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Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

SJHovey said:
There are 3.1 million in the seven counties covered by the Metropolitan Council. The State of Hockey can't find 10,000 people out of 3.1 million to go to a hockey game?
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How many people are at their high school's game, the Wild game, playing their own pickup game on a Friday or Saturday night? How many people can afford the ticket? Gopher hockey doesn't have the same cache as it did back when it was the only D-1 school within an hour's drive, and there was no NHL team around, and the team was constantly at or over 0.500. There are a great many factors. I'd even throw in some of the school's non-pricing decisions like attempts at stifling the student section a number of years prior, helping quiet the Morgue's atmosphere.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Excuses up the wazoo.

1. No one wanted the Big Ten and anyone that says it's anywhere near as interesting as the WCHA is in denial
2. The team has not been very good for years because the previous coach was held on to way too long

Take those two factors, and add in a price that no one is willing to pay, and you have an empty arena.

Big Ten conference games should probably be priced at about 15-20 bucks.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

dxmnkd316 said:
I am absolutely convinced it has to do with two things:
1. Only game in town versus the most crowded sports (and entertainment) market outside of Chicago, LA, and NYC.
2. Shi—ty play.

1 isn’t a problem without 2 and vice versa.

I’ve posted exhaustively in the attendance thread and have yet to be refuted with data or anything other than “suck it up” or “you just have a ****ty fan base” equivalents.
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I'd probably include some combination of the economy post 2008 playing a factor and live nation having a monopoly (they own like 70% of the ticket market and ticketmaster, stubhub, and some of the other sites) which means $20 fees being tacked onto every ticket and the price being driven up (concerts, sporting events, etc.). IDK how else you explain attendance being down across the board for pretty much every live sporting event and I assume the same is true for concerts.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

St. Clown said:
How many people are at their high school's game, the Wild game, playing their own pickup game on a Friday or Saturday night? How many people can afford the ticket? Gopher hockey doesn't have the same cache as it did back when it was the only D-1 school within an hour's drive, and there was no NHL team around, and the team was constantly at or over 0.500. There are a great many factors. I'd even throw in some of the school's non-pricing decisions like attempts at stifling the student section a number of years prior, helping quiet the Morgue's atmosphere.
Click to expand...

trixR4kids said:
I'd probably include some combination of the economy post 2008 playing a factor and live nation having a monopoly (they own like 70% of the ticket market and ticketmaster, stubhub, and some of the other sites) which means $20 fees being tacked onto every ticket and the price being driven up (concerts, sporting events, etc.). IDK how else you explain attendance being down across the board for pretty much every live sporting event and I assume the same is true for concerts.
Click to expand...

Both are good posts.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Even if ticket prices stay the same if the product on the ice improves and people begin to see hype around the team they will show up. I was at the Georgia Southern football game at the Bank and it was 50% full maybe. Go and win a few BIG games and face Penn State and the place is 100% full. On top of that the tailgate lots were booming and people were excited to see this team that has been bad for so long. Its that simple as people are fickle. W I N
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

YoungEagle said:
Even if ticket prices stay the same if the product on the ice improves and people begin to see hype around the team they will show up. I was at the Georgia Southern football game at the Bank and it was 50% full maybe. Go and win a few BIG games and face Penn State and the place is 100% full. On top of that the tailgate lots were booming and people were excited to see this team that has been bad for so long. Its that simple as people are fickle. W I N
Click to expand...

Even when Gopher hockey had been doing well, ever since ticket prices started to creep up you started to see more no-shows. Be they corporate seats going unused, regular season ticketholders not appearing, or the average single-game tickets simply going unsold. There's been a malaise about this program compared to the era 20 years ago, when you had to buy your single-game tickets the very day they went on sale or you were either SRO or SOL. I was always on the ball that day to get SCSU tickets. Then one year I started to receive emails regarding Black Friday sales, and other reduced ticket packages. That was a serious shock to those of us who grew up with the program but then attended another then-WCHA hockey school.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Motzko needs to make a splash with the talented 04 MN based class

Fleming (#1 target I'm sure for every MN team, UND, uw...)
Howard (UMD)(Calling MN because of Shattuck)
Lucius (UMN)
Lastarza (Calling MN because of Shattuck)
Chesley
Snuggerud
Stramel
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Well somehow the team showed up on a Friday. Was worried that without Reedy things would be tough. (I know a lot of people aren't high on Reedy but he wins a lot of puck battles and defenders have a hard time with his size.) I came away feeling a little better about the future last night. Hard to believe Ranta is only a Sophomore with how strong he is on his skates. Opposing players really have a tough time handling his size, skating and tenacity. He could be a force if he learns to think the game a little quicker. Brodzinski started the year looking like the game was way too fast for him and that bringing him in was a mistake, but the game is clearly slowing down for him. He is showing flashes of puck patience and better decision making and he also is strong for an 18 year old. Meyers also shows both size and skill and Nelson looks like he could turn into a beast with some decent hands. Overall, the forwards were more tenacious than they have shown all year with some extended forechecking at times that the Buckeyes couldn't overcome. If they can continue to work on consistently applying that kind of pressure they will start to win more games. And the future for the defense looks good. So even without the apparent skill level up front of what we are used to seeing with past Gopher teams, the combination of size, tenacity and enough skill makes me think that if they can hold onto players, they should be very competitive in the next couple years. (Of course this is based on them playing consistently after watching one good game in a season of inconsistencies.) The one thing I can't figure out is what happened to Walker?

So they mentioned that Wisconsin is a fast-paced offense with less reliable D. And the Gophs look to be a team in the future without dominating skilled forwards, but a number of players who can simply out-muscle opponents at times. Sign of the apocalypse?
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

And any rumors on how long Reedy is out for?
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Great quote:

Motzko was surprised to hear music coming from the locker room on Friday after the win. Is he okay with that going forward?

"I know I’m a tad older, but it’s the new age player, I’ve been relaxed with them and kind of go with it… they know we bring out the stick if we have to."
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

5-1 coming out of the break is a nice start, but now 6 of the next 8 are on the road. It will interesting to see how this still young team handles it - will they continue to grow or come back down?

The good news is that this was their first weekend where you could argue they had the better play for at least 5/6 periods, and more importantly it showed on the scoresheet.

Ski-u-mah!
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Slap Shot said:
5-1 coming out of the break is a nice start, but now 6 of the next 8 are on the road. It will interesting to see how this still young team handles it - will they continue to grow or come back down?

The good news is that this was their first weekend where you could argue they had the better play for at least 5/6 periods, and more importantly it showed on the scoresheet.

Ski-u-mah!
Click to expand...

It seemed like in wins in the first half, there wasn't much separation in skill (and in some losses). But this weekend they clearly outplayed OSU for most of the weekend. With a team this young, one can't count on them suddenly being consistent, but this weekend sure makes future series more intriguing to watch. I think we all felt we were biding our time this season waiting to see how much improvement we would see next year with an older team. But now it feels like they might be able to make the rest of this season more interesting. I would especially like to see them put forth this sort of effort for six periods against Penn State, given how the last several series have gone against them (and of course against the Cheesheads, just because its the Bad-gers.)

And again, any rumors on Reedy?
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Did they honor Wooger last night or is that at a later date?
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Your team was pretty dominant this weekend congrats on the sweep. Would like another crack at you guys in the playoffs but in Columbus. Ohio state didnt have any clue how to play on the big ice. Good luck the last 10 games.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2019-2020: Motzko 2.0

Just to clarify and not to be snarky, but what was pathetic - the attendance? Attendance has been down at Mariucci for quite some time right?
 
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