Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Mine is an NC and Fasching returning next year, and maybe a bonus returnee.
Mine is an NC and Fasching returning next year, and maybe a bonus returnee.
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Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
- Thread starter Driftryder
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May you and your family have a joyful Christmas but get a lump of coal for that wish
gopher wes
Dammit, Gorilla!!
Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Merry Christmas, Golden Gopher Hockey fans!
You beat me to the Christmas wish. Won't be online much with the upcoming holidays. Unless this damm rain stops in the near future and Mille Lacs gets a hard freeze, I may see some of you at tClassic as I will be "forced" to attend instead of listening out on the lake.
Merry Christmas, Golden Gopher Hockey fans!
Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Looks like those in Minneapolis and nearby suburbs will have a better experience when watching future games that are streamed instead of televised. Article by Don's daughter, Ali Lucia:
Mpls. Soon To Have Fastest Internet Speed In The World?
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/12/23/us-internet-to-offer-high-speed-connection-in-minneapolis/
Ali is now back working at WCCO:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/personality/ali-lucia/
Looks like those in Minneapolis and nearby suburbs will have a better experience when watching future games that are streamed instead of televised. Article by Don's daughter, Ali Lucia:
Mpls. Soon To Have Fastest Internet Speed In The World?
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/12/23/us-internet-to-offer-high-speed-connection-in-minneapolis/
Ali is now back working at WCCO:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/personality/ali-lucia/
Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
So who is having the more disappointing season so far?:
Gophers - Should be in top three all year based on talent and should be a lock for a number one seed. Currently would barely be a 3rd seed.
Wild - With additions and tons of improving young talent, looked primed to easily make playoffs and then potentially make a good run. At beginning of year, was outplaying everyone, even in losses, with solid efforts for most of every game. Now, moving further away from even making playoffs with inconsistent effort and play.
Hope they both turn things around soon.
Merry xmas and happy new year to the handful that still post here!
So who is having the more disappointing season so far?:
Gophers - Should be in top three all year based on talent and should be a lock for a number one seed. Currently would barely be a 3rd seed.
Wild - With additions and tons of improving young talent, looked primed to easily make playoffs and then potentially make a good run. At beginning of year, was outplaying everyone, even in losses, with solid efforts for most of every game. Now, moving further away from even making playoffs with inconsistent effort and play.
Hope they both turn things around soon.
Merry xmas and happy new year to the handful that still post here!
Slap Shot
I got nothing
Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Only one of the two teams looks dead in the water as it stands. To be honest it's a no-brainer answer no disrespect intended.
Only one of the two teams looks dead in the water as it stands. To be honest it's a no-brainer answer no disrespect intended.
HarleyMC
Registered User
Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Obviously, with lots of hockey yet to be played it's entirely premature to make any playoff seed predictions. But with the new 2013-14 D1 hockey committee ruling of adding a Quality Wins Bonus (QWB) metric to the Ratings Point Index (RPI) calculation, January may prove to be the most critical month of the season for the Golden Gophers and the Pair Wise Rankings (PWR).
The Gophers are currently #7 in RPI. Teams involved in the Mariucci Classic/Jan. 2-3 (UMass-Lowell/#12, Merrimack/#13) and North Star College Cup/Jan. 23-24 (MSUM/#1, UMD/#3/likely Gopher opponent over BSU) are currently in top 20 of the RPI which means some healthy QWB points for wins, especially against the Purple Cows who are currently sitting on top of the RPI and worth 5 QWB points for a W. Much depends on how the other 6 higher ranked teams in the RPI perform in January as well. But after factoring in the game site variable and the total RPI calculation, if the Gophers win both tourneys the QWB adjusted RPI could potentially land the Gophers in a PWR #1 seed slot by the end of January.
They're going to be jumping right into the fire after the new year with these two hot tourneys. But I'm hoping they've ironed out the wrinkles by then, and we'll see a more focused, intense and consistent scoring team in the second half.
Obviously, with lots of hockey yet to be played it's entirely premature to make any playoff seed predictions. But with the new 2013-14 D1 hockey committee ruling of adding a Quality Wins Bonus (QWB) metric to the Ratings Point Index (RPI) calculation, January may prove to be the most critical month of the season for the Golden Gophers and the Pair Wise Rankings (PWR).
The Gophers are currently #7 in RPI. Teams involved in the Mariucci Classic/Jan. 2-3 (UMass-Lowell/#12, Merrimack/#13) and North Star College Cup/Jan. 23-24 (MSUM/#1, UMD/#3/likely Gopher opponent over BSU) are currently in top 20 of the RPI which means some healthy QWB points for wins, especially against the Purple Cows who are currently sitting on top of the RPI and worth 5 QWB points for a W. Much depends on how the other 6 higher ranked teams in the RPI perform in January as well. But after factoring in the game site variable and the total RPI calculation, if the Gophers win both tourneys the QWB adjusted RPI could potentially land the Gophers in a PWR #1 seed slot by the end of January.
They're going to be jumping right into the fire after the new year with these two hot tourneys. But I'm hoping they've ironed out the wrinkles by then, and we'll see a more focused, intense and consistent scoring team in the second half.
Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Anyone here watching the World Juniors? Fasching has had a good tournament so far, helping to make his (3rd) line better. In fact in the opinion of the color guy they've been the Americans' best line up to this point (debatable, but there certainly hasn't been much if any dropoff from the 1st and 2nd lines). Anyway it's good to see Hudson displaying the jump we've all seen before, forechecking hard and positioning himself well in the "dirty" zones where he can be very disrupting to the opponent's D and goalie. We can only hope he brings all that intensity back when he rejoins the Gophers and helps lead the team to a strong 2nd half finish.
As the seventh D Collins didn't see a lot of ice time against Finland, but that changed against Germany, when he was out there quite a bit especially in the 2nd and 3rd. I thought he acquitted himself very well, playing mostly an error-free game while for the most part making good decisions and creating some offense as well. The tournament should prove to be a good experience for him and hopefully he'll take a lot of it back with him when he rejoins the Gophs.
One other comment: between periods last night I flipped over to the Michigan/Michigan Tech game and back-to-back the difference in the speed between that game and the Juniors was even more than what I would have thought...even though Germany was the USA's opponent. Yes, the USA is pretty much a college all star team, made up of the best (for the most part) younger college skaters and playmakers. And yes Michigan was without a good portion of their talent (surprising how much, given their record so far) but anyway for me the difference in the speed and talent level was very revealing, even though the Juniors are younger than the typical college team.
Anyone here watching the World Juniors? Fasching has had a good tournament so far, helping to make his (3rd) line better. In fact in the opinion of the color guy they've been the Americans' best line up to this point (debatable, but there certainly hasn't been much if any dropoff from the 1st and 2nd lines). Anyway it's good to see Hudson displaying the jump we've all seen before, forechecking hard and positioning himself well in the "dirty" zones where he can be very disrupting to the opponent's D and goalie. We can only hope he brings all that intensity back when he rejoins the Gophers and helps lead the team to a strong 2nd half finish.
As the seventh D Collins didn't see a lot of ice time against Finland, but that changed against Germany, when he was out there quite a bit especially in the 2nd and 3rd. I thought he acquitted himself very well, playing mostly an error-free game while for the most part making good decisions and creating some offense as well. The tournament should prove to be a good experience for him and hopefully he'll take a lot of it back with him when he rejoins the Gophs.
One other comment: between periods last night I flipped over to the Michigan/Michigan Tech game and back-to-back the difference in the speed between that game and the Juniors was even more than what I would have thought...even though Germany was the USA's opponent. Yes, the USA is pretty much a college all star team, made up of the best (for the most part) younger college skaters and playmakers. And yes Michigan was without a good portion of their talent (surprising how much, given their record so far) but anyway for me the difference in the speed and talent level was very revealing, even though the Juniors are younger than the typical college team.
Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Ive been watching, yeah that would be one hell of a college team for sure. The depth they have would wear down most teams in D1, I would think they would be in the 93 Maine team territory with wins and losses.
Ive been watching, yeah that would be one hell of a college team for sure. The depth they have would wear down most teams in D1, I would think they would be in the 93 Maine team territory with wins and losses.
Rabid Gopher
Craving Championchips
Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015
Time to really start worrying about this Gophers team. I think this second half of the season is going to very rough.
Time to really start worrying about this Gophers team. I think this second half of the season is going to very rough.
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