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I think most (including me) knew this was going to be a challenging season. But I agree on the mistakes - too many, and often way too elementary, to be made at this level. Though from the score - it's hard to believe - they did play better today, while giving a much better effort than they did last night. That is, until the overtime period, when they couldn't get the puck out of their zone and gave up numerous really good chances...only to be saved by Gulstene, who was forced to make nine saves compared to Sauve, who had ZERO! Having dominated the overtime session they way they did, I thought the Buckeyes totally deserved the extra point they got in the shootout. Both of their shootout goals they scored were superb. So, as disappointed as I was at the final result, I thought OSU winning the shootout was a very fitting end to the game.
So far four of five meet this criteria. Olivia Knowles is the only D who has scored a goal, and she has two.
tOSU is much improved over last season and will contend for greater things. However, I don't think that it is necessary for Gopher fans to focus on that, because the things we are talking about were in evidence against our previous opponents as well. Yes, the Buckeyes were able to exploit many of the problems that fans are talking about, but that doesn't change the fact that we're seeing more bad pinches, handoffs, gaps, coverages, and back checks than we are accustomed to seeing. We have a less-experienced team than we've had of late, so those struggles are to be expected. But in a Minnesota thread, we'll be looking at the Gophers and what they're doing far more than we will be worrying about what the opponents did or did not do.
We remember Baylee Gillanders as she was a senior, after playing two seasons primarily with Megan Bozek. As a senior, Gillanders was much more than a role player. As a freshman, she played more than Robinson has to date, and I recall the coaches privately lamenting the fact that she had so little confidence. After going out there for almost 80 games paired with #19, she gradually gained that confidence.
We do. What we don't have this season is a Cayley Mercer right now, so I think our patience may involve next year.
I know, thus the liberal use of "we". Clarkson last year had a Kaz-type forward up front in Mercer. Minnesota doesn't have an upperclassman who can take over a game like that to build around.
It appears there will be at least four healthy scratches - possibly all forwards - to start the 2018-19 season. So you are 100% correct about the need to make their mark this season.
That's okay -- we'll just bring her back out of retirement. Timothy A would enjoy that more anyway.