Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

[robertearle]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

Compare that to the Badgers. Who grows up dreaming of wearing the "Motion W" (that really isn't moving)? Maybe the three D-I players that the state of Wisconsin produces every decade.

Amazingly, two of the three this past decade won the Kazmaier.

 

[Still Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

So, a loss. The Gophers didn't play well Friday night. They got outhustled, and Ohio State won most of the physical battles. Scobee let in a softie. The line shuffling didn't look effective. Other than Zumwinkle blowing pucks through walls, there wasn't a whole lot to be cheery about.

And yet, the loss is largely down to one defensive pairing having a really bad, uncharacteristically bad, night. The Buckeyes didn't generate as many really good scoring chances as the tilt of the ice would have led one to expect, at least as far as I could tell based upon the really lousy camera work on the BTN+ feed. (Honestly, is it that hard to actually follow the puck down the ice?) And they were in it right to the end.

There are obviously some areas of concern. An aggressive, physical forecheck continues to cause them all sorts of problems, which is concerning with Wisconsin coming up. For the first time this year, the Passes to No One were a real issue. And the scoring remains disconcertingly dependent upon Heise and Zumwinkle.

But they looked better on Saturday. The line combinations started to click better. Amy Potomak seemed to simplify things, and scored by just crashing the net. I continue to think that Woken may be a better linemate for her than her sister. The Hengler/Ostertag pairing bounced back in a big way.

I'm not all that discouraged by the loss. Ohio State played really well. Probably about as well as they can play. When they do that, they're a top five team. It's not like they tied Maine or anything. I expect a better effort against Bucky, though that doesn't guarantee anything.

Rereading all that, I'm clearly sick. I'll go to bed now.

 

[mnwis]

based upon the really lousy camera work on the BTN+ feed. (Honestly, is it that hard to actually follow the puck down the ice?)

.

Any idea who the two knuckleheads on the broadcast are? Their lack of knowledge of womens hockey aside, with the syrupy gushing over the minnesota players, I would have thought they would know that it's Ridder and not Riddler...even going to lame batman jokes...I'm just curious where they came from...

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

So, a loss. The Gophers didn't play well Friday night. They got outhustled, and Ohio State won most of the physical battles. Scobee let in a softie. The line shuffling didn't look effective. Other than Zumwinkle blowing pucks through walls, there wasn't a whole lot to be cheery about.

And yet, the loss is largely down to one defensive pairing having a really bad, uncharacteristically bad, night. The Buckeyes didn't generate as many really good scoring chances as the tilt of the ice would have led one to expect, at least as far as I could tell based upon the really lousy camera work on the BTN+ feed. (Honestly, is it that hard to actually follow the puck down the ice?) And they were in it right to the end.

There are obviously some areas of concern. An aggressive, physical forecheck continues to cause them all sorts of problems, which is concerning with Wisconsin coming up. For the first time this year, the Passes to No One were a real issue. And the scoring remains disconcertingly dependent upon Heise and Zumwinkle.

But they looked better on Saturday. The line combinations started to click better. Amy Potomak seemed to simplify things, and scored by just crashing the net. I continue to think that Woken may be a better linemate for her than her sister. The Hengler/Ostertag pairing bounced back in a big way.

I'm not all that discouraged by the loss. Ohio State played really well. Probably about as well as they can play. When they do that, they're a top five team. It's not like they tied Maine or anything. I expect a better effort against Bucky, though that doesn't guarantee anything.

Rereading all that, I'm clearly sick. I'll go to bed now.

Televising a game from the OSU so called rink is problematic with all the netting and to couple that with poor camera work makes it even worse.

I have some of the same thoughts regarding your areas of concern. Personally, I get the same feeling with Scobee in net that I had when Sidney Peters was in net for the Gophers. Not a good feeling, at least, for me.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

Any idea who the two knuckleheads on the broadcast are? Their lack of knowledge of womens hockey aside, with the syrupy gushing over the minnesota players, I would have thought they would know that it's Ridder and not Riddler...even going to lame batman jokes...I'm just curious where they came from...

All that aside, they were correct about Zumwinkle. She does have the most physical talent of any women's Division 1 player. It's the consistency in her level of play that sometimes holds her back.

 

[mnwis]

All that aside, they were correct about Zumwinkle. She does has the most physical talent of any women's Division 1 player. It's is the consistency in her level of play that sometimes holds her back.

Absolutely, Grace is amazing...scary part is she can be better!

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

There are obviously some areas of concern. An aggressive, physical forecheck continues to cause them all sorts of problems, which is concerning with Wisconsin coming up. For the first time this year, the Passes to No One were a real issue.

My No. 1 pet peeve is the team's inability to break out of their defensive zone cleanly on a more consistent basis. And the problem does not solely lie with our defenders; it's a team issue at least in part due to the forwards not supporting the D by getting open for a sure first pass. Not all the time, but all too often the wing is stationary at the half-wall, making it all too easy for the opposing D on that side to move in and keep the puck in the zone. I get the fact that in the defensive zone it's generally wise to keep the puck to the outside, but I also think the team could use a dose of creativity on their breakout (to their credit, the D generally does do a good job of reversing direction behind the goal). But overall it does seem like we get stuck in a pattern of just "throwing the puck up the boards" and hoping for the best, rather than making a short, crisp pass (or two) a little away from the wall to get the flow moving in the other direction, under control. And yes, it becomes imperative to complete those passes, as obviously any misfire can easily give the opponent a good scoring opportunity. Maybe something to work on in practice?

 

[Still Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

My No. 1 pet peeve is the team's inability to break out of their defensive zone cleanly on a more consistent basis. And the problem does not solely lie with our defenders; it's a team issue at least in part due to the forwards not supporting the D by getting open for a sure first pass. Not all the time, but all too often the wing is stationary at the half-wall, making it all too easy for the opposing D on that side to move in and keep the puck in the zone. I get the fact that in the defensive zone it's generally wise to keep the puck to the outside, but I also think the team could use a dose of creativity on their breakout (to their credit, the D generally does do a good job of reversing direction behind the goal). But overall it does seem like we get stuck in a pattern of just "throwing the puck up the boards" and hoping for the best, rather than making a short, crisp pass (or two) a little away from the wall to get the flow moving in the other direction, under control. And yes, it becomes imperative to complete those passes, as obviously any misfire can easily give the opponent a good scoring opportunity. Maybe something to work on in practice?

All of this is something that has been much better over the first eight games of this season. Against OSU, it felt like they were retreating to old habits under pressure. Hopefully, it comes with more practice.

Wethington may already be the best defenseman on this team.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

See! I just KNEW we should have scheduled LIU so that we'd look even better than our record indicates!!!

As for taking the Buckeyes lightly, OSU has 8 players from Minnesota and its entire coaching staff is former Gophers. I think that the Gophers understand that they are always going to get that team's best effort.

Compare that to the Badgers. Who grows up dreaming of wearing the "Motion W" (that really isn't moving)? Maybe the three D-I players that the state of Wisconsin produces every decade. For the rest of the talent pool, if the movie "Miracle" hadn't been made, all they would know about the Badgers is that they are coached by a guy who played hockey back when their grandfathers used to play. So when the Badgers pass on them (they don't have room for all of the Gophers' rejects), they don't really get ticked at Wisconsin, because that wasn't their first choice anyway.

Thanks for stopping, BTW. It gets old trading the same facetious insults with Tim.

I think the LIU series gave UW a hangover, UW played a very dull game Saturday, worst of the year by far. Therefore I definitely recommend UM give it a shot.

I'm mot sure what to make of the rest of the post, it's not the most coherent post in the world, like it's missing a quote that is being responded to or something.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

I'm mot sure what to make of the rest of the post, it's not the most coherent post in the world, like it's missing a quote that is being responded to or something.

If you're being serious...

Clearly ARM is responding to NMH. Who, it seems safe to assume, really is Nicole Haase. OK, ARM didn't use the quote feature. But his response to Nicole appears in the very next post.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

If you're being serious...

Clearly ARM is responding to NMH. Who, it seems safe to assume, really is Nicole Haase. OK, ARM didn't use the quote feature. But his response to Nicole appears in the very next post.

The whole motion W/miracle thing just came out of nowhere. Nicole used to post as "TriStarScoop" but yeah it's clearly her.

 

[ARM]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

The whole motion W/miracle thing just came out of nowhere. Nicole used to post as "TriStarScoop" but yeah it's clearly her.

pgb is correct in that my post was just snark intended for Nicole, who is used to putting up with my inane babbling and gaps in logic. When I respond to Nicole, Grant, D2D, or other people that I've met in the "real world", I usually omit the emojis and other signals that I'm joking. Otherwise, it is kind of like a stand-up comic having to say, "I'm going to tell a joke now ..."

As robertearle correctly stated, the hockey talent pool from Wisconsin has made up in quality what it lacks in quantity, as Vetter won a Kaz in the previous decade. My point is that the Badgers don't face rosters on a regular basis where five or ten opposing players grew up cheering for Wisconsin and wanting to be a Badger someday. UW does get a target via all of its success over the years, but playing your hometown team as a visitor with a bunch of family and friends in the stands brings a different type of energy. In the long term, I think that having motivated opponents has served Minnesota well and helped prepare the Gophers for the postseason. In the short term, it can contribute to some costly losses.

 

[Puckdrop14]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

I liked the way Sarah Potomak played in the second game and hope it continues. She looked like her old self. If she hit the net more often, she would triple her goal output but she was definitely on her game. As for Zumwinkle, what else can you say!

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

pgb is correct in that my post was just snark intended for Nicole, who is used to putting up with my inane babbling and gaps in logic. When I respond to Nicole, Grant, D2D, or other people that I've met in the "real world", I usually omit the emojis and other signals that I'm joking. Otherwise, it is kind of like a stand-up comic having to say, "I'm going to tell a joke now ..."

As robertearle correctly stated, the hockey talent pool from Wisconsin has made up in quality what it lacks in quantity, as Vetter won a Kaz in the previous decade. My point is that the Badgers don't face rosters on a regular basis where five or ten opposing players grew up cheering for Wisconsin and wanting to be a Badger someday. UW does get a target via all of its success over the years, but playing your hometown team as a visitor with a bunch of family and friends in the stands brings a different type of energy. In the long term, I think that having motivated opponents has served Minnesota well and helped prepare the Gophers for the postseason. In the short term, it can contribute to some costly losses.

So watt you are saying is that there is a MN reject factor that cranks up the motivation of the jilted rodent wannabees? I can kinda buy that, but they have to have talent in the first place to make an impact. I suspect that many jilted lovers don't have the skills to make their displeasure known on the scoreboard. I certainly do recall Kepler and Skaggs making their displeasure known to UW. I am suspicious that it has led to costly loses when the rodents have made the top 4 on the ncaa tourney just about every year, and that is watt matters the most. Maybe Norby, Bowlby, Steffen, Kotlowski and Blesi can use their rodent rejection to fuel themselves as well. I wonder which rodentettes will use their rejection by UW to fuel their BADger hate?

 

[bluffrinkrat]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

First major article of the season (that I recall) about the Gophers. On the negative side, in the section where they show the schedule for all the major Minnesota sports teams, they've shown the starting time for today's game as 4 PM for the last two weeks. Of course, anyone who went by any of their listed starting times for any game would be very foolish. They probably had the starting times for all four Viking Super Bowls wrong too, but I guess that wouldn't have been all bad.

https://www.twincities.com/2019/10/...4o1XKJAu0I9vR2GOFHzK4rqAI5fsHJ41Rrxkx8GX-8-LQ

 

[captain beefheart]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

Rather than painstakingly perusing my radio dial on my way home from work, I come here to ask what radio station will broadcast today's game? Also, for when I get home, is there a stream I can tap to watch? Thanks!

 

[ARM]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

You know how we sometimes get the strange final score for a game that has yet to be played from one of the on-line sites? Today, I thought there was a little foreshadowing when Zumwinkle scored to make it 2-1 on a feed from Heise after Brown fired a shot into the end boards. The PA announced the scoring as Zumwinkle from Sarah Potomak. I thought it was strange, because I don't remember 26 being near the play and 9 and 26 look nothing alike on the ice, so I wondered why that was the call and why Brown's assist was originally missed. I guess it must have just been a time warp or something, because five minutes into the 3rd, Zumwinkle scored with Sarah getting the assist.

I think both teams can play better. I know that it is just the first weekend of November, but there have been times when they've collided early and it has almost looked like playoff hockey. Today, they tried hard, but there were more errors out there than we often see. I thought the Gophers had more open ice than they're usually afforded, and Amy caused UW more problems than they usually have defending, although she wasn't able to finish. To her credit, Scobee rebounded from giving up far too much of the near post on the first goal against.

As far as skaters, more than anyone else, I think this year's Gophers will go as #12 goes. When she is a force out there, UM will be tough to beat. Wisconsin is great at taking away the team's top threat. Minnesota has been successful over the years when it has had a Brandt or a Wendell who finds a way to be productive anyway.

I'm sure that tomorrow we'll see something different than we saw today. Often, the defeated team bounces back in Game 2, and I expect that the Badgers will. At that point, can the Gophers respond?

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

The 2012/2013 Minnesota Gopher alums would like to say thank you to this year's team for eliminating a serious contender for an undefeated season yesterday.

 

[Leather helmet]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

The 2012/2013 Minnesota Gopher alums would like to say thank you to this year's team for eliminating a serious contender for an undefeated season yesterday.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins still get a little salty whenever they are reminded of that 2013 Gopher team.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

So how did the 3 on 3 look? I don't like it personally, but the UW radio guys seemed enthralled by it. The UW radio guys were suspicious of the play where your goalie's helmet popped off her head when UW had possession and there was quote a delay, like she was buying a rest for her teammates, in OT I believe...comments?