Dump and chase has never been Gopher Hockey. That's why they're not good at it.
You're not wrong about the gophers dump and chase game though I think that's also in part a skill/roster building issue too. Generally that isn't a high percentage play to begin with but that issue is compounded by our (typically) undersized forwards just not being very effective at it.
One thing I will say though is that the wholesale line changes where they just throw it away and change, especially when the other team has a 2 goal lead, isn't ideal to say the least. ND was content to just waste time when they did that. In the NHL some teams are good about how they manage this process and will just have one guy keep the puck while their teammates change (similar to the 3v3 approach). Your points about the plan behind it seem valid too though, it seems like something the Gophers generally haven't been good at under two coaches now.
As far as Souliere vs Airey, I'd say the guy in the top third of the league in sv% is ahead by a wide margin over the guy in the bottom third. They can focus on that other stuff next year (and probably should look to the portal too).
To be a winning hockey program you need to be able to play dump and chase effectively, and your players need to be able to identify when to carry the puck and when to dump the puck. And they need to make that identification quickly and make the proper dump in. If your team is undersized, you need to have your forwards keep their feet moving, clear the puck to an open spot, and beat the defense to the puck.
Another thing ND exploited was a hole in our back checking scheme. Again, maybe I am just imagining this, but often the ND forward would drive into the zone, let the defense skate deeper into the zone, and then cut to the middle/high slot area. They had lots of room there all weekend long. I am not sure if they scored off of these plays, but we can't give a team like ND open spacing in the high slot. A back checking forward needs to get into that area to cut that break off.
I am hoping there is some health bug going around the locker room that we just aren't aware of. But I doubt it. That doesn't take you make bad decisions.
This year is a good reminder to not get too excited about what you see in before Christmas. Teams seem to have us figured out and we don't seem to be adjusting to that.
I'm still hoping we pull it out but I feel like we are an underdog going into a regional where we don't even know the match ups. If we figure that out and make the FF then full steam ahead.
There still isn't a team I'd rather be pulling for.
It’s been mentioned already but I think one of the most frustrating things about this weekend and yesterday in particular is that we shouldn’t have even been playing on Sunday. That Friday game was totally winnable.
Maybe I missed it but any word on Huglen?
If they are the team that we think they can be, Friday night shouldn’t matter. Big ten tournament should bring the best out of the players, and they should have easily recovered from friday. It brought out the best from ND. To be honest, if they are the team we think they can be, they should have won Friday’s game. Until the end, I believed they were going to win Friday’s game. Going into the tournament, I think this team can play with, and beat, any team. They also could lose to any team. I also don’t think they can put together 4 good games in a row.
Maybe I missed it but any word on Huglen?
I just had a chance to scroll through the recording from last night. Huglen had all his weight on his left leg when the ND guy slid into Huglen’s knee with his thigh. Looked like it hyperextended and maybe went a little sideways so an ACL and or MCL wouldn’t surprise me.
When Airey wiped out in the first, he landed on his arse and as he fell back the ND player skating by kicked him in the head with his shin. I think it stunned him a little bit because he sat up and shook his head; although I’m sure his helmet was knocked awry too.
I hope by some stroke of luck Huglen is okay. Maybe we’ll get lucky like we did the last time we thought we had a serious knee injury at the hands of Notre dame. Maybe two weeks off will be enough time…
🤞🤞🤞
And, there's a difference between calling actual obstruction, and making all the ticky-tack calls that the NHL was doing at that time. Anything that looked vaguely like it could maybe be a trip/hold/interference was called. It doesn't need to go that far. If they called obstruction penalties in college the way they do in the NHL regular season, I'm good with that.I'll gladly take that alternative, even if it resulted in some short term downsides like what you describe. The refs eased up some later in the year but the mandate did still more or less apply and that's why you no longer see teams successfully playing like the NJ Devils used to or whacking star players like pinata like the Panthers did on Lemieux and Jagr to stop the threepeat.While I agree...I also remember when the NHL decided to crack down and called like a bajillion penalties early in the season and the games were almost unwatchable. Fans were not pleased and neither were coaches. There was a lot of bad press and the mandate seemed to disappear during the season. Even the teams that got all the PPs complained because the game was always interrupted.
Teams wont be able to adapt, especially bad ones, so you will be in for a season of really hard to watch hockey.
Yeah, I don't buy the "bajillion penalty" theory. There was a transition period with a lot of calls because both the refs and the players were adapting. The NHL still calls the obstruction penalties with regularity. The problem is they aren't consistent in the playoffs.
College refs routinely overlook obstruction penalties and only get worse during playoffs.
Understand I actually preferred that...I wanted teams to be penalized so badly it changed the game. The NHL was way worse when 3/4 of the league played some version of Lemaires "system".
I don't disagree with any of this, it's just hard to tell whether this is a coaching related problem or just the fact that this team isn't nearly as loaded as it was 2 years ago (or even a year ago offensively with Nelson/Brodzinski line) and the games are just going to be tighter as a result. This team reminds me more of the Gopher team post Union year where they still had some high end talent with Wilcox, Reilly, Skjei, Boyd, Rau, Fasching, and Kloos but it wasn't nearly as talented as the team before it and they looked like they were bound to flame out early.You're not wrong about the gophers dump and chase game though I think that's also in part a skill/roster building issue too. Generally that isn't a high percentage play to begin with but that issue is compounded by our (typically) undersized forwards just not being very effective at it.
One thing I will say though is that the wholesale line changes where they just throw it away and change, especially when the other team has a 2 goal lead, isn't ideal to say the least. ND was content to just waste time when they did that. In the NHL some teams are good about how they manage this process and will just have one guy keep the puck while their teammates change (similar to the 3v3 approach). Your points about the plan behind it seem valid too though, it seems like something the Gophers generally haven't been good at under two coaches now.
As far as Souliere vs Airey, I'd say the guy in the top third of the league in sv% is ahead by a wide margin over the guy in the bottom third. They can focus on that other stuff next year (and probably should look to the portal too).
To be a winning hockey program you need to be able to play dump and chase effectively, and your players need to be able to identify when to carry the puck and when to dump the puck. And they need to make that identification quickly and make the proper dump in. If your team is undersized, you need to have your forwards keep their feet moving, clear the puck to an open spot, and beat the defense to the puck.
Another thing ND exploited was a hole in our back checking scheme. Again, maybe I am just imagining this, but often the ND forward would drive into the zone, let the defense skate deeper into the zone, and then cut to the middle/high slot area. They had lots of room there all weekend long. I am not sure if they scored off of these plays, but we can't give a team like ND open spacing in the high slot. A back checking forward needs to get into that area to cut that break off.
It'll be interesting to see what the Gophers do moving forward because this next recruiting cycle doesn't look amazing and I'm guessing most of our higher end guys (besides Ziemer and Wood) are gone after this season.
Exactly, if you get the kind of goaltending you got in that Friday game then you're probably not going to beat anyone, even a team like Alaska can beat you when that happens.It’s been mentioned already but I think one of the most frustrating things about this weekend and yesterday in particular is that we shouldn’t have even been playing on Sunday. That Friday game was totally winnable.
On a sidenote I'm curious to see how MSU looks against ND at home. If they absolutely destroy ND that'd make this past weekend look all the more embarrassing.