From your description, it sounds like VolleyTalk is much more harsh than what we see here.
Years ago, I worked with a guy who had season tickets for Gopher men's BB who was hoping UM would lose so that Jim Dutcher would be fired. Instead, it was a win in Madison that ultimately cost Dutcher his job, as the team "celebrated" in a manner that got three of them charged with sexual assault and three more kicked off for violating team rules.
It is always wise to zoom out if at any point a fan of GWH starts to want bad things to happen to the program and ask how that came to be. That seems to be where a lot of VolleyTalk posters are when I read that forum. It's probably not true, but their posts sound like they would rather the team would collapse, so that the setter gets benched, the coach gets fired, or some walk-on DS who has been forced into the rotation due to injury will quit the sport.
I don't know that I can ever be quite as positive as osualum86, who sets the gold standard for positivity, but I can certainly do better. Consider 3 Minnesota D ...
I'm very happy for Maggie Nicholson. Playing on the blue line in the WCHA has to be a little like playing cornerback in the NFL. You're out there on an island, matched up against the best in the game, and when you screw up, even people who don't seem to have much understanding of the game seem to notice. And if that mistake causes the goal light to come on (for real, not like the one in Columbus where the goal judge got a little excited when a Buckeye shot caught the inside of the pipe and stayed out), then the fans never forget it. There isn't a set time in a D's career where she settles into the job and starts to feel confident; last season wasn't ideal for building confidence in any Gopher, and especially not a rookie D. So to get that first college goal, get mobbed by teammates, and have it be an important tally that helped swing a critical game, I'm hoping that she went home feeling better about herself last night.
We were pretty hard on Olivia Knowles for a couple of seasons. At times, I think she was battling through injury and illness that hampered her, and if a D is just a half step slow, the successful pinch instead becomes a two-on-one rush heading towards her net. And if she is too passive, the gap grows and opponents can exploit that passivity. Knowles also made huge plays as a Gopher, and I don't know that she's gotten enough credit for those, like taking the shot that resulted in Schammel's winning goal versus Cornell in 2019. She battled hard this weekend, against an opponent that can't be easy to play, because they keep ramping up the pressure when they're behind. She leads the team in blocks, and by a big margin, and I know that I'm not as quick to praise her contributions as I should be.
Part of the reason that we've eased up on the criticism of 24 (also, there isn't much to criticize) is that we're too busy obsessing about every error of Madeline Wethington. We just have to accept that she plays a higher risk/reward style, and there will be some strikeouts to go with the home runs. At least the ratio is better than what the Twins get from Miguel Sano. You need players who are willing to go out there and take a risk to make a big play, have it not work out, but still be willing to try again. I think because she joined UM in a class where she was about the only one who played, she caught an unfair amount of flak. As this season has gone along, she's played better and it has translated into improved results. She's one of those players who can swing the outcome of a game, and we're very lucky to have her.
If you disagree with my assessment of any of these three, at least concede that none of them are getting arrested or costing their coach his job due to how they conduct themselves off the ice.
