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Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

5mn_Major said:
Some folks seemed to see some posters as jumping off a cliff and others that were as cool as a cucumber. I just see a bunch of solid fans who always want to see Gopher hockey.
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With all of the talent we have returning - NO losses to the pros - combined with some huge potential guys coming in, this season in particular should be really exciting. If you are going to "splurge" and see a few games in person, this SHOULD be a great year to do it. I will try to keep my expectations in check... ;)
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

D2D said:
With all of the talent we have returning - NO losses to the pros - combined with some huge potential guys coming in, this season in particular should be really exciting. If you are going to "splurge" and see a few games in person, this SHOULD be a great year to do it. I will try to keep my expectations in check... ;)
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Exactly the reason that this would be the most frustrating year to see a drop in the number of games televised for those of us not in the area to catch them live.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Brenthoven said:
The MN Womans' games are free, and decent quality.

And for the price of a men's ticket (plus parking, etc)...I'll listen on the radio.
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With a small amount of walking to and from the arena, you can usually park in the neighborhoods by Blarney and whatnot for free.

Heck, I used to live just on the other side of 35W from campus and on football gamedays we would see people parking over there all the time and we would always walk to hockey games from there. It wasn't thaaaaaaaat bad even in the dead of winter.

D2D said:
I know of some fans who became fans of the women's team, because for them it was so much more affordable. Tickets are just $8 for adults, $5 for seniors (compared to $35 for the men's games!). You can usually sit wherever you want at Ridder, as it's typically only about half full (exceptions are for Wisconsin, UND and MN-Duluth, in that order - and playoff games. For NCAA Regionals you'll likely be relegated to a general admission bench seat, and to get a good one you'll need to get there a little early. They've sold out on a few occasions in the past...

I go to as many of the women's home games as I can, but unless there's a death or marriage in the family I also go to ALL of the men's games! Can't beat the atmosphere at Mariucci and seeing the games live...so much better than TV and WAY better than internet streaming, even with a super fast connection.
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We used to stop by for regular season women's games and (even though I'm not a student) I would say I forgot my ID and they would just wave me in.

Last year was the first year in a awhile that I think I watched more games on TV than I went to live. We used to go to literally every Friday home game and I miss it, but I had a hook up for student tickets that is no longer and my brother graduated from the U last January and doesn't live down there any more. It used to be so easy to just drive down after work and meet at his place right after work and then go over to the arena.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

All gametimes on gophersports.com are still listed as "TBA". I assume the delay is solely due to television broadcast rights not being ironed out yet? :rolleyes:
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Just wish I knew when the first televised game is, so I could start to count the days....
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Received my season tix and there isn't a single game time published on any of them...

That makes it easy to plan! At least I should be happy they actually have dates and location.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Thanks big ten. You used to be able to count on Friday Saturday 7:00 pm. It was amazing
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

D2D said:
Good reading while you're trying to count the days:

Former Gophers infiltrate the Wild roster
http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/275906221.html
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Is a good article. I think its fine including other regional school players as well. It helps the Wild's approach to extend it.

Depending how this Wild strategy works out...the general approach could end up being a professional sports case study on how to increase recruitment potency and generate player enthusiasm by using local ties.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

5mn_Major said:
Is a good article. I think its fine including other regional school players as well. It helps the Wild's approach to extend it.

Depending how this Wild strategy works out...the general approach could end up being a professional sports case study on how to increase recruitment potency and generate player enthusiasm by using local ties.
Click to expand...

You gotta figure Wild attendance is a big part of the equation (not sure what you meant by 'recruitment potency'). If you have 2 players of about equal skill to choose from, take the native Minnesotan and you'll have more fan interest from fans who are not primarily NHL fans. I became a Stars fan the year Neal Broten and other young players took the Stars to the Cup finals. Before that, it was all High School and College hockey for me. I somewhat followed teams like the Ranger when they had a lot of former collegians in the past. Even now, when two NHL teams meet in the playoffs that I have no connection to, I tend to lean toward the one with more former collegians. hope the Wild continue the trend.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Agree 100% with Koho, although I don't get super emotionally involved with the Wild until the Gophers' season is over.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

D2D said:
Agree 100% with Koho, although I don't get super emotionally involved with the Wild until the Gophers' season is over.
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I agree. But Wild is a nice filler between Gopher games, especially with more MN players on team.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

I don't get emotionally involved with the Wild until the playoffs. I'm a bandwagon fan. *shrug*
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Slap Shot said:
I'm kind of the same, but don't consider it bandwagon so much as residual pain from the North Stars leaving.
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Not a big Norm Green fan I assume? ;)

Anyone remember when the Gophers and North Stars used to have exhibition games at the Met? If memory serves the Gophs held their own on more than one occasion...
Of course today it would be a totally different situation, but back then it was always very interesting.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Koho said:
You gotta figure Wild attendance is a big part of the equation (not sure what you meant by 'recruitment potency').
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That's the genius of the strategy (assuming it can be extended). The obvious benefit is that fans are much more excited to see players increasing attendance. But another more subtle factor is potentially even more powerful. Pro sports players are mercenaries these days. Just playing for a paycheck and with their enthusiasm bound to fade. Year after year getting traded to yet another market to play for a paycheck. I have no doubt that they want to play for much more. So these players with MN hold out for the Wild to have a chance to come home to play for the same kind of pride in the state that they played for years ago in college. Its the 'we're getting the band back together' syndrome. Its a theory...but Parise, Suter, Vanek, etc. all had a chance to make more elsewhere but wanted to come to MN. Who knows how many other Minnesotans who would happily take less money to leave Nashville, Columbus to come home and play for the state again?
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

5mn_Major said:
That's the genius of the strategy (assuming it can be extended). The obvious benefit is that fans are much more excited to see players increasing attendance. But another more subtle factor is potentially even more powerful. Pro sports players are mercenaries these days. Just playing for a paycheck and with their enthusiasm bound to fade. Year after year getting traded to yet another market to play for a paycheck. I have no doubt that they want to play for much more. So these players with MN hold out for the Wild to have a chance to come home to play for the same kind of pride in the state that they played for years ago in college. Its the 'we're getting the band back together' syndrome. Its a theory...but Parise, Suter, Vanek, etc. all had a chance to make more elsewhere but wanted to come to MN. Who knows how many other Minnesotans who would happily take less money to leave Nashville, Columbus to come home and play for the state again?
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"But Suter is from WI...?"
"Never mind, he's on a roll..."

I see your point. My guess is that rather than the option to be more than mere mercenaries, the decision to take less money to play here was to be mercenaries who slept at the homes their wives wanted to be in. So a better Wild strategy might be to get Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane, Subban and Toews to marry Native MN women with strong family ties to the Cities.....
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

dxmnkd316 said:
I don't get emotionally involved with the Wild until the playoffs. I'm a bandwagon fan. *shrug*
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I am somewhat of a fan. I think the NHL efforts to reduce obstruction has made some improvements to the game. The Wild having former NCAA players has helped my interest. And the skill and intensity level of playoff hockey when you have a close game is pretty fricken' impressive. I may have past the point last year that I would rather watch two unfamiliar NHL teams in a playoff game than two college teams I know little about in a regular season game.
 
Re: Minnesota Gophers Offseason Thread 2014 - Quick, Reload!

Koho said:
"But Suter is from WI...?"

I see your point. My guess is that rather than the option to be more than mere mercenaries, the decision to take less money to play here was to be mercenaries who slept at the homes their wives wanted to be in. So a better Wild strategy might be to get Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane, Subban and Toews to marry Native MN women with strong family ties to the Cities.....
Click to expand...

Said Minnesota...but this team is really a team based on the old WCHA. Believe what you will but Parise, Suter and now Vanek all gladly took a hit in the wallet to the Wild, to come for something more. I wouldn't be surprised if it continues with other regional ex college players.
 
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