He might really like checking…. But I like winning. 😁
Fun weekend! 🧹🧹🧹
Pietala got into it with a student in the student section before they sent him the rest of the way out followed by the students friend getting tossed by a very overzealous security guy. Will be curious to see if anything comes of it
Breakout was much better tonight. So was defensive zone coverage, for the most part. Pretty sure those were points of emphasis from the coaches after last night. So much fun seeing a season sweep of Becky. Great crowd tonight, other than whoever the idiot is who dumped an entire drink on my jacket sometime during the 3rd period. 😡
Loved seeing his teammates try to give Snuggy an ENG to extend his g/g streak.
Rich had a few gaffs including saying one Gophers player was right on the "step-door".
Enjoyed the Wisconsin player flipping off the student section. Reminds me of when I was young.
Breakout was much better tonight. So was defensive zone coverage, for the most part. Pretty sure those were points of emphasis from the coaches after last night. So much fun seeing a season sweep of Becky. Great crowd tonight, other than whoever the idiot is who dumped an entire drink on my jacket sometime during the 3rd period. 😡
Ha! I also had a drink spilled on my jacket. Typical badger fan. No apology.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pietala got into it with a student in the student section before they sent him the rest of the way out followed by the students friend getting tossed by a very overzealous security guy. Will be curious to see if anything comes of it
Pietela fits the mold of a Hastings guy. 22 year old freshman.
I told the guy next to me the only reason he didn’t get a drink tossed on him was it was late in the game and the students had nothing left. His response…why waste an overpriced beverage on a Badger. But watching him flip off and taunt the students as he’s walking to the locker room AND his team is losing was rich.Enjoyed the Wisconsin player flipping off the student section. Reminds me of when I was young.
Note: Due to inflation dirty deeds will no longer be done dirt cheap.
I told the guy next to me the only reason he didn’t get a drink tossed on him was it was late in the game and the students had nothing left. His response…why waste an overpriced beverage on a Badger. But watching him flip off and taunt the students as he’s walking to the locker room AND his team is losing was rich.Enjoyed the Wisconsin player flipping off the student section. Reminds me of when I was young.
As a fan, I would have just pointed to the scoreboard and smiled.
When you tell somebody somethin', it depends on what part of the United States you're standin' in... as to just how dumb you are.
The badgers have become everything I expect from a team coached by Mike Hastings.
Hold, hook, obstruct...wash, rinse, repeat...
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So much for Hastings having the formula to beat us.
Friday, it looked bleak for half a game.
When you tell somebody somethin', it depends on what part of the United States you're standin' in... as to just how dumb you are.
Good weekend getting back on track. I’m off the ledge. Also this was my first time doing the post game autographs. Was pretty cool. Koster is very personable
Wow a 6 point sweep is far from what I expected this weekend. I was pretty pessimistic going in. Pleasant surprise. This team is back!
Watching an 80 year old man do the funnel chant perfectly a few seats away was awesome!! Great time!! I told my daughter that’s what she has to look forward to if I’m lucky!😂
The last time the Gophers went 4-0 vs Badddddgers in regular season was 2003 our last National Championship!!!😎
Aloha!
So much for Hastings having the formula to beat us.
Wisconsin could have won either or both of those games. They played the kind of games they had to but they don't have the shooters Minnesota does.
Souliere made some memorable saves last night that kept WI off the board while the Gophers kept plugging away.
Is Huglen in the doghouse with the coach? I notice he's now a fourth-line center and isn't getting the ice time he had been. His performance level seems to have flatlined a bit, but some of that is playing with less-skilled linemates.
So much for Hastings having the formula to beat us.
Wisconsin could have won either or both of those games. They played the kind of games they had to but they don't have the shooters Minnesota does.
Souliere made some memorable saves last night that kept WI off the board while the Gophers kept plugging away.
Is Huglen in the doghouse with the coach? I notice he's now a fourth-line center and isn't getting the ice time he had been. His performance level seems to have flatlined a bit, but some of that is playing with less-skilled linemates.
I think Huglen is banged up and also sick. Motzko referenced a key contributor this week being both. Pat the Rat aka Pat Cooks Sauce, spoke about Huglen multiple times that he didn’t look himself.
So much for Hastings having the formula to beat us.
Wisconsin could have won either or both of those games. They played the kind of games they had to but they don't have the shooters Minnesota does.
Souliere made some memorable saves last night that kept WI off the board while the Gophers kept plugging away.
Is Huglen in the doghouse with the coach? I notice he's now a fourth-line center and isn't getting the ice time he had been. His performance level seems to have flatlined a bit, but some of that is playing with less-skilled linemates.
I think Huglen is banged up and also sick. Motzko referenced a key contributor this week being both. Pat the Rat aka Pat Cooks Sauce, spoke about Huglen multiple times that he didn’t look himself.
he also probably has a wee bit going on at home with the birth of his child coming up.
Regardless he continues to be incredibly responsible defensively. Him scoring intermittently is just bonus
Huglen will be an X-factor in the NCAA tournament. He seems to rise to the occasion. I am personally not worried about him.
I'm a huge Huglen fan and he doesn't strike me as a player who would incur the ire of his coach. It struck me as odd to see him centering the fourth line. I'm sure the break comes at a good time for him.
I wanted to see Kurth, Lamb, and Moore pick it up this weekend and everyone seemed to have had a good series.
My one criticism is the shift after their first goal. You just knew WI was going to come out mad, and they almost found a way to tie it. The Gophers got a whistle and then a lucky commercial break that helped settle them down.
My one criticism is the shift after their first goal. You just knew WI was going to come out mad, and they almost found a way to tie it. The Gophers got a whistle and then a lucky commercial break that helped settle them down.
This drove me crazy also. Gophers were very very lucky they didn’t get scored on directly after the Wood PP goal.
Post Game Video:
Wood goal and Salute video:
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Huglen and Lamb are two players who I’d bet the farm on being sick but playing through it the last couple weekends. Their minutes have been way down.
Good grief! It is like a Dickens novel.. It was the best of times, it was.... not going to fill in the rest since it all turned out for the positive. We are making some of this harder on ourselves in my opinion. Which might not matter since never made it from D3 to D1 (you know who you are). I am honestly asking why this team is half awake in the first or worse. Is it just one of those slow start teams? Is it not respecting that literally ANYONE can beat you in a game at D1? Caught in the trap? Can't walk out? OK sorry but too good to resist. I respect the absolute will they imposed Friday and the willingness to just stay with it Saturday 100%. I do not think W is a team that should have hung around that long and seriously threatened to win BOTH NIGHTS even though they played well in their system. Is it the system we cannot seem to adjust to? That isn't the players then. I am really interested in people who know more than I do to respond.
Good grief! It is like a Dickens novel.. It was the best of times, it was.... not going to fill in the rest since it all turned out for the positive. We are making some of this harder on ourselves in my opinion. Which might not matter since never made it from D3 to D1 (you know who you are). I am honestly asking why this team is half awake in the first or worse. Is it just one of those slow start teams? Is it not respecting that literally ANYONE can beat you in a game at D1? Caught in the trap? Can't walk out? OK sorry but too good to resist. I respect the absolute will they imposed Friday and the willingness to just stay with it Saturday 100%. I do not think W is a team that should have hung around that long and seriously threatened to win BOTH NIGHTS even though they played well in their system. Is it the system we cannot seem to adjust to? That isn't the players then. I am really interested in people who know more than I do to respond.
Good grief is right.
Good grief! It is like a Dickens novel.. It was the best of times, it was.... not going to fill in the rest since it all turned out for the positive. We are making some of this harder on ourselves in my opinion. Which might not matter since never made it from D3 to D1 (you know who you are). I am honestly asking why this team is half awake in the first or worse. Is it just one of those slow start teams? Is it not respecting that literally ANYONE can beat you in a game at D1? Caught in the trap? Can't walk out? OK sorry but too good to resist. I respect the absolute will they imposed Friday and the willingness to just stay with it Saturday 100%. I do not think W is a team that should have hung around that long and seriously threatened to win BOTH NIGHTS even though they played well in their system. Is it the system we cannot seem to adjust to? That isn't the players then. I am really interested in people who know more than I do to respond.
Good grief is right.
When the team get’s hemmed in we seem to get caught in the zone. My observation is we are very predictable with forwards standing motionless on the boards which makes it very easy for the opposing team to disrupt.
See Sparty two weekends ago, Wisc Friday, heck even Qunnipiac in Tampa.
To my untrained eye it does look like it’s our strategy making it hard for the players, but interested to hear from folks that know hockey in more detail?
Numerous guys are battling illness. They fought through and got the sweep!
Good grief! It is like a Dickens novel.. It was the best of times, it was.... not going to fill in the rest since it all turned out for the positive. We are making some of this harder on ourselves in my opinion. Which might not matter since never made it from D3 to D1 (you know who you are). I am honestly asking why this team is half awake in the first or worse. Is it just one of those slow start teams? Is it not respecting that literally ANYONE can beat you in a game at D1? Caught in the trap? Can't walk out? OK sorry but too good to resist. I respect the absolute will they imposed Friday and the willingness to just stay with it Saturday 100%. I do not think W is a team that should have hung around that long and seriously threatened to win BOTH NIGHTS even though they played well in their system. Is it the system we cannot seem to adjust to? That isn't the players then. I am really interested in people who know more than I do to respond.
Good grief is right.
When the team get’s hemmed in we seem to get caught in the zone. My observation is we are very predictable with forwards standing motionless on the boards which makes it very easy for the opposing team to disrupt.
See Sparty two weekends ago, Wisc Friday, heck even Qunnipiac in Tampa.
To my untrained eye it does look like it’s our strategy making it hard for the players, but interested to hear from folks that know hockey in more detail?
I actually think we figured something out in the 2nd on Friday. I’ll try the best I can to explain. The teams you mentioned are very hard on the puck behind the goal line. Sending one forward hard on the puck, one on the other defense, then one on the winger up the wall. Wisconsin would almost over commit to the puck to hem it in the zone. We figured out to have the opposite forward fly the zone, which forced their opposite winger to have to go with or risk a 2-1 if we passed across the zone. It allowed us to get out of the zone much easier. Now our D still has to make faster decisions with the retrievals to not allow the forecheck to get set up, but at least this helped a bit.
Wood goal and Salute video:
How great is it seeing Mecca now regularly filled and rocking? Feels like the down years are in the rear-view mirror.
Yeah it's kinda easy to forget those days and what some of those teams looked like in terms of roster assembly (even with the greatest fourth line ever assembled 🤣). The recruiting has been so much better than the late Lucia era and hopefully they can continue that going forward (or use the portal to fill in any gaps as needed).
Bob seemed to match the Moore line against uw's top line all weekend and they did a fanstastic job & basically shut them down. Great to see those three get on the scoresheet Saturday.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
true, and when we’re scrambling in our d zone so long when we do get possession and dump it in it’s sending in maybe one forward on the forecheck while everyone peels off for a line change. Hard to gain possession in the o zone when it’s one on 3 to 5.
I don’t really get the angst from people post WI. They’re a solid team that’s exactly the type you have to beat to make the FF and we went 4-0. Is the same team that beat MSU and lost twice to them in OT. They’re not some team of scrubs.
they do the exact same thing many college hockey teams try to do in creating aggressive pressure opportunistically when they can get in early and then hemming in trap in the neutral zone when they can’t, which forces you to give up possession unless you’re crisp and beat them on the breakout (is why we hammered them with rush goals). The only critique I have is they need to be stronger on clears when given the opportunity. Too many soft attempts and that’s when you get in trouble. The d zone structure is built at keeping things on the perimeter which is why it’s more passive. It works well when your goalie makes the saves they should.
A couple of things from this weekend.
In game 1, they proved they could come back from a 2 goal deficient after playing a not so good 1st period.
In game 2, they proved they can play a tight, low scoring game through 2 1/2 periods and then pull away late in the game.
Wisconsin is a good team, although their record is below 500 their pairwise is more like an NCAA tourney team. So, I felt this past weekend was a good test.
The Gophers are far from perfect, and need to work on a few things like face-offs, PK, & PP to mention a few. But they are a damn good team.
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
The only critique I have is they need to be stronger on clears when given the opportunity. Too many soft attempts and that’s when you get in trouble.
Spot on.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd say that this is massively sugar-coating their play in the 1st period on Friday, but the rest of your post is spot on.In game 1, they proved they could come back from a 2 goal deficient after playing a not so good 1st period.
They played one of the worst periods in memory on Friday, but managed to pull it together at the start of the second, and by the mid-way point of the game were fully and firmly in control.
And yes, people seem to miss that Wisconsin is currently a NCAA bubble team in the PWR, but may miss out due to a huge number of OT losses dragging their win percentage below .500
B1G refs... corrupt, or just incompetent?
I'd say that this is massively sugar-coating their play in the 1st period on Friday, but the rest of your post is spot on.In game 1, they proved they could come back from a 2 goal deficient after playing a not so good 1st period.
They played one of the worst periods in memory on Friday, but managed to pull it together at the start of the second, and by the mid-way point of the game were fully and firmly in control.
And yes, people seem to miss that Wisconsin is currently a NCAA bubble team in the PWR, but may miss out due to a huge number of OT losses dragging their win percentage below .500
precisely on WI. Part of that is their system goes more out the window with 3 on the ice and their high end space guys drop off after their top 3 guys. In the old school style before 3v3, their record would look quite a bit better
I'd say that this is massively sugar-coating their play in the 1st period on Friday, but the rest of your post is spot on.In game 1, they proved they could come back from a 2 goal deficient after playing a not so good 1st period.
They played one of the worst periods in memory on Friday, but managed to pull it together at the start of the second, and by the mid-way point of the game were fully and firmly in control.
And yes, people seem to miss that Wisconsin is currently a NCAA bubble team in the PWR, but may miss out due to a huge number of OT losses dragging their win percentage below .500
Like I said, not a great 1st period, but the Gophers have played much, much worse periods this year. A couple of periods this year against Sparty, home and away, a period at OSU and the 2nd period at home vs Notre Dame come to mind.
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
I would not want to draw WI as a #4 in the tournament. If they make it, they're the type of team that plays the style of game that can beat a #1 - and it wouldn't even feel like a fluke.
I would not want to draw WI as a #4 in the tournament. If they make it, they're the type of team that plays the style of game that can beat a #1 - and it wouldn't even feel like a fluke.
I mean this is the huge part of the advantage to being a top 2-3 seed and trying to get an autobid as you’re first round opponent. Usually the teams right near the cut like WI will be are going to be tougher outs and style comes much more into play. WI could also get absolutely drilled by someone postseason and it wouldn’t be a fluke. They’re talented in their system but have some bigger flaws (goaltending, meh secondary scoring).
I have a hard time seeing Wisconsin string together a series win and then another pair of Ws to get in, so their options to get in are getting more limited
Personally, what I saw on Friday in the first period was not the Gophers playing that bad, just the Badgers were that good. The Badgers were so hard on the forecheck and added to that by one of the most consistently hard d-man pinches I have seen in a long time. It took a while for the Gophers to change their breakout to avoid using the strong side winger. Once we moved to breaking out through the center or having the d-men skate it, everything got better immediately. UpNorthKid and Snowcool mentioned this same thing. The change was 100% a coaching decision and it's not hard to make. Beating pinching defensemen is something that squirt coaches know how to do. The Bob certainly knows how and did make the change.
I also did not see any neutral zone trap by the Badgers. Sure, a couple of times they had all 5 guys in the neutral zone, but way more often they were forechecking so hard that a neutral zone trap is impossible.
The Gophers proved they can and do change their breakouts and also forechecks this past weekend. That was cool to see.
Now, don't get me started on D-men making lazy cross ice passes on the breakout! Ishta! How many of these did we see? Even Pat the Rat had to choke a couple of times when they happened.
Bill the Dog
Like someone else said, it was similar to how Q played us when they got down 2-0. But that time we never figured it out.Personally, what I saw on Friday in the first period was not the Gophers playing that bad, just the Badgers were that good. The Badgers were so hard on the forecheck and added to that by one of the most consistently hard d-man pinches I have seen in a long time. It took a while for the Gophers to change their breakout to avoid using the strong side winger. Once we moved to breaking out through the center or having the d-men skate it, everything got better immediately. UpNorthKid and Snowcool mentioned this same thing. The change was 100% a coaching decision and it's not hard to make. Beating pinching defensemen is something that squirt coaches know how to do. The Bob certainly knows how and did make the change.
Bill the Dog
For what it's worth, we did have less xG in both games and Soully let in less than their xG. Good weekend from the goaltender.
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/stats/team/Minnesota/34/gamebygame,20242025