Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Well it would be interesting to look at the whole team. Pre-season the vibe was the Gophs had more depth than anyone, with a third line that could be #2 on a lot of teams and a forth better than some 3rds. Now they are suddenly a two line team and the 3rd and 4th are to blame. But I think the expectation would be that all the players would improve with maturity. Has anyone looked at a projection of the top lines and how each player's pace compares to last year? I have a feeling there isn't a lot of improvement throughout. Skjei and Bischoff seem to play consistently better than last year, but that just helps balance out that the D lost experience and doesn't affect the offense a lot. Other than that, I don't feel like many players really made as big of a step as I had hoped/expected. For example, I thought Mike Reilly would just stand out about every game clearly as one of the top few D in the country, much like Leopold and or even Schmidt in his last year, taking control of games when on the ice. He is very good, but I don't feel like he has taken over play at times like those players, at least anymore than he did last season. I don't feel like Cammerata, despite his assists has made a huge jump. He has proven he can score a lot of goals in the past. I realize he excels at passing and is more consistent this year, but would like to see more goals. Even Fasching, up until last weekend, where he was one of the few really trying to make things happen and had a few dominating shifts, I don't think has been as dominant on the puck as I thought he might be. Maybe last weekend was the start for him.
I think through most of the team, has not shown much of a step up from last year, when they were NC runner-up and lost little on offense. If every returning player improves a little, they should be the favorite in the country. It is mostly the same 3rd and 4th line players as last year that took them so far. So you can pick on certain players, but I think the team as a whole needs to learn to play with more and consistent intensity. They have the talent and experience, for the most part, just need to start using it on every line for every minute.
Well it would be interesting to look at the whole team. Pre-season the vibe was the Gophs had more depth than anyone, with a third line that could be #2 on a lot of teams and a forth better than some 3rds. Now they are suddenly a two line team and the 3rd and 4th are to blame. But I think the expectation would be that all the players would improve with maturity. Has anyone looked at a projection of the top lines and how each player's pace compares to last year? I have a feeling there isn't a lot of improvement throughout. Skjei and Bischoff seem to play consistently better than last year, but that just helps balance out that the D lost experience and doesn't affect the offense a lot. Other than that, I don't feel like many players really made as big of a step as I had hoped/expected. For example, I thought Mike Reilly would just stand out about every game clearly as one of the top few D in the country, much like Leopold and or even Schmidt in his last year, taking control of games when on the ice. He is very good, but I don't feel like he has taken over play at times like those players, at least anymore than he did last season. I don't feel like Cammerata, despite his assists has made a huge jump. He has proven he can score a lot of goals in the past. I realize he excels at passing and is more consistent this year, but would like to see more goals. Even Fasching, up until last weekend, where he was one of the few really trying to make things happen and had a few dominating shifts, I don't think has been as dominant on the puck as I thought he might be. Maybe last weekend was the start for him.
I think through most of the team, has not shown much of a step up from last year, when they were NC runner-up and lost little on offense. If every returning player improves a little, they should be the favorite in the country. It is mostly the same 3rd and 4th line players as last year that took them so far. So you can pick on certain players, but I think the team as a whole needs to learn to play with more and consistent intensity. They have the talent and experience, for the most part, just need to start using it on every line for every minute.
#Western Indifference