Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Lose or tie tonight - just shoot me.

Today is a zero good day, only bad can happen. Gophs win by 12, they are just doing what they should to to Bucky. They still only get three points at home against worst team in B1G. Tie or lose? Don't even want to go there......

Glad I agreed to play in a tourney today instead of staying home to watch.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

The BADgers first goal was not because of the Gopher's poor defensive effort. The Gophers got burned short on a line change that left Rockwood and Besse streaking down on a two on one between the dots, Rockwood made a perfect crossing pass and Besse popped it in the open side. I saw effort from the Gophers tonight, but the shot selection was atrocious. Again, I see players with their head down and most are not even aiming for the corners...that's something you learn in bantams. I've said this before and it bears repeating, if I were Lucia everyone shoots 1000 pucks this week in practice for accuracy.

What are you harping on shooting for? I've never seen a team as a whole with such consistent, precise shooting. Everyone of them can consistently hit the goalie's stomach from any angle, all game long.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

So some players who could be making large salaries playing pro, gave that up to come play for a team which has enough talent to help win them a NC they would remember for the rest of their lives, just to play poorly to get a coach fired? Sounds logical.

Give me a better reason. This team has the talent but lacks the determination it seems. As Sherlock Holmes said, "When you have eliminated all other possibilities what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

That and I was being sarcastic.

 

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

What are you harping on shooting for? I've never seen a team as a whole with such consistent, precise shooting. Everyone of them can consistently hit the goalie's stomach from any angle, all game long.

I can't recall more than 5 out of 49 shots that were directed to the upper corners, especially to Rumpel's vulnerable blocker side. His stick side/glove hand looked very sharp and he did a good job of moving in the paint. But had the Gophers taken better aim on the vast majority of their shots they might have tacked on 4-5 goals at least. IIRC the Gophers are now 0/5 in shootouts...why? Simple, they can't shoot.

For the third straight game their G/SOG was about 4% with the average for D1 top 20 teams at about 10%, which was also Wisconsin's G/SOG last night.

The North Star College Cup next weekend is looking very ominous right now.

 

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

The BADgers first goal was not because of the Gopher's poor defensive effort. The Gophers got burned short on a line change that left Rockwood and Besse streaking down on a two on one between the dots, Rockwood made a perfect crossing pass and Besse popped it in the open side...

The decision to go for a change when the play is turning, and subsequently leaving your team short-manned on the transition, isn't a defensive lapse?

How much do the UM payer hate Donny? I mean some of these guys (4 or 5 if the stories are true) gave up promising AHL careers to return to the Gophers this year. But I can't see any reason for their return except to get their coach fired. Having been a fan and watched games from the time Glen Sonmor was the coach I can clearly remember the Woog days as a time when MN would put in a solid 60 minutes of play every weekend or so. Those half-***ed efforts seemed to disappear when Lucia arrived but started seeping back a few years ago. This years team is something special and the only explanation I can come up for their play so far is they desperately want to see their coach collecting unemployment.

Effort was not the issue last night. Effort wasn't the issue in either game at Yost.
You could take an Olympic speed skater, get them used to hockey skates, and watch them tear *** up and down the rink...and they would suck.

Lack of defensive discipline and awareness killed them in all 3 of those games. This team loses sense of defensive purpose with a startling consistency.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

The decision to go for a change when the play is turning, and subsequently leaving your team short-manned on the transition, isn't a defensive lapse?

The Gophers outdid themselves tonight, making one of the worst line changes you'll ever see. Guentzel let the offending D have it when they got to the bench; he was REALLY P-O'd. Fortunately the BADgers were not able to take advantage, but the Gophers MUST stop doing this!

 

[Greyeagle]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

The Gophers outdid themselves tonight, making one of the worst line changes you'll ever see. Guentzel let the offending D have it when they got to the bench; he was REALLY P-O'd. Fortunately the BADgers were not able to take advantage, but the Gophers MUST stop doing this!

There are way too many of those w t f line changes. Way, way too many.

 

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

The decision to go for a change when the play is turning, and subsequently leaving your team short-manned on the transition, isn't a defensive lapse?

Technically no. Boyd was the culprit on the line change, but he made his decision before Rockwood, Labate and Besse crossed the blueline to setup the 3 on 2, so not a colossal faux pas by Boyd, but a textbook scoring play by LaBate, Rockwood and Besse. If you want to call a D lapse, Skjei sliding to block the pass from Rockwood to Besse but not laying his stick flat on the ice for another chance to block it, then I agree mistake by Skjei.

Wisconsin's second goal was a ref non-call and the goal should never have counted. Two BADgers were heading to the bench for a change, and Soleway left the bench very early, so there were clearly 6 BADgers on the ice for a few seconds. Replay shows Soleway is already over the Gopher blueline near the top of the left faceoff circle before the changing Wis. players are even on the bench!!

There were 4 Gophers in the offensive zone covering two BADger players, with Hughes carrying the puck. Soleway races into the left slot untouched, Hughes passes the puck through Collins legs rolleyes to Soleway and he's got an open side for the goal. Skjei and Collins (both -2) were in position defending near the net on both Wis. goals. IMO an opponent passing through a D's legs is one of the most embarrassing mistakes a D can make, so if you want to call that a D lapse I agree there too.

 

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Bring on Kato...

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Bring on Kato...

In terms of the Pairwise and assuring a spot in the NCAA's, might Friday's night game vs. the No. 1 team be the Gophers' most important remaining game in the regular season?

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I haven't seen any discussion on the wholesale changes made in the line combinations this past weekend. We had:
1st: 11 - 22 - 24
2nd: 7 - 25 - 21
3rd: 13 - 19 - 17
4th: 15 - 26 - 18

While they didn't do anything to improve shot selection or accuracy on Friday, things did improve in the Saturday rematch, and overall I think a number of players stepped up their game, including Isackson who finally got one to go in. It will be interesting to see if any further "fine tuning" will be done for the opening game in the North Star College Cup, but I would guess that Lucia will stick with these changes at least for the time being.

 

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I haven't seen any discussion on the wholesale changes made in the line combinations this past weekend. We had:
1st: 11 - 22 - 24
2nd: 7 - 25 - 21
3rd: 13 - 19 - 17
4th: 15 - 26 - 18

While they didn't do anything to improve shot selection or accuracy on Friday, things did improve in the Saturday rematch, and overall I think a number of players stepped up their game, including Isackson who finally got one to go in. It will be interesting to see if any further "fine tuning" will be done for the opening game in the North Star College Cup, but I would guess that Lucia will stick with these changes at least for the time being.

I hope he does. I like seeing Boyd playing with some more skilled players, I like seeing Rau on the wing, and I thought Cammarata showed some emotion for one of the few times in his college Career. It wasn't positive emotion, but he was visibly frustrated after some good looks and pretty good shots/set-ups that didn't end up in the back of the net. That is progress for him as far as I am concerned.

 

[Driftryder]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

In terms of the Pairwise and assuring a spot in the NCAA's, might Friday's night game vs. the No. 1 team be the Gophers' most important remaining game in the regular season?

Yeah, beating Mankato would be huge for our PWR. The only other games I see that could help directly (or give a decent boost anyway) would be playing UMD and winning and then beating Michigan in both games at Mariucci. Do those things and our PWR will look much better, easier said than done I know.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Normally I'd still put the U MI series here as more important. We lose any more conference points and the conference is out of reach makes those games as important as anything else.

 

[gopher wes]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

In terms of the Pairwise and assuring a spot in the NCAA's, might Friday's night game vs. the No. 1 team be the Gophers' most important remaining game in the regular season?

I was thinking about that this morning. Friday night will be huge!

 

[SJHovey]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

I was thinking about that this morning. Friday night will be huge!

Beating Mankato would bring you guys a nice bump in your pwr. But I'd be interested in knowing the answer to this question. Would your pwr be better off with a win over Mankato Friday, but a loss in one of the two games against Wisconsin the following weekend, or lose to Mankato and sweep Wisconsin the following weekend. This weekend is a good opportunity for your team, but I suspect the two games in Madison are probably more important from a pwr standpoint.

 

[gopher wes]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Beating Mankato would bring you guys a nice bump in your pwr. But I'd be interested in knowing the answer to this question. Would your pwr be better off with a win over Mankato Friday, but a loss in one of the two games against Wisconsin the following weekend, or lose to Mankato and sweep Wisconsin the following weekend. This weekend is a good opportunity for your team, but I suspect the two games in Madison are probably more important from a pwr standpoint.

Aren't any games against sconnie more important this year due to how horrible they are? From my perception winning or tying is not bad but losing is huge because of how horrible their PWR is...?

 

[Driftryder]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Beating Mankato would bring you guys a nice bump in your pwr. But I'd be interested in knowing the answer to this question. Would your pwr be better off with a win over Mankato Friday, but a loss in one of the two games against Wisconsin the following weekend, or lose to Mankato and sweep Wisconsin the following weekend. This weekend is a good opportunity for your team, but I suspect the two games in Madison are probably more important from a pwr standpoint.

Yeah losing to Bucky and losing to Mankato are a little different as far as PWR goes, but if the Gophers want to boost their PWR they need to beat Kato. Obviously beating Bucky does nothing for our PWR but losing to them does puts it in the tank. Bottom line, we need a decent winning streak (next 4 games) so the occasional loss doesn't kill our PWR.

 

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

Beating Mankato would bring you guys a nice bump in your pwr. But I'd be interested in knowing the answer to this question. Would your pwr be better off with a win over Mankato Friday, but a loss in one of the two games against Wisconsin the following weekend, or lose to Mankato and sweep Wisconsin the following weekend. This weekend is a good opportunity for your team, but I suspect the two games in Madison are probably more important from a pwr standpoint.

It depends on what other teams do. Sweeping the BADgers next weekend will do little to help this team right now. This weekend's game against the Purple Cows is obviously critical to the Gopher's PWR. But the Gophers shot themselves in the foot early this season with NC losses to UMD, Merrimack, Northeastern, and being swept in Mich. and not sweeping the BADgers last weekend. Regardless of a W or L against MSUM, the Gophers are now skating on thin ice to have any chance of jumping back into the tournament field and DO NOT CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY. As shocking as it may seem, the Gophers could feasibly be eliminated this early in the second half UNLESS we get some major help from other teams. Our win at BC is paying some dividends (1 PWR point against BC) at the present time, but that could be insignificant depending on what BC does this week.

At our current PWR of 18th we are losing comparisons with every team with PWRs of 19-22, which is extremely ominous considering some of their remaining schedules and these teams are now trending to ramp up play for a shot at the postseason. We are winning a comparison with #17 Michigan, but if they sweep the BADgers, we will lose that comparison too. If the Gophers lose on Friday, and several significant PWR teams win...the Gophers RPI will be in the toilet and they're in a world of trouble.

Games to watch this week that have significant PWR implications for the Gophers are BC/Merrimack on Wed., and weekend series: Penn State/Northern Mich., Western Mich./SCSU, Mich./BADgers. Ws for BC, Penn State, Mich. and Western Mich. and Quinnipiac/Brown game next week (most likely Q will destroy Brown) means the Gophers will drop significantly in the PWR and would have to basically win out the rest of their schedule and hope to get help from other teams OR be booted out of the NCAAs for this season.

 

[gopher wes]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread: 2014-2015

It depends on what other teams do. Sweeping the BADgers next weekend will do little to help this team right now. This weekend's game against the Purple Cows is obviously critical to the Gopher's PWR. But the Gophers shot themselves in the foot early this season with NC losses to UMD, Merrimack, Northeastern, and being swept in Mich. and not sweeping the BADgers last weekend. Regardless of a W or L against MSUM, the Gophers are now skating on thin ice to have any chance of jumping back into the tournament field and DO NOT CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY. As shocking as it may seem, the Gophers could feasibly be eliminated this early in the second half UNLESS we get some major help from other teams. Our win at BC is paying some dividends (1 PWR point against BC) at the present time, but that could be insignificant depending on what BC does this week.

At our current PWR of 18th we are losing comparisons with every team with PWRs of 19-22, which is extremely ominous considering some of their remaining schedules and these teams are now trending to ramp up play for a shot at the postseason. We are winning a comparison with #17 Michigan, but if they sweep the BADgers, we will lose that comparison too. If the Gophers lose on Friday, and several significant PWR teams win...the Gophers RPI will be in the toilet and they're in a world of trouble.

Games to watch this week that have significant PWR implications for the Gophers are BC/Merrimack on Wed., and weekend series: Penn State/Northern Mich., Western Mich./SCSU, Mich./BADgers. Ws for BC, Penn State, Mich. and Western Mich. and Quinnipiac/Brown game next week (most likely Q will destroy Brown) means the Gophers will drop significantly in the PWR and would have to basically win out the rest of their schedule and hope to get help from other teams OR be booted out of the NCAAs for this season.

It's sad that we are even having this conversation at this point of the season....