Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

[drewkal]

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

Well said! And I've also had my FF tichets for a while. Sure hope to see our gals at Ridder before Fall!

 

[bluffrinkrat]

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

Totally agree. We were as happy for this team's win today as any of the National Championship team's wins. My wife said, "We never expected them to do this and they did. It was the most exhilarating game I have ever seen."

Thank you to the whole team but especially Taylor Williamson and Sidney Peters for the effort they put on the ice today. You two were amazing.

 

[Still Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

That was the best full weekend the Gophers have played since at least the North Dakota series last February, and maybe as far back as the Duluth series in October, 2016. Sydney Peters had her best back-to-back games as a Gopher, and maybe just her best two games period, though she was really good to close out last year's regular season against Wisconsin.

The defensive play in their own zone when Wisconsin had the puck was outstanding. That's fortunate, because the breakout remains prone to long stretches of complete futility, so they had a lot of practice at it. They were just holding on for most of the third period today, but they made it work.

I agreed with all of the selections to the All-Tournament Team except one: Minnesota's best defenseman this weekend was Olivia Knowles, and she should have been recognized.

I think I heard that the refs were being fined $50 for every penalty they called this weekend.

 

[bluffrinkrat]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

I think I heard that the refs were being fined $50 for every penalty they called this weekend.

Well that explains it then. Don't recall Wisconsin being that physical in recent years anyway. And they sure know how to break out of their own end well. I'm just glad the Gophers did such a good job defending in their own.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

That was the best full weekend the Gophers have played since at least the North Dakota series last February, and maybe as far back as the Duluth series in October, 2016. Sydney Peters had her best back-to-back games as a Gopher, and maybe just her best two games period, though she was really good to close out last year's regular season against Wisconsin.

Peters showed herself to be everything we knew she could be. She is a "money player" Count on her when it is on the line. I have not been as impressed by a teams performance since 2012. That year the team seemed to be having sort of a down year, until the WCHA playoffs & they really stepped up (tore off 62 in a row actually). Then we got spoiled a lot.

I think I heard that the refs were being fined $50 for every penalty they called this weekend.

Seemed like it would have been more than $50. All three games were poorly officiated.

 

[Still Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

I have not been as impressed by a teams performance since 2012. That year the team seemed to be having sort of a down year, until the WCHA playoffs & they really stepped up (tore off 62 in a row actually).

That team got it going the first week of January, when they tied Wisconsin on Friday and then turned in the most dominating 1-0 victory I've ever seen on Saturday. They lost the next Friday in Duluth, when there were some off-ice extenuating circumstances. After that, the only blemishes were a tie against (who else) Bemidji, and an overtime loss in the first game against North Dakota the last week of the regular season. I already felt really good about their chances before the WCHA playoffs even started.

 

[ARM]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Sidney Peters spoke today about the frustration of people thinking this was a rebuilding year, when the team felt that they were contenders. I admit to being one of the doubters, because we didn't see this team until now. Congratulations to them on a trophy well earned. I felt that the FF was a good result for last year's team. I think winning the WCHA tourney and a trip to the dance is a good result for this one.

 

[HNIF]

Peters showed herself to be everything we knew she could be. She is a "money player" Count on her when it is on the line. I have not been as impressed by a teams performance since 2012. That year the team seemed to be having sort of a down year, until the WCHA playoffs & they really stepped up (tore off 62 in a row actually). Then we got spoiled a lot. Seemed like it would have been more than $50. All three games were poorly officiated.

Worked out well for the Gophers with no penalties called on them in both games.. Sad to see the final with less than 1900 in attendance. Remind me why Minnesota hosts? Great hockey with a perennial outstanding home team deserves better attendance.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Worked out well for the Gophers with no penalties called on them in both games.. Sad to see the final with less than 1900 in attendance. Remind me why Minnesota hosts? Great hockey with a perennial outstanding home team deserves better attendance.

I agree that the attendance was a little disappointing. The game being on TV probably held it down somewhat, but still....

 

[robertearle]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Remind me why Minnesota hosts?

Over the weekend's radio broadcasts in Madison, the play-by-play guy did interviews with Mark Johnson and the head of the WCHA for women (separately) , asked them roughly that question (in a sort of 'why not Madison' kind of way') and they gave much the same answer: The Twin Cities are very much centrally located to most of the teams and their fan bases - sorry Ohio; and they have been doing the decisions on hosting in three-year segments, with the thinking that doing it three years in a row at the same arena/school/city might help build fan interest in that particular area, making it an 'annual event' that people would attend repeatedly. The WCHA woman said that decisions on the next 'segment' of games is coming up, and if some other school/city wanted to make a proposal, the would certainly consider it.

 

[ARM]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Worked out well for the Gophers with no penalties called on them in both games..

Close. Piazza got 2 for slashing today.

Sad to see the final with less than 1900 in attendance. Remind me why Minnesota hosts? Great hockey with a perennial outstanding home team deserves better attendance.

Apparently, you weren't at Grand Forks or Bemidji. Don't worry -- neither was hardly anyone else.

 

[Nowheresville]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Sad to see the final with less than 1900 in attendance. Remind me why Minnesota hosts? Great hockey with a perennial outstanding home team deserves better attendance.

Remind me where you could host it and get better attendance? In the past 10 years, the Final Face off has also been held in Duluth, Grand Forks, and Bemidji, and even when the host team was involved in a game, it never drew even 1500 people.

I imagine you could have it in Madison and do a little better if the Badgers are playing - but even there you'd be maxing out the attendance at less than 2300, and Wisconsin has shown zero interest in hosting anything related to womens hockey.

 

[bluffrinkrat]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Apparently, you weren't at Grand Forks or Bemidji. Don't worry -- neither was hardly anyone else.

We were at both. The attendance for the 2014 final in Bemidji between the Gophers and North Dakota is listed as 717, but I think that is being generous. If you look at the Gopher team photo with the championship trophy the 3 people in gold on the right are us and we pretty much had an entire section to ourselves. My wife is the one with her arms raised taking a photo of the backs of the players heads for some reason.

The championship game the next year between Wisconsin and Bemidji in Grand Forks wasn't much better at 902. There was enough room the day before for members of the North Dakota band to run around the stadium in the seating aisles without stepping on anyone's toes.

I'd love to see the tournament in Madison sometime, maybe filing the Kohl again. Someday, maybe.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Over the weekend's radio broadcasts in Madison, the play-by-play guy did interviews with Mark Johnson and the head of the WCHA for women (separately) , asked them roughly that question (in a sort of 'why not Madison' kind of way') and they gave much the same answer: The Twin Cities are very much centrally located to most of the teams and their fan bases - sorry Ohio; and they have been doing the decisions on hosting in three-year segments, with the thinking that doing it three years in a row at the same arena/school/city might help build fan interest in that particular area, making it an 'annual event' that people would attend repeatedly. The WCHA woman said that decisions on the next 'segment' of games is coming up, and if some other school/city wanted to make a proposal, the would certainly consider it.

The attendance was shockingly bad yesterday for a UW/MN matchup in a win or go home game for the rodents. I think the MN fans are getting a tad complacent with the tourney. I thought LaBahn was too small capacity-wise but after yesterday's game that concern is out the window. I hope UW bids on the next 3 year cycle.

 

[KTDC]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

The attendance was shockingly bad yesterday for a UW/MN matchup in a win or go home game for the rodents. I think the MN fans are getting a tad complacent with the tourney. I thought LaBahn was too small capacity-wise but after yesterday's game that concern is out the window. I hope UW bids on the next 3 year cycle.

Minnesota led in attendance for a few years. Wisconsin has taken over lately, congratulations! I hope we rebound. We are still comfortably #1 and #2.

Both days had a great atmosphere and were really fun

 

[play-by-play guy]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Remind me why Minnesota hosts?

Many reasons:
1. Often they are the only to put bids in to host.
2. Despite the relatively low attendance, it's still 1500 more than they have had at other venues like Bemidji or Grand Forks.
2a. There were more Beaver fans at the game on Saturday than have been at a season's worth of home games for them. Since many players are from the TC, entire families could attend, at lease from what I observed!
3. Facilties. I know Wisconsin would love to host, but LaBahn doesn't have the locker room space to host, nor the press facility to house media. Sure, you may be able to use some locker room space over at the Kohl, but that is quite a long walk to and from the ice, and there is no way the basketball teams would give up theirs for the weekend -- especially if their season is still in progress. Hey, I LIKE LaBahn, but there is ZERO room left for press during regular-season Gopher/Badger game, let alone for a WCHA championship game.
Question: If they hosted at Kohl, do they have the locker rooms for three additional teams? And, wouldn't that usually displace men's/women's basketball from potential practices and/or games? Because I really don't know the answer to that.

The main thing IMO that keeps the attendance down may be the ticket prices, especially for kids. I think parents of younger children would be more likely to take them if they didn't have to pay the same price for kids as for adults.

Duluth is making a big push to host the next cycle of the Frozen Face-off. They most definitely have the facility, but I think those who have to make the decision are VERY nervous about the attendance numbers from last time they hosted.

Let's not fix anything that's not broken. I think many would agree that Wisconsin has had more than their share of success in the WCHA tournament at Ridder. As for most fans I talk to -- including those for other schools -- they like it in Minneapolis.

Whether you are a Badger, Beaver, Buckeye, or other fan, yours is a better question to ask your AD.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Remind me why Minnesota hosts?

Access. What's the most central location for BSU, UMD, SCSU, MSU, MN and UW (plus a major international airport for OSU). It just so happened that #2 OSU (understandably) and #1 UW didn't travel well either.

For 5 Minnesota schools plus OSU are you recommending Madison plus its regional airport?

 

[BuckyPete]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

Many reasons:
1. Often they are the only to put bids in to host.
2. Despite the relatively low attendance, it's still 1500 more than they have had at other venues like Bemidji or Grand Forks.
2a. There were more Beaver fans at the game on Saturday than have been at a season's worth of home games for them. Since many players are from the TC, entire families could attend, at lease from what I observed!
3. Facilties. I know Wisconsin would love to host, but LaBahn doesn't have the locker room space to host, nor the press facility to house media. Sure, you may be able to use some locker room space over at the Kohl, but that is quite a long walk to and from the ice, and there is no way the basketball teams would give up theirs for the weekend -- especially if their season is still in progress. Hey, I LIKE LaBahn, but there is ZERO room left for press during regular-season Gopher/Badger game, let alone for a WCHA championship game.
Question: If they hosted at Kohl, do they have the locker rooms for three additional teams? And, wouldn't that usually displace men's/women's basketball from potential practices and/or games? Because I really don't know the answer to that.

The main thing IMO that keeps the attendance down may be the ticket prices, especially for kids. I think parents of younger children would be more likely to take them if they didn't have to pay the same price for kids as for adults.

Duluth is making a big push to host the next cycle of the Frozen Face-off. They most definitely have the facility, but I think those who have to make the decision are VERY nervous about the attendance numbers from last time they hosted.

Let's not fix anything that's not broken. I think many would agree that Wisconsin has had more than their share of success in the WCHA tournament at Ridder. As for most fans I talk to -- including those for other schools -- they like it in Minneapolis.

Whether you are a Badger, Beaver, Buckeye, or other fan, yours is a better question to ask your AD.

There are, I believe, six locker rooms in the Kohl Center in addition to the two built specifically for the LaBahn. They're usually only utilized for the State Basketball tournament, but they came up when the KC hosted the NCAA Basketball Tournament Regional in 2004 or so.

 

[Nowheresville]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

The attendance was shockingly bad yesterday for a UW/MN matchup in a win or go home game for the rodents. I think the MN fans are getting a tad complacent with the tourney. I thought LaBahn was too small capacity-wise but after yesterday's game that concern is out the window. I hope UW bids on the next 3 year cycle.

It's a bit shocking to me how unrealistic peoples expectations are about attendance at the Final Face-off. The attendance this weekend was the best in the history of the Tournament!

Saturday's attendance of 2499 was the second best attended session in tournament history - second only to last year's semifinal game, which had all of 34 more people.

Sunday's Final attendance of 1,854 was tied with 2016 for the second best attended final - trailing only 2013's, which included the Gophers at Ridder in the middle of their undefeated season.

Overall, that's 4353 fans - which tops the 4310 mark set in 2013 as the record attendance for the weekend.

LaBahn has never been too small to host this tournament - although it is too small for the Frozen Four - the problem in has always been Wisconsin has never shown any interest at all in hosting the event.

Considering the Gophers are having a down year (relatively speaking), and the fact that they are hosting the Frozen Four again in 2 weeks (and St. Paul hosting the mens Frozen Four again two weeks after that) may have kept some people away, I'd say best attendance in tournament history is anything but shockingly bad.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

It's a bit shocking to me how unrealistic peoples expectations are about attendance at the Final Face-off. The attendance this weekend was the best in the history of the Tournament!

Saturday's attendance of 2499 was the second best attended session in tournament history - second only to last year's semifinal game, which had all of 34 more people.

Sunday's Final attendance of 1,854 was tied with 2016 for the second best attended final - trailing only 2013's, which included the Gophers at Ridder in the middle of their undefeated season.

Overall, that's 4353 fans - which tops the 4310 mark set in 2013 as the record attendance for the weekend.

LaBahn has never been too small to host this tournament - although it is too small for the Frozen Four - the problem in has always been Wisconsin has never shown any interest at all in hosting the event.

Considering the Gophers are having a down year (relatively speaking), and the fact that they are hosting the Frozen Four again in 2 weeks (and St. Paul hosting the mens Frozen Four again two weeks after that) may have kept some people away, I'd say best attendance in tournament history is anything but shockingly bad.

You are wasting your bits. TA only wants to cast a negative light on anything MN does. Reality has no input on it. That Labahn couldn't have held yesterday's crowd does not impress him, it was bad because it was in Minneapolis.