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Minnesota Gophers 2024-25

Having to dodge tumbleweeds and listen to a lot of the sound of crickets to revive this thread...

Maybe the tunnelers best game they have played this year tonight at Amsoil areana? My wife commented to me that she didn't hear any cuss words coming from me tonight as I watched the game. She says that is normally not the case. I would agree.

Hey and btw...Maybe someone should point out to tonight's officiating crew what an interference penalty is.
 
I watched on TV and as usual you can't tell much on TV. Anyone actually at the game care to comment on how much Bouveng was playing down the stretch?
 
FiveHoleFrenzy said:
Maybe the tunnelers best game they have played this year tonight at Amsoil areana?
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Other than the very notable exception in the 2022 NCAAs, the Gophers have mostly performed pretty well versus their sister school in the 2020s. Kind of a mirror image of their performance versus tOSU, where other than the WCHA title game in 2023, there haven't been many recent Gopher victories to savor.

I spent the past week plus in an area of the country where both women's college hockey and internet access are hard to find, so I have nothing to add regarding the most recent series.
 
ManBehindTheCurtain said:
I watched on TV and as usual you can't tell much on TV. Anyone actually at the game care to comment on how much Bouveng was playing down the stretch?
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IIRC she had a few short shifts. Maggie Nicholson didn't play after she got probably concussed but she did return to the bench.

I'm really curious (and everyone is mum) about what's happening with Skylar Vetter. A few of our scratches were sitting near me Saturday and I wanted to ask but figured it might have been awkward, so I did not.
 
StPaulSam said:
I'm really curious (and everyone is mum) about what's happening with Skylar Vetter. A few of our scratches were sitting near me Saturday and I wanted to ask but figured it might have been awkward, so I did not.
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I've heard, unofficially, that Vetter has an injury and will be out for an extended period. Weeks, at least. It's admittedly fourth-hand info, but I certainly haven't seen anything to indicate that it's incorrect.
 
ManBehindTheCurtain said:
Feels like crunch time, if they truly are a top 3 team they should be able to handle Saint Cloud at home. Saturday on the Herb Brooks big ice?
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after watching them in Duluth, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about them in Ridder and up in Granite City. They are starting to jell really well.
 
Saint Cloud is a very good team, especially sound defensively. They stay in position on the forecheck and on the backcheck, they are always there. You have to be better than they are if you are going to beat them.

At least for tonight the Gophers were better.

Saint Cloud doesn't have Abbey Murphy and the Gophers do.

A great game by a great player.
 
This result again reinforces the reality that you can't beat Saint Cloud in Saint Cloud every single time you play them there.

This is especially true if Idalski is coaching the Huskies.
 
ManBehindTheCurtain said:
This result again reinforces the reality that you can't beat Saint Cloud in Saint Cloud every single time you play them there.

This is especially true if Idalski is coaching the Huskies.
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there's some terrible voodoo about that place. Could be 300 people in attendance with half of them being gophers and yet the Woofers play like they've got a full house.
 
ManBehindTheCurtain said:
This result again reinforces the reality that you can't beat Saint Cloud in Saint Cloud every single time you play them there.

This is especially true if Idalski is coaching the Huskies.
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While it often has felt that way, the Gophs have done pretty well in St. Cloud over the years. I think that was the first time Idalski has beaten them in the National Concrete Center. IIRC, his other win was in a HS rink for the Hockey Hall of Fame game. So now, he has as many wins over them in that place as Kerry Brodt Wethington did. Although Idalski likely has more H2H wins over UM, regardless of venue, than any of their previous coaches. I'm not sure that anyone else had more than one. Is that 7 wins for SCSU over UM in program history? You can't win 'em all, but you can at least play better.
 
Looks like the BADgers snatched another D from under Frosty's nose in Mackenzie Jones from Andover. Anybody from our friendly neighboring state to the west have any insight into her play?
 
Been impressed with how this team moves the puck lately. They have made some pretty good strides in this area and I like the improvement we have seen in the the ability to move the puck out of their zone with the mobility of the defensemen. They still are scoring challenged beyond the first line so that is a concern but what is not a concern is having #56 in the net. She has been very good.
 
FiveHoleFrenzy said:
Been impressed with how this team moves the puck lately. They have made some pretty good strides in this area and I like the improvement we have seen in the the ability to move the puck out of their zone with the mobility of the defensemen. They still are scoring challenged beyond the first line so that is a concern but what is not a concern is having #56 in the net. She has been very good.
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I absolutely agree with this. I just note that the perceived improvement might be because the most recent games do not feature the other two BigTen teams as opponents. The Gophers should be better than opponents from institutions which are otherwise D2 or lower level D1. And they have been and that IS good.

Clarke has definitely been up to the task. Trying to find a comparison is she the best freshman goaler they have had other than, of course, Noora R?ty.

Saint Thomas year 5 is immeasurably better than Saint Thomas year 1. It is good for women's college hockey if they can get better, I hope for the best for Roseville natives Bethany Brausen and Marty Sertich in this very difficult moment in their coaching careers.
 
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ManBehindTheCurtain said:
Clarke has definitely been up to the task. Trying to find a comparison is she the best freshman goaler they have had other than, of course, Noora R?ty.
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IMO, it's a hard comparison to make with the small sample size for some. E.g., Clarke has already played more than twice the minutes that Lev played in her rookie season, but the latter was statistically perfect, so it is tough to rank her too far behind anyone else. Which Noora do we want to consider: the one before the Olympics, or the one who came back worn down physically/mentally/emotionally? Killewald had the difficulty of playing in an era where the Gophers were often miles ahead of their opponent and then not ready for the teams that were as good or better.

The two seasons to most seriously consider would be 2001-02 and 2005-06, when the bulk of the playing time went to rookie duos. Horak and Reinen got the Gophers into the Frozen Four as the top seed, but they, like their team, ran out of magic once there. Chartier took UM to the title game as a rookie, but she was losing the starting spot to Hanlon until the latter was hurt in the WCHA Final.

Clarke is at least in the conversation, but goalie reputations aren't made in the fall.
 
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