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Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

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Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

I don't see rink-wide passes that often miss as possession builders at all - in fact quite the opposite. A lot of times when those passes miss the puck ends up out of the zone by virtue of a carom or a trailing defender that is left alone picking up the loose puck.

USCHO has a pretty good analysis btw of the season so far: Good record doesn’t hide work left to be done for Minnesota
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

Slap Shot said:
I don't see rink-wide passes that often miss as possession builders at all - in fact quite the opposite. A lot of times when those passes miss the puck ends up out of the zone by virtue of a carom or a trailing defender that is left alone picking up the loose puck.
Click to expand...

After reading the article you posted above, I have to change my tune a bit, not realizing that the Gophers are leading the league in PP efficiency. But I do see your point above too, and it just seems to me that the whole design of their PP is to set up the one timer slapshot, rather than work the puck in a little more for a higher percentage opportunity. But then again, you can't argue with success - lots of other teams would like to be at 25%.

And after reading the article one other thing really stuck out for me, that being the fact that we are being outscored in the league when at even strength. Considering the teams we've played that's not a good sign at all, and ii's obviously an area where we definitely need to improve on if we're going to be successful the rest of the way.
 
D2D said:
After reading the article you posted above, I have to change my tune a bit, not realizing that the Gophers are leading the league in PP efficiency. But I do see your point above too, and it just seems to me that the whole design of their PP is to set up the one timer slapshot, rather than work the puck in a little more for a higher percentage opportunity. But then again, you can't argue with success - lots of other teams would like to be at 25%.

And after reading the article one other thing really stuck out for me, that being the fact that we are being outscored in the league when at even strength. Considering the teams we've played that's not a good sign at all, and ii's obviously an area where we definitely need to improve on if we're going to be successful the rest of the way.
Click to expand...

The 5x5 scoring will come around. We've had plenty of opportunities and a ton of offensive zone time.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

Just hope the players didn't eat half as much turkey as this dork here did...:o...
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

Heading into this past weekend against Wisconsin, the Gophers had scored only 4 even-strength goals in the previous 5 games. It got a little better against the Badgers as they notched 3 in the series, but I think it's safe to say even-strength scoring has to get better for this MN team.

I was just watching the highlights again from last year's regionals against UND and BU. What struck me is where the offensive production was coming from. Not counting ENG, against BU the goalscorers included Parenteau, Hansen, Helgeson and Sachetti. Against UND they included Marshall, Matson, Boyd and Condon. Out of the 10 goals that MN scored in that regional while a goaltender was in net for the other team, only 2 came from "big guns" with Haula and Rau each netting 1.

Just one weekend, sure, but I think it is a pretty good representation of what made MN as successful as they were last year.
Now, there are a couple ways of looking at that (both of which I think are valid). First, MN had some depth last year that allowed them to score when their top lines were getting shut down. But second, their top lines really forced other teams to expend a lot of focus on shutting them down, and as a result the secondary guys found opportunities. And that second one is where I think it really starts.

Right now the top line for MN isn't forcing teams to be overly concerned with them. I think if the Gophers are to start scoring more regularly 5on5, they need the top 2 lines proving to be more dangerous. Right now out of Budish, Bjugstad, Haula and Rau only Haula has a better PPG avg than last season, and he's the only one out of those four to be above a point a game on average this year.

MN need Bjugstad and Rau to get going. There's no reason those two should be below their PPG avg. from last year. I'd include Budish in that list, and it's one of the reasons I really want to see him back on the first line. If those guys just kind of coast along somewhere around .8ppg, it is going to make it difficult for everyone else on the team to be as productive as they could be.
 
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Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

Stauber1, great observations on all counts. Hopefully we'll see our big guns start to get it cranked up this weekend. If they do, the other pieces of the puzzle should fall into place.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

Good to see Mario healthy and playing well for the Irish.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

Nice to see more effort last night.

I did a quick look at stats for the top scorers from last year to this (through 12 games). It seemed like they had dropped off.
2011-12 Pt/gm - 2012-13 pts/game
Haula 1.14 - 1.25
Bjugs 1.05 - 0.92
Rau 1.08 - 1.00
Schmidt 0.95 - 0.75
Condon 0.81 - 0.75

They are actually closer than I thought. But on the other hand, you expect players a year older to increase the pace, especially when playing against teams near the bottom of their league.

On the other hand, Ambrose is 1 point away from last year's total and Isaacson has had an infinite increase in points (0-7).
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

With Warning still out and with a possibility of him missing even more of the season, would it be smart to red shirt him? Could we "call up" a recruit from the USHL to play here the remainder of the year? Would we? Just wondering aloud and wanted to see what others think...

Kloos may look good in the lineup come January if Warning is still out.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

SanTropez said:
With Warning still out and with a possibility of him missing even more of the season, would it be smart to red shirt him?
Click to expand...

Before getting hurt he played in 4 games, would redshrting even be an option?
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

D2D said:
Before getting hurt he played in 4 games, would redshrting even be an option?
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From wiki:

An athlete may be asked to redshirt if he or she would have no opportunity to play as an academic freshman. This is a common occurrence in many sports where there is already an established starter or too much depth at the position in which the freshman in question is planning to play.
A special case involves the eligibility of a player who loses the majority of a season to injury. Popularly known as a medical redshirt, a hardship waiver may be granted an athlete who appears in fewer than 30% of his or her team's competitions (with none coming after the midway point of the season), then suffers a season-ending injury. A player who is granted such a waiver is treated for the purposes of his or her eligibility as though he or she had not competed in that season.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

D2D said:
Before getting hurt he played in 4 games, would redshrting even be an option?
Click to expand...

Grimaldi played in 4 games last year before red-shirting. He had no possibility of coming back during last season though...

edit: I think the key words are "season ending"... if he is able to be back this year I don't believe he is eligible.
 
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Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

Scoring will get better if they do what they did last night which is grind it out. They have stats in the top 3 in nearly every category in the conference, and vs. their opponents overall they are scoring 41-22 and lead with SOG by 413-262 so they clearly are dominating possession. But aside from the the Bjugstad breakaway last night the goals came by taking it to the net and without that one perfect pass to a player with a wide open net. When they lend puck support and play with grit they will win far more often than not, because as good as they are they can't expect to pretty-play past most of their opponents - especially in conference and in March/April.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

SanTropez said:
With Warning still out and with a possibility of him missing even more of the season, would it be smart to red shirt him? Could we "call up" a recruit from the USHL to play here the remainder of the year? Would we? Just wondering aloud and wanted to see what others think...

Kloos may look good in the lineup come January if Warning is still out.
Click to expand...

Either you listened to my comments earlier in the week on the GPL podcast or else we think alike.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

A copule of takeaways from this weekend: A sweep on the road vs. a Vermont team we didn't sweep last year at home is positive. I thought the Gophers played pretty well all in all. The third period last night was a bit dicey, but Wilcox stepped up again. For a Freshman goalie, I am very impressed with him. I am biased a little but with the SSPHS comnnection.

Other things: A.J. was all over the place last night/this weekend. His play reminded me a little bit of Serratore's. If he can produce that effort on a consistent basis, that would be great. I liked Marshall's play too, I think he needs to stay back at D. All in all the Gophs did help themselves in the PWR.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013: From Dinkytown to Steel City!

Almost falling to the third page???

I'd like to think the boys will get up for the weekend and come out flying, but who knows.

So who is a likely US Junior player this year?
 
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