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Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

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Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

Timothy A said:
Scored 11 goals on 24 shots? How does UM only get 24 sog against St. Cloud?
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If every time you shoot, the puck goes into the net, it stalls all the SOG momentum. They take the puck back to center ice and the other team gets to put out new players who aren't standing around in the hope that they will get to change sometime in the next two minutes. So yeah, you can whip the puck into the goalie's pad a few dozen times if you like, but the big number on the scoreboard is all about turning on the red light.

The only way Sarah Potomak ever skates on a third line at Minnesota is if a) she is injured and they put her there to get back into the groove in a limited role, like they've done with Kessel and other at times; b) they set the lines up like two years ago such that there are lines 1a, 1b, and 1c, and they're essentially equal. If the third line can hold its own defensively, I think they'll leave the top two alone. If not, I'd move either Schipper or Piazza to third, not because they don't deserve to be on the top two lines, but because then you wouldn't have to worry about the third line defensively anymore. It's not about promises made to anyone; Minnesota's coaches just like to win.

If everyone stays healthy, getting shifts will be very competitive.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

ARM said:
If everyone stays healthy, getting shifts will be very competitive.
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And that was my point really. I have no idea where to put everyone, it may be that Menefee is the odd skater out, bumped down to third or scratched. I have to say those are very special women if they can pull all of this off with no hurt feelings over playing time/lines. I know Frost has done it before, take players that were the star on their teams and stick them on 3rd or 4th line but not have a poisoned locker room. We had a mom behind us a few years ago who whined constantly about her daughters line/time and I worried if that leaked into the players attitude it could kill a very golden goose. Fortunately we never had to find out. He has a gift; I'd be sick if I had to deal with all this talent. We should admire players who put team first, I'm not sure this situation wouldn't destroy the mens team.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

ne7minder said:
We should admire players who put team first, I'm not sure this situation wouldn't destroy the mens team.
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Those in the know say discord in the men's locker room was a big issue last season, factoring in to the team never realizing their full potential. But as you note Frosty seems to have a knack for building and maintaining team chemistry and camaraderie under such circumstances.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

brookyone said:
8 goals in the 2nd period making it 11-0 after two. It was obvious they purposely did not attempt shots during the 3rd period.

I know...a strategy that would displease you.
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We've had this discussion in the past, and yeah it displeases me. As a fan I was just as excited for UW's first goal Sunday 1:16 into the game as I was for the last that was scored with :09 left in the game. The creativity and effort to attempt to score pleases me (to witness 61 sog was AWESOME). Watching a glorified practice period with the orange cones wearing St. Cloud jerseys would not make me happy at all. I'm sure UM played the 3rd and 4th lines more in the 3rd like UW did both games against OSU and gave those players PP and PK time as well. Sports and mercy are like water and oil. I've been in situations where I was getting my butt waxed, but I never gave up, I always wanted that person to give it to me to the max. It made me better. How is St. Cloud going to improve without being pushed in game situations? If they are that devoid of talent, practicing against themselves won't produce any improvement.

FiveHoleFrenzy said:
The bottom line to me is that there needs to be better competition in women's hockey because what Minnesota and Wisconsin are doing so far this year is not good for the growth of the game.
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At this point, the North American talent pool is just too small for women's hockey. UW, UM and maybe a few eastern teams get the pick of the litter. That's not UW's or UM's fault. As long as Frosty and Gold Medal Johnson as the coaches, the best of the best are going to want to go there. Enjoy the ride. All it takes is a look at the UW men's program to see how awful the downward spiral can be.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

Timothy A said:
We've had this discussion in the past, and yeah it displeases me. As a fan I was just as excited for UW's first goal Sunday 1:16 into the game as I was for the last that was scored with :09 left in the game. The creativity and effort to attempt to score pleases me (to witness 61 sog was AWESOME). Watching a glorified practice period with the orange cones wearing St. Cloud jerseys would not make me happy at all. I'm sure UM played the 3rd and 4th lines more in the 3rd like UW did both games against OSU and gave those players PP and PK time as well. Sports and mercy are like water and oil. I've been in situations where I was getting my butt waxed, but I never gave up, I always wanted that person to give it to me to the max. It made me better. How is St. Cloud going to improve without being pushed in game situations? If they are that devoid of talent, practicing against themselves won't produce any improvement.
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Your experience notwithstanding, with an 11-0 score after two...well, I guess I'm glad Frost is the coach, and you aren't.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

Timothy A said:
Scored 11 goals on 24 shots? How does UM only get 24 sog against St. Cloud? I'd like to see that game to figure out how something like this can happen. It will be fascinating to see UW play them this weekend and UM play OSU, quite a measuring stick series. Could be a new number one after next weekend.....
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the box score does not reflect what happened in the game

On Friday the Huskies played well the first period, only giving up a goal, and they played well for a good portion of the second as well before the game turned, SCSU took a penalty, the Gophers cashed in and that begin the downfall of the Huskies. The third period was all Gopher.

On Saturday, basically the game was a repeat of the previous day, except the Gophers , perhaps with the knowledge of Friday, brought abut the demise of the Huskies about a half period earlier, totally demolishing them in the 2nd, The third period Frost got a little inventive with the lineup and ultimately it was the 3rd & 4th line that finished the game.

Eeyore said:
I was again struck but the lack of effort to compete on the part of SCSU.
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you must have been stuffing your face with nachos , or need a new prescription. I was impressed by the freshmen Canadian/Finn with Illikainen, they did a good job of neutralizing the Gophers and often took the play to the Gopher zone. The box score supports this as they finished even for the night on Friday. I don't know if the lineup was juggled later in the game on Saturday or if Illikainen was injured (I'm just glad I saw the goals, things were happening fast) , but the results supports what I have always said about freshman, Tylke was burned for 4 and Ollikainen was burned for 2, Illikainen finished even.
The games kind of reminded me of the nature films where the wolves are stalking the deer or moose, or the hyenas are hownding the lions to steal their kill. If you are on the defensive, eventually the group that is on the offensive is going to succeed. That is the Huskies real problem, although their team defense is quite good, their offense just could not sustain an attack in the Gopher zone, despite , especially on Friday, the ability to gain the Gopher zone. The Huskies are improved over last year, and I suspect it was more the Gopher team defense was the problem for them, this early meeting should do them well if they take this as a learning experience.

Hockey is the opposite of football:
the best defense, is a good offense
 
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Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

Timothy A said:
We've had this discussion in the past, and yeah it displeases me. As a fan I was just as excited for UW's first goal Sunday 1:16 into the game as I was for the last that was scored with :09 left in the game. The creativity and effort to attempt to score pleases me (to witness 61 sog was AWESOME). Watching a glorified practice period with the orange cones wearing St. Cloud jerseys would not make me happy at all. I'm sure UM played the 3rd and 4th lines more in the 3rd like UW did both games against OSU and gave those players PP and PK time as well. Sports and mercy are like water and oil. I've been in situations where I was getting my butt waxed, but I never gave up, I always wanted that person to give it to me to the max. It made me better. How is St. Cloud going to improve without being pushed in game situations? If they are that devoid of talent, practicing against themselves won't produce any improvement.
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People have differing opinions about it, more people would have disapproved a 20-0 score than would disapprove calling off the dogs after 8 goals in 10 shots in the second period. And actually, that third period was a very good practice opportunity for St Cloud as Minnesota would dump the puck and let the Huskies attempt to bring the puck up offensively over and over again. The Gophers took no shifts off, they just stopped pressuring the offensive zone. You could tell the way Cameranesi still back checked as if they were playing Wisconsin, and Brandt would cross the boards and hustle towards the goal line to forecheck on the penalty kill.

I am glad the Gophers stopped scoring. I think they barely had a choice.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

Timothy A said:
How is St. Cloud going to improve without being pushed in game situations?
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don't listen to the idiots, SCSU did not give up, in fact immediately after the Gophers set the record was probably the best offensive display by SCSU up to that point on Saturday, it seemed to me that got them mad and got them going for awhile

the games were more like a boxing match, the champ probing the challenger until the weakness is found, then the knockout was delivered.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

pokechecker said:
don't listen to the idiots, SCSU did not give up, in fact immediately after the Gophers set the record was probably the best offensive display by SCSU up to that point on Saturday, it seemed to me that got them mad and got them going for awhile

the games were more like a boxing match, the champ probing the challenger until the weakness is found, then the knockout was delivered.
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EDIT: I was going to point out how wrong this take was and then I realized who it was posting and knew nobody would take that post seriously. Nice trolling, you almost got me! Now go back under the bridge where you belong.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

Leather helmet said:
I really like Potomak ...she creates opportunities for her linemates .
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This is exactly why the best place for her may be the third line

As much as I hate to see 2 freshman on the same line she isn’t the typical freshman having a lot of experience with the Canadian national team against international level players and consequently isn’t the liability most freshmen are defensively(although hard to tell since she’s been playing with upper classmen)

Yes, it would displace Williamson,
But Williamson seems to have come from the same mold as Piazza, the archetype of what I’d want in a wing, they can both play center, but IMO, their better position is wing, kind of like SCSU’s Illikainen

for a time Bona (also a creative forward, certainly not the bigger and more physical type) was paired with Brandt that was kind of like having two centers on the same line
But Brandt doesn’t need another “creator” on her line, and it is somewhat of a waste to have another with her when their talent can be utilized elsewhere, give her some finishers

What makes the Brandt-Menefee combination so attractive is that as Brandt brings the puck up ice she beats one, two, three players …
And as she does another opposing player has to jump in to try to stop her
This leaves the potential for a Gopher to be open
Menefee is good at both finding the opening and quickly shooting, or passing if a shot isn’t there (sometimes back to Brandt)
Not that Potomak can’t do this, but it would have been like Terry playing a more physical game rather than using her speed
Why give up your advantage over other players, play your game, not theirs
Having seen Potomak’s third goal, she’s definitely a finisher, but again, her talents may be better utilized elsewhere, she seems to be much more the archetype of what you‘d want in a center, less so a wing

or maybe it's just that I want to see a repeat of 2013/14, you never know which line is going to score, you just know one of them will
 
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Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

Timothy A said:
We've had this discussion in the past, and yeah it displeases me. As a fan I was just as excited for UW's first goal Sunday 1:16 into the game as I was for the last that was scored with :09 left in the game. The creativity and effort to attempt to score pleases me (to witness 61 sog was AWESOME). Watching a glorified practice period with the orange cones wearing St. Cloud jerseys would not make me happy at all. I'm sure UM played the 3rd and 4th lines more in the 3rd like UW did both games against OSU and gave those players PP and PK time as well. Sports and mercy are like water and oil. I've been in situations where I was getting my butt waxed, but I never gave up, I always wanted that person to give it to me to the max. It made me better. How is St. Cloud going to improve without being pushed in game situations? If they are that devoid of talent, practicing against themselves won't produce any improvement.
Click to expand...

Between my kids and me I have seen both sides of 20-0 games (my high school team once won a game 21-0 when periods were 12 minutes!). There is no learning, no development and no gain for anyone on either side of them. The only thing it does is inflate statistics for the one side and anger the other. SCSU got 20 minutes of breakout practice Saturday without the added humiliation of 20-0.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

geeze, I threw you back and caught you again moments later

for how many times now? a dozen? fifty?
I've lost count
maybe you should change your name to Bluegill, no, Bullhead would be better.
 
Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2015-2016: Confection Free

Golden Tuuk said:
Well they do have Canada and Europe too.
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Well, umm, Canada IS part of North America just in case you were sleeping during Geography class in the 4th grade. Or finished high school in the Dakotas.
 
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