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Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

drewkal said:
I agree we have an abundance of quality forwards, a problem most teams would wish for....now what to do with all of them? If only we could do trades!
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I wonder what we would have to give up to get Rooney from UMD? Oh, never mind. She'd either have a no-trade clause or be on the team's list of untouchables like Sidney Crosby is with Pittsburgh and Wayne Gretzky was with Edmonton. Oh, wait a minute, maybe there is hope and it probably wouldn't cost anywhere near the $15 million that LA paid to Edmonton to get Gretzky. ;)
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

bluffrinkrat said:
I wonder what we would have to give up to get Rooney from UMD?
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Rooney was much better as a sophomore than she was as a freshman when she had to split playing time with a senior. I'm not ready to give up on our own roster.
 
ARM said:
Rooney was much better as a sophomore than she was as a freshman when she had to split playing time with a senior. I'm not ready to give up on our own roster.
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Gophers roster is just fine and is undervalued. As for goaltending, I would expect big things from Gulstene if she earns the starting role. Like Rooney, she was highly touted and that kind of skill doesn’t disappear. Rooney is a good goalie and will get better. That’s the down side!
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Puckdrop14 said:
Rooney is a good goalie and will get better. That’s the down side!
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And I'm not sure that it's all that much of a downside. I think a very strong WCHA helps teams like Wisconsin and Minnesota more than it hurts them. Yes, they'll lose games, but they'll also be forced to improve.
 
ARM said:
And I'm not sure that it's all that much of a downside. I think a very strong WCHA helps teams like Wisconsin and Minnesota more than it hurts them. Yes, they'll lose games, but they'll also be forced to improve.
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Gophers dominate shot clock in the 1st but St. Cloud had better chances. Couple of big saves by Peters to keep it scoreless.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

That was a good game. The first period was kind of iffy, despite the shot totals, but they took over the second. And, finally, they didn't let St Cloud back into a game in which they started the third with a multi-goal lead.

Taylor Williamson had a great game. (That whole line looked really good, though it was scary when Skarzynski left the ice.) The last several weeks, she has really started establishing herself in front of the net and as an overall physical presence. I think she's finally found her role on this team, after struggling last year and missing most of this one. If we're throwing out possible line combinations for next year, Pannek/Zumwinkle/Williamson would be an interesting mix of skills.

It was nice to see Woken get the empty netter, because I thought she played really well, too. I would applaud St. Cloud for the aggressiveness of pulling the goalie with eight minutes to play and down three, except that there hasn't been any evidence this season that they need the extra attacker to score late goals against the Gophers this year.

For the first time since October, we had six defensemen, with Sierra Smith getting a single shift right at the end.
 
Still Eeyore said:
That was a good game. The first period was kind of iffy, despite the shot totals, but they took over the second. And, finally, they didn't let St Cloud back into a game in which they started the third with a multi-goal lead.

Taylor Williamson had a great game. (That whole line looked really good, though it was scary when Skarzynski left the ice.) The last several weeks, she has really started establishing herself in front of the net and as an overall physical presence. I think she's finally found her role on this team, after struggling last year and missing most of this one. If we're throwing out possible line combinations for next year, Pannek/Zumwinkle/Williamson would be an interesting mix of skills.

It was nice to see Woken get the empty netter, because I thought she played really well, too. I would applaud St. Cloud for the aggressiveness of pulling the goalie with eight minutes to play and down three, except that there hasn't been any evidence this season that they need the extra attacker to score late goals against the Gophers this year.

For the first time since October, we had six defensemen, with Sierra Smith getting a single shift right at the end.
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It would have been nice for Woken except it was Zumwinkle that got the EN

But agree that the team does seem to be gelling but a bit late
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Maybe my stress levels will go down now that I understand that, while you can't check your opponent, you are allowed to slovak them. It kind of looks like a check; some people will mistake it for a check; but it's definitely not the same thing.

Slovaking from behind into the boards is a two minute minor.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

ARM said:
Rooney was much better as a sophomore than she was as a freshman when she had to split playing time with a senior. I'm not ready to give up on our own roster.
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I'm not giving up on our roster either, but, having Rooney would be nice, even though I imagine Frost may not want to go with 4 goalies again next year.

Following up on my attempt at humor in my prior post about a possible trade for Rooney with Duluth: I wonder if she happens to be dating anyone in Minneapolis. I'm just still upset with Duluth for having "stolen" Schmidgall from the Gopher's team in 2000. Alright, it was a voluntary move. Ah, romance. And I guess the Gophers did fairly well anyway without her that year.:D
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

One of the more amusing headlines was in Monday's Pioneer Press sport's page yesterday. Zuckers's OT goal gives Wild fourth straight win The photo caption in the article of Jared Spurgeon states: "Jared Spurgeon's overtime goal was his eighth goal this season." Not having watched the game I wasn't sure whether to believe the caption or the headline. Quotes in the article made it a little more clear. "Initially I was thinking shoot for sure," Zucker said. "Once I got it off my skate, I decided I was just gonna go back to Spurge right there." "I gave Zucks sort of a brutal pass," Spurgeon said. "He just gave it back to me, and I had all day...so I was just trying to put it in the middle of the net."

To get this back to Gopher women's hockey the above mistaken headline reminded me of a very nice article a few years ago in the Pioneer Press on Lee Stecklein. The only problem with the article was that it had a very large photo of Hillary Knight with it. You can still see this photo of Knight if you google Lee Stecklein Photos. The photo caption reads, "Lee Stecklein #2 of the United States reacts after losing to Canada 3-2 in overtime during the Ice Hockey Women's Gold Medal Game on Day 13 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Bolshoy Ice Dome on February 20, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. It just shows that in the Pioneer Press anyway a Lee may really be a Hillary and a #2 may really be a #21.
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Just coming up for air. Had relatives in town who wanted to do all the touristy stuff – ice castle, snow sculptures, ice sculptures, SP LII, and more. Then the missus and I watched our ladies in the Olympics at all those odd hours. That reminded me how much this Gopher team misses Stecklein; I doubt she ever lead the team in blocked shots, but only because she was too busy using her strength and reach to take away the puck without allowing a shot. I did see the discussion about which team was “younger”, but someone used the word “young” when they meant “inexperienced”. This Gopher team was missing players who were regulars on the PK and the PP, who were counted on to win a faceoff in their own zone with the game on the line, who could look up ice and see a passing lane or skating lane that allowed them to maintain possession.

But the real reason I’m here right now is ask if anyone knows if we will be allowed reentry into Ridder if we go out between games today. My wife is gluten intolerant, so the only food option in there for her is popcorn. It would be nice if we could get out for a bite between games.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Rookie Red said:
Does anyone know if the game today is sold out?
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There are seats left & there usually are some 'turnbacks' from visiting teams that are not used.

OldDave said:
But the real reason I’m here right now is ask if anyone knows if we will be allowed reentry into Ridder if we go out between games today. My wife is gluten intolerant, so the only food option in there for her is popcorn. It would be nice if we could get out for a bite between games.
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Generally they don't allow re-entry but I would go to the ticket office & ask. Tell them she has to eat & there are no acceptable alternatives (explain the gluten issue) They seem like reasonable people.
 
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

OldDave said:
But the real reason I’m here right now is ask if anyone knows if we will be allowed reentry into Ridder if we go out between games today. My wife is gluten intolerant, so the only food option in there for her is popcorn. It would be nice if we could get out for a bite between games.
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They've let me leave and come back in a couple of times when I've left my glasses in my car [:rolleyes:] but since this is the WCHA Tournament they very well could have a more strict policy and not allow re-entry. Just to play it save I would recommend that you and your wife stop and get plenty to eat at a restaurant before the first game. That should tide you over until dinner.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Rookie Red said:
Does anyone know if the game today is sold out?
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The attendance for last year's semifinal that included UW vs UND and UMD vs UM was announced as 2,533. In 2016, a semi with UW vs UMD and UND vs UM drew 2,233. The last semifinal at Ridder in an Olympic year, 2010, had semifinal attendance of 1,252. The largest crowd the Gophers drew this season was 2,456. I don't see it coming close to selling out, which would be around 3,100+.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Generally they don't allow re-entry but I would go to the ticket office & ask. Tell them she has to eat & there are no acceptable alternatives (explain the gluten issue) They seem like reasonable people.
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D2D said:
They've let me leave and come back in a couple of times when I've left my glasses in my car [:rolleyes:] but since this is the WCHA Tournament they very well could have a more strict policy and not allow re-entry. Just to play it save I would recommend that you and your wife stop and get plenty to eat at a restaurant before the first game. That should tide you over until dinner.
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Thanks for the responses. We will survive with a late lunch, as you suggest, but it would have been nice to get out and walk over to Dinkytown too.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

OldDave said:
Thanks for the responses. We will survive with a late lunch, as you suggest, but it would have been nice to get out and walk over to Dinkytown too.
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If you want to see the entire second game you might not have had enough time to do that anyway, unless of course you were to leave early, before the first game is over.
 
Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

I'm so happy for our team. They had to play their two best games of the year to win this tournament and they did it. They played the third period they needed to play to get it done. Wisconsin is relentless but the Gophs kept their composure and busted their butts. Season for this team is now a huge success with the hanging of the WCHA tourney banner.

Anything from here on out is gravy. Although it would be cool if they won next week because I have tix for the Frozen Four :)
 
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