Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

[Blackbeard]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

They weren't bad in the third tonight, but were totally outhustled for the first two.

Always find it interesting how we all see these things through our own lenses.

I thought UM was outhustling UMD for a large part of the game, getting to the puck first, time after time after time after time. And they controlled the puck for long stretches of time in the offensive zone. On one of their power plays UMD couldn't and didn't clear the puck for about a minute after having several opportunities!

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

Always find it interesting how we all see these things through our own lenses.

I thought UM was outhustling UMD for a large part of the game, getting to the puck first, time after time after time after time. And they controlled the puck for long stretches of time in the offensive zone. On one of their power plays UMD couldn't and didn't clear the puck for about a minute after having several opportunities!

The special teams have been the only consistently positive things for the Gophers over this stretch. Both sides of that have been good. At even strength, though, they aren't accomplishing much of anything. They may have gotten to pucks first, but they made a lot of lazy passes, either to random spots on the ice or because the players weren't on the same page. Some of that was UMD; the Dogs were aggressive about getting into passing lanes, but there were far too many times Minnesota made it easy for them.

The Gophers were also lazy on defensive zone coverage. Both of UMD's even strength goals were the result of someone(s) losing track of their man. On the first, Minnesota's defense fell apart when Stalder (I think) kept the puck in at the blueline, walked it down to the slot and made a nice pass for Mrázová to tip it in. There were at least three Gophers covering no one in particular.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

Always find it interesting how we all see these things through our own lenses.

I thought UM was outhustling UMD for a large part of the game, getting to the puck first, time after time after time after time. And they controlled the puck for long stretches of time in the offensive zone. On one of their power plays UMD couldn't and didn't clear the puck for about a minute after having several opportunities!

It is interesting. I felt the Gophers looked flat for 2 periods & not really firing until the third except on the PP. If looked to me like the Dogs were out hustling MN for 2/3 of the game & it showed on the score board. I was not going to say anything because I don't want to suggest the UMD didn't play better & deserve to win (they did) it I was also surprised at the number of pucks that just did not bounce to them when it would have mattered. The had no puck-luck either that might have allowed them to shuffle through the night & get a win. The Dogs are back & the Gophers cannot afford more nights like this.

 

[Blackbeard]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

I was also surprised at the number of pucks that just did not bounce to them when it would have mattered. The had no puck-luck either that might have allowed them to shuffle through the night & get a win.

Glad you shared this because while this seemed glaringly obvious to me at first I later tried to convince myself that it must just be the "homerism" that affects most of us from time to time and tried to ignore it.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

The Dogs are back & the Gophers cannot afford more nights like this.

Gotta give credit to Maura Crowell who has her team playing some smart, disciplined hockey. I wonder too if her some (or more) of Harvard's slippage might be due to her no longer being there?

 

[shelfit]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

Gotta give credit to Maura Crowell who has her team playing some smart, disciplined hockey. I wonder too if her some (or more) of Harvard's slippage might be due to her no longer being there?

My guess is the two things are not related at all.

 

[joecct]

I'm a huge Washington Capitals fan, and Pannek's play reminds me so much of Nicklas Backstrom.

But Minnesota wins in the post season.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

Gotta give credit to Maura Crowell who has her team playing some smart, disciplined hockey. I wonder too if her some (or more) of Harvard's slippage might be due to her no longer being there?

I do feel bad. I find I can't work up the ol hate for Duluth now that she-who-will-not-be-named is gone. Adding to the the pain of last nights loss was the total lack of theatrics from the bench. No dumping water, no berating players on the ice for 5 minutes while the zamboni drivers wait, no constant shirking about every call, made or not made, no players flipping the double bird to the crowd. I was left having to just admire the way they played. What fun is that?

 

[pokechecker]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

After two periods-one shot on goal for our second or third line forwards. Caitlyn Reilly has a SOG.

Otherwise, it's Baldwin, Wolfe, Marshall, and our first liners. It would be nice to see some of these other forwards show the ability to penetrate a little bit, or make a good pass.

The second & third line cannot buy a goal.
Sure, it may have been that since Cameranesi & Potomak weren't in the lineup, Wolfe was moved to forward, but I thought maybe perhaps Wolfe might be moved to forward to generate some offense. Maybe that is too big of a risk against UMD, making a big change.
IMO, the problem is lack of offense from the second & third line.
Hockey is the opposite of football, the best defense is a good offense.
When there was a surplus of firepower and a lack of manpower at the blueline it made sense to move Wolfe to D.
Now with the opposite situation, move her to forward.

A benefit to that is that it would give Robinson more playing time, IMO, she will eventually be good, maybe even very good, but she's not going to get there sitting on the bench.

I was also surprised at the number of pucks that just did not bounce to them when it would have mattered. The had no puck-luck either that might have allowed them to shuffle through the night & get a win.

Ever notice that the best players, the puck always seems to bounce to them? I've only seen the games in person at Ridder, it seemed to me that rather than let the puck come to them, they were taking themselves out by trying to do too much. They went one way and the puck went another.

 

[KTDC]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

Alex Gulstene named one of top three players of the tournament for Team USA. I think she received same accolade last year.

That is welcome news

 

[pokechecker]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

Gotta give credit to Maura Crowell who has her team playing some smart, disciplined hockey. I wonder too if her some (or more) of Harvard's slippage might be due to her no longer being there?

she did a good job when Stone was away at the Olympics and brought some players with her, taking them from Harvard

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

Watching the stream online and noticed at the beginning of the 2nd period Cameranesi went down hard near UMD's goal, and I don't think she's played since. Sure hope she's OK and it's not an aggravation of her previous injury.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

This looks a lot like the second game in Boston;the Gophers are controlling long stretches of play and getting some good chances, but making too many careless errors. Skarzynski completely lost her man on Duluth's first goal, and I'm not sure whether it was Stecklein, Clone, or someone else on a change who wasn't paying attention to Stalder on the Dog's fourth (which was a fabulous finish by Stalder), but she cherrypicks like that all the time, so it's disappointing.

Also, Cameranesi never came out for the second period, and Pannek looks like she's in pain.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

Something is deeply wrong with this team.

I wish it were just one thing.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

A couple of additional notes:

Kate Schipper had a goal today, and several other very nice plays, but she also committed a bunch of stupid penalties, only two of which were called.

Caitlyn Reilly couldn't get the puck to go into the net if she paid it. She's creating chances, but she can't finish.

During the third period, I figured out what bugs me the most about the lack of effort lately: the backchecking. A relentless backcheck has been the hallmark of this team for years, and it's notably absent at the moment. There were too many times that the forwards were not skating hard coming back, and it's helped to expose some of the weaknesses in the defensive core. The Gophers aren't going to win much of anything unless they start harassing the other team coming up the ice again.

The goaltending remains a real problem, but it isn't the biggest one. I also don't think it's a problem of effort, like a lot of the others are.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

A couple of additional notes:

Kate Schipper had a goal today, and several other very nice plays, but she also committed a bunch of stupid penalties, only two of which were called.

Caitlyn Reilly couldn't get the puck to go into the net if she paid it. She's creating chances, but she can't finish.

During the third period, I figured out what bugs me the most about the lack of effort lately: the backchecking. A relentless backcheck has been the hallmark of this team for years, and it's notably absent at the moment. There were too many times that the forwards were not skating hard coming back, and it's helped to expose some of the weaknesses in the defensive core. The Gophers aren't going to win much of anything unless they start harassing the other team coming up the ice again.

The goaltending remains a real problem, but it isn't the biggest one. I also don't think it's a problem of effort, like a lot of the others are.

I recorded yesterday's game and due to other commitments I haven't been able to watch it until today. The thing that I'm reminding myself of is that we, as Gopher fans, are very spoiled with the long sustained run of success that this team has had. So even though I have a ton of thoughts about what is currently happening with the team I'm going to put a sock in it and try to enjoy whatever success this team accomplishes the rest of the way.

Just one thought for Sidney Peters and I'll quote Aaron Rogers for it...RELAX.

 

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

I recorded yesterday's game and due to other commitments I haven't been able to watch it until today. The thing that I'm reminding myself of is that we, as Gopher fans, are very spoiled with the long sustained run of success that this team has had. So even though I have a ton of thoughts about what is currently happening with the team I going to put a sock in it and try to enjoy whatever success this team accomplishes the rest of the way.

Just one thought for Sidney Peters and I'll quote Aaron Rogers for it...RELAX.

Good advice all around.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

As I've said before, I wasn't handed the nickname Eeyore at random, so I'm probably incapable of shutting up about it, but I do agree that we have been spoiled over the last few years. It's really, really hard to sustain that sort of excellence, both physically and mentally, and regression to the mean is a real thing. I'm confident that a lot of the flaws in this team are temporary, though "temporary" may well mean the rest of this season.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

As I've said before, I wasn't handed the nickname Eeyore at random, so I'm probably incapable of shutting up about it, but I do agree that we have been spoiled over the last few years. It's really, really hard to sustain that sort of excellence, both physically and mentally, and regression to the mean is a real thing. I'm confident that a lot of the flaws in this team are temporary, though "temporary" may well mean the rest of this season.

You have good reason to be...The addition by subtraction that occurs after this year will infuse a whole lot of talent into an already pretty darn good lineup. And most all of that talent (Except Brown) was on display at the IIHF U18 World Championships. In spite of the flaws that are evident right now this is still a team with a 16-5-2.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Minnesota Women's Hockey 2016-2017 (aka Season 20)

The goaltending remains a real problem, but it isn't the biggest one. I also don't think it's a problem of effort, like a lot of the others are.

For 40 minutes on Friday effort was the issue, I was wondering if the flu had hit the locker room. The final 20 minutes they played hard but that is not normal for the Gopher team. I often joke that I prefer the GWH to GMH because I had never noticed the women to take a period or two off during a game. I can't say that now.

Saturday I wondered if maybe they were trying a little too hard. Good players make bad plays/poor decisions sometimes, they just do it far less often than us mere mortals. I think I saw more poor decisions/inexplicable plays from some players in that one game than in whole seasons. Maybe it is just that UMD is good enough to take advantage of those plays but it looked worse than that. Maybe they all need to take fivehole's advice & relax? My concern is this weekend is going to amp up the anxiety though.

Gotta hand it to the dogs though, they have made an amazing turn around & are going to be a real national threat this year & in the future.