Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers Season Off-Season Thread 2018
Nice work! Let's face it, CM has innate talent, but at a young 19 he's still a body of work in process.
I think a lot Gopher fans thought CM would be a reload for Kloos on the Pitlick/Kloos/Sheehy line and light it up. I guess I bought into that as well. But the correlation between Kloos and CM is actually quite low (skills, style, age, experience, etc.). The line seemed to gel for a few weeks and then Sheehy was dropped to the 2nd line. Then it became Pitlick/CM/Reedy. They lasted a while and then another change. I don't think there was any consistent pairing with CM that worked. The closest was Pitlick. I attribute that to a young and talented CM still needing to develop leadership, positioning, strength and skill at the college level.
On the other side, I can see where team struggles most likely affected CM's numbers. Schierhorn did not live up to expectations this season after two seasons as Big Ten Goalie of the Year. His decline was quite a surprise to many. The PP was terrible. The D was not good and we lacked an offensive D like Bischoff (Johnson never became that guy). A lack of productive seniors was a problem compared to the previous season too.
I can see extraneous variables on both sides of the argument that led to the Gophers demise last season and CM's low production compared to other highly talented frosh that you've listed above.
Originally posted by 5mn_Major
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I think a lot Gopher fans thought CM would be a reload for Kloos on the Pitlick/Kloos/Sheehy line and light it up. I guess I bought into that as well. But the correlation between Kloos and CM is actually quite low (skills, style, age, experience, etc.). The line seemed to gel for a few weeks and then Sheehy was dropped to the 2nd line. Then it became Pitlick/CM/Reedy. They lasted a while and then another change. I don't think there was any consistent pairing with CM that worked. The closest was Pitlick. I attribute that to a young and talented CM still needing to develop leadership, positioning, strength and skill at the college level.
On the other side, I can see where team struggles most likely affected CM's numbers. Schierhorn did not live up to expectations this season after two seasons as Big Ten Goalie of the Year. His decline was quite a surprise to many. The PP was terrible. The D was not good and we lacked an offensive D like Bischoff (Johnson never became that guy). A lack of productive seniors was a problem compared to the previous season too.
I can see extraneous variables on both sides of the argument that led to the Gophers demise last season and CM's low production compared to other highly talented frosh that you've listed above.
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