What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Minnesota Gophers 2022-23

Did Bemidji think that they were playing the game with men's rules? The were quite good at cross checking players in the front of the net and body checking along the boards.

ManBehindTheCurtain mentioned Nicholson's absence. Does anyone know if she has injury issues (which she had last year as well)?
 
Still Eeyore said:
I'm higher on the defense than others are. It's not the strength of the team, but it's going to be perfectly adequate to put them in serious national title contention, given the quality of the offense.
Click to expand...
When I question the defense, it is all six players on the ice at once. What they have right now is enough to contend (assuming that we consider them a contender last year), but in the years where they've won, they have been better than adequate. They have to trust their goalie, the forwards have to backcheck hard, the D have to avoid the glaring turnovers while keeping the net front clean. The offense can get the attention, like in 2005 or 2013, but everybody has to be committed to keeping the puck out of their net. What should help that is players are going to have to play hard or risk not play as much or at all, depending on their role. It definitely is a deep bunch, barring injuries.

Still Eeyore said:
Of the newcomers, Norton is going to be a welcome addition on the blueline. Both Europeans impressed me tonight. Bouveng had three Grade A chances. She didn't finish any of them, but, if she keeps getting to those spots, the goals will come. Laitinen made some very nice passes. Her assist on Murphy's first power play goal, delivering the puck right to Murphy's stick as she cut in front of the net, was gorgeous.
Click to expand...
The question on #11 and #7 shouldn't involve skating or doing things with the puck; both will be fine. Can they stand the rigors of the WCHA without being overpowered or worn down? Might depend on how much prior weight training they've had. Bouveng has nice vision and looks like she can give us a dangerous third line, as she and Hemp in particular seem like they could develop chemistry.

Frost said last week that Lindsay and Dunne were injured, but he didn't mention Nicholson. He has seemed to like Connor as a PKer, so she was dressed, presumably for that role, but then we didn't have to do PKing last night. The refs must have forgotten the marbles that they use to keep track, so maybe we will just spend most of today in the box.
 
ARM said:
When I question the defense, it is all six players on the ice at once. What they have right now is enough to contend (assuming that we consider them a contender last year), but in the years where they've won, they have been better than adequate. They have to trust their goalie, the forwards have to backcheck hard, the D have to avoid the glaring turnovers while keeping the net front clean. The offense can get the attention, like in 2005 or 2013, but everybody has to be committed to keeping the puck out of their net. What should help that is players are going to have to play hard or risk not play as much or at all, depending on their role. It definitely is a deep bunch, barring injuries.
Click to expand...

This is an example of one of my problems with a lot of Gopher fans. They look at the 2012-16 teams and see a template for what a successful team should look like, rather than seeing an outlier of a historic dynasty that isn't going to be repeated. In their minds, any team that falls short of that ideal is deficient. The fact that you feel the need to cast doubt on last year's team being a contender, which they absolutely were, is telling.

This team isn't going to play defense as well as those teams did. They don't have to play defense as well as those teams did to be one of the favorites for the national title. They don't have to do anything as well as the 2012-13 team to be a contender, though I think he offense this year will challenge it. I watched the defense play this weekend, and think that it is adequate to the task, to which your response is essentially to equate "adequate" with "mediocre." This team is going to be really good. Unlike most of the dynasty teams, they are not the favorite to win the national title, but no one is the favorite. No team in the country right now looks head and shoulders better than every other team. Too many teams have gotten better over the last several years for there to be one that stands out. Among the very good teams at the top, the Gophers have as good a chance to have everything come together and win it all as anyone else.
 
People who are really worried about this team's overall defense should go watch the last 30 minutes of yesterday's game. Bemidji tied it a 1 apiece 1:34 into the period. They then played the best period of hockey I've seen the Beavers play in years. And yet, the 13 shots BSU had at the 10 minute mark of the period turned into a game total of 16, and just 1 in the third period. They were never a real threat to take the lead.

Sure, Bemidji isn't Wisconsin or Ohio State, though they were much more aggressive than BSU teams in the past, especially on the penalty kill. But Minnesota has the ability to just clamp down on a game and strangle it. They probably won't exercise it all the time, as their focus is going to be on offense, but it's there when they decide that it's what they want to do.
 
Still Eeyore said:
This is an example of one of my problems with a lot of Gopher fans. They look at the 2012-16 teams and see a template for what a successful team should look like, rather than seeing an outlier of a historic dynasty that isn't going to be repeated. In their minds, any team that falls short of that ideal is deficient. The fact that you feel the need to cast doubt on last year's team being a contender, which they absolutely were, is telling.
Click to expand...
I'm not casting doubt. You chose to jump to a negative conclusion, that wasn't what I said. Beyond that, feel free to have any problems that you like with what I say, real or, as in this case, imagined.

The current Minnesota team has talent on par with any Gophers team I can remember. Some years, those talented teams won. In seasons like 1998-99, 2002-03, 2008-09, 2018-19, they didn't. The 2011-12 team was an example of a team that figured out how to win games that it had lost in the past. This team is in a similar predicament, as its players haven't earned a lot of tournament hardware, and they'll need a different outcome to send those who are in their final season out on a high note. Like last year, the top of this league and much of the ECAC are loaded, so even doing everything well may not be enough to produce a championship.
 
The Gophers are loaded. If one or both of the goalers can continue to play up to the level of the skaters this team is going to be very difficult for everyone else.
 
ManBehindTheCurtain said:
The Gophers are loaded. If one or both of the goalers can continue to play up to the level of the skaters this team is going to be very difficult for everyone else.
Click to expand...

Vetter did a nice job when she was tested in this afternoon's game.

#28 (Norton) has been a nice addition to the Gopher defense as has #7 (Laitinen). Also good to have #6 back in the lineup this year as well.
 
After scoring the first fourteen goals of the series, the Gophers got sloppy in the second period and allowed MSU back into the game. It never felt like they were in any danger of losing, despite the Mavericks twice closing the lead to a single goal, because there was never any sense that MSU could keep Minnesota from scoring more than enough goals to stay ahead. They played a lot better in the third, holding MSU to four shots while scoring as many goals. Skyler Vetter played the final seventeen minutes without having to make any saves.

Four games into her college career, Nelli Laitinen may be the best defenseman on the roster. She has five points, including a couple of beautiful passes for assists. She's also very steady at the other end. She was very good as the only player back against several 2-on-1 rushes, with a good sense of when to attack the puck carrier.

Abbey Murphy has breathtaking talent and creates a lot of offense. She's also a dirty player. Today's game got very chippy over the second half, and it started when she slashed Lauren Barbro in th chest well after Barbro had secured the puck. Gui Bradshaw and Christopher Binkley deserve a good deal of blame for not calling this in the midst of one of the worst weekends of officiating I can remember. But this is not the first incident she's caused.
 
Murphy's been talked about before. This lineup is so deep the option is there for management to issue an ultimatum. Clean it up or ride some pine.

If #7 is potentially their best defensemen and #28 close behind does it follow that #5 gets less ice time? I would be on board with that.

Mikayla Pahl didn't play particularly well. I think she would like to have a couple of the Landcow's goals back.
 
FiveHoleFrenzy said:
If #7 is potentially their best defensemen and #28 close behind does it follow that #5 gets less ice time? I would be on board with that.
Click to expand...

Norton isn't the second best defenseman on the team. That's Hengler. Some mollusks skate faster, but she makes up for the lack of speed with great positioning, and she has fabulous hands. I'm also not as down on Wethington as everyone else seems to be.

The defenders that struggled yesterday were Ostertag and E. Zumwinkle.

Mikayla Pahl didn't play particularly well. I think she would like to have a couple of the Landcow's goals back.
Click to expand...

All but the third were various gradations of soft, but she didn't get a lot of help on any of them, either. On the first, Zumwinkle got caught in no man's land and left the passing lane to Paddington open; Pahl had to slide from one side to the other, and it left the five hole open. Ostertag got turned inside out on the second and a 1-on-1 entry turned into a semi-breakaway. The third was a nice stop followed by no one being between Shearen and the rebound. The fourth was, again, a defensive breakdown and then a very weak attempt at a save. I thought pulling her at that point was a good call, though, since MSU had zero shots after that, it didn't have much practical effect.

Again, when this team concentrates, they can play lockdown defense, and they seem to be pretty good about taking over third periods.
 
Last edited:
Still Eeyore said:
Norton isn't the second best defenseman on the team. That's Hengler. Some mollusks skate faster, but she makes up for the lack of speed with great positioning, and she has fabulous hands. I'm also not as down on Wethington as everyone else seems to be.
Click to expand...

Maybe...Maybe not. But I like #28's skating and mobility better. You acknowledge Hengler's lack of speed (and don't acknowledge her lack of conditiong).

Who is this Wethington you mention? Could that possibly be Worthington you are not as down on?
 
#5, with whatever name you want to call her, is All-WCHA, so she has her supporters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top