Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

[Nowheresville]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

RPI is the tiebreaker in the pairwise, so MN is 13 right now, ahead of Lowell.

The Gophers probably will get sent to Fargo, but only if they can climb up to the 12 seed or higher. If they remain at 13 or below, they won't because UND will be protected by getting matched up with of the autobids.

 

[Hammy]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Every time this team needs a key win, they find some way to screw it up. Let's hope they don't follow that trend tonight and win at least a piece of the B1G regular season title.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Congrats Gophs on a fourth straight Conf. title. Coming into this season I thought this team could take home all three banners. I thought they would be 'that good'. They haven't been 'that good', but luckily the rest of the conference was 'that bad' so that when MN turned it on late and started to play more inspired hockey much of the time, they were able to win it all.

While I still don't think they are playing quite at the level they should be capable of, they are definitely a different team from what we saw a couple month ago. Fasching looks like he may have found his stride, if last night was any indication. Bridstedt looks like he has figured out the North American game. The fourth line has stepped up to show the depth this team should have had all year. Wilcox looks like Wilcox again. Bischoff, Boyd and Skjei look noticeably better than last year and Reilly looks like a man among boys sometimes when carrying the puck. More importantly, the effort seems to be there most of the time from most of the team. Peaking at the end of the season is what you want to see from a team and if they can continue to build on what they are showing lately, I feel a little better about the odds of taking home more banners.

Good Luck the rest of the way! Continue to work your *****es off, and anything can happen!

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Congrats guys! B1G goal accomplished here.

I guess the Harley law as in effect...MI and MSU split and MN sweeps. Good call...

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Watching the Wild game recorded from lat night, 2 things came to mind;

1. Amazing how similar their season and the Gophs have been. Start out fast with high expectations. Then poor goaltending and inconsistent play in middle of season appear to derail chance at post season play. Goaltending improves and rest of team starts playing much better and what looked very unlikley (postseason play) starts to look probable based on good late season runs. (Obvioulsly Wild have a way to go with probably toughest schedule in NHL rest of way with several teams on their tail.) Wild would have one game that wasn't their best, and follow up with a very good performance. Gophs avoided two poor showings in a row late as well. Both teams are capable of playing with any team in the country now that they are playing with confidence.

2. I want Jamie Hersch back on Gopher broadcasts. She has grown on me the more I watch her and she not only does a good job managing post-games, she seems to know the game and know what question to ask. I never used to bother ever watching Wild post-game sessions. Oh yeah, and she is cute as hell. Mr. Hersch is a lucky guy.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Watching the Wild game recorded from lat night, 2 things came to mind;

1. Amazing how similar their season and the Gophs have been. Start out fast with high expectations. Then poor goaltending and inconsistent play in middle of season appear to derail chance at post season play. Goaltending improves and rest of team starts playing much better and what looked very unlikley (postseason play) starts to look probable based on good late season runs. (Obvioulsly Wild have a way to go with probably toughest schedule in NHL rest of way with several teams on their tail.) Wild would have one game that wasn't their best, and follow up with a very good performance. Gophs avoided two poor showings in a row late as well. Both teams are capable of playing with any team in the country now that they are playing with confidence.

2. I want Jamie Hersch back on Gopher broadcasts. She has grown on me the more I watch her and she not only does a good job managing post-games, she seems to know the game and know what question to ask. I never used to bother ever watching Wild post-game sessions. Oh yeah, and she is cute as hell. Mr. Hersch is a lucky guy.

#2: She always had potential, much like Jenny Taft (formerly of the FSN Girls, now working FS1, IIRC). Much more than a pretty face.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

#2: She always had potential, much like Jenny Taft (formerly of the FSN Girls, now working FS1, IIRC). Much more than a pretty face.

Figures YOU would comment on my second point...

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Congrats guys! B1G goal accomplished here.

I guess the Harley law as in effect...MI and MSU split and MN sweeps. Good call...

I have to give him props here as well. Hard to say exactly what the odds were entering the weekend, but it sure did work out well.

 

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Congrats Gophs on a fourth straight Conf. title. Coming into this season I thought this team could take home all three banners. I thought they would be 'that good'. They haven't been 'that good', but luckily the rest of the conference was 'that bad' so that when MN turned it on late and started to play more inspired hockey much of the time, they were able to win it all.

While I still don't think they are playing quite at the level they should be capable of, they are definitely a different team from what we saw a couple month ago. Fasching looks like he may have found his stride, if last night was any indication. Bridstedt looks like he has figured out the North American game. The fourth line has stepped up to show the depth this team should have had all year. Wilcox looks like Wilcox again. Bischoff, Boyd and Skjei look noticeably better than last year and Reilly looks like a man among boys sometimes when carrying the puck. More importantly, the effort seems to be there most of the time from most of the team. Peaking at the end of the season is what you want to see from a team and if they can continue to build on what they are showing lately, I feel a little better about the odds of taking home more banners.

Good Luck the rest of the way! Continue to work your *****es off, and anything can happen!

Nice write up...Koho (Bristedt ). They really played their ***es off all weekend with a very rewarding finish for the team to snatch the B1G title in the last game of the season. The seniors have been outstanding lately. The momentum is as high as it's ever been this season going into the weekend. I just hope they can keep their eyes on the prize. A win on Friday and a Mich. Tech win over Bowling Green, and the Gopher's chances of locking in an at-large bid are very favorable.

The fourth line is definitely more of a key than most would think. Their energy was consistent all weekend. I thought they were strong on the walls and cycled well. Isackson had made a nice pass to Collins for his first tally as a Gopher...and Ryan was smiling ear to ear too.

 

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Congrats guys! B1G goal accomplished here.

I guess the Harley law as in effect...MI and MSU split and MN sweeps. Good call...

When Michigan won at the Munn, I was honestly thinkin' it's not lookin' good for the Gophers to win it outright. But for MSU to win at the Yost on Senior Night was impressive. Tom Anastos turned MSU around in the second half and I wouldn't be surprised to see him as B1G Coach of the Year.

This weekend they looked like the team everyone was expecting. I'm excited for the post season and I hope they stay focused. I think we've got a legitimate shot at the FF.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

(Ok- brain fart - maybe it will come to me by end of typing post...) The former Gopher doing color had a couple interesting comments last night for those of you not watching on TV:

First, when talking about Senior night he mentioned how that is an opportunity many players don't experience when they jump to the pros early. He said players need to look at all the costs when considering a jump, not just the monetary gain and reaching the goal of making the NHL, but the cost of missing out on some of life's great memories in another year of college. This is point Trent Klatt likes to make regularly, both for the kid who wants to leave HS early and the collegiate players. He wishes he could have played another year at UM. This day in age, career ending injuries are really rare, with all the knee surgery advances, so it isn't as big of a risk as say 15-20 years ago. You could tell the Seniors were fired up to play last night and I am sure guys like Leopold didn't regret a return (not that everyone will return for an NC). (So if our two Junior defensemen and Junior goalie decide college is really fun and came back, I just want them to know I would be fine with it.)

The other comment he made 2 weeks in a row when talking about Woog and how tough he was on the players. He said he realized that once he got to the NHL, and saw how much coaches demanded there, that he realized Woog was prepping them well for their future by being so hard on them. So much so that he wrote a letter to Woog after his career was over to thank Doug. There have been lots of comments about Lucia and how a lot of players feel about him this year and whether that would play into how much longer he should coach, but I was wondering if the comments about Woog's toughness were meant to support and justify how tough Lucia apparently is on his players.

 

[Greyeagle]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Ben Clymer

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Watching the Wild game recorded from lat night, 2 things came to mind;

1. Amazing how similar their season and the Gophs have been. Start out fast with high expectations. Then poor goaltending and inconsistent play in middle of season appear to derail chance at post season play. Goaltending improves and rest of team starts playing much better and what looked very unlikley (postseason play) starts to look probable based on good late season runs. (Obvioulsly Wild have a way to go with probably toughest schedule in NHL rest of way with several teams on their tail.) Wild would have one game that wasn't their best, and follow up with a very good performance. Gophs avoided two poor showings in a row late as well. Both teams are capable of playing with any team in the country now that they are playing with confidence.

2. I want Jamie Hersch back on Gopher broadcasts. She has grown on me the more I watch her and she not only does a good job managing post-games, she seems to know the game and know what question to ask. I never used to bother ever watching Wild post-game sessions. Oh yeah, and she is cute as hell. Mr. Hersch is a lucky guy.

Back to number 1 - I forgot another similarity - how much the fourth lines started kicking in at at about the same time too. Lots of similarities. Now they both need to win their respective Championships (along with MN women) and all will be well with the world. (And hopefully both won't take a dive and not make it.)

 

[Bonin21]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Jamie is a smoke. I'm sure the Wild gig is better for her, so I doubt we'll see her much.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Ben Clymer

Bingo! I was never good with names, and getting older I have gotten worse with name recall. Have a co-worker the same way. Couldn't remember George Clooney's name in one conversation and had to ask a clerical. Now whenever we can't remember a name, we just substitute George Clooney.

(And if anyone is wondering about al my posts today when it is beautiful and I should be outside instead of chatting with other chat geeks, my wife has been hounding me for weeks to paint the bathroom and a couple other rooms, so this is my main procrastination method for the day.)

 

[klbaum1077]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Congrats on Your 2nd straight Big Ten Title!

 

[Greyeagle]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

(And if anyone is wondering about al my posts today when it is beautiful and I should be outside instead of chatting with other chat geeks, my wife has been hounding me for weeks to paint the bathroom and a couple other rooms, so this is my main procrastination method for the day.)

Ha! Good luck with that!

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Jamie is a smoke. I'm sure the Wild gig is better for her, so I doubt we'll see her much.

Can't explain, but I didn't take to her right away, but now I'll watch Wild post game for a little Jaimie-time if I have some spare time. Wasn't expecting her back for Gophers, but a guy can dream.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Ha! Good luck with that!

Well she is returning from being out of town, so not around yet to crack the whip. Doesn't help motivation that I like the old color better either, not that my opinion matters.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Figures YOU would comment on my second point...

Well, figured I'd chime in on women reporters. Most of them are terrible, but the good ones need to be recognized.