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Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

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  • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

    I'd like to think this is fixable but when you see the same mistakes being made over and over its frustrating to watch.
    At the outset, we could hang with the dude...

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    • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

      Originally posted by FiveHoleFrenzy View Post
      I'd like to think this is fixable but when you see the same mistakes being made over and over its frustrating to watch.
      I think most (including me) knew this was going to be a challenging season. But I agree on the mistakes - too many, and often way too elementary, to be made at this level. Though from the score - it's hard to believe - they did play better today, while giving a much better effort than they did last night. That is, until the overtime period, when they couldn't get the puck out of their zone and gave up numerous really good chances...only to be saved by Gulstene, who was forced to make nine saves compared to Sauve, who had ZERO! Having dominated the overtime session they way they did, I thought the Buckeyes totally deserved the extra point they got in the shootout. Both of their shootout goals they scored were superb. So, as disappointed as I was at the final result, I thought OSU winning the shootout was a very fitting end to the game.
      Last edited by D2D; 10-07-2017, 06:48 PM.
      Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey

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      • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

        I like today much better than yesterday, although with that first period yesterday that may not be saying much. But I liked a lot from the offense. For a lot of the game I thought it was the best passing from the offense that I have seen. Grace made a great pass while she was was doing her thing, which I loved.

        My biggest problem was after we tied the game late in the third. As D2D said about the OT, I felt about the the last 6 minutes of regulation as well. At best, it looked like we were trying to hold a lead, not win a tie game. We didn't really possess the puck for the last 11 minutes of the game.

        On defense we have 2 freshmen, 2 sophomores, and a senior. Pretty green troops. Too bad the senior isn't Rachel Ramsey. I would love to see Rachel anchor and mentor that 'd' corp. She's probably glad she has 3 natty's and a final game loss instead. But today I'm in the mood to cut Sydney a break. She's given us four years and she's got a tough job. Hopefully over the course of the year they can solidify.

        I'm happy to see Gulstene back there. I vote Alex G for next week as well.

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        • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

          I haven't actually seen the Gophers play this year, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I will echo the comments of those who have seen them. It's hard to overstate the importance of a Bozek/Ramsey/Jalosuo/Stecklein/McMillan on defense. UM has been fortunate to have more than one of these rock-solid defenders every year, and now we can see what life is like without them. It must be the same feeling Timothy has when he sees the Badgers take the ice without an All-American goaltender.

          I think the league catching up to UM/UW (or these teams dropping back to the pack; take your pick) is good for the sport. This will still be a fun year, as I believe Frosty is an excellent coach who will have his toughest coaching challenge in some time. At least, we can know that the rest of the women's hockey world is feeling sympathy for our struggles.<--(Sarcasm alert)

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          • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

            Contrary to the initial thoughts after last Friday, I think the offense will be fine. Not necessarily great, but not a huge problem. They've got some people who can score, and if playing with Zumwinkle can ignite Reilly like that on a consistent basis, we'll score our share of goals. If they remember to keep going hard to the net, it'll work out.

            They also seem to play decently once the opposition has set up on offense. There are plenty of mistakes to work on, but mostly of the sort that can be expected at this point with a young team and that one has a reasonable hope will get better.

            In transition, they look terrible. The problems defensively are obvious, but they're there going the other way, too. Passes are consistently off-target, and often end up out of reach or in the receiver's skates. On the goal that opened the second period, Piazza's pass was way behind Woken, and #20 had to make an outstanding individual play not just to get it, but to use a spin move to somehow turn it back into a breakaway. That said, there's too much emphasis on just carrying the puck from end to end rather than finding an open player.

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            • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

              I think what the Gophers are missing, especially on the blue line, is enough role-players. Yeah, we'd all love to have Lee Stecklein back, but right now, they could really use someone like Baylee Gillanders. I was hoping that Katie Robinson would fill that niche, but she seems to be developing in a different direction. They need some defensemen who don't score.

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              • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

                Originally posted by Eeyore View Post
                They need some defensemen who don't score.
                So far four of five meet this criteria. Olivia Knowles is the only D who has scored a goal, and she has two.
                Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey

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                • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

                  Originally posted by Puckdrop14 View Post
                  I also believe that many are discounting the fact that the Buckeyes are a pretty good team.
                  tOSU is much improved over last season and will contend for greater things. However, I don't think that it is necessary for Gopher fans to focus on that, because the things we are talking about were in evidence against our previous opponents as well. Yes, the Buckeyes were able to exploit many of the problems that fans are talking about, but that doesn't change the fact that we're seeing more bad pinches, handoffs, gaps, coverages, and back checks than we are accustomed to seeing. We have a less-experienced team than we've had of late, so those struggles are to be expected. But in a Minnesota thread, we'll be looking at the Gophers and what they're doing far more than we will be worrying about what the opponents did or did not do.

                  Originally posted by Eeyore View Post
                  I think what the Gophers are missing, especially on the blue line, is enough role-players. Yeah, we'd all love to have Lee Stecklein back, but right now, they could really use someone like Baylee Gillanders. I was hoping that Katie Robinson would fill that niche, but she seems to be developing in a different direction. They need some defensemen who don't score.
                  We remember Baylee Gillanders as she was a senior, after playing two seasons primarily with Megan Bozek. As a senior, Gillanders was much more than a role player. As a freshman, she played more than Robinson has to date, and I recall the coaches privately lamenting the fact that she had so little confidence. After going out there for almost 80 games paired with #19, she gradually gained that confidence.

                  Baldwin's strength has always been her skill set, not that she doesn't make mistakes. Think back to the 2016 Frozen Four when she was in the middle of all three goals allowed, having been the last Gopher to touch the puck before it wound up on the sticks of Shaver and Newkirk and losing coverage of Clark. Baldwin is now likely trying to do too much, and that compounds our problems.

                  I think our steadiest D to date has been Marshall, but she made the ill-advised pinch that erased the last lead that UM would hold yesterday. In seasons past, maybe someone like Kate Schipper swallows that play up on the back check and we quickly forget about it.

                  For now, we'll have to hope for rapid improvement. Remember the game that Emily Brown played in the opener vs Merrimack and compare it to what she did yesterday. They are getting better, and rather quickly. There is just a long way that they have to go to get to the level of what we saw on the blue line in 2012-13. To hold them to the standard of the best blue line that most of us has ever seen is likely too high a standard. But by the time that Marshall and Robinson are seniors, I think we'll think differently of the four underclassmen that we're watching now. I don't think that there is anyone that I'd rather have than Joel Johnson sorting this blue line out.

                  As of right now, I don't think that Minnesota is one of the 10 best teams in the country, but I've watched seasons like 2001-02 and 2005-06 where the team struggled mightily early and wound up as the No. 1 seed in the first case and played for the title in the second. I'm not predicting such heights for this squad, but I think we'll look back on the foundation that is created this season as being crucial to whatever success that a far more dominant team enjoys next year.
                  "... And lose, and start again at your beginnings
                  And never breathe a word about your loss;" -- Rudyard Kipling

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                  • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

                    Remember where Clarkson was after mid October last year and where they ended up.

                    You have a good coach and a seemingly endless pipeline of talent. Patience.
                    CCT '77 & '78
                    4 kids
                    5 grandsons (BCA 7/09, CJA 5/14, JDL 8/14, JFL 6/16, PJL 7/18)
                    1 granddaughter (EML 4/18)

                    ”Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
                    - Benjamin Franklin

                    Banned from the St. Lawrence University Facebook page - March 2016 (But I got better).

                    I want to live forever. So far, so good.

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                    • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

                      Originally posted by joecct View Post
                      You have a good coach and a seemingly endless pipeline of talent.
                      We do. What we don't have this season is a Cayley Mercer right now, so I think our patience may involve next year.
                      "... And lose, and start again at your beginnings
                      And never breathe a word about your loss;" -- Rudyard Kipling

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                      • Originally posted by ARM View Post
                        We do. What we don't have this season is a Cayley Mercer right now, so I think our patience may involve next year.
                        He was referring to Frosty and the U, not Clarkson.

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                        • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

                          Originally posted by ARM View Post
                          To hold them to the standard of the best blue line that most of us has ever seen is likely too high a standard. But by the time that Marshall and Robinson are seniors, I think we'll think differently of the four underclassmen that we're watching now. I don't think that there is anyone that I'd rather have than Joel Johnson sorting this blue line out.
                          Amen!

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                          • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

                            Originally posted by Eeyore View Post
                            They need some defensemen who don't score.
                            I agree with your strategy, Not necessarily referring to D that score but to those who think trying to score is a priority, Holding offensive blue line and timely pinching and smothering a team down low has been a Gopher D tradition as well as limiting scoring chances on defensive end.. Preventing odd man rushes and blocking shots are as beautiful as any shot or scoring chance from the point!

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                            • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

                              Originally posted by shelfit View Post
                              He was referring to Frosty and the U, not Clarkson.
                              I know, thus the liberal use of "we". Clarkson last year had a Kaz-type forward up front in Mercer. Minnesota doesn't have an upperclassman who can take over a game like that to build around.
                              "... And lose, and start again at your beginnings
                              And never breathe a word about your loss;" -- Rudyard Kipling

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                              • Re: Minnesota Golden Gophers 2017-18 Season Thread

                                I recall Milica getting the puck stolen by a Bulldog her freshman year as she skated up the middle and nobody behind her
                                thankfully she had Noora behind her, not a freshman goalie
                                freshmen are going to do things like that
                                but **** what was whomever the Gopher D thinking that gambled and lost with nobody behind her, you gamble on offense, not defense
                                that was a bonehead play, there is no sugar coating it, you don't even see that in HS

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