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Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

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  • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

    Originally posted by gopher wes View Post
    ...but the way some folks talked him up coming in I expected more.
    Funny how some fans will do that. I'll try to watch him more closely - in person - this weekend against a mediocre St. Lawrence team, then come back and offer my 2 cents.
    Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey

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    • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

      Originally posted by D2D View Post
      Funny how some fans will do that. I'll try to watch him more closely - in person - this weekend against a mediocre St. Lawrence team, then come back and offer my 2 cents.
      He had the glaring turnover that directly resulted in the ENG to seal the deal for Wisconsin Saturday but he had some other 'oops' plays throughout the game as well. He had a lazy play in the Friday Kato game that pretty much directly resulted in a goal as well.

      It's hard to pick on one guy in what has been a lackluster start to the season, but Phillips is going to frustrate me throughout this year if he keeps it up.
      "It ain't over, baby! And that took only six seconds!"

      USCHO gives me another reason to not do work while I am at work.

      Everything is Hill's fault.....

      "Hakstol you hack!!!!"

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      • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

        Originally posted by gopher wes View Post
        Am I way off base in saying Phillips hasn't been very good so far this year? Outside of the assists he piled up against tUMD, I can't think of a whole lot of good he's done this year.

        I was willing to give him a pass on his half season desperation move by Lucia last year, but the way some folks talked him up coming in I expected more.
        I guess I disagree. He's rough but he hasn't played that many games and he's got talent. Not sure he was that much worse than say Sadek last night.
        Go Gophers!

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        • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

          Originally posted by 5mn_Major View Post
          I guess I disagree. He's rough but he hasn't played that many games and he's got talent. Not sure he was that much worse than say Sadek last night.
          That's kind of why I added
          Originally posted by gopher wes View Post
          It's hard to pick on one guy in what has been a lackluster start to the season, but Phillips is going to frustrate me throughout this year if he keeps it up.
          in my response to D2D. It's hard to blame one guy when the D as a whole is meh. Phillips has had some really bad plays, though. Maybe I am just singling him out.
          "It ain't over, baby! And that took only six seconds!"

          USCHO gives me another reason to not do work while I am at work.

          Everything is Hill's fault.....

          "Hakstol you hack!!!!"

          Comment


          • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

            You can kinda see where he has upside with his skating ability but so far the blue line is mediocre as a whole and nobody in particular appears to be clearly above the rest.

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            • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

              Originally posted by trixR4kids View Post
              You can kinda see where he has upside with his skating ability but so far the blue line is mediocre as a whole and nobody in particular appears to be clearly above the rest.
              Frankly calling out the D is probably not best either. We've reverted to the Lucia legacy of having difficulty scoring goals - we got a lucky break in Friday's UW game. But normal 5 on 5 plays, our forwards are the primary issue.

              The senior 'leadership' (Novak, Sheehy, Gates) scorecard is now at minus 17.
              Go Gophers!

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              • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                Right but a lot of that stems from the fact that the guys on the back end aren’t good at breaking the puck out of the zone with speed or contributing anything other than bruising the other teams shins offensively.

                But I agree that scoring is probably my biggest concern especially considering that it’s the main thing Motzko wanted to fix.

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                • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                  Originally posted by trixR4kids View Post
                  A lot of that stems from the fact that the guys on the back end aren’t good at breaking the puck out of the zone with speed or contributing anything other than bruising the other teams shins offensively.
                  Mostly not true. Our three forwards (with 5 seniors) on the ice have scoring goals as their #1 priority vs. two defensemen (with only 1 senior) who need to have their #1 priority to stop GA. Secondarily, forwards support D and vice versa.

                  We have the 3rd worst goals per game in D1. Perhaps our forwards are copying you by blaming the defense for their inability to score goals.
                  Go Gophers!

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                  • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                    Originally posted by trixR4kids View Post
                    Right but a lot of that stems from the fact that the guys on the back end aren’t good at breaking the puck out of the zone with speed or contributing anything other than bruising the other teams shins offensively.

                    But I agree that scoring is probably my biggest concern especially considering that it’s the main thing Motzko wanted to fix.
                    Bruising shins...spot on Trix. I cringe when I see shot attempts into a forest of shin guards from the blueline. Gophers had about 25 of those on Sat.

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                    • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                      Originally posted by 5mn_Major View Post
                      Mostly not true. Our three forwards (with 5 seniors) on the ice have scoring goals as their #1 priority vs. two defensemen (with only 1 senior) who need to have their #1 priority to stop GA. Secondarily, forwards support D and vice versa.

                      We have the 3rd worst goals per game in D1. Perhaps our forwards are copying you by blaming the defense for their inability to score goals.
                      Again, scoring doesn't only come down to the forwards. If they can't get out of their own zone because of the dmen that's a problem as they never even get to the other end to take shots that lead to goals. If the forwards pass the puck to a Dman in the offensive zone to create space for themselves and they just throw it in the corner for another dump and grind session, that additionally doesn't lead to goals. And if the Dmen shoot the puck off the other teams' shins constantly once they receive a pass from the forwards, it also doesn't boost goal scoring. Not having a Reilly or Schmidt on this team is problematic and a large part of why they get outshot every night at even strength.

                      Good Dmen in hockey are more like fourth forwards who are solid in their own end. Their only job isn't solely to prevent goals against, that'd be the goalie.

                      And none of what I said is absolving the forwards. This team still can't score goals much like last year except they lost their best player and now the centers are expected to move up a role. It's not a recipe for offensive improvement and the forwards deserve plenty of the blame for it.
                      Last edited by trixR4kids; 11-12-2018, 05:35 PM.

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                      • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                        The D sucks and the senior forwards have been horse ****.

                        Pitlick can be a game breaker and Ranta is already the second best player on the team. Two favorites on this roster.

                        Robson is third favorite. Fundamentally extremely sound which was a beautiful change from 37.

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                        • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                          Originally posted by SteveO View Post
                          Bruising shins...spot on Trix. I cringe when I see shot attempts into a forest of shin guards from the blueline. Gophers had about 25 of those on Sat.
                          Which is why we don't score any goals...

                          Originally posted by trixR4kids View Post
                          Good Dmen in hockey are more like fourth forwards who are solid in their own end. Their only job isn't solely to prevent goals against, that'd be the goalie.
                          Forwards constantly passing it back to the D makes them 'cute'. Our senior forwards need to have a better than minus 17 for one month of hockey. They need to drive to the net.

                          No more relying on the D to save their bacon and no more hoping to win by having our D and Robson come up with a 1 GA.
                          Go Gophers!

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                          • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                            As soon as we get to play some weaker teams at home, I am sure it will all get better.
                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX


                            The reason for the talent in the west? Because MN didn't rely on Canada.

                            Originally posted by MN Pond Hockey
                            Menards could have sold a lot of rope

                            this morning in Grand Forks if North Dakota had trees.

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                            • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                              Why do you say that? It's been like that every year. They win a few games they should and then people expect them to perform better than the fact that they are capable of being a good but not great team.

                              Making the tournament would be a solid success for Bob's first year. Expecting anything beyond that isn't really realistic.

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                              • Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!

                                Originally posted by Happy View Post
                                As soon as we get to play some weaker teams at home, I am sure it will all get better.
                                There will be no better opportunity for it to "get better" than this weekend. St. Lawrence is 1-8, and second from the very bottom (#59 of 60) in the Pairwise.

                                Anything less than a sweep would be an embarrassment.
                                Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey

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