2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

[bluffrinkrat]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Jo Lam had an eye popping 97 penalties in her first two years and 59 in her final two, so some improvement there, but 156 penalties is really an amazing number. Mo had 70 for the first two years and 67 for the last two for a total of 137 and fairly evenly distributed in each year. As much as I hate to admit it, Crazy Dave is right, the sisters did not reduce their undisciplined play much by the time they were seniors.

[CrazyDave]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

The weekly Thursday preview article from the Minnesota Daily focuses on Maryanne Menefee's return to the Gopher lineup. http://www.mndaily.com/sports/womens...ting-minnesota

[ARM]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Rachael Bona's thoughts on the upcoming series and being a captain:
http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w...103014aaa.html

[Eeyore]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

I know we sent players to Four Nations but did we send the rink crew, too? The timekeeping waspure comedy in the first period and there was way too much water dumped on the rink before the second. The Gophers didn't look good but I don't think it was a coincidence that they picked it up for the second half of the period once there was no longer any standing water.

[pokechecker]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

at least they had the sense to wait a bit for the start of the third.
so Minnesota beats Wisconsin
Wisconsin Beats Bemidji
Bemidji beats Minnesota

by my math, the Gophers hold a 1 point lead over the Badgers
yes, the point is important
but if it ends up that way, I'll be as disappointed as Badger fans
I'd prefer they extend the overtime
after all, aren't they keeping everyone there for ~ 5 minutes of game time?

[Eeyore]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Five things:

1) Bemidji is a good team. How they got swept by Ohio State I have no idea. You couldn't offer me the odds that would get me to bet that they'll finish behind the Buckeyes in the standings at the end of the year.
2) Bemidji also played really well. We haven't faced that aggressive a forecheck in a long time, even against Clarkson last March.
3) We didn't play well.
4) Missing the Team USA players, and having Ramsey at well below full speed, hurt us.
5) We couldn't buy a bounce in front of the net either game. Well, we got one but the refs waved it off incorrectly. (No crying about the refs, though, because they did their best to hand us today's game; we just refused to take it.) Bemdiji's first goal last night was a shot from the boards that hit Kelsey Cline's skate, somehow popped straight up in the air, off the chest of a Bemidji player who had no idea it was there, and past Sydney Peters.

Unlike the last couple of years, we're not good enough for all of those things to be true and yet still find a way to win anyway.

[ARM]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

How they got swept by Ohio State I have no idea. You couldn't offer me the odds that would get me to bet that they'll finish behind the Buckeyes in the standings at the end of the year.

We haven't seen Ohio State, so it is hard to say how good the Buckeyes are. My guess is that the Beavers played better this weekend than they did in Columbus.

Credit to Bemidji State. They played well and deserved the points that they got this weekend.

[PuckRush]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

There was way too much water dumped on the rink before the second. The Gophers didn't look good but I don't think it was a coincidence that they picked it up for the second half of the period once there was no longer any standing water.

Glad to see that most of you are giving Bemidji credit. Because otherwise, it means "standing water" is Minnesota's kryptonite, and there will be a lot more water than usual coming out of Gopher opponent's Zambonis for the rest of the season!

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Glad to see that most of you are giving Bemidji credit. Because otherwise, it means "standing water" is Minnesota's kryptonite, and there will be a lot more water than usual coming out of Gopher opponent's Zambonis for the rest of the season!

That's hilarious. I had a similar thought after reading Eeyore's post

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Minnesota's sophomore class is really underperforming aside from Cameranesi. It's really causing the lineup to have some glaring holes. The coaching staff has some work to do.

[ARM]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Minnesota's sophomore class is really underperforming aside from Cameranesi. It's really causing the lineup to have some glaring holes. The coaching staff has some work to do.

They aren't alone. Without Brandt, the junior class of skaters didn't do much yesterday. Seniors? They were a big part of the problem all weekend. May as well throw the freshmen under the bus as well. It takes a lot of people to win, and a lot of people bear some of the blame when a team loses.

[Eeyore]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Minnesota's sophomore class is really underperforming aside from Cameranesi. It's really causing the lineup to have some glaring holes. The coaching staff has some work to do.

I've been impressed with Cline; she'll never be a big scorer but her defensive play has been very nice. Schipper has been a part of an outstanding penalty kill and has had chances. Wolfe seems to be having some trouble adjusting to being back at forward and we'll have to see. Flug has only had one game all year (yesterday) where she got any real amount of ice time and I think she's earned more. Paige Haley didn't look very good but, again, has hardly had enough playing time to really judge. Oh, yeah, and that Stecklein kid does okay.

The one player that I think has struggled a lot, and not just this weekend, is Garzone. She looks lost a lot of the time and is getting beaten badly to the outside. She had a horrible play against North Dakota where she took a bad shot that was blocked high and then stopped skating, forcing Cline to take a penalty on the ensuing breakaway. Something to keep an eye on.

Also, the only goal yesterday was on a 4-on-3 power play that started with a PK unit of Menefee/Garzone/Cline. They got stuck on the zone, eventually managing to clear the puck far enough only to change Garzone for a hobbled Ramsey. My guess is that you won't see that particular penalty killing group again this year.

[ARM]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

My guess is that you won't see that particular penalty killing group again this year.

There weren't many options for forwards on that one with 21/22 gone and Bona and Lorence in the box. Ramsey and McMillen were both on the ice for the four on four before Lorence took the second penalty. At that point, they probably tried to go with the most veteran group that they had available. The trio had at least three chances to clear, and couldn't get the puck out until the clear to center ice that you mentioned. That inability almost always proves costly on the PK.

[ne7minder]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Minnesota's sophomore class is really underperforming aside from Cameranesi. It's really causing the lineup to have some glaring holes. The coaching staff has some work to do.

Gopher fans got spoiled over the last 3-4 years pretty badly. Those teams will go down as something special, something we may not see again on any hockey team. This current bunch is very good, those other kids were superheros, it is unfair to compare them. As they showed in Madison and against ND this group is more than capable, they just may not be invincible. Thats great news for womens hockey, painful reality for the old maroon and gold.

Several years ago one of the knuckle draggers that wrote for the Strib sports page said that people don't demand coach firings in womens sports because they don't respect the sport or the coaches. This may be the sort of logic one acquires from overexposure to carbon monoxide, spending too much time in a garage I suppose. But just in case I guess I have to now demand Frost be fired in order to show that I have respect for him and womens hockey. I don't want to but I have to. I will have to dye my gold pants black now in mourning, the whole season is a catastrophe!

[KTDC]

Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Kate Schipper is -2 on the year in plus/minus. That is worst on the team. A lot of the decisions she has made haven’t worked out, she has whiffed on a bunch of shots, and hasn’t taken advantage of some good scoring opportunities.

But she is so fast and she plays so hard. She has good hands and good moves. I think if a few things go her way, she could be right on the cusp of flipping a switch and really making some things happen. That could impact her confidence. It would really be cool if we could see her blossom and I think if that happens she could carry Rachael Bona and Meghan Lorence along with her and transform some frustration into a really good line.