Gopher Women's line combos and defense pairings

[bolts]

Could a U of M hockey fan please tell me the various forward line combinations and defense pairings utilized by the Gopher Womens' Ice Hockey Champions during the recent Frozen Four Tourney in Durham, NH? I realize that this request comes after the fact, but I am just curious. Thanks much.

Richard Batson
U of M Class of 1977
Vancouver, WA USA

[ARM]

The usual forward lines down the stretch, including the FF were:

Stephens/Wendell/Darwitz, McKenzie/Nichols/Ross, and Palkie/Philipczyk/Wacker. In the final game, Palkie suffered an injury in the second period, so Sutton skated on the third line. Palkie returned part way through the 3rd period and took McKenzie's spot on the Nichols line.

For most of the games toward the end of the season, the D pairings were Wall/Miller, Sanchez/Brodt, Albrecht/(Johnson or Souba, depending on who was the 6th D because Johnson was battling an injury.) At the FF, only the first 5 skated a regular shift, so the combinations were not as set.

[gopher55]

Gopher fan all the way but how good is a team
if the coach only rotates it's top two lines for an entire game?
my point is that it was just a coaches struggle to try to win
no real plan

[dave1381]

Gopher fan all the way but how good is a team
if the coach only rotates it's top two lines for an entire game?

uh, I think the end, the coach succeded in getting a quick change by Harvard and winning the game, I think Minnesota still won last I checked. Different rosters call for different strategies. You can't claim that shortening up never makes sense.

[ARM]

Gopher fan all the way but how good is a team
if the coach only rotates it's top two lines for an entire game?
I'm not sure how closely you watch the games or even what game you have in mind. I watched the Frozen Four games with family members of players on the Gopher 3rd line, so we were very aware of when Minnesota's 3rd was on the ice. Yes, there were times when they would come out for a faceoff, there'd be a break for a TV timeout, and the 1st line would return to the ice and the 3rd was skipped. Most would agree that at the NCAAs, you dance with the girls who brung you. But I thought that the third line played throughout, played well, and contributed to the championship.

[camman15]

Gopher fan all the way but how good is a team
if the coach only rotates it's top two lines for an entire game?
my point is that it was just a coaches struggle to try to win
no real plan

I think you need to go back and look at the game tape if you think that Minnesota only used 2 lines and by the way, most championship games "feature" the top players from both teams and I know Harvard wasn't playing communist hockey with their bench,.....and what is this nonsense of continuously bashing the coaching staff at Minnesota???,.....Laura Halldorson's no dummy, her assistant coaches are good teachers and when you have the kind of talent in that lockeroom, it's not easy to keep everybody happy with playing time,.....someone said earlier that winning comes first, and a coach has to do anything to win, and although it's extremely important, you just can't throw players "under the bus" (with women's teams) when they have contributed all season; you do that and you've got big problems in the future, especially if they are underclassmen,.....for whatever reason, people want to believe that women deal with disappointment the same way that men do, and they are sadly mistaken,.....case in point: a guy who's a third liner who doesn't play in a championship game will deal with the disappointment and move on quickly; a woman remembers that disappointment forever,.....

[5mn_Major]

Gopher fan all the way but how good is a team
if the coach only rotates it's top two lines for an entire game?
my point is that it was just a coaches struggle to try to win
no real plan

The team was extremely good...by many measurements one of the best in the history of womens hockey. If a coach can do something (including playing five lines or one line the whole game) to help her/his team win, why shouldn't they?

The comparison of communism to coaching styles is a poor one.

[camman15]

The team was extremely good...by many measurements one of the best in the history of womens hockey. If a coach can do something (including playing five lines or one line the whole game) to help her/his team win, why shouldn't they?

The comparison of communism to coaching styles is a poor one.

You're absolutely right when you say a coach can do anything they want with who plays and who doesn't, however, there's an "expectancy" factor that all players have when the puck is dropped,.....and if a team has been winning all year with a certain line-up, why would they change???,.....all it does with a women's team is create additional anxiety and those players who have been "in the fire" in big games during the season EXPECT to play and rightly so,.....the players who helped get you there should get a chance to help you win a championship; that's the coaching staff's comittment to those players,.....and FYI, if you know anything about the NHL, and guy named Ken Hitchcock played "communist hockey", basically meaning working towards equal icetime, which included equal opportunity on specialty teams for many; that's all that analogy meant, and anyone who has seen the Harvard women's team play KNOWS Katie Stone is no Ken Hitchcock,.....

[brookyone]

I think ARM makes one of the best points, particularly relevant to the FF with the television factor & the associated timeouts. A unique situation different from the regular season...with the exception of two televised games during Minnesota's regular season. Those TV timeouts afford the opportunity to deviate from the normal line rotations slightly facilitating additional / consecutive shifts for your top line. When playing for the big prize I would expect any GOOD coach to take full advantage of that opportunity. To me it's a little strange that some would associate that decision with poor coaching.

[kalehr]

Those TV timeouts afford the opportunity to deviate from the normal line rotations slightly facilitating additional / consecutive shifts for your top line. When playing for the big prize I would expect any GOOD coach to take full advantage of that opportunity. To me it's a little strange that some would associate that decision with poor coaching.

I totally agree, well put brookyone.

[5mn_Major]

You're absolutely right when you say a coach can do anything they want with who plays and who doesn't, however, there's an "expectancy" factor that all players have when the puck is dropped,.....and if a team has been winning all year with a certain line-up, why would they change???,.....all it does with a women's team is create additional anxiety and those players who have been "in the fire" in big games during the season EXPECT to play and rightly so,.....the players who helped get you there should get a chance to help you win a championship; that's the coaching staff's comittment to those players,.....and FYI, if you know anything about the NHL, and guy named Ken Hitchcock played "communist hockey", basically meaning working towards equal icetime, which included equal opportunity on specialty teams for many; that's all that analogy meant, and anyone who has seen the Harvard women's team play KNOWS Katie Stone is no Ken Hitchcock,.....

OK understand your just referencing a quote...no prob.

I really do sympathize with your point. But here's another way to look at it. What if being consistent or 'fair' caused a team to lose a national championship game, they otherwise would have won? How would the players, the fans, the media and the school feel? As a coach, you have an obligation to do whatever you can within normal bounds to win.

[brookyone]

What if being consistent or 'fair' caused a team to lose a national championship game, they otherwise would have won? How would the players, the fans, the media and the school feel?
...and can you imagine the heat the Gopher coaching staff would take if this were to happen...if you think the (unsubstantiated) heat is bad now... :eek: The Gopher roster did have the virtue of being able to put most anyone in uniform on the ice in just about any situation while still having good chances for success...I thought.