Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

[KTDC]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Okay, I didn’t expect the players to nor should they…but Frost…yes something from Frost. Go back and look at his interviews throughout the past couple years. He comes across as a little arrogant. To which I have no problem with…he’s earned it. But then… man up. Admit that you didn’t have this team ready to play. Great power comes with great responsibility…or something like that. You know if this was the men’s program you would not have a problem with this rhetoric. They are worthy of this type of answerability and scrutiny…but not the women…no can’t have any of that now. Might break a nail

But really, this isn't the men's program. The pay grade is different, and heck, the Nat'l Championship game can't even get on TV. Frost didn't have great power, he had an unbelievable run that he was trying to figure out how to navigate.

I agree there was a little arrogance in some of those press conferences, but we can find out what that means or why that was in due time. And the players were kind of in shock after that game and Frost may have been, too, to a certain extent. And by saying he didn't have his team ready to play and they overlooked Clarkson, while that would be taking responsibility, it would also reflect badly on his players and be disrespectful to Clarkson.

 

[mnpokecheck]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Okay, I didn’t expect the players to nor should they…but Frost…yes something from Frost. Go back and look at his interviews throughout the past couple years. He comes across as a little arrogant. To which I have no problem with…he’s earned it. But then… man up. Admit that you didn’t have this team ready to play. Great power comes with great responsibility…or something like that. You know if this was the men’s program you would not have a problem with this rhetoric. They are worthy of this type of answerability and scrutiny…but not the women…no can’t have any of that now. Might break a nail

I think you confuse confidence and arrogance with Brad Frost....here's a video link - Gopher Women's Hockey "The Best Kept Secret". It's long but very revealing segment about him as a coach and a man - very powerful testimony. It was released prior to the 2013 Frozen Four.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiYbIyFaLcM

 

[UCONN FAN]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Okay, I didn’t expect the players to nor should they…but Frost…yes something from Frost. Go back and look at his interviews throughout the past couple years. He comes across as a little arrogant. To which I have no problem with…he’s earned it. But then… man up. Admit that you didn’t have this team ready to play. Great power comes with great responsibility…or something like that. You know if this was the men’s program you would not have a problem with this rhetoric. They are worthy of this type of answerability and scrutiny…but not the women…no can’t have any of that now. Might break a nail

I am not saying you shouldn't scrutinize them. I'm not saying that at all. I'm sure if you talked to everyone of those players they would agree with your comments. Expecting Frost to come out and say it is silly too. If he does that he's taking all the credit away from Clarkson, throwing his players under the bus and looking a coach who has sour grapes.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

I think you confuse confidence and arrogance with Brad Frost....

That was my thought as well. When you win as many games as this guy has, you've earned the right to be confident. It would sound silly if he were to continually pretend to be the underdog. But I've never heard him sound Overconfident, much less arrogant. That's just not him.

 

[ARM]

My point was whatever you think of Frost or the program and this emphasis on creating a culture and playing for the next gal is all good and honorable and sounds great. However, being a Gopher fan and that of women hockey in general I would liked to have seen something more accountable…

Accountable to who? You? Someone who claims to be a fan, but this is what you have to offer? Sorry, but your "support" flat out sucks. These kids are accountable -- to each other. Do you think they didn't try? That all season, they tried very, very hard, in games, practice, and workouts, but when the day of the final arrived, they suddenly didn't try for some reason. The players were crushed after the loss, and you'd have to be rather dense to miss that fact. Should the coach or their leadership call them failures for losing a one-goal game to a team that was a championship-caliber club all-season in Clarkson? That may be your culture; it isn't the one they hold.

Clarkson took advantage of their scoring opportunities and shut down the Gopher’s vaunted power play…period…and yes they WANTED IT MORE. For this I give them all the credit in the world. The Gopher players are human and they took it for granted… this can happen.

You think the players took it for granted, but at the same time you're the one who is taking a Minnesota win for granted. The 2012-2013 Gophers team was a dominating squad. This year's team won by managing to put it together on a very regular basis, but was hardly as deep across the board. They were deep enough up front such that it was almost impossible to shut down their offense in every game. Minnesota always scored at least a couple of goals. In the final, they got twice that. But it wasn't enough, because defensively, they were shakier at the Frozen Four than they had been for most of the season.

For the last couple of months, people were trying to award the title to Minnesota prematurely. People like you. No national championship can be won before March. It can only be won on the day of the final. You have to be at your best on that one day. In the five most important games of the season, the WCHA Final Face-Off and the NCAA Tournament, Minnesota entered the third period with the outcome still in doubt. The first four times, they got the job done; the fifth time, they did not. Perhaps they wanted it TOO much. I've had times in my life in many things where something was so important to me that I did not perform as well as I might have. Usually, people gave me some slack for my shortcomings in those situations. Luckily, I can say I've never had someone claiming to be on my side yet so eager to point out that I failed.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Minnesota didn't play it's best game on Sunday but they didn't play poorly, either. Clarkson was a little bit better and managed to exploit some of the weaknesses the Gophers had all along. I go back to something I said before the NCAA tournament started: Minnesota was never as good as its record. They caught some breaks and they also won more games than they should have because they were very good at covering up those weaknesses and also never panicking. So take enjoyment in what the season provided, because it was an amazing ride that fell just a little bit short.

What a lot of people have trouble accepting, not just here but in lots of places both inside and outside sports, is that while you can prepare and work hard to ensure that you deliver a good effort, the ability to deliver your best effort really isn't something that you can control. Lots of little things have to go right, things that are so small that we often don't even realize that they happen. That's life. It happens to me, it happens to you, and it happens to sports teams. If we were all able to just put forth our best effort at will, it would be a very different world.

 

[FireKnight]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

You guys are really tough on your team. This wasn't Syracuse losing to Richmond or Minnesota losing to Holy Cross. It was the #1 team in the nation losing a single game to the #2/3 team in the nation. I thought your girls played a great game and it stinks to come up short but I wouldn't be blaming the players or the coach for a lack of effort or preparedness. Just watching the way the Gophers came back twice being down to Wisconsin and once to Clarkson leads me to believe that the effort was there.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

You guys are really tough on your team. This wasn't Syracuse losing to Richmond or Minnesota losing to Holy Cross. It was the #1 team in the nation losing a single game to the #2/3 team in the nation. I thought your girls played a great game and it stinks to come up short but I wouldn't be blaming the players or the coach for a lack of effort or preparedness. Just watching the way the Gophers came back twice being down to Wisconsin and once to Clarkson leads me to believe that the effort was there.

not everyone, they ran out of time, I have no doubt they would have come back again if there had been a few more minutes on the clock
I feel bad for the seniors, I know they played their hearts out and there is no "another chance" for them
but I suppose that could be why Clarkson won, it was a senior team and they played like it

 

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Has anyone started up a 2014-15 Gopher Women's Hockey Season thread yet? I'm already excited about next season!!!

 

[brookyone]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Has anyone started up a 2014-15 Gopher Women's Hockey Season thread yet? I'm already excited about next season!!!

We usually do an off-season thread then start a thread for the next season a little before it begins. Probably about time for an off season thread.

I'm kinda tied up with the men right now.

 

[KTDC]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

For how much of the 12-13 season did Kessel-Brandt-Menefee play on a line together?

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

For how much of the 12-13 season did Kessel-Brandt-Menefee play on a line together?

Kessel missed 3 games and Menefee missed 6 games so for those games they weren't together. I think for most of the rest of the time they were together but someone with a better memory can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[ARM]

Kessel missed 3 games and Menefee missed 6 games so for those games they weren't together. I think for most of the rest of the time they were together but someone with a better memory can correct me if I'm wrong.

Kessel had a few more games (three or four?) where she was injured to the extent that she dressed but didn't play or played very little and didn't take her normal shift. I think that was the opening series with Colgate and the WCHA quarterfinal with BSU. The series at SCSU and the first game in NoDak, she didn't dress, so three would technically be correct there. I think there were maybe a couple of other games were Lorence took Menefee's 1st-line spot, but I could be remembering this year instead.

 

[OldDave]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Minnesota Daily article about options (or lack thereof) for women after college: http://www.mndaily.com/news/projects/2014/04/02/price-play

 

[wwhyte]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Minnesota Daily article about options (or lack thereof) for women after college: http://www.mndaily.com/news/projects/2014/04/02/price-play

Great article. I think the CWHL was really caught flat footed by the success of the Olympics: there wasn't much promotion in Boston of the final Blades-Furies series in March, and a bit of that could easily have led to sell-outs. And, of course, there was the unknown paperwork issue that prevented Meghan Duggan playing in the Clarkson Cup.

There's a vicious circle here. Low attendances mean that the players can't be paid, and that means they only play CWHL for a year or two, and that means that audiences don't have a chance to develop loyalties to particular players. I hadn't realised till I read that article that Anne Schleper probably wasn't coming back to the Blades, and I see that Molly Schaus's Twitter calls her a Blades alumn, so presumably that means she's retiring too? Kelli Stack and Hilary Knight are clearly going to stay on the Blades till the next Olympics barring injury, which is great, but I love watching Jillian Dempsey too and would be sad to lose her after only one or two seasons.

It would be a shame if we turned out to have squandered the best chance in four years to boost attendance. I think we'll see the CWHL grow, but it could be growing faster.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

For how much of the 12-13 season did Kessel-Brandt-Menefee play on a line together?

I got spreadsheets for just about everything, some people text & twitter on plane/airports/buses, others read, I play with data or sleep

Caveat: A player may start the game at a position, but changes occurr during the game

According to lineup sheets: Lorence started in place of Menefee vs. New Hampshire, Bemidji 1 & 2, & NoDak 3 & 4, and 3rd game vs. Buckeyes. Started in place of Kessel vs. SCSU 3 & 4.

Bona started in place of Kessel vs. Colgate and playoffs against Bemidji.

Brausen started in place of Kessel vs. NoDak 1

so the line was together for 27 of the 41 games, although some of those games, Colgate for example, Kessel played primarily on the PP but saw some 5 on 5 action later in the game, in fact scoring an unassisted goal playing with Brandt & Menefee in game one and assisting Meneffe in game 2

the Brandt-menefee-Kessel line was the only line that started out and finished together, with the above changes of course

 

[pokechecker]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

hopefully, nobody will ask next year which D were paired together during 2013-14

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Congratulations to Dani Cameranesi on winning the inaugural "National Rookie of the Year" award!

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/040714aaa.html

 

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Congratulations to Dani Cameranesi on winning the inaugural "National Rookie of the Year" award!

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/040714aaa.html

I love it when they start up new Awards like this. But a part of me can't help thinking, why didn't they start this up last year?! lol

And I think its obvious why, as a Gopher fan, that would have been nice.



Similar to how I wish the Heisman and AP polls had started up in 1934 and not 1936. Pretty sure Pug Lund would have won the Heisman in 34 and of course the Gophers would have 2 more AP Natl Titles and 10+ additional weeks ranked #1 in the polls to their credit.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Women's Hockey 2013-14 Season

Similar to how I wish the Heisman and AP polls had started up in 1934 and not 1936. Pretty sure Pug Lund would have won the Heisman in 34 and of course the Gophers would have 2 more AP Natl Titles and 10+ additional weeks ranked #1 in the polls to their credit.

yeah, like that would change everything
Rose Bowl: the last surviving Gopher who played in one has to open the bottle of Scotch and drink a tost to all of his fallen comrades