Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I agree 5mn Major. Our 3rd and 4th lines right now are pretty average at best.

Also remember last year Ambroz scored a bunch of empty net goals (like 4 or 5). So he had what, 5 goals or so against a goalie,congrats. We need C reilly Ambroz Lettieri to step up in Boyd's absence. And Isackson, what a waste he turned out to be, who's swing and a miss recruit was that?

 

[Hammy]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Ambroz hasn't done a thing without Boyd. In fact, Boyd had 3 goals/1 assist in his 5 games when he was not with Amboz (which was very hard to do as he was paired with him). And 1 assist when he was with him.

Those are also special teams situations on those points you are focused on. Obviously those are more favorable situations to score in general (on the PP that is) so I am not sure pointing out that they were done "away from" Ambroz is entirely a fair way to look at it. Ambroz/Boyd were pretty solid last year on the same line for a lot of the season. If Travis was doing that scoring you mentioned in 5x5 with other linemates, I think that point would be more valid on pointing at Ambroz. No doubt Boyd is the key driver on that line though. Both wingers need to do more than they have but missing Boyd hurts that line as a scoring threat. I'll be happy when he is back.

I agree 5mn Major. Our 3rd and 4th lines right now are pretty average at best.

Also remember last year Ambroz scored a bunch of empty net goals (like 4 or 5). So he had what, 5 goals or so against a goalie,congrats. We need C reilly Ambroz Lettieri to step up in Boyd's absence. And Isackson, what a waste he turned out to be, who's swing and a miss recruit was that?

Ambroz had 4 ENGs out of 14 goals total. That still means he had double digit goals under "regular" circumstances. No argument that he (and a few others) need to step it up though.

Isackson was recruited during the John Hill era. As was Michaelson. Those two guys are not helping the cause at all... definite whiffs there.

 

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I don't understand people calling out the 4th line. They were arguably the most consistent line against Notre Dame all weekend, and while I didn't see Friday's game against Duluth (sounds like EVERYONE played badly) on Saturday they were again very solid and very consistent. Duluth scored a PP goal and a goal against Rau's line. So what exactly is the gripe here? That the 4th line didn't outscore the other 3 ahead of them?

This was a frustrating weekend with bad results, but I can handle that loss on Saturday. The Gophers gave up a goal in the first 30 seconds, but for 55 minutes and 30 seconds that was 2 real good teams playing to a 1-1 tie. Those are the kind of games that makes teams better and individual players better. You could actually see Glover maturing as that game went on.

Hopefully this past weekend sticks in their craw, but excuse me if I'm not overly "concerned" about this team. Getting Boyd back will make those guys on the 3rd line better and the 4th line is shaping up to be exactly what the team needs them to be. When Skjei gets healthy we are going to be back to making tough decisions on who plays and who sits on defence, and some of the guys sitting will have talent AND a bit of experience after this stint without Skjei. And Wilcox is still Wilcox.

Sometimes it seems like folks expect MN to go undefeated. Look back at MN's game-by-game record in both 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. There were losses, and entire weekends, in both of those seasons that were disappointing. Hell, look back to last season when MN was swept by a Badger team that was, in my opinion, not playing as good of hockey as Duluth is playing right now. I don't like seeing the Gophers lose, but you gotta be pragmatic in your view and see the season as a process.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Sometimes it seems like folks expect MN to go undefeated.

Well.....of course. This IS the Gophers.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

At least I haven't heard any talk about this weekend being one or two of our top 5 worse losses.

No doubt this was one of the top five sweeps in a November 14th and 15th Home-and-home series when the Gophs came in rated number ONE and temperatures were below normal and the Gophs had 3 brothers playing on the team! Probably the worst ever!

 

[mnstate0fhockey]

Well.....of course. This IS the Gophers.

If they lose one or two early games a season, that's ok.

Can't be unreasonable

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

1. Gophs aren't lacking depth. Who in the country has more? Missing Boyd brings them down to the level of most 3rd lines, not a liability.
2. Ambroz played better last year than this, and not just because of who was around him. He's not bad, just under-performing so far. Didn't he start slow last year?
3. While Hill is the source of all past evil, I do seem to remember seeing articles about Michealson, being projected to be a college star when he committed, then just seemed to plateau big time.
4. I did say D would be younger so would take a step back, for at least of the beginning of the year. Just expected O to make a step forward.
5.Can't remember what I read here and what on GPL, so may respond to something not on USCHO.
6. Still don't think Isaackson is horrible as a 3rd/4th liner. He is a little slow, and sometimes slow to decide what to do with the puck, but does better than a lot at coming away from the boards with the puck and occasionally makes that play you didn't expect. Compared to other Gophers, not great. On many other teams, would be a solid 3rd liner.
7. Raise your hand if you are still actually reading this.
8. Did Scooby drop his glass this weekend and give up on the rating?
9. Agree with Stauber that 4th line is fine for what should be expected.
10. What seems worse, a loss where the team doesn't show versus one where they compete and lose based on luck by the other team depends on which occurred most recently. Right now feels like lack of effort is worst loss.
11. Still say I haven't seen that extended period of several shifts of intensity where I told myself this team is for real. Plenty early in the season, but should have had some flashes of potential by now given talent level.
12. Still waiting for Bridstedt to live up to pre-season billing.
13. Need more cowbells.
14. Fasching picked it up a little this weekend. Few shifts where he just dominated a few bulldogs by himself.
15. Would like to see a little more goal scoring from Cammie, as I had expected this year.

 

[Bonin21]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I was awfully close to stopping reading when you said Isackson would be a solid 3rd liner, but I suppose if it were the badgers...

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

14. Fasching picked it up a little this weekend. Few shifts where he just dominated a few bulldogs by himself.

In particular, I thought he really stood out on Friday as our best forward, in large part due to the effort he gave. All the other forwards could have used more cowbells, or something.

 

[Hammy]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I can tell you this much... if MG had been here, Michaelson likely would not be. Of course, nothing like that will ever be said publicly now but years ago, I know that MG was not particularly high on Michaelson's game. Don't assume just because a guy gets hype in the paper that it is a bellwether for how coaches feel. Hill didn't totally suck at prospect evaluation. But he sucked at it enough to hurt us.

 

[Hammy]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

As for the 4th line... as Lucia has said over the years, you have to bring something to the table other than just eating up shifts.

You want to know how many points our 4th line has provided us thus far? ZERO. Nada. Nothing. Not one freaking point. That is terrible. Absolutely terrible.

Nobody expects huge offensive production out of those 4th liners... but how about something (anything?) to help pitch in?

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

As for the 4th line... as Lucia has said over the years, you have to bring something to the table other than just eating up shifts.

You want to know how many points our 4th line has provided us thus far? ZERO. Nada. Nothing. Not one freaking point. That is terrible. Absolutely terrible.

Nobody expects huge offensive production out of those 4th liners... but how about something (anything?) to help pitch in?

Hard to have a positive plus/minus if you never score.

 

[Bonin21]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Hard to have a positive plus/minus if you never score.

What does +/- have to do with anything? Other than them having no points obviously resulting in poor +/-.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

What does +/- have to do with anything? Other than them having no points obviously resulting in poor +/-.

Just trying to point out that, realistically, the primary goal of most 4th lines should be to prevent the opposing matched line(s) from scoring. If those assigned to that 4th line have a cumulative +/- of at least even, they've done their job. Anything better than that, in the plus category, would exceed expectations.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

The bloodletting here is phenomenal.

 

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

6. Still don't think Isaackson is horrible as a 3rd/4th liner.

Koho - #6 on your list should be removed

Isackson is horrible and should be sitting in the stands or on Jan Brady's bench as a Gopher reject. Ever see him pass just once when he should? Nope let's hang onto the puck until the play is no more and then get it stripped away, and continue to do this for the last 3 years. Brilliant

Edit: Even if we were 10-0 I would still think he sucks.

 

[gopher wes]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Koho - #6 on your list should be removed

Isackson is horrible and should be sitting in the stands or on Jan Brady's bench as a Gopher reject. Ever see him pass just once when he should? Nope let's hang onto the puck until the play is no more and then get it stripped away, and continue to do this for the last 3 years. Brilliant

Edit: Even if we were 10-0 I would still think he sucks.

LOL! My brother always says "Isackson NEVER passes...."

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

So what should we expect from the USA Under-18 team in the exhibition matchup on Friday night? Looking at their results so far [ http://www.usantdp.com/schedule/team_instance/864241?subseason=173024 ] it appears they're very competitive with the D1 teams they've played so far, with a 3-0 win over Miami and close games against the likes of Providence, BU and Cornell. They also won the U18 Four Nations Tournament earlier this month with a 4-0 record.

I would expect Lucia to give Lehr and maybe Coyne some ice time, so how they fare is pretty much anyone's guess, but it's safe to say I think that if they play the whole game the score will likely be closer than it would be with Wilcox in goal.

For those interested here's a link to the USA team's player stats: http://www.usantdp.com/stats/team_i...4&tab=team_instance_player_stats&tool=1124618

I'm probably in the minority but I've always enjoyed going to these types of exhibition games to see different styles of play and roster makeups, in this case an older, more experienced team vs. a younger squad with all kinds of potential.

 

[trixR4kids]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I don't understand people calling out the 4th line. They were arguably the most consistent line against Notre Dame all weekend, and while I didn't see Friday's game against Duluth (sounds like EVERYONE played badly) on Saturday they were again very solid and very consistent. Duluth scored a PP goal and a goal against Rau's line. So what exactly is the gripe here? That the 4th line didn't outscore the other 3 ahead of them?

5 min penalties in each game out of the two 4th liners is definitely an issue. I have no problem with calling out the first line or really any line/player outside of Wilcox that last weekend. The problem is those two penalties were avoidable and while the timing of the first wasn't quite as detrimental as the 2nd, it's still worth mentioning as I believe CI was out for the 2nd game because of it (and even if he wasn't it's still bad and worthy of a mention).

This was a frustrating weekend with bad results, but I can handle that loss on Saturday. The Gophers gave up a goal in the first 30 seconds, but for 55 minutes and 30 seconds that was 2 real good teams playing to a 1-1 tie. Those are the kind of games that makes teams better and individual players better. You could actually see Glover maturing as that game went on.

The score was slightly better but that's about it. They were outshot and outplayed for the majority of that game and that was with a fairly even penalty differential. Wilcox was the main reason the score was closer than it was Friday. I do think the Gophers were slightly better in that one but IDK if I agree with the overall assertion here.

That said, I agree with the latter part of your post. It's a long season and even some of the best Gopher teams got swept including the '79 Gophers. No reason to be overly concerned yet.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I'm probably in the minority but I've always enjoyed going to these types of exhibition games to see different styles of play and roster makeups, in this case an older, more experienced team vs. a younger squad with all kinds of potential.

Not an indication, IMO, b/c the older teams don't treat this as a real game. They use their backups/etc the whole time. Doesn't show what the team is really capable of. Some teams play players that will never see the ice in the regular season. Fine for exhibition, but too many people read too much into these types of games.