Re: Minnesota Gophers 2012-2013 Part II: Mmmm, Iron City Beer!
Well I have come out of the low enough to post now. Disappointed doesn't come close to how I feel about the way this team played last night, or how they've looked for long stretches in many of the recent series. Yes, they are still probably the most talent-laden program in the country. Obviously though, that doesn't do much when there is little effort to go with it. When they were playing their best after x-mas, they were winning every race and every battle, it seemed. Now half the team on every play is willing to wait for the opponent, or someone else on their team to make the first move. The play where the Denver player was allowed to step between two defenders and go in on Wilcox, when either one of them could have taken the puck away was classic.
And I thought Bjugs was starting towards making the move to power forward, but he stepped back last night. There was one play where he carried the puck in, essentially alone, but stepped around a couple. He had a couple D in front of him, but not in a position where it was guaranteed they could stop him. So as he has done almost all year, he loops back and passes to someone along the boards back near the blue line, and nothing develops. He seems to do this every game. For 9 of 10 players, it is a good move to make, in that at least you maintain possession while you wait for the rest of the team to show up. But when you have the size and skills he has, and your team needs to get energized, he needs to go to the net. Sure the odds are against scoring, but probably not any less than dropping it back when outnumbered 4 - 2. And just creating a chance can get eh crowd and team fired up. Players like Goudreau are who they are because they recognize they aren't just another player, but need to take the team on their backs and will something to happen. Nothing like a highlight reel goal to turn a game. And I think if he did this from time to time all season, he'd have half again as many goals and would right there as a favorite for Hobey. He's gonna need to play with that edge if he wants to be a force in the NHL, but if he can't do it against college players, he'll have a lot of trouble at that level. And don't get me wrong, I love watching him and having him on the team. But he seems to mirror this team (or vice versa). All the skill and ability in the world, but under-performing because only focusing on skill game.
(So, to make this post too long for anyone to read....) Teams can't just turn it on and off. Momentum is huge in hockey. Even in the NHL with long series, it matters, and in a one-and-done college scenario, it is the primary determiner of who wins it all. Those who say 'they are fine and have plenty of talent' I don't think realize how difficult it is to get up to that level. Yes, with less talented teams there is less margin for error, so the Gophs are in good shape in that they don't necessarily have to be firing on every single cylinder to win some games, but they barely were firing at all last night. I wanted to see a McNaughton Race. People say NC's are all that matter, but I disagree. I've been watching for decades, and you need to savor every win and every trophy. The most talented team is far from guarenteed an NC. They can be a long time in coming. If that is all that matters to you, be prepared to get depressed at the end of just about every season. Furthermore, this team, if they could have sustained the play they had after x-mas, had the potential to get multiple, if not all three, trophies in the last year in the WCHA. But that is gone, not because they played more talented teams, or teams that played games above their level, but because the Gophs played below their level in a number of games. Denver is a good team with lots of offensive talent, but the Gophs playing their best should beat them by 3, not get shut out. And I'm not saying they should be written off, I'm not that far gone, but time is running out to get on track.
(Enough of the therapy. If they don't lose again this year season, then I'll be happy. Oh, and looked at the last page of the Q thread and they seem to be experiencing a similar situation - declining offense, lackluster stretches of disjointed hockey, with some concern about peaking early.)
That's ridiculous. B1G schools that do not participate in Big Ten events do not receive the full share of aggregate revenue distribution from the Big Ten and BTN. This was the case for Nebraska football for the 2011-12 fiscal year. They received approximately $10.6M less than the other 11 participating Big Ten schools ($24.6M each) in their annual distribution.
