteveO]

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

Will the Gophers be shooting at the S, the L, or the U on their jerseys?

d. All of the above

 

[joecct]

P.S. Had to go to Page 3 of this Forum to find a St. Lawrence thread, and in it there's a grand total of two posts. Apparently since the one reply three weeks ago there's been no reason for their fan base to become more optimistic about their season.

https://saintsathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=mhockey

They moved to Facebook.

When are you going to fulfill your part of the contract and revisit the North Country?

 

[D2D]

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

When are you going to fulfill your part of the contract and revisit the North Country?

Minneapolis is further north than Canton so we are already in the "North Country".

Seriously, if the two programs signed a "home and home" contract I would expect Minnesota to live up to it, hopefully next season.