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Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

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Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

Still Eeyore said:
The ESPN+ stream is less than impressive. I've been having trouble with it all weekend.
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It was pretty good for me. Definitely better than the BC @ BU game, which is choppy. Could it be your internet connection?
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

ARM said:
It was pretty good for me. Definitely better than the BC @ BU game, which is choppy. Could it be your internet connection?
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It could it be their server. Maybe they are not built to stream more than a couple of people & if 10-20 MN fans show up the server throws up. The quality was awful, it cut in and out and eventually just died & could not be revived. Streamed IIHF and Olympic games & never had such poor stream
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

ne7minder said:
It could it be their server. Maybe they are not built to stream more than a couple of people & if 10-20 MN fans show up the server throws up. The quality was awful, it cut in and out and eventually just died & could not be revived. Streamed IIHF and Olympic games & never had such poor stream
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We used to have the same problems with some of the streams we watched, so unless it's free we just listen to Dan Hamman's broadcasts. We enjoy the interviews and he does a good job on the play by play of the game, well, except maybe mispronouncing the word "stick" now and then. ;)
 
bluffrinkrat said:
We used to have the same problems with some of the streams we watched, so unless it's free we just listen to Dan Hamman's broadcasts. We enjoy the interviews and he does a good job on the play by play of the game, well, except maybe mispronouncing the word "stick" now and then. ;)
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We sync Dan with the video. Even that was a pain because the video feed kept dying.
Love Dan, he is head and shoulders above many better known pxp guys.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

Heading into the final series of the first half I thought I'd take a look at the team's stats, and in so doing this evening I found a couple of interesting things.

First, on offense, even though at 4.22 the Gophers are No. 1 in the nation in Goals Per Game, they hold that top spot with only one individual in the Top 10 (Nicole Schammel at 9th) and just two in the Top 25 (Schammel and Grace Zumwinkle, who is tied for 12th). This is a team that "scores by committee", using teamwork and their great depth to score most of their goals. This is obviously a key strength, as opponents cannot key on any one line or "star" individual.

Also on offense, somewhat surprising is the fact that they sit at No. 1 despite having had a very ordinary power play. Their PP% is just 20.83%, which trails 10 other teams. Definitely room for improvement here.

But their greatest opportunity for improvement comes on team defense. They currently are tied for 7th, at 1.72 GAPG (which badly lags No. 1 overall Wisconsin @1.11 GAPG). A contributing factor in the team's D has been the propensity to give up too many goals shorthanded: the 84.09 percent kill rate ranks a disappointing 21st. Clearly our special teams play has not been where it should be.

Going into the second half it'll be interesting to see if the Gophs can become a better defensive team without losing too much (or better yet, none!) of their offensive production. But first and up next is Robert Morris - this weekend would be a great time to start improving on all the numbers. To do that they better keep a close eye on Jaycee Gebhard, a 5'3" junior who with 32 points is currently tied for the scoring lead in the nation. Should be fun to watch!
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

D2D said:
Heading into the final series of the first half I thought I'd take a look at the team's stats, and in so doing this evening I found a couple of interesting things.

First, on offense, even though at 4.22 the Gophers are No. 1 in the nation in Goals Per Game, they hold that top spot with only one individual in the Top 10 (Nicole Schammel at 9th) and just two in the Top 25 (Schammel and Grace Zumwinkle, who is tied for 12th). This is a team that "scores by committee", using teamwork and their great depth to score most of their goals. This is obviously a key strength, as opponents cannot key on any one line or "star" individual.

Also on offense, somewhat surprising is the fact that they sit at No. 1 despite having had a very ordinary power play. Their PP% is just 20.83%, which trails 10 other teams. Definitely room for improvement here.

But their greatest opportunity for improvement comes on team defense. They currently are tied for 7th, at 1.72 GAPG (which badly lags No. 1 overall Wisconsin @1.11 GAPG). A contributing factor in the team's D has been the propensity to give up too many goals shorthanded: the 84.09 percent kill rate ranks a disappointing 21st. Clearly our special teams play has not been where it should be.

Going into the second half it'll be interesting to see if the Gophs can become a better defensive team without losing too much (or better yet, none!) of their offensive production. But first and up next is Robert Morris - this weekend would be a great time to start improving on all the numbers. To do that they better keep a close eye on Jaycee Gebhard, a 5'3" junior who with 32 points is currently tied for the scoring lead in the nation. Should be fun to watch!
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To add to that what your saying... This team will turn the puck over and have some defensive lapses, but probably not much more than only one team and that team being Wisconsin. When Minnesota does turn it over, especially in their own zone, they do it in spectacular fashion. Darn near gifting goals to teams. Being able to cut down on those mistakes is very doable with this group.

The special teams have been better lately compared to earlier in the year, but as you mentioned there is no question they have the "pieces in place" to be more like 25-30% on the PP and 88-90% on the penalty kill.

I do like the balanced scoring and that they have had different players throughout their lineup play starring roles that are sometimes unexpected, but there is no question that players like Kelly Pannek and the Potomak sisters, for example, are capable of much more scoring than they have produced. To me, Minnesota has left a lot of offense on the table so far this year for reasons like the passing is just a bit off or they have seemingly turned a for sure goal into a miss by just flubbing the shot. If Minnesota's top two lines are producing they way they are capable of, again probably only Wisconsin can match that and 1 through 12, Minnesota just might be the deepest, best shooting forward group in the country.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

FiveHoleFrenzy said:
... players like Kelly Pannek and the Potomak sisters, for example, are capable of much more scoring than they have produced.
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I feel like I kind of have to give Sarah a bit of a pass because she has been dealing with injury for much of the season. When she has played, she has looked like herself and done the right things, but shots just haven't gone in. I thought Kelly played well the two series after 4 Nations, but last weekend she was back to holding the puck too much without moving it. It didn't help that her wings' primary focus looked to be getting her the puck, rather than taking it to the net or moving it to each other.

FiveHoleFrenzy said:
... they have seemingly turned a for sure goal into a miss by just flubbing the shot. If Minnesota's top two lines are producing they way they are capable of, again probably only Wisconsin can match that and 1 through 12, Minnesota just might be the deepest, best shooting forward group in the country.
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I agree with all of this, although we are both effectively saying that the Gophers are a great shooting group who frequently manage to completely flub shots that could have easily resulted in sure goals. So I might modify it to say that many of them do possess good shots, but they don't always get those shots off, be it due to over passing, hesitating, or just not being ready when the opportunity manifested. Or they make decisions like Amy did last weekend when she had a partial break but cut to her backhand to avoid the defense and wound up with a not great scoring opportunity; with her shot, she would have been better served to just fire a forehand and keep it simple.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

Congrats to Grace Zumwinkle and Taylor Heise on being named WCHA Players of the Month: :cool:

WCHA Players of the Month - November 2018
Forward: Grace Zumwinkle, So., Minnesota
Defenseman: Jincy Dunne, RS-Jr., Ohio State
Goaltender: Abigail Levy, Fr., Minnesota State
Rookie: Taylor Heise, F, Minnesota
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

They win 6-1, which you'll take, but this seemed more a Saturday game than a Friday game. Gulstene kept having pucks drop out of her glove. Very lucky a couple of those didn't go in the net. Who is playing in #19 jersey? Because whoever that is, I would like to see pre-Olympic Kelly Pannek back in that jersey.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

FiveHoleFrenzy said:
Who is playing in #19 jersey? Because whoever that is, I would like to see pre-Olympic Kelly Pannek back in that jersey.
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Quite simply she is not playing up to the level she's capable of playing. To my eyes it's mostly because she's hanging on to the puck too long, trying to make the perfect play. This makes it so much easier for the opponent to defend and eliminate her best options, as they have more time to regroup and/or cover her linemates more effectively...because she's made her decision on what to do too late.

So my recommendation, for whatever it's worth, would be to have her move her feet quicker, generally play faster and use her gifted creativity more instinctively - while moving faster to open ice and in the process creating more options from which to score.

I think that's what we saw more of in the past, and why she made the last Olympic team roster.

I've always been a huge fan, so I'll close with....

GO KELLY!
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

D2D said:
Quite simply she is not playing up to the level she's capable of playing. To my eyes it's mostly because she's hanging on to the puck too long, trying to make the perfect play. This makes it so much easier for the opponent to defend and eliminate her best options, as they have more time to regroup and/or cover her linemates more effectively...because she's made her decision on what to do too late.

So my recommendation, for whatever it's worth, would be to have her move her feet quicker, generally play faster and use her gifted creativity more instinctively - while moving faster to open ice and in the process creating more options from which to score.

I think that's what we saw more of in the past, and why she made the last Olympic team roster.

I've always been a huge fan, so I'll close with....

GO KELLY!
Click to expand...

I agree with all of this, but, it seems like they've been tinkering with Kelly's line all year which hasn't helped her either. In 2017 in the games that #19 had healthy #s 21 and 26 as linemates they were simply amazing. In the tinkering that went on with that line after #21 went down, they were not nearly so amazing to say the least.

On the plus side I don't ever remember seeing in any previous year such balanced scoring as the team has had this year. It's been great to see.
 
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Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

I was pretty impressed with Robert Morris, they have some talent on that team and I don't think the game was as lopsided as the score. They are demons in the corners & controlled play along the boards amazingly well. They also showed more speed than I expected. Still the game seemed a little 'off' as if there was not a lot of intensity. But there had to have been because there were good plays on both sides & battles all night long.
 
FiveHoleFrenzy said:
They win 6-1, which you'll take, but this seemed more a Saturday game than a Friday game. Gulstene kept having pucks drop out of her glove. Very lucky a couple of those didn't go in the net. Who is playing in #19 jersey? Because whoever that is, I would like to see pre-Olympic Kelly Pannek back in that jersey.
Click to expand...

The Pannek/SPotomak/Skaja line was so effective that it's frustrating that it hasn't been put back together.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

If GWH have ever played a worse period than Friday’s 3rd period, I wasn’t there to see it. Perhaps it is all part of the master plan, apparently they want to make sure Gulstene is well seasoned so as to not repeat the outcome of Raty & Leveille’s first NCAA appearance.

There does seem to be a lot of line tinkering, as long as they don’t mess with Wente, Schammel, and Zumwinkle, I’m fine. Hopefully when February comes around the lines will be solidified.

Nice to see that they followed up a Friday win with 3 good periods of hockey, although given the 3rd period Friday, there was no place to go but up.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

There is a lot to tinker with, but as PC said, if you keep the Schamwow line together and as others (I think Still Eeyore) have suggested, put Skaja with Pannek and SPototmak, those are 2 tough lines to matchup with. Having Woken, Williamson and APotomak as a line works very well too. That leaves some really good players as an interchangeable 3rd or 4th line
 
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Re: Minnesota Gophers 2018-2019

Another workmanlike performance against a game but over matched team. RM deserves a lot of credit, they played 120 minutes this weekend and often looked pretty good. 5-0 MN.
 
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