Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Kloos, Szmatula, Bristedt...3 of what are supposed to be the most skilled guys on the team, and all 3 had been very quiet through the first four games. But they accounted for all the goals in tonight's comeback win.

Good to see.

I didn't get to see the 1st period, how were the goals against? I've had a little bit of worry watching Schierhorn so far this year, so curious to hear what folks thought about the goals against tonight.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Kloos, Szmatula, Bristedt...3 of what are supposed to be the most skilled guys on the team, and all 3 had been very quiet through the first four games. But they accounted for all the goals in tonight's comeback win.

Good to see.

I didn't get to see the 1st period, how were the goals against? I've had a little bit of worry watching Schierhorn so far this year, so curious to hear what folks thought about the goals against tonight.

The first period was horrid. Ugly. Terrible. Think: tUMD of years past. Clarkson would not trap, BUT they would clog, clog, clog, and wait. We make a mistake? Boom score. Horrid D. No forecheck. No sustained pressure. I shut the dam game off after the first, along with a friend or two (had a live chat going). That ugly.

 

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Kloos, Szmatula, Bristedt...3 of what are supposed to be the most skilled guys on the team, and all 3 had been very quiet through the first four games. But they accounted for all the goals in tonight's comeback win.

Good to see.

I didn't get to see the 1st period, how were the goals against? I've had a little bit of worry watching Schierhorn so far this year, so curious to hear what folks thought about the goals against tonight.

First was ugly, shaking off the travel legs (I hope anyway) they came back and played hard the rest of the way.

Our young D is learning on the job. 2 freshman and a soph playing lots of minutes on the back end, they will get better.

 

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Not too bad a weekend.
The Gophers played well enough to win on Friday, but Schierhorn struggling made it hard to get that W. Nice to see the team keep coming back time and again, though.

And tonight Schierhorn was integral to the winning effort. I mentioned after the Clarkson game that I was a little bit worried about Schierhorn's play, with seeing him really fighting the puck against Fairbanks, playing pretty lousy late in the series opener against St. Cloud, and then again struggling last night (I didn't get to see the first period against Clarkson, where all the goals against came). But he came back and showed his ability here tonight. There is no question he has it in him to be a good goaltender, but the inconsistency shown so far can't continue. Hopefully this was the turning point for him.


We're 8 games in now, and there are a few things that seem to be coming a bit clear.

First, that second line with Novak and Sheehy has been the most dangerous line so far. The "1st" line hasn't really lived up to its promise, IMO. Szmatula has some goals, but they have mostly been on the PP. Part of that I think is the final pairing with them.

Romanko and Ramsey have been great all year. I really can't say enough about those two and how they fill their roles. I thought Norman has looked pretty good with them, better than either Cammy or Reilly has looked with them. I'd hope Norman keeps getting opportunities on that fourth line. It leaves the question about what do you do with Cammy and Reilly, and I'd be OK seeing them fight for ice time. It's a tough thing to say as I think Cammarata has actually stepped up his game a bit so far this year (unfortunately the bar was set pretty low), but I think this team's best line-up might not include him.

Finally, I've been as big of a critic of Collins as anyone, but he has improved his play tremendously this season. Nothing flashy, just simple and smart plays with the puck and much better understanding of his positioning. Late in the second period tonight Jost was in on him 1-on-1 and made a move to the outside, but Collins stayed right with him. Early in the third period Boesser was in on him 1-on-1 and made a move, and Collins stayed right with him.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Agree with most of that, but Vinni additionally needs some major props for the energy he brings, he's been a faceoff beast, and he's getting some points to go along with the effort.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Great observations, Stauber1. I agree with everything you've said, including your comments on the improvements Collins has made in his game. Much of it is the little things that he does that aren't obvious to casual observers. It appears that the coaches were wise to have stuck with him, in sharp contrast to so many of his critics who wanted to see him permanently benched.

Cammy is another one who's taken tons of criticism, but sadly in his case it's mostly well-deserved. He's a definite liability when the puck is in our end, which in some games (including tonight's) has seemed like an eternity. You could overlook this if he was lighting it up at the other end, but unfortunately he hasn't shown any sign of that happening any time soon. So as you point out for the time being at least we appear to have better options.

Regarding Connor Reilly I was very surprised to see him moved up from left wing the 4th line (with Romanko and Ramsey) to right wing on the 1st line (with Kloos and Szmatula) this evening. It appears to be just a substitution for Cammy on the 1st line, but maybe the coaches had some other reason for putting these three together.

On D the only change was inserting Glover in the lineup to take Sadek's spot, paired with Steve Johnson. Curious to know what you (an other fans here) think who's the best option for this pairing.

 

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

The 3rd line has been getting stronger I think as the season progresses. Probably our best 2-way line right now. You're right, SS, Vinni has been pretty darn good in the defensive zone and in the face-off circle, and has been consistently showing up on the score sheet as well.


As to Reilly being moved up to the "1st" line -
I think we have been seeing the coaching staff trying to put their most "talented" players on the ice. Out of the prospective top-9 forwards it seems like Reilly and Cammy have been the last 2 on the depth chart, and that means one of them has to skate with the 1st line (if you don't want to mess with the 2nd/3rd lines)) and one of them with the 4th. Both of them have bounced around between those two lines so far.

I think Romanko-Ramsey are probably better suited to skate with a guy who plays a bit heavy and more of a grinding type role. And I think Kloos-Szmatula benefit more from Reilly than they do Cammy. That's why, to me, it seems like the best line-up may not include Cammarata even if he has more talent than a few other guys.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Well they managed to stave off my pessimism with this weekend's play. Was a little concerned if Shierhorn could return to last year's form, and he looked the part on Saturday. thought Gophs played better on Friday, other than Sheirhorn. However, while they didn't go in a shell, after the 2 goal lead, they dumped the puck out of the zone more often than I like to see. They obviously have good depth. They don't have the stellar first line to match with some of the best lines in the country, but probably make up for a lot of that with depth on 2nd and 3rd line. I think this skill is evidenced by their effective power play. Nice tic tac toe passing and control on a number of them. And there isn't really isn't a second unit with a big drop in skill. It was also good to see improved puck pursuit taking away time and space in their own zone for much more of the game than the last couple weekends. They have something to build on. Let's hope they can.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

They have something to build on. Let's hope they can.

I hope the bye week, coming at this point in the schedule, will end up doing them more good than harm. Always good to have the extra time to refresh and heal sore muscles and bruises, which they must have plenty of with all the shots they blocked. But the potential downside is that they get out of rhythm and lose the 'edge' and very high level of play they were able to consistently achieve, really for the first time this past weekend.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Agree with most of that, but Vinni additionally needs some major props for the energy he brings, he's been a faceoff beast, and he's getting some points to go along with the effort.

This. As many know, I am one to appreciate the grinders/workers over the flashy players. And Vinnie.....yeah baby. Loving this guy. Glad he's hitting the back of the net, etc. Getting some stats to back up his work.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Would agree with most comments. Smart total team series by the team, excellent team defense Saturday. Collins appears to be playing better. I think I only saw one minor lapse from him all weekend.

I've been pleasantly surprised with the sophomores overall. I was a bit skeptical of Novak, Gates, etc. But the group appears to have grown into their roles. And will probably be here for four.

Oh and I'm ready to give next year's C to Lindgren. A little facetious, but he is amazingly tough for being less than 10 games into college and I'd love that fearless on ice attitude in a C.

 

[gopher wes]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Smart total team series by the team, excellent team defense Saturday.

Oh and I'm ready to give next year's C to Lindgren. A little facetious, but he is amazingly tough for being less than 10 games into college and I'd love that fearless on ice attitude in a C.

Agreed, on the team defense. How many blocked shots did the Gophers have on Saturday? My goodness, it seemed like every other shift a guy was hobbling off the ice from blocking a shot. Everyone was selling out!

Lindgren has some grit for sure. He'll have a letter on his chest at some point for sure if he sticks around.

 

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

I like Lindgren, that kid is going to be good.

The cammy\reilly thing, I would put reilly out there before cammy every game. Sorry but cammy is a liability out there with his skating (lack of) and d, you can't expect to be in the lineup when that is part of your game. Hope tDon doesn't get stupid with this. At least reilly was working hard and throwing his body around a little on Saturday night.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

Would agree with most comments. Smart total team series by the team, excellent team defense Saturday. Collins appears to be playing better. I think I only saw one minor lapse from him all weekend.

I've been pleasantly surprised with the sophomores overall. I was a bit skeptical of Novak, Gates, etc. But the group appears to have grown into their roles. And will probably be here for four.

Oh and I'm ready to give next year's C to Lindgren. A little facetious, but he is amazingly tough for being less than 10 games into college and I'd love that fearless on ice attitude in a C.

You must not be on GPL or reading it enough if you are saying something positive about Collins. Don't you know he is responsible for every loss the Gophers have, including the future ones?

And yes, seems like a couple years since a Soph class has progressed from the freshman year. I realize it is hit or miss when some kids will plateau, but seems like there has been a couple years in a row of more disappointments than guys who you've noticed a big step. Add to that the fact Vinnie seems to have made his biggest step from last to this year, and it adds to the team.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

You must not be on GPL if you're not aware a lot of posters have spoken out on his behalf of late and several others have been coming around on his contributions. There will always be some fans that give one player the Harrington treatment every year but not only is that true of every fan base, but it's not overly representative of the actual conversations that take place. But you're better than they are I guess.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

You must not be on GPL if you're not aware a lot of posters have spoken out on his behalf of late and several others have been coming around on his contributions. There will always be some fans that give one player the Harrington treatment every year but not only is that true of every fan base, but it's not overly representative of the actual conversations that take place. But you're better than they are I guess.

Yes. When I talk about those on GPL, I mean every single person who posts there.

But maybe I meant the ones in general who you refer to who always seem to have a whipping boy defenseman, whether Harrington, Fischer, Ness, etc. etc. etc. they are typically a higher touted one coming in who doesn't meet his potential, so is under a microscope, and often portrayed as not just coming up short of their potential, but as being the worst D on the team and a major contributor to the teams problems that year.

And I have read that some people have a better opinion of him this year, (I read GPL regularly) but some of those people aren't saying much more than 'yes, he was ok in his last game or two". But it just seems there will always be that group who will pick a D to criticize each year and unfairly criticize, just like there will be the Lucia haters until he wins 3 in a row.

If I can't make fun of those people, why have these boards?

 

[goldy_331]

If I can't make fun of those people, why have these boards?

So we can rip on each other?

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

If I can't make fun of those people, why have these boards?

My opinion is that it came off a bit holier than thou is all. There are several posters there that stopped posting here because of (insert criticism here) right or wrong. Some of the reasons are similar to what's been stated here in reverse. I don't begrudge either viewpoint in general but I try to be a bit more open minded on the pros/cons of both forums.

 

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

My opinion is that it came off a bit holier than thou is all. There are several posters there that stopped posting here because of (insert criticism here) right or wrong. Some of the reasons are similar to what's been stated here in reverse. I don't begrudge either viewpoint in general but I try to be a bit more open minded on the pros/cons of both forums.

I don't think this forum is better than GPL. I read GPL all the time but have just never started posting there. I think there is something more to the departure of the people from this site than comments made here about other posters or forums. Look at any of the former rival fanbases. They also lost lots of posters in recent years. I think this forum fostered a lot of the rivalries among fans that were lost with the rearrangement of conferences. I think that probably played the biggest role in the decline of USCHO posters.

As for comments about poster having defensive scapegoats or a hate Lucia club, there are just not enough posters left on USCHO to have groups of like-minded people like that to make fun of here.

So I was not criticizing GPL posters as a whole, but only those people who seemingly every year seem to think any problems the Gophs are having are caused by one D who came in highly touted and hasn't turned into the next Hobey candidate (Or yells 'fire Lucia' at the first 2 game losing streak). I think they tend to be people who aren't as familiar with the game so pick out something they can see to talk about. And I do think some of them sometimes go overboard on criticism of kids in their teens or early twenties, considering when there are issues, it is usually much broader than the one person. For example, I had a couple people tell me they thought David Fischer WAS the reason the Gophers weren't playing better. He could have a good game but one mistake that maybe didn't cause a goal would be all that a person like that could recall the next day. I think with a few posters, it can get to the point of being unfair. As for referring to people on GPL, those people are no longer here, or not enough to make a group.

(Sorry, now I am going.) An example is a couple people criticizing Collins for not picking up Jost on the goal from behind the net. I love Bischoff, but he overplayed Jost and Jost made a turn most college players wouldn't make to get free. Collins was covering a guy in front of the net and was in position he could have put a body on him, possibly, but I don't think Collins even saw him coming, as he probably didn't expect the Jost turn anymore than Jake did. Mostly, it was a great play by Jost, but second most responsible was Bischoff. If Collins had seen him coming and was able to move fast enough to put a body on Jost before he shot, it would have been a good play, but I wouldn't characterize it as a missed play, which is what a couple seemed to imply.

And for a few of the posters, they started to give minor credit for Collins play just in the last game, whereas I think he has shown improvement and in the St. Cloud series was actually playing with some intensity in his own zone at times the forwards were just standing around.

So sometimes I feel the need to defend those guys that turn into scapegoats for some of the posters. Not an indictment of GPL as a whole.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota Gophers Season Thread - 2016-2017

It was all understood before that.

And I made the same comment about Collins on the Jost goal as well that you did above - that he was already covering a man in front of the net and the move Jost made to get free is more on the 2 Gophers that were behind the net than on Collins. I think there was only 1 goal of the 5 that anyone could say Collins had a hand in, but he also made a nifty move to keep the puck in the zone that led to the Gophers 5th goal. You're right some fans have been slow to come around but that's going to happen everywhere. No worries.