Serratore is coming in from Youngstown Phantoms (USHL). I believe Scooby was referring to the goalie Joel Vienneau, whom the Gophers brought to the Twin Cities for the North Dakota series in mid-January, is playing well for his team the Kingston Voyagueurs.
Michigan and St. Lawrence among other schools recruiting Vienneau hard. His father, Dennis, said three or four colleges have shown a lot of interest in his son, but the Gophers remain high on Joel's list.
I had a similar disappointing reaction to the interview. Some things I'd like to ask Don Lucia:
If there is no "disconnect" then it seems he is primarily blaming the entire season's poor performance completely on the players lack of desire and effort. While that may have been true at times, it's a puzzling response since I can't recall any Gopher players who were not 100% committed to play for the UMN. It seems to me there were more psychological issues involved between players and players, players and coaches than most people think. These can cause inherent and significant communication disconnects at various levels. IMO I don't think the answer above is an honest and adequate appraisal of how the coaches failed in their responsibilities to inspire and develop players either.
Which players have had the kind of success he expected? Maybe Cepis, that's it. Just about everyone's numbers were down last season.
The Gophers demonstrated a lot of toughness in the 2007-08 playoffs, when they played in 5/6 OT playoff games, technically playing the equivalent of nearly eight hockey games in nine days. But since then we haven't seen it consistently. I agree more grit is needed.
I don't buy this at all. So all of the Gopher scouting reports and projections were wrong too? IMO even statistically that's highly unlikely. There's a significant piece of coaching accountability and developmental responsibility missing in this comment.
I disagree with tDon on this. I must admit he makes these guys sound like their still in bantams. I don't think substituting other ways to contribute is the answer to motivating these guys at all. They're at a developmental stage where they should be learning to be a complete player (scoring and all of the above). One area of concern is the systems have become so academic to these guys that it has taken the natural edge off of their scoring abilities. Systems are made for the player not the player for the systems. It was refreshing contrast to see the freestyle play of Jacob Cepis without the limitations of running specific plays and overly concerned about positioning all the time. This game is more than Xs and Os, it's instinctual too.
Too funny.
