What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

[D2D]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

Should we re-do this poll

No, I'm still in it! But if I had any say in the matter I would much prefer to sacrifice any bragging rights and be WAY wrong on my prediction (or more accurately, my WAG).

 

[The Boomer]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

Beware of people named "Friend."

From the 2.56% solution . . . .

 

[Pick1]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

I honestly do not see anyone ending their winning streak. Every team will get better as the season goes on. This includes the GWH team. If teams can't hang with them now? How good will the GWH team be come January? Holy Cow!!

 

[The Boomer]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

By all accounts, this Husky fan came pretty close to "winning" the jackpot for predicting the end of the streak. But close doesn't cut it. Huskies played with gusto and grit on this afternoon--only to be stymied in the last two minutes of play. Like a championship team, the Gophers found a way to win the game.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

Yes...Boomer called it SCSU 3 tGophers 2 awhile back and it sure looked like that was going to be an accurate prediction.

Next up, the team without a name posters.

 

[CrazyDave]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

Was that a case of "keep your Friends close and your Fitzgeralds closer"?

Karvinen and Tapani had a good 4 Nations Cup... wish they were staying with Team Finland next weekend.

 

[brookyone]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

Yes...Boomer called it SCSU 3 tGophers 2 awhile back and it sure looked like that was going to be an accurate prediction.

Next up, the team without a name posters.

If you thought the Huskies were highly motivated to end the streak...and they definitely appeared that way to me, I think it could possibly pale in comparison to what Minnesota will see from North Dakota.

I read a comment made by ARM which touched on something I've been thinking about for awhile given the circumstances. That being the key players recently missing in action. Too many, too key to the point it becomes an obvious factor favorable to every opponents objective...to end the streak.

Hope the Gophers can get some, better yet all of those key contributors back soon. For the North Dakota series at Ridder would be especially good.

 

[The Boomer]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

The Huskies played without forward Vanessa Spataro this weekend. She had knee surgery a few weeks ago. When she was injured, she was also the leading scorer for SCSU. ALL teams have injuries . . .

 

[brookyone]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

ALL teams have injuries . . .

Edit: Yes they do indeed.

I reserve the right to ponder the affect and impact of injuries at times, as most fans do I think. I may allude or make reference to those thoughts once in awhile. Also appreciate any similar info and thoughts regarding teams I'm not as familiar with. My origins as a fan are with the men's game where information regarding injured players and the resulting impact to their teams is more commonly obsessed over publicly.

 

[Call It]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

If you thought the Huskies were highly motivated to end the streak...and they definitely appeared that way to me, I think it could possibly pale in comparison to what Minnesota will see from North Dakota.

I read a comment made by ARM which touched on something I've been thinking about for awhile given the circumstances. That being the key players recently missing in action. Too many, too key to the point it becomes an obvious factor favorable to every opponents objective...to end the streak.

Hope the Gophers can get some, better yet all of those key contributors back soon. For the North Dakota series at Ridder would be especially good.

Great game, St. Cloud show some heart & passion! As a Gopher fan, might we better off losing this game now vs one later on? Like the playoffs? Hope we can run the table but would rather not give team extra incentive.

On a side note, I love how well St. Cloud did, considering Brad Frost did not try to recruit any of the Husky players.

 

[ARM]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

The Huskies played without forward Vanessa Spataro this weekend. She had knee surgery a few weeks ago. When she was injured, she was also the leading scorer for SCSU. ALL teams have injuries . . .

Sorry to hear that she is injured. In the meantime, I'll consider myself fortunate to have witnessed in person the one and only point by Ms. Spataro this season. I'm not sure how you define "leading scorer" to say she was ahead of Mott at that point, but hey, you do things differently in St. Cloud.

 

[ARM]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

As a Gopher fan, might we better off losing this game now vs one later on?

No. Unless you can demonstrate how losing now would mean that the Gophers are less likely to lose come playoff time, I don't think so. There's nothing to say that once Minnesota loses they won't then play .500 hockey the rest of the way. Best to get all of the wins possible in the meantime and increase the chances of playing come national tournament time.

 

[The Boomer]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

Sorry to hear that she is injured. In the meantime, I'll consider myself fortunate to have witnessed in person the one and only point by Ms. Spataro this season. I'm not sure how you define "leading scorer" to say she was ahead of Mott at that point, but hey, you do things differently in St. Cloud.

See? THIS is what happens to my mind when we play the Gophers! Vanessa Spataro COULD be our leading scorer----maybe sometime...... The good news is that she is recovering nicely, and may play this weekend out in Colorado.

Good wishes to the Champs the rest of the season.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

Good wishes to the Champs the rest of the season.

good luck to the Huskies, they played like champions
sadly, only one team can win

 

[D2D]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

good luck to the Huskies, they played like champions
sadly, only one team can win

One the one hand, after giving it their absolute all - but still losing a real heartbreaker at the end - the Huskies could be down, dispirited, dejected. Or, their reaction to the tough loss could be the exact opposite: they feel very good about themselves, knowing that if they duplicate that kind of an effort against the nation's No. 1 team they can skate with anybody, starting with BU this coming weekend.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

As a Gopher fan, might we better off losing this game now vs one later on? Like the playoffs? Hope we can run the table but would rather not give team extra incentive.

No. Unless you can demonstrate how losing now would mean that the Gophers are less likely to lose come playoff time, I don't think so. There's nothing to say that once Minnesota loses they won't then play .500 hockey the rest of the way. Best to get all of the wins possible in the meantime and increase the chances of playing come national tournament time.

In rational, quantitative terms, ARM is clearly correct. No sane coach is going to tell his team to tank a game to get a winning streak out of the way.

And yet, Call It's point is ignored at one's own peril. Motivation and Momentum are very difficult to quantify. Still, they're very real factors. To demand that they be "demonstrated" is to stack the deck a bit.

I can think of countless hockey examples where a team with a high ranking and/or a win streak plays a bit tentatively, and drops a game to a motivated underdog playing with "nothing to lose." Again, it's tough to prove that motivation was the key difference, but it seems clear to me that this happens with some regularity. What does Call It want? To avoid that scenario next March. Can't fault a fan for that, right?

Taking the topic a step beyond the original exchange, it could be argued that motivated underdogs tend to be less successful in Women's D-1 Hockey than at other levels of our sport. IMHO, that could very well be the case. If so, why would be a very interesting question. But again, proof is difficult.

Thoughts?

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

One thought would be the degree of skill difference that exists in Women's D-1 hockey combined with the rule of no body checking making it difficult for a "motivated underdog" to hold off that skill difference for a whole game. In the men's game you will often see teams with less skating ability try to neutralize the other teams speed advantage by hitting them every chance they get. That way you can take a more defensive stance (neutral zone trap), depend on your goaltending, and look to take advantage of some opportunities that come off of turnovers.

 

[ARM]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

Thoughts?

I agree that it is all conjecture that can't be conclusively proven. At one point I'd have agreed with you and Call It, that it is better to lose and get the team re-motivated. But at this point, they've followed a win with another win 60 times, so they've demonstrated that they are pretty good at finding motivation from other means. They can claim that they don't think about the streak, and that's frequently what they say when asked. But at certain points in games such as those at Colgate, versus Wisconsin, the second at Bemidji, and the second in St. Cloud, they had to realize that the streak was in real jeopardy. In each case, they've responded very positively to that threat. The advantage they now have is that each player believes they will find a way to win the current game, and they know that other players share that belief. Belief in the positive is huge in sports. It's when doubt starts to creep in that an athlete is in trouble.

This may be wrong, but it's my theory, and I'm sticking to it, because by conventional thinking, they should have lost long ago.

 

[SJHovey]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

There is no rational reason to think that a Minnesota loss, and the loss of whatever pressure is associated with continuing that streak, would be good for the team in the long run.

The winning streak does two things which enhances Minnesota's chances. One, it continues to put pressure on Minnesota to perform at it's highest level, and never give up. That added incentive has probably resulted in an occasional win, like this last weekend, where under different circumstances (i.e. no winning streak), and with less "on the line" a comeback might not have been achieved.

Second, and maybe more importantly is the loss of perceived invincibility. Teams that play Minnesota now are just as aware of the streak as Minnesota's team is. When you don't lose, sometimes the other team just doesn't believe they can win.

Take a look at the UCLA men's basketball and Connecticut women's basketball winning streaks as classic examples. They were invincible teams, coming off successive championships. Until the streak ended. Neither went on to win the national championship the year the streak ended even though both had powerhouse teams. Teams were no longer convinced of their invincibility.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?

One thought would be the degree of skill difference that exists in Women's D-1 hockey combined with the rule of no body checking making it difficult for a "motivated underdog" to hold off that skill difference for a whole game. In the men's game you will often see teams with less skating ability try to neutralize the other teams speed advantage by hitting them every chance they get. That way you can take a more defensive stance (neutral zone trap), depend on your goaltending, and look to take advantage of some opportunities that come off of turnovers.

Although the skill gap is narrowing somewhat, I believe that this continues to be correct.

I agree that it is all conjecture that can't be conclusively proven...

I might not use the word conjecture; I'd emphasize that motivation is art rather than science. But we basically agree.

...The advantage they now have is that each player believes they will find a way to win the current game, and they know that other players share that belief. Belief in the positive is huge in sports. It's when doubt starts to creep in that an athlete is in trouble.

Strongly agree. And I think that this a much larger factor than the "lose one, and things may fall apart," point from your earlier post.

At the risk of putting words in your mouth, your argument seems to be that the team-wide positive belief is so valuable, it outweighs any negatives associated with the win streak. I have to admit that I find that pretty persuasive.