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

[Slap Shot]

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

It is amazing how similar this thread and those for BC, BU and UND are. 'Team is not consistent, poor, under-performing in most games, and boy is attendance poor.' And in most other cases, someone questioning the coach.

Are there really some questioning Motzko? Yes there's always a few extremists but is there a % of sane fans doing that? Because unless fans think his results at SCSU were all because of his assistants (one of which he brought with him) how exactly are they putting any of this on Motzko?

[St. Clown]

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

Are there really some questioning Motzko? Yes there's always a few extremists but is there a % of sane fans doing that? Because unless fans think his results at SCSU were all because of his assistants (one of which he brought with him) how exactly are they putting any of this on Motzko?

People like to blame a fully grown man, and not young men who are often not fully developed emotionally even when the young men are the responsible parties. If he's coaching in any matter like he did at SCSU, he's not asking players to go out and be thumpers; he wants guys who will play hard along the board to dig our pucks, in the slot to work for ugly goals, and just to generally beat their opponents to an open puck. Are the players doing that? If not, they either lack the motivation, the simple will, the right skills, or a combination of the three. From comments read, it looks like Motzko is questioning his players' collective will.

[Rabid Gopher]

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

tBob is not the problem. tPlayers are the problem.

[Koho]

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

People like to blame a fully grown man, and not young men who are often not fully developed emotionally even when the young men are the responsible parties. If he's coaching in any matter like he did at SCSU, he's not asking players to go out and be thumpers; he wants guys who will play hard along the board to dig our pucks, in the slot to work for ugly goals, and just to generally beat their opponents to an open puck. Are the players doing that? If not, they either lack the motivation, the simple will, the right skills, or a combination of the three. From comments read, it looks like Motzko is questioning his players' collective will.

Well we were getting reports last year of Lucia and Guentzel being frustrated that they could not get through to the group of players no matter what they tried to motivate them, and it was all Lucia's fault then.

[Koho]

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

Are there really some questioning Motzko? Yes there's always a few extremists but is there a % of sane fans doing that? Because unless fans think his results at SCSU were all because of his assistants (one of which he brought with him) how exactly are they putting any of this on Motzko?

Not many yet. A few have mentioned he is in no better shape than Lucia. My point wasn't so much about the coaching, but that these powerhouse programs are all facing adversity and inconsistency, as well as declining fan interest to some degree (nothing to do in NoDak so they don't have quite the same problem there). The reference to questioning the coaches was made to point out the frustration of the fan bases with their teams performances. Fans from each seem to think their program is falling apart and many aren't aware how similar their team's circumstance is to others. It seems more prevalent with major programs this year than others.

I think it is not complete coincidence that these are all programs that have a competitive edge in recruiting projected blue-chippers at a young age. First, many of the recruits will come back to the pack in ability as they get close to college age, so the teams might not have the same level of skill advantage that recruiting advantages afforded them when kids were mainly recruited at 18. Second, they are often younger teams because they have players who skip Juniors or play one year and therefore have more trouble finding consistency when playing against teams with older players. And that isn't to say that anyone of these teams can't pull together at make it a very good season, although time is running out to insure a NCAA appearance. With only 16 teams making it, gotta think a couple of these teams might not make it.

[SteveO]

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

So who would you guys put Ranta with to help his production?

Serious question.

IMHO I think the seniors Sheehy and Novak need to step up and figure out a way to work Ranta in more. Power forwards usually have the ability to get close to the net with their skill and strength to score goals. I'd like to see Ranta use his size in front and around the net more.

Burke-Walker-McLaughlin was the only line that scored on Sat (3-3-6). I wouldn't tamper with that line...yet.

[5mn_Major]

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

IMHO I think the seniors Sheehy and Novak need to step up and figure out a way to work Ranta in more. Power forwards usually have the ability to get close to the net with their skill and strength to score goals. I'd like to see Ranta use his size in front and around the net more.

Burke-Walker-McLaughlin was the only line that scored on Sat (3-3-6). I wouldn't tamper with that line...yet.

The team has moved up from third to last...to 44th out of 50 teams in terms of scoring. The worst plus/minus on the team is Novak, Sheehy, Wait (a freshman), and Gates in that order.

IMO Bob deserves no blame for this team - he recruited just Ranta and maybe another freshman. This was a Lucia creation.

[D2D]

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

The team has moved up from third to last...to 44th out of 50 teams in terms of scoring. The worst plus/minus on the team is Novak, Sheehy, Wait (a freshman), and Gates in that order.

IMO Bob deserves no blame for this team - he recruited just Ranta and maybe another freshman. This was a Lucia creation.

Good to know, thanks for sharing 5mn Major. If those three seniors would only jump on board and consistently play up to their ability it would change the whole dynamic of this team. And for all the criticism our D get, it's interesting that the bottom four in plus/minus are all forwards, which to me is no surprise.

[St. Clown]

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

Well we were getting reports last year of Lucia and Guentzel being frustrated that they could not get through to the group of players no matter what they tried to motivate them, and it was all Lucia's fault then.

If the players you recruit won't put in the effort, it's your fault, or that of your recruiting staff.

If the players recruited by your predecessor won't put in the effort, then either the blame placed upon the prior staff was misplaced and it should fall entirely onto the student players, or it furthers the point that the prior staff did a poor job of vetting and recruiting those players to the team.

[gopher wes]

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

or it furthers the point that the prior staff did a poor job of vetting and recruiting those players to the team.

In some cases I agree. In other cases I think that when recruiting players as young as they do now, some of these kids may just plateau in development. Now, is some of that on the coaching/recruitment? Sure. But at the same time if they don't recruit that early and they miss out on some young kid who goes off to another school and blows up, they're going to get crucified.

Seems like kind of a lose lose, darned if you do and darned if you don't kind of deal to me when it comes to recruiting. Especially at a place like Minnesota where you should theoretically have the pick of the high school litter.

I know the narrative right now is a lot of fans think the Gophers need some older, grinder type of players with some grit and toughness. Not unlike some of the recruits I'm guessing Motzko had to go after in his years at SCSU because he wasn't getting the blue chippers that, say, a Minnesota or a UND were getting. It kind of sounds like that's the kind of recruits Hastings is getting down in Mankato. Yeah, he gets a lot of good Minnesota recruits but he's got a few foreign players mixed in too. They probably weren't highly recruited, but ended up being a good fit for that program.

Sorry for going off on a tangent there. I just don't feel like it's as simple as saying that Lucia recruited poorly. Like I said, in some cases maybe he did but in other cases he was going after guys who were highly sought after. They just didn't work/aren't working at Minnesota for whatever the reason.

[SteveO]

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

Sorry for going off on a tangent there. I just don't feel like it's as simple as saying that Lucia recruited poorly. Like I said, in some cases maybe he did but in other cases he was going after guys who were highly sought after. They just didn't work/aren't working at Minnesota for whatever the reason.

I think your point is very relevant Wes. My concern right now is not talent, it's morale and effort. When expectations are not met and a season starts to unravel, there's disappointment and the potential for a lot of fracturing within a team. Coaches need to have their finger on the pulse of the temperament of players and the team, and keep things positive.

Sparty comes into Mariucci this weekend on a 5 game skid. Historically, MSU has always found a way to play tough against us and clog up the neutral zone. Gophers will need to shutdown Khodorenko, Hirose and Lewandowski, the top scoring line for MSU. If we can put a couple Ws together that will build confidence going into the series with the Buckeyes the following weekend.

EDIT:

Go Gophers!

[Koho]

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

In some cases I agree. In other cases I think that when recruiting players as young as they do now, some of these kids may just plateau in development. Now, is some of that on the coaching/recruitment? Sure. But at the same time if they don't recruit that early and they miss out on some young kid who goes off to another school and blows up, they're going to get crucified.

Seems like kind of a lose lose, darned if you do and darned if you don't kind of deal to me when it comes to recruiting. Especially at a place like Minnesota where you should theoretically have the pick of the high school litter.

I know the narrative right now is a lot of fans think the Gophers need some older, grinder type of players with some grit and toughness. Not unlike some of the recruits I'm guessing Motzko had to go after in his years at SCSU because he wasn't getting the blue chippers that, say, a Minnesota or a UND were getting. It kind of sounds like that's the kind of recruits Hastings is getting down in Mankato. Yeah, he gets a lot of good Minnesota recruits but he's got a few foreign players mixed in too. They probably weren't highly recruited, but ended up being a good fit for that program.

Sorry for going off on a tangent there. I just don't feel like it's as simple as saying that Lucia recruited poorly. Like I said, in some cases maybe he did but in other cases he was going after guys who were highly sought after. They just didn't work/aren't working at Minnesota for whatever the reason.

You are wrong. Don't you know? Lucia only liked to drive as far as Edina for recruiting and he looked for guys who stood around or just skated around avoiding contact.

[gopher wes]

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

You are wrong. Don't you know? Lucia only liked to drive as far as Edina for recruiting and he looked for guys who stood around or just skated around avoiding contact.

True that. Need more 218 kids instead of those cake eaters.

[purpleinnebraska]

In some cases I agree. In other cases I think that when recruiting players as young as they do now, some of these kids may just plateau in development. Now, is some of that on the coaching/recruitment? Sure. But at the same time if they don't recruit that early and they miss out on some young kid who goes off to another school and blows up, they're going to get crucified.

Seems like kind of a lose lose, darned if you do and darned if you don't kind of deal to me when it comes to recruiting. Especially at a place like Minnesota where you should theoretically have the pick of the high school litter.

I know the narrative right now is a lot of fans think the Gophers need some older, grinder type of players with some grit and toughness. Not unlike some of the recruits I'm guessing Motzko had to go after in his years at SCSU because he wasn't getting the blue chippers that, say, a Minnesota or a UND were getting. It kind of sounds like that's the kind of recruits Hastings is getting down in Mankato. Yeah, he gets a lot of good Minnesota recruits but he's got a few foreign players mixed in too. They probably weren't highly recruited, but ended up being a good fit for that program.

Sorry for going off on a tangent there. I just don't feel like it's as simple as saying that Lucia recruited poorly. Like I said, in some cases maybe he did but in other cases he was going after guys who were highly sought after. They just didn't work/aren't working at Minnesota for whatever the reason.

I think an underrated part of recruiting the older kids has been the opportunity to see how they’re developing emotionally as young men, as opposed to just the physical development. Hastings’ recruits have a couple things in common - They’re leaders, almost all wearing a C or an A on their junior teams; and they’ve shown some snarl. Although I’ve never heard him say it, I think Hastings follows the old adage that you’re better off trying to tame a tiger than you are painting stripes on a pu*** cat. It’s harder to know who will be a leader and who will play with an edge when you’re evaluating a 15 or 16 year old.

[5mn_Major]

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

In some cases I agree. In other cases I think that when recruiting players as young as they do now, some of these kids may just plateau in development. Now, is some of that on the coaching/recruitment? Sure. But at the same time if they don't recruit that early and they miss out on some young kid who goes off to another school and blows up, they're going to get crucified.

This year's class of senior forwards are operating at -16 plus/minus while the rest of the team is at +7. The group was not just recruited by Lucia and company, they were developed physically and psychologically by that staff for 3 years. And the team's performance this fall is in all respects a carry over from its collapse in the spring. The team is at fault and Lucia is its architect.

They just didn't work/aren't working at Minnesota for whatever the reason.

Other programs don't seem to have the problem of players 'just not working out' (see our senior class vs. Boeser of the same year) or the best players leaving asap (Mittelstadt). Our recruiting/development peer set is not Michigan State but UMD, SCSU, Mankato, UND and they have done just fine. What's our record against this group? And what about their tournament success?

The above attitude of 'its OK and just happens' is no way to improve a program. At some point, mistakes have been made, need to be acknowledged and learned from.