Gophers got real lackadaisical on defense after the 1st period. Close had to make too many grade A saves in the last two periods.
I mean a lot of that was after the BADgers were out of the game and were basically just throwing everything they had at the Gophers. After the 3rd goal WI was done they knew it and the Gophs knew it too. It is not surprising the Gophs too their foot off the gas.
One team was just flat out better than the other. Once we got up 5 we just mailed it in which is why the shots look like they do.
That Nelson shot might’ve been the hardest I’ve seen in hockey period. Seriously. I couldn’t see the thing and there was a delayed reaction from the crowd cuz know one knew where it was.
Helluva win!!
I am not surprised a team of incredibly talented 18 and 19 years old might have a little fun with the puck while up 5-1 against their top rival.
That team in red, that's not a good hockey team.
“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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did Huglen look at the student section right before he skated in and scored?
It looked to me like he looked at the ceiling.
I thought he looked right into the student section corner like “watch this”
It happened on our end. He definitely turned his head and looked towards the corner of the student section or section 15 when he was heading towards the goalie.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
“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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That team in red, that's not a good hockey team.
No one should be surprised it's right in their name the BADgers
What a fun game to be at!! Expecting another beat down tomorrow!
Nelson’s goal was a cannon. Close played great. Cooley was dynamite. And the BADgers are pretty bad.
Recap from Bob's STH get together--
-- Bob said he would welcome ASU to join the conference. Need 8 teams, and said covid first delayed things and now adding the 2 football teams it seems there are bigger things going on before they figure the hockey thing out.
-- Talked a bit about the ASU trip. He knew that the team would have a let down.
-- Someone asked about the portal, and he says he may use it at some point, and used Lamb as an example. Said he let Lamb decide what he wanted to do, and Lamb wanted to come in. Said if Lamb would have decided to stay in USHL, he would have probably used the portal. Said Lamb will be really good, just give him time.
-- Really praised Nevers. Said Nevers could have used another year in USHL like Lamb, but he has worked really hard to be the player he has become. He kinda hinted that Nevers would be a guy that he could see staying a 5th year.
-- Hates the 8pm starts at home.
-- Talked a bit about the replay procedure.
-- Discussed some other stuff, but nothing new. A lot of this was a repeat of coaches shows or media availability.
As I posted before, they actually had some hot food this year. Normally it is just snack mix, a cookie and lemonade. I think this may have been the biggest crowd for one of these.
I look forward to this event every year, and I would encourage people to attend if they get a chance.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
https://twitter.com/GopherHockey/status/1601424215621500928?s=20&t=V4PvJeM_LNTwJ3GPrIcv1Q
Man did Huglen pick his pocket. The Badger puck carrier should check to see if he still has his wallet.
https://twitter.com/GopherHockey/status/1601424215621500928?s=20&t=V4PvJeM_LNTwJ3GPrIcv1Q
Good Lord it looks like a cat toying with a dead mouse.
The badger swing and a miss that led to this goal was a wonderful thing to witness. I was laughing so hard I almost missed the goal....
https://twitter.com/GopherHockey/status/1601405603473039361?s=20&t=QqxPrE-XgHuPeJGEDMXB0w
“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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did Huglen look at the student section right before he skated in and scored?
It looked to me like he looked at the ceiling.
I thought he looked right into the student section corner like “watch this”
It happened on our end. He definitely turned his head and looked towards the corner of the student section or section 15 when he was heading towards the goalie.
It was reminiscent of a football player breaking loose and looking up at the big screen to see if anyone is near him. There just isn't a screen to look at up there, unless he was squinting really hard to see the TVs in the suites.
The first goal summed up the night for the BADgers. I don't think this is how you draw up playing defense. ? Two Badgers run into each other causing one of them to fall into their goalie knocking his mask off.
It was Larry, (Jared) Moe, and Curly. #TheThreeStooges
https://twitter.com/GopherHockey/status/1601399857326936064
The Gophers are tied for the lead in the country with a +34 goal differential. Quinnipiac and St. Could also have +34 goal differential.
The Gophers strength of schedule played is 3rd in the country. Quinnpiac's is 37 and St. Cloud's is 15.
So...about the thought of Wisco being resurgent because they won 5 of the last 6 and split with a Michigan team that's still looking for its post-Pearson identity...Yeah, maybe not.
In all seriousness, tBob was not happy during the postgame. In so many words, he said we didn't play anywhere near as good of a game as the score indicates and given the number of shots we gave up and how many brilliant saves Close had to make, it's hard to disagree. He said described us as "loose" like he did for ASU weekend, but fortunately Wisco is not ASU (Never thought I'd say that). Let's dial things back up Saturday and waffle stomp them back to Madison.
Not every disease is visible. Not every pain comes from an obvious wound. Some people you see day-to-day may be suffering in ways you or I may never understand and fighting just to live a normal life. Please consider contributing to the Facial Pain Association and together we can find a cure.
The Goohers have 8 of the top 10 scorers in conference play right now, with a certain line all tied at 14 each.
Also a little known fact - Ryan Chesley is a long lost relative to Clark Gable.
https://twitter.com/GopherHockey/status/1601442608672215041?t=bL2CU9YfGh1t9aJKPx6_Ag&s=19
Predicting Chesley’s first Gopher goal at some point this weekend
Alrighty then . . . we need more predictions like this one!!
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 . . .
Thank you thank you I’m here all week. My wild and wacky prediction for Saturday night is that the Gophers win.
I wonder if Cruz Lucius daddy is mad!!
As the Hollywood version of Herb Brooks once said..."Screw em!" 
I am the official Iowa Hawkeye football fan of GPL!
I wonder if Cruz Lucius daddy is mad!!
lol… I have actually heard that the Mom is/was part of the craziness also. Wonder how they liked last nights game!
So will the Axe make an appearance tonight? I do think it would be pretty sweet.
was it @Jupiter who predicted Moe getting chased from a game this weekend?
good call!
Yep!
https://twitter.com/GopherPuckLive/status/1601588529146257408?s=20&t=jK8RWQKcRz5vB3GKshkbtQ
Do not like how this board is run?
Get your own board!
♃
So...about the thought of Wisco being resurgent because they won 5 of the last 6 and split with a Michigan team that's still looking for its post-Pearson identity...Yeah, maybe not.
In all seriousness, tBob was not happy during the postgame. In so many words, he said we didn't play anywhere near as good of a game as the score indicates and given the number of shots we gave up and how many brilliant saves Close had to make, it's hard to disagree. He said described us as "loose" like he did for ASU weekend, but fortunately Wisco is not ASU (Never thought I'd say that). Let's dial things back up Saturday and waffle stomp them back to Madison.
Close was great and it easily could have wound up 7-4 without that last night. That’s still a win though. I get what Bob is trying to do. Doesn’t want them getting too proud of themselves and continuing the loose play into this game and winding up with a split at home against the basement dwellers.
Well played, sir. Well played indeed.Ryan Chesley is a long lost relative to Clark Gable.Frankly I don’t give a damn
Great night of hockey by the Gophers. There were a few issues, so I can understand tBob being somewhat unhappy about things. Faber's goof on the BADger goal, only 38% on faceoffs both come to mind, so there's definitely stuff to work on, too.
Heard a stat last night after the last goal... In the last four games, total score is Gophers 24, BADgers 2
Last night was fun, can we do that again tonight, please?
B1G refs... corrupt, or just incompetent?
There were a lot of solid CLING noises on that shot and others. I love that sound.
The Gophers are shooting the puck better than they did in the early parts of the season. Dead eye accuracy tonight.
True rivalry game, players were skating both ways, high intensity, every offensive attack was going toward the net, constantly moving getting to open space and passing in the offensive zone, no standing around. Badger defense couldn’t contain and skate with us. Pretty goals, are the gophers that good or badgers that bad? Bad combination for the Badgers.
Gopher defense not moving men and containing. Still soft on defense, maybe what Motzko was referring to.
If the tables were turned you know they would pack in as many goals as possible. They would crash, fight, intimidate, dominate and do as much damage as possible.
Looking forward to a Culvers sweep!
A very nice win versus the BADgers. The top 2 lines continue to dominate, and the 3rd line got 2 goals as well, so that was a good sign. Just need to get the 4th line on the board. Close really played well, minus the snafu behind his net during the PP. My only issue with the team was that the top line started to do fancy, between the legs drop passes that created too many turnovers. I'm sure they were having fun, but I'm sure Bob will point out that nonsense in this mornings film session.
The Pride on Ice sign in the student section was cool, but it soon turned into an airplane toss. Thank God that the netting is in front of the students or the ice would have had airplanes on it delaying the game. I chuckled when they then tried to have the students pass the paper to the end of the rows. If you are set on making airplanes, you are not going to turn that in. I am glad that the students are showing up for the games, but the U might have to cut down on the over selling of the tickets. I don't mind them overflowing into our section 15, but it was a cluster when the actual ticket holders arrived and the students had to get out of those seats. Not sure how to remedy the situation, and I don't think there is enough student tickets sold to fill up another section. I would hate to be moved in order to open up our section, only to see it filled up for certain games and empty for others.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
The Lucius family after watching their son playing for the BADgers instead of the Gophers, and what Cruz will be doing after this season is over.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
So...about the thought of Wisco being resurgent because they won 5 of the last 6 and split with a Michigan team that's still looking for its post-Pearson identity...Yeah, maybe not.
In all seriousness, tBob was not happy during the postgame. In so many words, he said we didn't play anywhere near as good of a game as the score indicates and given the number of shots we gave up and how many brilliant saves Close had to make, it's hard to disagree. He said described us as "loose" like he did for ASU weekend, but fortunately Wisco is not ASU (Never thought I'd say that). Let's dial things back up Saturday and waffle stomp them back to Madison.
Close was great and it easily could have wound up 7-4 without that last night. That’s still a win though. I get what Bob is trying to do. Doesn’t want them getting too proud of themselves and continuing the loose play into this game and winding up with a split at home against the basement dwellers.
Gophers far and away the better team, but honestly I'm glad to see Motzko not too giddy about the win. Teams like Minnesota can score in bunches, and that's a rush in front of your home crowd. But when your captain tries to lead a rush out of his own zone on a penalty kill and the puck ends up in his own net, you have to call a spade a spade. That made it a 2-1 game against a team that had no business keeping it close.
All's well that ends well, but Motzko needs this team to play the game the right way no matter who they're playing.
All that said, it was awesome see the Badgers get pounded last night : )
Fully concur, against a good team MN could have found itself in trouble. Luckily wi is wi.
There is no way MN should be at 38% draws, too much time chasing the puck
Bob had a full head of hair then players started to use drop passes and made blue line turnovers ?
Lots of little miscommunication situations last night that I hope get cleaned up.
MN has amazing tenacity after losing the puck, they typically back check hard & create a lot of chances from there
The bombs from Nelson & Chesley were blistered
I didn't really notice red 51 until the second period and even then I had to look for him to notice....and he had an assist before that
Closer was fantastic, his feel for the game is tremendous
Taking bad teams to the woodshed, even when not playing its best game, its what good teams do.
“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 predict the boys get the message, clean it up, and we see just a really solid 5-0 win tonight. I don’t want the Gophers to let Bucky even get a sniff tonight. Put our skates on their throats and bring the hammer down. Double Culver’s on the weekend and we all go into the holiday break happy with the Battle Hymn ringing in our ears.
So...about the thought of Wisco being resurgent because they won 5 of the last 6 and split with a Michigan team that's still looking for its post-Pearson identity...Yeah, maybe not.
In all seriousness, tBob was not happy during the postgame. In so many words, he said we didn't play anywhere near as good of a game as the score indicates and given the number of shots we gave up and how many brilliant saves Close had to make, it's hard to disagree. He said described us as "loose" like he did for ASU weekend, but fortunately Wisco is not ASU (Never thought I'd say that). Let's dial things back up Saturday and waffle stomp them back to Madison.
Close was great and it easily could have wound up 7-4 without that last night. That’s still a win though. I get what Bob is trying to do. Doesn’t want them getting too proud of themselves and continuing the loose play into this game and winding up with a split at home against the basement dwellers.
The only issue I had was the "look how cool I can make this play" stuff in the third. Too many stupid drop passes and dipsy dos. Reminds me of Michigan...
That said though they are friggin kids it's not that weird they might get a big head while curbstomping a rival at home.
Kind of like against UND when we relaxed after getting a 2 goal lead, we did so again last night. But WI isn’t good enough to punish you for it. Close was a stud in the 2nd half of that outing - a bit of an anti-Moe. I like Moe vs. Close and I love with Close comes out on top.
So...about the thought of Wisco being resurgent because they won 5 of the last 6 and split with a Michigan team that's still looking for its post-Pearson identity...Yeah, maybe not.
In all seriousness, tBob was not happy during the postgame. In so many words, he said we didn't play anywhere near as good of a game as the score indicates and given the number of shots we gave up and how many brilliant saves Close had to make, it's hard to disagree. He said described us as "loose" like he did for ASU weekend, but fortunately Wisco is not ASU (Never thought I'd say that). Let's dial things back up Saturday and waffle stomp them back to Madison.
Close was great and it easily could have wound up 7-4 without that last night. That’s still a win though. I get what Bob is trying to do. Doesn’t want them getting too proud of themselves and continuing the loose play into this game and winding up with a split at home against the basement dwellers.
Gophers far and away the better team, but honestly I'm glad to see Motzko not too giddy about the win. Teams like Minnesota can score in bunches, and that's a rush in front of your home crowd. But when your captain tries to lead a rush out of his own zone on a penalty kill and the puck ends up in his own net, you have to call a spade a spade. That made it a 2-1 game against a team that had no business keeping it close.
All's well that ends well, but Motzko needs this team to play the game the right way no matter who they're playing.
All that said, it was awesome see the Badgers get pounded last night : )
It was 2-1 halfway through period one. I think you are being a bit melodramatic. They got a PP goal to kill our dominating momentum at like the 10 minute mark of the game but what was the score at the end of that period? (Hint: 4-1 so not "keeping it close" )
I would agree if it was 2-1 halfway through the 2nd period but at the 10 minute mark of the first? Sorry but most teams can keep it close that long.
People are really going to make a big deal out of 18 and 19 years olds having some fun while up 5-1 on their biggest rival?
Yes they gave up 16 shots in the 2nd period which is too much but they scored 4 minutes into the period to go up 5-1 and 9 minutes into the period to go up 6-1. The game was already over. The last 35 minutes of the game were just for fun. Of course coach is going to called it like he saw it and want the team to grind harder for longer but it was a game where it wasn't needed. Yes if they were playing a better team this style doesn't work but they didn't play like that in the first period they good loose when the game got to 5-1.
Also in the 3rd period the shots were 12-10 so pretty even.
Yes coaches and fans want their team to always play their A game but it's not realistic especially with a young team. This was a game as fans where IMO we should just sit back and enjoy all the goals and not worry about the looseness after all the team realized early in the 2nd period it was a game they could have some fun with so as fans IMO we should too.
Coaches love to win and have things to complain about to keep on their team and this team is good enough where we are going to see this a lot from coach he will continue to find something to complain about even when they win big.
I like the saying don't allow the drive for greatness keep you from enjoying the journey. This season has already been great and the second half is going to be A LOT of fun so why not sit back and enjoy the ride? Coach gets to worry about the things to work on no need for me to.
As Minnesota sports fans it seems like we tend to always worry about the other shoe dropping since normally it does but this team almost certainly is going to have a really good season and IMO this is true whether they win the last four or not.
It was 2-1 halfway through period one. I think you are being a bit melodramatic. They got a PP goal to kill our dominating momentum at like the 10 minute mark of the game but what was the score at the end of that period? (Hint: 4-1 so not "keeping it close" )
I would agree if it was 2-1 halfway through the 2nd period but at the 10 minute mark of the first? Sorry but most teams can keep it close that long.
I heard the Badgers are going to hang a "We kept it close for 10 minutes" banner. #BadgersAccomplishingBigThings
It's hard to pass up a chance to tease Wisconsin so I didn't. ?
Agreed once they got up 6-1 it was clear they lifted their foot off the gas which iss to be expected. Close had to make some saves as the defense got loose but I firmly believe if Wisco made it 6-2, 6-3 we would’ve taken the game seriously again and made it 9-3 or something.
It was clear the second half of the game was just for fun.
Like @collegehockeyaddict said the game got out of hand so quickly that in my opinion you can't even grade the final two periods on a normal curve. The only play that was objectively bad was Faber getting too cute in his own zone on the PK. And I am not too worried about him going forward lol.
Gopher sweep, stick tap salute, and a teddy bear toss to end the weekend!
There are games where Close doesn't have to make a lot of tough saves so an added benefit of a game like yesterday is Close got a lot of work to help prepare him for the playoffs.
Like @collegehockeyaddict said the game got out of hand so quickly that in my opinion you can't even grade the final two periods on a normal curve. The only play that was objectively bad was Faber getting too cute in his own zone on the PK. And I am not too worried about him going forward lol.
Gopher sweep, stick tap salute, and a teddy bear toss to end the weekend!
This reminded me of something about the 6-5 three on three OT lose to Arizona State that I was going to mention at the time but got distracted and never did.
For most of that game they actually played better than the night before when they beat ASU (and coach said this after the game) but a few costly turnovers where the difference.
Thomas the 7th defensemen had two costly turnovers that resulted in goals including one with just over 4 minutes left in regulation that tied the game. If coach was only playing 6 defensemen like most teams do that game could have ended as a pretty comfortable 5-3 win rather then going to OT tied at 5-5.
If our weakness is our 7th defensemen we are in pretty good shape and playing talented freshmen like Thomas is normally the best way for them to improve.
Like you said we are in good hands with Faber and nobody is perfect.
I was laughing at the Chesley goal last night. A D-man wide open 15ft from the goalie in the slot, easy pass from Cooley with no one around and he slammed it home. No mercy. That goalie had no chance. He was just praying it hit him.