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Minnesota Gophers 2022-23

Felt like playoff hockey...

As Still Eyeore said, 3-1 felt about right although Minnesota definitely left some offense on the table with hit posts and near misses. As was said, Soderberg played well for UMD. UMD just doesn't quite have the star power that the Minnesota has. UMD did a pretty decent job on Minnesota's 1st line but the second line for Minnesota was a handful for them.
 
Still Eeyore said:
If the Gophers play like they did today over the next five games, they're going to run away with the WCHA regular season title. There are reasons to be skeptical that they actually can play that well for six straight games, but they were really good.
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There are two things that concern me about your first sentence, in addition to your second sentence. The first is having watched UMD play tOSU head to head. While both were excellent defensively, and the Bulldogs were even a slight touch better, they just weren't all that dangerous offensively, while the Buckeyes definitely are, especially on the PP. The second is that Muzzy's teams are great at doing enough damage during 10 minutes of a game where they've been outplayed for the other 50 minutes to come away with a win. Badger wins typically will have many minutes of on-ice domination that culminates in a wide-open player shooting the puck over an open net. tOSU gets four dangerous chances and scores on three of them.
 
ARM said:
There are two things that concern me about your first sentence, in addition to your second sentence. The first is having watched UMD play tOSU head to head. While both were excellent defensively, and the Bulldogs were even a slight touch better, they just weren't all that dangerous offensively, while the Buckeyes definitely are, especially on the PP. The second is that Muzzy's teams are great at doing enough damage during 10 minutes of a game where they've been outplayed for the other 50 minutes to come away with a win. Badger wins typically will have many minutes of on-ice domination that culminates in a wide-open player shooting the puck over an open net. tOSU gets four dangerous chances and scores on three of them.
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On the other hand, the Bulldogs required goaltending better than I think either Wisconsin or Ohio State can reasonably expect to get to keep the score close, and even so, it took Zumwinkle having a miserable day shooting the puck. If the Gophers play like they did, I like their chances to beat anyone in the country.

I do deeply resent this conversation, as I may have to change my screen name to Still Pooh. Bother.
 
Still Eeyore said:
I do deeply resent this conversation, as I may have to change my screen name to Still Pooh.
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You can claim that you were just deferring to my turn to be negative. Watching the Gophers parade to the PB, I'm sure you will get your chance to be down on them soon enough.
 
ARM said:
You can claim that you were just deferring to my turn to be negative. Watching the Gophers parade to the PB, I'm sure you will get your chance to be down on them soon enough.
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It was a nasty game all around. Both teams could have been called for significantly more penalties than they were. I don't know what it was, but something set off Madelaine Wethington in the second period, as, in quick succession, she picked up an interference penalty that Crowell challenged as being contact to the head (which isn't really conclusive in the replay), could have been called for snowing the goalie when she came out, and then was sent back to the box for running Soderberg.

The box score shows Murphy picking up two penalties. Both of them might not have been called if it was anyone else, which is one of the dangers of developing this sort of reputation. At the game, the refs also called her for roughing at the final whistle, which would have been deserved for bouncing Rogge's head off the glass, but the box score has it switched to Clara Van Wieren, who probably deserves a suspension for the check from behind she delivered in retaliation.

UMD scored on their final two power plays of the weekend. Prior to that, Minnesota Power should have demanded its money back for sponsoring their power play. I work for an electric utility, and I'd have been embarrassed at the amount of power on display.
 
Well, Minnesota won't string together six games in which they play as well as they did yesterday, because they didn't string together two of them. However, Emma Soderberg also didn't play as well, so it evened out. If it had been a game of Clue, the answer would have been: Peyton Hemp, from the right face-off dot, through the five hole.

The rest of the Bulldogs played better. They weren't as stymied by the Gopher forecheck, and they created a lot more chances of their own. Today, I was worried that UMD would tie it up at the end.

Taylor Heise had no points on the weekend, but she was fabulous. I've been watching this team for 13 years now, and she's one of the three best Gopher forwards in that time, along with Kessel and Brandt. I'm not sure that she's third on that list.

Coming into the weekend, Ohio State had an edge in the remaining schedule because of this Minnesota series against UMD, while the Buckeyes played MSU. With the Gophers taking all six points up in Duluth, it's now the Gophers that have a slight edge, since both of their series in the upcoming round robin between the top three teams (by standings) in the WCHA are at home, while OSU goes on the road for both. I'm not sure that home ice actually means that much in this league, but it can't hurt.
 
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Still Eeyore said:
It was a nasty game all around. Both teams could have been called for significantly more penalties than they were. I don't know what it was, but something set off Madelaine Wethington in the second period, as, in quick succession, she picked up an interference penalty that Crowell challenged as being contact to the head (which isn't really conclusive in the replay), could have been called for snowing the goalie when she came out, and then was sent back to the box for running Soderberg.

The box score shows Murphy picking up two penalties. Both of them might not have been called if it was anyone else, which is one of the dangers of developing this sort of reputation. At the game, the refs also called her for roughing at the final whistle, which would have been deserved for bouncing Rogge's head off the glass, but the box score has it switched to Clara Van Wieren, who probably deserves a suspension for the check from behind she delivered in retaliation.

UMD scored on their final two power plays of the weekend. Prior to that, Minnesota Power should have demanded its money back for sponsoring their power play. I work for an electric utility, and I'd have been embarrassed at the amount of power on display.
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1. I think it was 8 whose head got bounced.
2. Not sure the comment about the power play.
Umd was 2/8, 25%
U of M 1/6 16%

3. Both 5 and 18 are very cheap players. I would think a team with all that skill wouldn’t play so cheap.
 
HockeyGuy362 said:
1. I think it was 8 whose head got bounced.
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Looking carefully, you are correct. The play-by-play guy said it was Rogge, but it was actually Danielle Burgen.


2. Not sure the comment about the power play.
Umd was 2/8, 25%
U of M 1/6 16%
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I said, "Prior to that, Minnesota Power should have demanded its money back for sponsoring their power play." UMD scored on its last two power plays of the weekend. Before that, it was dreadful. Unbelievably bad. On Friday, the Gophers outshot the Bulldogs 2-1 on Duluth's power plays. They weren't any better in the first 28 minutes today. Meanwhile, Minnesota generated a ton of chances on their power plays. Only one went in, and it wasn't one of the five best chances they had.

3. Both 5 and 18 are very cheap players. I would think a team with all that skill wouldn’t play so cheap.
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Anyone here will tell you that I agree on Murphy. She's cheap. She taunts. She whines. This was very out of character for Wethington. As I said, something set her off in the second period, and I don't know what it was.
 
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Still Eeyore said:
I said, "Prior to that, Minnesota Power should have demanded its money back for sponsoring their power play." UMD scored on its last two power plays of the weekend. Before that, it was dreadful. Unbelievably bad. On Friday, the Gophers outshot the Bulldogs 2-1 on Duluth's power plays. They weren't any better in the first 28 minutes today. Meanwhile, Minnesota generated a ton of chances on their power plays. Only one went in, and it wasn't one of the five best chances they had.



Anyone here will tell you that I agree on Murphy. She's cheap. She taunts. She whines. This was very out of character for Wethington. As I said, something set her off in the second period, and I don't know what it was.
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Okay. Now I get what you were saying.
 
Still Eeyore said:
I'm not sure that home ice actually means that much in this league, but it can't hurt.
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The muzzinator has a winning record against the Tunnelers at Ridder since the 2017/2018 season.

Peyton Hemp scoring twice on Emma Soderberg looked like the fix was in...Does Hemp have something on Soderberg?
 
Still Eeyore said:
On Wethington, she's a heavy minutes defenseman who, coming into today, had a total of six penalty minutes all season.
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IMO, she likely deserved the 2 minutes for spraying the goalie, but she was checked into Soderberg on the play where she was called a bit later. In any case, those were not good plays by her to put herself into those positions. The cost/benefit analysis would show that her value to the team does not come via her charging down the slot. Versus the Gophers this year, UMD was dangerous on the PP but not all that dangerous otherwise, so it should be emphasized to stay out of the box and protect the lead. Don't help the opponent.

In any case, a better result than I was expecting, so I'm happy to get the six points and move on. Big series from the 3rd line.
 
The 6 game difficult schedule...So far halfway through, 3-0 getting 9 out of 9 possible points. Not too shabby.

(Feels like there's crickets chirping in this thread after a game like tonight's.)
 
Wisconsin still not mathematically eliminated but realistically almost impossible for them to win the regular season title from where they and the others are now. Down to just the top two, tomorrow is a really big game.
 
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