Re: Minnesota hosts Mankato State of Minnesota : 11/15 & 11/16
So.....MN has another bye week?
Never really developed a taste for tequila. Kind of hard to understand how you make a drink out of something that sharp, inhospitable. Now, bourbon is easy to understand.
Tastes like a warm summer day. -Raylan Givens
Minnesota's Pride On Ice: 1974, 1976, 1979, 2002 & 2003 NCAA National Champions
And the preacher said, you know you always have the Lord by your side
And I was so pleased to be informed of this that I ran
Twenty red lights in his honor
Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord
~Mick Jagger/Keith Richards
Re: Minnesota hosts Mankato State of Minnesota : 11/15 & 11/16
I thought MSU was returning a lot of their team? Did they lose some key players, or just haven't put it together yet this year? Seems they are always up for MN, so maybe they'll turn it on this weekend. At least we have good TV coverage.
Or maybe a bit of a goofy goalie that had a hot year but may never do it again? (Cough, Kangas) Haven't heard how Williams has been.
Williams has been bad, but I think he'll get it back...eventually. But maybe not this year. Defense hasn't helped. We miss the smarts, leadership, and physical stay-at-home play of Elbrecht more than we thought we would, and Josh Nelson got hurt and may be out for a long time. Offensively, who knows what's been wrong? Blueger is noticeably better, but he's about it among all the returners. Leitner hasn't been close to last year's performance. Missed a couple games with back problems. Don't know if that still lingers, but his dropoff has made our power play pretty mediocre so far. Still have hopes for the long haul this year, but I'm worried we won't be competitive this weekend.
Williams has been bad, but I think he'll get it back...eventually. But maybe not this year. Defense hasn't helped. We miss the smarts, leadership, and physical stay-at-home play of Elbrecht more than we thought we would, and Josh Nelson got hurt and may be out for a long time. Offensively, who knows what's been wrong? Blueger is noticeably better, but he's about it among all the returners. Leitner hasn't been close to last year's performance. Missed a couple games with back problems. Don't know if that still lingers, but his dropoff has made our power play pretty mediocre so far. Still have hopes for the long haul this year, but I'm worried we won't be competitive this weekend.
You'll see Huggins in net Friday, and probably Saturday unless he gets lot up. He's been good this far and Williams has struggled to help this team win.
Leitner wasn't hurt, so there's no worry about that. Like I said in our season thread, it was discipline for violation of team rules.
Josh Nelson is likely out for the year, he's going to have hip surgery.
Zach Palmquist and JP LaFontaine have seemed to regress; something is off with their games. Palmquist has been a -3 the last two Fridays. When you're #1 defenseman is -3, good luck winning games.
The Mavericks will play hard, and may have turned the corner with a gritty OT win on Saturday. We'll see.
You'll see Huggins in net Friday, and probably Saturday unless he gets lot up. He's been good this far and Williams has struggled to help this team win.
Leitner wasn't hurt, so there's no worry about that. Like I said in our season thread, it was discipline for violation of team rules.
Josh Nelson is likely out for the year, he's going to have hip surgery.
Zach Palmquist and JP LaFontaine have seemed to regress; something is off with their games. Palmquist has been a -3 the last two Fridays. When you're #1 defenseman is -3, good luck winning games.
The Mavericks will play hard, and may have turned the corner with a gritty OT win on Saturday. We'll see.
Leitner, Palmquist, LaFontaine are key guys. If and when they find their mojo, consistent wins will start comin', but they should wait until the following weekend to begin their surge.
Re: Minnesota hosts Mankato State of Minnesota : 11/15 & 11/16
Looking forward to a couple good games this weekend. Even when the Mavs are down, they always seem to get that extra gear lined up right playing the Gophers.
Even when the Mavs are down, they always seem to get that extra gear lined up right playing the Gophers.
In that respect they are certainly not unique. And if anything, with the new league alignment, the Mavs and these other teams have even more incentive this year.
Looking forward to a couple good games this weekend. Even when the Mavs are down, they always seem to get that extra gear lined up right playing the Gophers.
Oh, we'll play hard, I have no doubt about that. We played with an incredible amount of effort Saturday againt BGSU, and as noted, getting up for the Gophers is not a problem for us. My earlier comment where I questioned whether we'd be competitive is because we will play hard, but we haven't been playing well. For all of our effort Saturday, we got killed on faceoffs, couldn't get the puck out of our own end for most of the 3rd period, got outshot, and almost none of our shots were Grade A-type chances.
Effort alone isn't gonna beat the #1 team in the country on their ice.
Comment