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MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

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The Gophers seem to have their head on straight, have been playing intense and focused hockey lately while looking forward to clinching home ice advantage for the playoffs. Their second half identity crisis has been marked by wins against tops teams such as UND, Wisconsin, and Denver indicating the Gophers are capable of hanging threes, fives and sevens on any team in the WCHA..."IF" they play up to their potential. This is senior weekend, but hopefully it will not ultimately be the final weekend at Mariucci for seniors: Mike Hoeffel, Patrick White, Jacob Cepis, Cade Fairchild, Kevin Wehrs and Jay Barriball (out for the series).

On the other hand, MTU has endured yet another dismal season currently at 4-24-4 nearly echoing last season's despondent 5-30-1 record. The Huskies ended a 25 game winless streak last Friday by defeating Denver 3-2. However, that most likely will be just another blip on the low voltage MTU radar, as this weekend their weak scoring offense (< 2G/GM vs. WCHA), struggling defense and special teams will fall prey to a much more focused and determined Gopher squad and another stellar goaltending performance by Kent Patterson. Kent was in the nets when MTU last defeated the Gophers on a soft goal in OT in March 2009. I'm sure Kent would like that one back...this weekend.

I'm going with a Gopher sweep on senior weekend for their first WCHA home sweep of the season.:)
 
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Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

uaafanblog said:
FFS. You offer to get one college aged midget and her misery ridden baby-huey travel companion high, take 3 St. Cloud fans, Two DU super-dorks and a couple of referee stalkers to a strip bar and you get labeled with that crap for life. LOL. No wonder I'll never be social with anyone from this place again. Grow the eff up judgement boy.
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And Dirty will forever live in his mother's basement and DL loves 13 year old girls...The internet is serious ****, man!
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

props to Twitch.

Gophers pre celebrate their sweep of Tech and show up to the game drunk and hungover. In a major equipment mix up they end up skating with the cheerleaders figure skates. confused Tech players begin hitting on the Gophers. Gophers get a cross dressing penalty. Don Lucia notices the immaculately groomed Jamie Russell, realizes he needs a haircut and leaves the game. John Hill takes over. Tech sweeps. easily.
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

huskyfan said:
props to Twitch.

Gophers pre celebrate their sweep of Tech and show up to the game drunk and hungover. In a major equipment mix up they end up skating with the cheerleaders figure skates. confused Tech players begin hitting on the Gophers. Gophers get a cross dressing penalty. Don Lucia notices the immaculately groomed Jamie Russell, realizes he needs a haircut and leaves the game. John Hill takes over. Tech sweeps. easily.
Click to expand...

At least that would be entertaining, however these games probably won't be.
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

bigblue_dl said:
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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Beggars can't be choosers. Since you've been alive BigBlue, Tech has had two winning seasons.
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

Burnt Orange Husky said:
Beggars can't be choosers. Since you've been alive BigBlue, Tech has had two winning seasons.
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If you give me a choice between Jamie Russell and Dean Talafus, I'll take Jamie every single time. It is like having to decide whether to sleep with Carrie Underwood or Roseanne Barr. Talafus is Roseanne.
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

The Boys pulled it out tonight but they did not play a complete game, that third period was pretty brutal for the gophers hopfully tomorrow they can put together a full 60. Bjugstad had a big night this kid is going to be really good hopefully we can keep him for a few more years!

Good Job on the win tonight and we are up to 5th in the standings hopefully we can stay there!
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

bigblue_dl said:
If you give me a choice between Jamie Russell and Dean Talafus, I'll take Jamie every single time. It is like having to decide whether to sleep with Carrie Underwood or Roseanne Barr. Talafus is Roseanne.
Click to expand...
This begs the question: if your only shot of sleeping with Underwood was to have a threeway with her and Roseanne, would you do it? :D
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

We saw 2 good periods for the Gophers tonight with a lot of energy, pressure on net and a rabid three goal 2nd period for a nice 5-2 W. MTU was consistent as expected tonight, hitting their season average 4-5 GA and about 2 GF. Their overuse of the trap probably needs to change if they hope to turn their program motif around in the future. Hansen, Matson and Ness impressed me tonight with their intensity and puck movement. Taylor Matson the speedster, after having two disappointing and consecutive season ending injuries the last two seasons, has got his mojo workin' with 4 Gs in the last 4 games. The third has been the worst period for the Gophers all season in terms of goals scored, SOG, and SVs. That needs to change in a hurry if they expect to sustain any playoff run at all.

The Gophers finally tipped the .500 mark on Friday games and are now 8-7-1. But Saturdays have been doom and gloom day for the Gophers with a 4-6-3 season record and 1-3-1 so far this half. Getting the early lead has been the formula for success as the Gophers have only lost once this year when leading after 1. Unlike tonight, the Gophers need to give a full 60 minutes of hockey tomorrow for Hyde to beat MTU with Jekyll’s cane to nail the elusive Sat. W and the sweep. Go Gophers!
 
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Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

Warning: nerdy pairwise analysis to follow for the aid of Gopher fans wondering where we're at after tonight's win... read at your own risk.

First of all, MN's pairwise situation has worsened- CC retook their comparison tonight by beating UMD and overtaking MN on the RPI category. Maine also boosted its RPI by beating Merrimack, giving them a bit more of a cushion with MN. The Gophers must continue to win games and hope for better outcomes elsewhere. The Gophers are within 0.015 of seven teams on RPI, and this is going to play a crucial role in determining which side of the bubble they are on at season's end. The 0.015 seems arbitrary at first, but after the next paragraph, you'll see why I selected it as the realistic cut-off.

Based on my estimates, the RPI gain is about 0.003 for a win over an opponent on the level of UMD (CC's went up this much after tonight's win). It would be slightly higher for a win over UND, and slightly lower for a win over DU/UNO (this is important because this is the group of teams MN would play at the F5 in all likelihood). The RPI gain for a win over Tech is 0.002 *if* all other outcomes are neutral (they weren't tonight - since UMD and UW both lost and MN played them each four times, MN wound up seeing a net RPI gain of just 0.0008).

So, how much can MN gain in RPI over the coming weeks?

BSUx2 and Techx1 - by winning them all, the gain would be somewhere in the 0.003-0.005 range.
SCSU/UW/CCx2 (likely first round opponent) - sweep would gain 0.005, winning in 3 games would net probably 0.003.
DU/UNO/UMD (likely quarterfinal opponent) - win = 0.0025-0.003
UND/whoever (semifinal) - win = 0.003 (or more)
Championship game loss = subtract 0.0015 or so.
Net: +0.01-0.015

Now let's look at the comparisons decided by the RPI component that MN currently loses:
WMU (0.0009)
Maine (0.0047)
UW (0.0071)* - COP = identical records, so a MN win + UW loss or tie flips this to MN
CC (0.0025)
BU (0.0097)
RPI (0.0089)
Dartmouth (0.0126)* - comparison lost 3-0, but the TUC records are close, so this is in play.

MN must flip WMU, Maine, UW, CC, and BU to be alone in 15th. If they flip RPI's, they'd be alone in 14th and insulated from potential upset conference tourney champs elsewhere. There's a 0.01 RPI gap between 12th and 13th (UNH and Dartmouth), so it's unlikely MN can overtake any other team in this category. Note: the UNH-MN comparison is in play due to the TUC records of the two teams. The gophers' final TUC record would be 13-12-5 in all likelihood with a 2nd place F5 finish. If UNH nets two losses in TUC games from here on out, that would flip the comparison to MN in this scenario.

So, in short: 2nd place at the F5 yields MN somewhere in the 12th-15th range (I'd guess that they'd end up at 14th). One thing I can be reasonably certain of: they HAVE to go at least 1-1 at the F5 (2-1 if the first round takes 3 games).
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

Bakunin said:
Warning: nerdy pairwise analysis to follow for the aid of Gopher fans wondering where we're at after tonight's win... read at your own risk.

First of all, MN's pairwise situation has worsened- CC retook their comparison tonight by beating UMD and overtaking MN on the RPI category. Maine also boosted its RPI by beating Merrimack, giving them a bit more of a cushion with MN. The Gophers must continue to win games and hope for better outcomes elsewhere. The Gophers are within 0.015 of seven teams on RPI, and this is going to play a crucial role in determining which side of the bubble they are on at season's end. The 0.015 seems arbitrary at first, but after the next paragraph, you'll see why I selected it as the realistic cut-off.

Based on my estimates, the RPI gain is about 0.003 for a win over an opponent on the level of UMD (CC's went up this much after tonight's win). It would be slightly higher for a win over UND, and slightly lower for a win over DU/UNO (this is important because this is the group of teams MN would play at the F5 in all likelihood). The RPI gain for a win over Tech is 0.002 *if* all other outcomes are neutral (they weren't tonight - since UMD and UW both lost and MN played them each four times, MN wound up seeing a net RPI gain of just 0.0008).

So, how much can MN gain in RPI over the coming weeks?

BSUx2 and Techx1 - by winning them all, the gain would be somewhere in the 0.003-0.005 range.
SCSU/UW/CCx2 (likely first round opponent) - sweep would gain 0.005, winning in 3 games would net probably 0.003.
DU/UNO/UMD (likely quarterfinal opponent) - win = 0.0025-0.003
UND/whoever (semifinal) - win = 0.003 (or more)
Championship game loss = subtract 0.0015 or so.
Net: +0.01-0.015

Now let's look at the comparisons decided by the RPI component that MN currently loses:
WMU (0.0009)
Maine (0.0047)
UW (0.0071)* - COP = identical records, so a MN win + UW loss or tie flips this to MN
CC (0.0025)
BU (0.0097)
RPI (0.0089)
Dartmouth (0.0126)* - comparison lost 3-0, but the TUC records are close, so this is in play.

MN must flip WMU, Maine, UW, CC, and BU to be alone in 15th. If they flip RPI's, they'd be alone in 14th and insulated from potential upset conference tourney champs elsewhere. There's a 0.01 RPI gap between 12th and 13th (UNH and Dartmouth), so it's unlikely MN can overtake any other team in this category. Note: the UNH-MN comparison is in play due to the TUC records of the two teams. The gophers' final TUC record would be 13-12-5 in all likelihood with a 2nd place F5 finish. If UNH nets two losses in TUC games from here on out, that would flip the comparison to MN in this scenario.

So, in short: 2nd place at the F5 yields MN somewhere in the 12th-15th range (I'd guess that they'd end up at 14th). One thing I can be reasonably certain of: they HAVE to go at least 1-1 at the F5 (2-1 if the first round takes 3 games).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. Interesting to see the different teams that actually make a difference in our rankings.
 
Re: MTU @ MN: Whose coach gets fired first?

Bakunin said:
Warning: nerdy pairwise analysis to follow for the aid of Gopher fans wondering where we're at after tonight's win... read at your own risk.

First of all, MN's pairwise situation has worsened- CC retook their comparison tonight by beating UMD and overtaking MN on the RPI category. Maine also boosted its RPI by beating Merrimack, giving them a bit more of a cushion with MN. The Gophers must continue to win games and hope for better outcomes elsewhere. The Gophers are within 0.015 of seven teams on RPI, and this is going to play a crucial role in determining which side of the bubble they are on at season's end. The 0.015 seems arbitrary at first, but after the next paragraph, you'll see why I selected it as the realistic cut-off.

Based on my estimates, the RPI gain is about 0.003 for a win over an opponent on the level of UMD (CC's went up this much after tonight's win). It would be slightly higher for a win over UND, and slightly lower for a win over DU/UNO (this is important because this is the group of teams MN would play at the F5 in all likelihood). The RPI gain for a win over Tech is 0.002 *if* all other outcomes are neutral (they weren't tonight - since UMD and UW both lost and MN played them each four times, MN wound up seeing a net RPI gain of just 0.0008).

So, how much can MN gain in RPI over the coming weeks?

BSUx2 and Techx1 - by winning them all, the gain would be somewhere in the 0.003-0.005 range.
SCSU/UW/CCx2 (likely first round opponent) - sweep would gain 0.005, winning in 3 games would net probably 0.003.
DU/UNO/UMD (likely quarterfinal opponent) - win = 0.0025-0.003
UND/whoever (semifinal) - win = 0.003 (or more)
Championship game loss = subtract 0.0015 or so.
Net: +0.01-0.015

Now let's look at the comparisons decided by the RPI component that MN currently loses:
WMU (0.0009)
Maine (0.0047)
UW (0.0071)* - COP = identical records, so a MN win + UW loss or tie flips this to MN
CC (0.0025)
BU (0.0097)
RPI (0.0089)
Dartmouth (0.0126)* - comparison lost 3-0, but the TUC records are close, so this is in play.

MN must flip WMU, Maine, UW, CC, and BU to be alone in 15th. If they flip RPI's, they'd be alone in 14th and insulated from potential upset conference tourney champs elsewhere. There's a 0.01 RPI gap between 12th and 13th (UNH and Dartmouth), so it's unlikely MN can overtake any other team in this category. Note: the UNH-MN comparison is in play due to the TUC records of the two teams. The gophers' final TUC record would be 13-12-5 in all likelihood with a 2nd place F5 finish. If UNH nets two losses in TUC games from here on out, that would flip the comparison to MN in this scenario.

So, in short: 2nd place at the F5 yields MN somewhere in the 12th-15th range (I'd guess that they'd end up at 14th). One thing I can be reasonably certain of: they HAVE to go at least 1-1 at the F5 (2-1 if the first round takes 3 games).
Click to expand...

Good synopsis Bak. Here are some of the remaining schedules for WMU, Maine, UW, CC, BU and RPI:

WMU:
Sat. 2/26 @ Notre Dame

Maine:
Sat. 2/26 Merrimack
Fri. 3/4 @ Massachusetts
Sat. 3/5 @ Massachusetts

UW:
Sat. 2/26 @ St. Cloud State
Fri. 3/4 Colorado College
Sat. 3/5 Colorado College

CC:
Sat. 2/26 Minnesota-Duluth
Fri. 3/4 @ Wisconsin
Sat. 3/5 @ Wisconsin

BU:
Sat. 2/26 Vermont
Fri. 3/4 @ Northeastern
Sat. 3/5 Northeastern

RPI:
Sat. 2/26 Quinnipiac

The potential for the Gophers to pass WMU and CC in the RPI by regular season end looks favorable. Maine, UW, BU and RPI are very questionable in that regard. The best case scenario if the Gophers have any shot at all is to put together a string of wins into Friday night @ the F5...starting tonight.

A Gopher win and a CC loss tonight seals home ice for the Gophers.
 
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