When Cooley was in the high slot with the puck and passed it off to Knies who was partially covered and moving away from the net, I wanted to turn the TV off.
The kid with a wicked good shot had the puck on his stick 15 feet away with his team down a goal..and he passed.
Another example of a young player who just isn't there yet.
Very sloppy game for MN but credit PSU for their game...always pressing. The Gophers did not handle it well and at times looked lost out there.
A lot of things could’ve changed the outcome of that game, the team coasted the entire first period while Penn state had their foot on the gas, they got out to an early lead and the gophers were playing from behind the entire time. Also their goalie had that incredible save on Cooley where as Close was good but not quite as good as PSU’s goalie. And I agree they were a bit cute with the over passing at times, also was very unfortunate that the pass to Lamb that could’ve sprung a 4 on 1 missed and turned into nothing.
Oh well, win tomorrow to beat the number 1 team in the pairwise and not all is lost. This PSU team does look better than I thought they would but I also think the gophers have another gear they can hit.
I said don't sleep on PSU because if you do that's exactly the type of result you're going to get.
They said 6600 tickets sold for last nights game, from watching on tv I would say maybe 4500 in the arena
Aloha!
When Cooley was in the high slot with the puck and passed it off to Knies who was partially covered and moving away from the net, I wanted to turn the TV off.
The kid with a wicked good shot had the puck on his stick 15 feet away with his team down a goal..and he passed.
Another example of a young player who just isn't there yet.
Very sloppy game for MN but credit PSU for their game...always pressing. The Gophers did not handle it well and at times looked lost out there.
A lot of really good shots were not taken in favor of a pass.
“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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silver lining but I appreciate Faber coming out in front of the media after a bad loss and owning it. Owned up to the poor play and didn’t point any fingers. Just said they all need to be better, himself included. Didn’t sugar coat anything. Once again, we see why he’s the captain.
good to hear. Been wondering all year who the “emotional leader” is of this group as I don’t really see someone who has the ability to be vocal/light a fire under the guys. Whoever it is, if that’s Faber, they need to get this team to get their shit together. Too many periods off this year
I believe it has been @Vegoe mention in past GPL podcasts about the need to string together good shifts. Last night the Gophers couldn't string together anything in the first, did great in the second, and then went back to bad habits in the third. You may not get any SOG during the shift but if you at least possess the puck, like Bob mentioned in the pregame, you really mitigate what Penn State does well.
Now to what Penn State does...it's called suck hole. On the radio Pat and Frank couldn't put a term to what PSU does. Simply put if the forwards head for the hills when the d-man touches the puck it is a form of suck hole. The forward is backing out of any defensive responsibility and switching to offense no matter how deep the puck is in the zone.
Wally, Frank, and Pat all pointed how the Gophers weren't able to establish any kind of forecheck in the first and third. In the second they did and they won the puck possession game.
To me the biggest failure was on defense they weren't keeping the game in front of them, a la the two breakaway goals. Then like Faber pointed out...the "pretty" shit. Really Faber really nailed all the issues on the head. Fix those and you will get a better outcome.
I am the official Iowa Hawkeye football fan of GPL!
Two observations from last night:
- So much of MN's offense runs through the point and when a team covers them tight, as PSU does, it really MN out of its game. I lost track of how many times a MN player would throw the puck back to the point and the man was covered causing yet another blue line turnover. Blue line turnovers kill. The more MN can get and keep the puck deep the more success they will have.
- When MN is not playing well you can almost always trace it back to trying for long or home run passes. PSU wrote the book on clogging passing lanes, especially between the blue lines. MN needs to shorten its passing and get (hopefully) get the d more involved by lugging the puck up the ice.
“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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gophers certainly played a clunker. I'm glad that the temperature here is more constructive criticism than chicken little. When they play poorly, they need to be called out for sure without jumping off the building. I think it has helped that a few of them are still banned. I always like to look at other Gopher related social media sites. Can't say the same on other sites including a doozy saying the Gophers don't have that much talent. ?
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
When MN is not playing well you can almost always trace it back to trying for long or home run passes.
Why is it that when most any team tries that they end up on the wrong end of the scoring sheet at the end of the game? One pass that ALWAYS mystifies me that some teams try to make is passing completely across the neutral zone side to side! How many skates and sticks may be in the way across the ice?
Shorten up the damn passes! Knock off the no look passes...especially against a good team! Which Penn State obviously are.
I am the official Iowa Hawkeye football fan of GPL!
It doesn’t matter what team you are (even a high end talented team) like this years version of the Gophers…when you get behind 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 1-3…and are forced to chase the game…usually you’re going to LOSE the game. But it’s November…and they have a chance to bounce back and get the split tonight…
Yeah, the amount of behind the back passes I saw go to no one but a Penn State player were unbelievable. It looked like me playing just some pick up hockey out there. Penn State picked off every errant pass, said “thank you very much”, and rushed for our net. It’s almost like this team decided to forsake some of the quintessential basics of hockey. The cliché’s we hear all of the time. “Move your feet”, “shoot the puck”, “pass with a purpose”, etc.
But, like two weeks ago, if we come out tonight with some fire, play with a purpose, and get the win I won’t be too worried. We knew this team would take it’s lumps in the first half. It’s all about how we respond tonight. So let’s get to the rink early, send good vibes if you’re watching on tv, support the boys, and get the win tonight.
Time for a big bounce back tonight. And I fully expect it.
For the others going, its going to be a disaster downtown. We are planning on leaving super early.
Put Kurth with Pitlick and Huglen. He’s a little bit ahead of where Lamb is at right now.
Start Close and get the win. I expect our boys to come out with some fire.
Put Kurth with Pitlick and Huglen. He’s a little bit ahead of where Lamb is at right now.
It's too bad the way the Chaz thing ended. Him and Huglen and Pitlick were really on a roll when they were together last year.
Put Kurth with Pitlick and Huglen. He’s a little bit ahead of where Lamb is at right now.
Start Close and get the win. I expect our boys to come out with some fire.
Get Strobel out there with 19 and 13. Lamb might be healthy scratched tonight after Bob’s comments on Wednesday about how some guys need to be leery about their place in the line up with how well both Strobel and Mittlestadt are playing.
Silver lining but I appreciate Faber coming out in front of the media after a bad loss and owning it. Owned up to the poor play and didn’t point any fingers. Just said they all need to be better, himself included. Didn’t sugar coat anything. Once again, we see why he’s the captain.
good to hear. Been wondering all year who the “emotional leader” is of this group as I don’t really see someone who has the ability to be vocal/light a fire under the guys. Whoever it is, if that’s Faber, they need to get this team to get their shit together. Too many periods off this year
Steven Gerrard is my favorite athlete of all time. For those that don’t know he’s a former English soccer player. Born and raised in Liverpool he rose through Liverpool Football Club’s academy program, had a long career with LFC and was their captain for many years, through the ups and the downs. In interviews after a bad loss you could see how much it hurt him personally. Local guy who knew how much it meant to the fans. I saw that last night in Faber’s post game interview. He might not get the exact same kind of pissed off that Stevie G got but the level of accountability and how much he takes the results personally is the same. Gophers have had some good kids as there captains over the years but I haven’t seen what I saw last night from Faber since at least Kloos. I have no doubt that he and the other leaders will get this team sorted out.
I normally don't care about Regular Season championships, but tonight is very important if the Gophers want a chance to catch Penn State and win the Big 10. The #1 seed would be nice for the B10 playoffs
Too many turnovers. Just a flat game by the Gophers. No postgame radio by Bob. Wally blamed it on poor equipment, I blame it on Bob being really mad. I expect the Gophers to come out on fire tomorrow.
Don’t blame him.
Too many turnovers. Just a flat game by the Gophers. No postgame radio by Bob. Wally blamed it on poor equipment, I blame it on Bob being really mad. I expect the Gophers to come out on fire tomorrow.
Don’t blame him. The need to bounce back after lethargic Friday starts can’t become a pattern. Shouldn’t need a tough film session to motivate you to win puck races/battles and make crisp passes.
Interesting Brock noted they didn't play physically last night, this was painfully obvious at the arena. At least from my perspective.
“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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s nice for Faber to mention to many players are trying to be cute, but it’s another thing for the players to actually listen and stop doing that. Always been a problem at the U.
It seems a lot of players come out with the intention of ending up on SportsCenter Top 10. Let’s just get pucks to the net. Good things happen when we do that.
I think we’ll see a much more physical and focused team tonight
Well Penn St is #1 in the pairwise so a win will do us numbers in that category lol
I believe it has been @Vegoe mention in past GPL podcasts about the need to string together good shifts. Last night the Gophers couldn't string together anything in the first, did great in the second, and then went back to bad habits in the third. You may not get any SOG during the shift but if you at least possess the puck, like Bob mentioned in the pregame, you really mitigate what Penn State does well.
There were definitely many examples last night of momentum killing shifts. I think for this team to take the next step, that has to be top of mind. During the games against Minnesota State and North Dakota, there was tremendous energy to keep the pressure on the opponent, effort to win second chances and urgency to support the puck that was not there last night.
There was a spot in particular where a PSU defender broke his stick, the Gophers were too careless with the puck and then lost the zone too easy where a boot on the throat mentality during that moment could have been massive. I think I noticed just one time where two shifts were connected with possession in the offensive half of the rink--Minnesota has so much talent that they have to do that more often.
Two observations from last night:
- So much of MN's offense runs through the point and when a team covers them tight, as PSU does, it really MN out of its game. I lost track of how many times a MN player would throw the puck back to the point and the man was covered causing yet another blue line turnover. Blue line turnovers kill. The more MN can get and keep the puck deep the more success they will have.
- When MN is not playing well you can almost always trace it back to trying for long or home run passes. PSU wrote the book on clogging passing lanes, especially between the blue lines. MN needs to shorten its passing and get (hopefully) get the d more involved by lugging the puck up the ice.
Absolutely spot on analysis right here. Sometimes Minnesota almost gets too mechanical with how they move the puck in the offensive zone sometimes and the way Penn State pressures that area along the wall and above the dots was apparently not taken in by the forwards last night. I expect we will see the low cycle plays a lot more tonight with defensemen getting invovled to out man Penn State at times -- you absolutely cannot turn pucks over at the blue lines and especially against Penn State. Sending hand grenades to the defensemen is bad enough, but sending one back and then circling back down low is a major no no.
I believe it has been @Vegoe mention in past GPL podcasts about the need to string together good shifts. Last night the Gophers couldn't string together anything in the first, did great in the second, and then went back to bad habits in the third. You may not get any SOG during the shift but if you at least possess the puck, like Bob mentioned in the pregame, you really mitigate what Penn State does well.
There were definitely many examples last night of momentum killing shifts. I think for this team to take the next step, that has to be top of mind. During the games against Minnesota State and North Dakota, there was tremendous energy to keep the pressure on the opponent, effort to win second chances and urgency to support the puck that was not there last night.
There was a spot in particular where a PSU defender broke his stick, the Gophers were too careless with the puck and then lost the zone too easy where a boot on the throat mentality during that moment could have been massive. I think I noticed just one time where two shifts were connected with possession in the offensive half of the rink--Minnesota has so much talent that they have to do that more often.
This perfectly summarizes my frustrations with this team. When they are on their game and playing with intensity, their forecheck is relentless and really wears teams down. They get quick, efficient zone exits and then beat opponents down in their own end for long stretches.
Then this team will have stretches or games where they lack that intensity and seem to sit back on their heels. And it isn’t just the freshmen.
Not sure what Bob can do to get them to come out with that intensity from the start in every game, but if a team this talented falls short of their goals, I think this will be why. Hopeful they will figure it out.
We can certainly hope that these setbacks are learning opportunities to get their intensity level where it needs to be and stay there.
I like this squad in a best of 7 against anyone…but this ain’t the NHL. Have to bring it every single game.
'29, '40, '74, '76, '79, '02, & '03
GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
As Don Jr might say - "Lackadaisical!!!"
At one point in the 3rd toward the 2:00 minute mark it was like the sea parted - Gophers getting their circling together and then there it was a perfect 3 then 2 then 1 defense for the Lions . . .
Don't know what they can do different tonight, except, maybe, play hockey . . . .
Go Gophers!
Not knowing what to do, they do what they know . . .
Knowing what to do, they sometime don't do it . . .
The 26th year of the Gopher Men's Hockey Profile got to be too much for this ol' codger to handle . . . what with all of the possible activity on the transfer portal . . . . So, I'm closing it down at the 25th year . . .
We can certainly hope that these setbacks are learning opportunities to get their intensity level where it needs to be and stay there.
I like this squad in a best of 7 against anyone…but this ain’t the NHL. Have to bring it every single game.
Exactly. In order to win a national title, you need to win 4 games in a row against good competition. Come out flat in one of those games and you could very well be done. This team needs to get a chip on their shoulders.
“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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We can certainly hope that these setbacks are learning opportunities to get their intensity level where it needs to be and stay there.
I like this squad in a best of 7 against anyone…but this ain’t the NHL. Have to bring it every single game.
Exactly. In order to win a national title, you need to win 4 games in a row against good competition. Come out flat in one of those games and you could very well be done. This team needs to get a chip on their shoulders.
BINGO.. well stated
Golden opportunity tonight.
https://twitter.com/gopherhockey/status/1591201986359496710?s=46&t=vQ-OHkGCZm1_wnIOvI5DHg
“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'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Clearly Pitlick in the dog house in Bob’s opinion
Edit: or maybe he just wants to get Pino going which I totally support
I just think Bob is still trying to find some magic in lines 3&4
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Gonna try to test a live blog tonight... Very much a TEST right now.
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
Gonna try to test a live blog tonight... Very much a TEST right now.
Love this idea Jup!
Campus is, as we expected, a parking lot. I was driving up East River Parkway and you could see traffic backed up across the entire 94 west bridge. Great to see the support for Gopher athletics but just a heads up, it’s pretty busy.
We parked in Oak Street off Huron from 94W. It wasn’t too bad 20 minutes ago. 5 minute delay off of 94.
Some of it could also be rush hour traffic.
40 minutes out and there’s already more people in the arena than last night 
Still look like skating in molasses.
And it’s 1-0 Penn State.
Somehow PSU looks bigger, tougher, and faster.
Come on boys you got this! Let’s have a good second here
I feel like the energy is a little better than last night but some of the decision making is mind boggling. Passes aren’t crisp enough and they still seem out of sorts.
Didn’t Vegoe predict 5-6 goals a night this weekend on the podcast?
The people on the podcast and commenters, in general, agreed on 4-5 goals a night, yours truly included.
Oops.
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.
Mason Nevers with the Power Play goal!!!!! 1-1