MW4Bucky&SNC
Done with Winter
I figured we might as well start an offseason thread. My first order of business is to offer some final thoughts on the 09-10 season.
Overall they exceeded my expectations. I went into it thinking a top 2 finish in the NCHA, an appearance in the Peters Cup final, and an NCAA bid would be a pretty solid season based on some of the non-seniors they lost. I guess I would have thought any banner would be a success, whether it was a regular season championship, a Peters Cup, or a Frozen Four. They did all of those things. Special thanks to the Seniors for helping the program attain 3 regular season NCHA Championships, 3 Peters Cup Championships, 1 NCAA Semi-Final appearance, 1 NCAA runner-up finish, and 1 National Championship.
Great things from last season -
**The tone was set early when they went over and dominated a couple of games against Stout.
**They had a couple of stinkers (Salem State and Eau Claire) but they bounced back quickly and led wire to wire in the NCHA.
**Taking care of business so decisively in the NCHA playoffs was a real highlight.
**I know many, including myself, who had major doubts about O'Brien in goal and were uneasy about them not bringing in someone else to at least challenge for playing time. I remember saying in private conversations I wasn't sure they could get to a Frozen Four with him in goal. He really stepped it up and played like some told us he could, so I humbly say I was clearly wrong.
**Last but not least, I thought this may have been Tim Coghlin's best overall coaching job of his career. They played with discipline, were again dominant at home, played consistently hard, got some marked improvement from guys coming back, and blended in some new guys nicely. He seemed to tinker more than I'd noticed in the past to get certain guys on the ice in certain situations and more often than not the correct buttons were pushed.
Pleasant surprises from last season -
**The freshman blended in nicely.
**O'Brien improved by quite a bit as I elaborated on above.
**Johan Ryd improved by leaps and bounds. He was an effort guy who skated well last season in the handful of games he played, but I wasn't sure of his overall skill level. He played a lot more and a lot better than I would have ever guessed.
**The Ryd/Pulak/Longley line was handed quite a bit of responsibility by the middle of the season in generally taking the ice against the other team's top line. Down the stretch they were terrific and put up 15 points between them in 6 post-season games despite not really being looked upon to score as their primary duty.
Disappointments from last season -
**I think it's human nature to think your team could have gone one step further than it did and it's a bitter pill to swallow to think all you needed was 1 more goal in almost 100 minutes of hockey to get another National Championship. At home it was hard to recognize they were down 2 bodies for half the game, certainly contributing to them running out of gas. As bad as you want it and as much as it stings at the time, I'm not about to deem this result a disappointment after stepping back.
**My only major concern in the big picture was the lack of consistent power play production. Since they are losing two very skilled forwards from the top PP line in Wheeler and Boyd they'll have some work to do.
Overall they exceeded my expectations. I went into it thinking a top 2 finish in the NCHA, an appearance in the Peters Cup final, and an NCAA bid would be a pretty solid season based on some of the non-seniors they lost. I guess I would have thought any banner would be a success, whether it was a regular season championship, a Peters Cup, or a Frozen Four. They did all of those things. Special thanks to the Seniors for helping the program attain 3 regular season NCHA Championships, 3 Peters Cup Championships, 1 NCAA Semi-Final appearance, 1 NCAA runner-up finish, and 1 National Championship.
Great things from last season -
**The tone was set early when they went over and dominated a couple of games against Stout.
**They had a couple of stinkers (Salem State and Eau Claire) but they bounced back quickly and led wire to wire in the NCHA.
**Taking care of business so decisively in the NCHA playoffs was a real highlight.
**I know many, including myself, who had major doubts about O'Brien in goal and were uneasy about them not bringing in someone else to at least challenge for playing time. I remember saying in private conversations I wasn't sure they could get to a Frozen Four with him in goal. He really stepped it up and played like some told us he could, so I humbly say I was clearly wrong.
**Last but not least, I thought this may have been Tim Coghlin's best overall coaching job of his career. They played with discipline, were again dominant at home, played consistently hard, got some marked improvement from guys coming back, and blended in some new guys nicely. He seemed to tinker more than I'd noticed in the past to get certain guys on the ice in certain situations and more often than not the correct buttons were pushed.
Pleasant surprises from last season -
**The freshman blended in nicely.
**O'Brien improved by quite a bit as I elaborated on above.
**Johan Ryd improved by leaps and bounds. He was an effort guy who skated well last season in the handful of games he played, but I wasn't sure of his overall skill level. He played a lot more and a lot better than I would have ever guessed.
**The Ryd/Pulak/Longley line was handed quite a bit of responsibility by the middle of the season in generally taking the ice against the other team's top line. Down the stretch they were terrific and put up 15 points between them in 6 post-season games despite not really being looked upon to score as their primary duty.
Disappointments from last season -
**I think it's human nature to think your team could have gone one step further than it did and it's a bitter pill to swallow to think all you needed was 1 more goal in almost 100 minutes of hockey to get another National Championship. At home it was hard to recognize they were down 2 bodies for half the game, certainly contributing to them running out of gas. As bad as you want it and as much as it stings at the time, I'm not about to deem this result a disappointment after stepping back.
**My only major concern in the big picture was the lack of consistent power play production. Since they are losing two very skilled forwards from the top PP line in Wheeler and Boyd they'll have some work to do.
) in 2004 for me. 
