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Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

Rich said:
Sorry to intrude on the Gophers thread, but I have a quick question that someone here should be able to answer. CC recently recieved a verbal commitment from Mike Morin, who is a Senior for Breck. What level of hockey is "Class A", which I understand is the class that Breck plays in. Is that for smaller schools? Is there any chance a kid could come in from there and play right away in the WCHA? Any information on how good a WCHA player Morin might turn out to be? I'm looking for anything at all.

Please send me a PM so I don't derail this thread any more than I have already - and sorry for the off-topic question.
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Class A is for smaller schools, but Breck is a super private school, and very decent at hockey.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

Rich said:
Sorry to intrude on the Gophers thread, but I have a quick question that someone here should be able to answer. CC recently recieved a verbal commitment from Mike Morin, who is a Senior for Breck. What level of hockey is "Class A", which I understand is the class that Breck plays in. Is that for smaller schools? Is there any chance a kid could come in from there and play right away in the WCHA? Any information on how good a WCHA player Morin might turn out to be? I'm looking for anything at all.

Please send me a PM so I don't derail this thread any more than I have already - and sorry for the off-topic question.
Click to expand...

Size for school doesn't mean anything, If he has talent he has tellent.... and as Brent said, Breck is UBER good at any sport and always gets the best talent (money can buy) wether it be baseball, football, basketball, or hockey (all perennial (sp) ) Powers in all sports.
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

Rich said:
Sorry to intrude on the Gophers thread, but I have a quick question that someone here should be able to answer. CC recently recieved a verbal commitment from Mike Morin, who is a Senior for Breck. What level of hockey is "Class A", which I understand is the class that Breck plays in. Is that for smaller schools? Is there any chance a kid could come in from there and play right away in the WCHA? Any information on how good a WCHA player Morin might turn out to be? I'm looking for anything at all.

Please send me a PM so I don't derail this thread any more than I have already - and sorry for the off-topic question.
Click to expand...

Breck (12-2; second loss last night 4-1 to Shattuck St. Marys) is currently #2 in Mn. HS Class A and #3 or #6 overall depending on which poll you use. They are in position to make another run at the title this year too. They won the Class A State HS Championship last year (27-3-1), 2000 and 2004 and their coaching staff (Les Larson) is top notch.

Former Gopher, Blake Wheeler was from Breck and the all time season pts. and asst. leader. Mike Morin made the MSHS All Tournament Team last year and is having a good season (12-9-19, 12G) and seems to have a future at the college level. But in terms of comparison to broader top HS talent (i.e. Bjugstad, Alt, Gardiner/all Gopher recruits :p ), he's currently not listed on the NHL Central Scouting Midterm Rankings. However, keep in mind the Gophers have truckload of NHL draft choices and we can't do squat.

In my opinion, because of the much higher level of play in the WCHA in terms of quality and pace, HS players typically do not make an immediate impact in the WCHA. I would venture to speculate that Owens may want him to play a year of juniors before joining the team.

Edit: Don't worry about derailing anything on this thread. Some of us have been on and off the bandwagon all season anyway. :p
 
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fwiw, Morin was listed as one of the "100 seniors to watch" in MN by The Breakdown and played in the elite league. Unfortunately, I haven't seen Breck yet this year. Updated stats for him are 14G 10A in 14 games, althought it's hard to guage by that given Breck is heavy in seniors and they don't play the toughest of schedules.

Here's a recent article at mnhockeyhub:
Senior forward scored two goals but his third-period pass setting up linemate Tyson Fulton's second goal was the prettiest play of the night. Morin's return pass showed both unselfishness and the chemistry he has with Fulton.
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

johnnypohlfan said:
Oh please, please, pretty please can we waste some more time having the A/AA discussion? We'd all love nothing more! :rolleyes:
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Sure, see Johnny Pohl set a high school scoring record, but many discounted it because he played for a Class A school in Red Wing. Somehow he did OK in college though (but he did work really hard to improve his skating to do so). ;)
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

Well Ladies and Gentlemen…. This is the weekend the Gophers can make a HUGE jump in the WCHA standings. Gophers Sweep SCSU and Sconi gets drilled at home by DU and the Gophers take the tie for 4th in the Conference and all of a sudden the ABSOLUTLY ****TY first half of the year doesn’t look SOOO Bad (Still absolutely inexcusable in my opinion)…. Here is to a GOOD weekend for the Gophers and I wish them the best, I hope they can play like last weekend and do it.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

And hopes that Budish, Birkholz, and Larson can pick it up a notch without Hoeffel on the ice. I've been really impressed with Birkholz effort, what an opening goal on Saturday! We'll see how they come off of the high of last weekend.

Oh and as far as Breck goes, it's an uber private high $ school. They may have recruited him to play there. They're in the high school hockey tourney consistently, state A champs last year. DU has been excellent at recruiting.
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

ex_goldy said:
And hopes that Budish, Birkholz, and Larson can pick it up a notch without Hoeffel on the ice. I've been really impressed with Birkholz effort, what an opening goal on Saturday! We'll see how they come off of the high of last weekend.
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Agreed
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

HarleyMC said:
But in terms of comparison to broader top HS talent (i.e. Bjugstad, Alt, Gardiner/all Gopher recruits :p ), he's currently not listed on the NHL Central Scouting Midterm Rankings. However, keep in mind the Gophers have truckload of NHL draft choices and we can't do squat.
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Thanks for all of the input everyone.

Regarding the CSB rankings, I don't put much stock in them for college players. They place such a high premium on size, which we have all seen doesn't mean much in terms of college production. I always prefer to see CC bring in guys like Marty Sertich who are not ranked highly by NHL scouts, but have the skill to make significant contributions at lower levels. I do not mean to imply in any way that Morin is another Sertich, but the fact that he isn't getting much love from the CSB isn't a factor for me. T.J. Tynan is having a spectacular year in the USHL, but isn't on the CSB list either. I bet he'll be an excellent college player also.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

The Gophers continue to insist on trying to create a 6 hole.:D They had a lot of shots and scoring opportunities, but AGAIN the shot accuracy was horrendous. How many more seasons will it take for players on this team to learn how to place shots on net in high percentage scoring areas (see 5 hole philosophy) and NOT over the net, side of the net, in the goalies stomach, pads, stick, etc.? It's simply exasperating to see this problem consistently demonstrated for two seasons.

The defense was ridiculously lazy and stupid tonight. Wehrs decides to take the puck the length of the ice and take a low percentage shot from the perimeter instead of passing to three other open guys breaking with him. Fairchild insists on taking one shot after another off target into traffic. Ness has no shot at all. Fischer needs to at least look like he's trying to defend.

I think this team needs to scale down their offensive systems and let more players play on instinct. Forget the excessive cycling crap. Every team knows how to guard against this archaic form now.

In any case, the Gophers are bound for 7th place and on the road for the playoffs. An NCAA bid looks very unlikely. This team needs an overhaul, top to bottom if it expects to compete at a championship level.
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

HarleyMC said:
In any case, the Gophers are bound for 7th place and on the road for the playoffs. An NCAA bid looks very unlikely. This team needs an overhaul, top to bottom if it expects to compete at a championship level.
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Agree on all 3 counts.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

Hey, if the gophers play like they did in the second period last night, they'll reach mediocrity in no time.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

HarleyMC said:
In any case, the Gophers are bound for 7th place and on the road for the playoffs. An NCAA bid looks very unlikely. This team needs an overhaul, top to bottom if it expects to compete at a championship level.
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It's too bad they got themselves into the position where they now have to get at least 3 pts or sweep every series to make any ground up. :(


Happy Hockey Day Minnesota to all.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

Hey! My old high school is looking for a new hockey coach, I heard you have one for sale?
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2009-2010: Calmly Step Away from the Ledge

Apparently a team of NHL draft picks = Big Suck.
 
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