A good first 10 minutes. That was it.
Tonight's game reminded me of game 2 vs Tech, game 1 vs BC and game 1 vs ND. We seem to be developing a pattern.
In the pattern games .. we struggle in the d zone ( can't clear) , get dominated in the neutral zone ( turn the puck over) and spend little time in the o zone (no carry in / dump w little chase).
As a different take... While the team certainly needs to find itself, and I hope they do, I am still perplexed as to why Motzko can't seem to coach a strategy to break out against these defensive-lock teams. The guy has had over 20 years playing against that type of garbage hockey and never seems to try anything new.
I get that some of that might have to do with the personnel on the ice, but whatever they do, doesn't work against those types of teams unless they are able to get out to an early 2-3 goal lead.
Last, Eff Sandelin and praise him at the same time for taking a one line offensive team and surrounding them with some stellar defensive tactics and getting his team to buy in to that brand of painfully boring hockey.
A good first 10 minutes. That was it.
Tonight's game reminded me of game 2 vs Tech, game 1 vs BC and game 1 vs ND. We seem to be developing a pattern.
In the pattern games .. we struggle in the d zone ( can't clear) , get dominated in the neutral zone ( turn the puck over) and spend little time in the o zone (no carry in / dump w little chase).
On the bright side, the pattern being developed also includes coming back with a much better effort on Saturday.
That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
I wish. Can you imagine a major college football or basketball program giving someone 8 years and still have nothing to show for? His seat will never be hot.
That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
I wish. Can you imagine a major college football or basketball program giving someone 8 years and still have nothing to show for? His seat will never be hot.
I'm completely ready for a coaching change. But to say he has nothing to show for the last 8 years is a little ridiculous, this has been a top 5 program during his tenure.
Exactly! Clogging up the neutral zone/trap defense is the nemesis for the Gopher forwards. The Gophers keep doing the same thing(unsuccessfully) expecting a different result.
As a different take... While the team certainly needs to find itself, and I hope they do, I am still perplexed as to why Motzko can't seem to coach a strategy to break out against these defensive-lock teams. The guy has had over 20 years playing against that type of garbage hockey and never seems to try anything new.
I get that some of that might have to do with the personnel on the ice, but whatever they do, doesn't work against those types of teams unless they are able to get out to an early 2-3 goal lead.
Last, Eff Sandelin and praise him at the same time for taking a one line offensive team and surrounding them with some stellar defensive tactics and getting his team to buy in to that brand of painfully boring hockey.
That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
I wish. Can you imagine a major college football or basketball program giving someone 8 years and still have nothing to show for? His seat will never be hot.
I'm completely ready for a coaching change. But to say he has nothing to show for the last 8 years is a little ridiculous, this has been a top 5 program during his tenure.
this. 7 completed seasons have resulted in
2 FFs, 5 NCAA tournaments (5 straight), 3 regular season titles, 1 conference tourney title
Now the trouble is you'd have to make the analogy of a blue blood in football or basketball to make the comparison apt. That probably does get you fired if you're at OSU (would've been what happened to Ryan Day had he not won it at OSU last year in year 6)
I like you am good with making a change of direction and injecting some new blood, but that's not because I'll look at Bob's tenure and say he did a bad job. Just feel he is not the best option for the new landscape, which has been damaged by our poor coaching pipeline (we'd be in a much different place if former players were coaching/scouting with Canadian teams and gave us contacts) and isolationist recruiting style over the years with a huge influx of CHL talent to tap which played perfectly into how Michigan, PSU, and the east coast schools (as well as to a lesser extend UND) have recruited historically at the same time as there was a dip in MN grown talent as evidenced by the NHL draft rankings of the MN kids (which Bob told us was coming).
I have optimism with who he's got coming a few years down the road, but given we're entering a rebuild, I'd rather see that under someone younger with those connections though Bob did you a very nice job rebuilding quickly when he started here. Just the question of are you going to sit through the full period of patience in that rebuild we all knew was going to be coming with what we've unloaded after the last 2 years as people forget we've been in the top 6 in the preNCAA PWR every year for the last 4 years (the only team with that record; BU and DU have 3, MSU WMU, and BC 2). Even Carle for all the love he gets, got spared in the COVID year with what was his worst team where they would've finished sub .500 even in a full season (they were 10-13-1) but retooled and won the title the next year.
I've lost track of the mistakes and mental errors.
The players are losing this game but the Gophers' coaching staff deserves some heat.
Shierhorn has spent a lot of time talking about Pairwise and the costly nature of losing these games in October. He knows how much trouble they're in.
4 minutes left and 15 shots. 8 shots in two periods!
luckily Duluth has been fine so far so shouldn’t hurt them like years past. But yeah this team will need to finish above .500 in the B10 which will be an upward climb with msu mich and psu all clearly more talented and OSU nd and wi at least equals
Max Plante & Adam Kleber were on the World Junior gold medal team last year and it shows. I thought Max was the best player on the ice tonight. Zam Plante, Jason Shaugabay, Ty Hanson are all sophomores too and all 5 have taken a big step from last year. Adam Gajan played well in goal. Neal Pionk (a Wild draft pick) D looked good.
Bulldogs had their noses rubbed in 💩 the past 2-3 years after having their way with the Gophers for a decade, so they were clearly motivated tonight.
Since you brought up Duluth owning the Gophers for a decade. So, now they are only 46 games behind the Gophers in the all time series. (wink,wink)
Exactly! Clogging up the neutral zone/trap defense is the nemesis for the Gopher forwards. The Gophers keep doing the same thing(unsuccessfully) expecting a different result.
As a different take... While the team certainly needs to find itself, and I hope they do, I am still perplexed as to why Motzko can't seem to coach a strategy to break out against these defensive-lock teams. The guy has had over 20 years playing against that type of garbage hockey and never seems to try anything new.
I get that some of that might have to do with the personnel on the ice, but whatever they do, doesn't work against those types of teams unless they are able to get out to an early 2-3 goal lead.
Last, Eff Sandelin and praise him at the same time for taking a one line offensive team and surrounding them with some stellar defensive tactics and getting his team to buy in to that brand of painfully boring hockey.
Neutral zone clogging is one of the easiest styles to play against in terms of strategy but you need guys who are willing to do what it takes to combat which is chip pucks in in sync and forecheck the crap out of the defensemen and lay the body. You don't have to put guys through the glass, but you need to at least put them under pressure and let them know you will hit them.
Last night we had one guy chip while the other 2 went off and changed where you need to play that back, change and dump in when you have someone who can go put pressure on or it comes right back at you with an easy breakout. This isn't rocket science but when you have guys who have played finesse hockey for multiple years plus a bunch of freshmen, you have a problem. Last night Mooney was really the only guy who was being a dog on pucks. It's gritty hockey where you gotta put in the work which is what I thought Bob had told us we were going to try to do, but we're still trying to play like this team is filled with guys like Cooley and Snuggerud when you need more guys to play like Nelson and Huglen. Leads to low chance hockey for both teams, but the team more willing to keep working and skate through it is the one that wins if the talent levels are equal (we see it every single NCAA tourney year).
The next 7 games will decide if they have any chance at making the postseason whether they realize that or not. If they play that stretch sub .500, there's not a lot of margin for error with the harder part of the schedule. The scary part is they've been outchanced/had lower xG in 6/7 games this year and been outshot in 5/7 (with an average clip of being outshot 21.7-29.4).
This team is going to be hard to watch for much of the year and I think much of my optimism they're going to slide into the back side of the NCAAs is waning a bit for me, but there are also some guys I'll be watching to hopefully see them improve and build towards next year too who are going to have to grow for us to be what we (and Bob) hope they'll be.
That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
I wish. Can you imagine a major college football or basketball program giving someone 8 years and still have nothing to show for? His seat will never be hot.
I'm completely ready for a coaching change. But to say he has nothing to show for the last 8 years is a little ridiculous, this has been a top 5 program during his tenure.
Just curious why you want a coaching change when according to you this has been a top 5 program during his tenure. Btw, I agree with you that it has been a top five program during Coach Motzko's time here.
As a different take... While the team certainly needs to find itself, and I hope they do, I am still perplexed as to why Motzko can't seem to coach a strategy to break out against these defensive-lock teams. The guy has had over 20 years playing against that type of garbage hockey and never seems to try anything new.
This I agree with and it has always driven me nuts as well. Back in the later Lucia days too. Makes me want to pull my hair out.
Yeah I'm not a huge fan of dumping it but against that style you kinda have to do it more to keep the D honest. And like you said it needs to be timed correctly or otherwise it's just a turnover. It's not usually a strength of Gopher teams but for a team like this they might want to start learning because there isn't as much speed on this roster.
Last night Duluth was able to cleanly break out w/ 1-2 passes every single time and go north-south nearly at will. We fumbled the puck at each line whenever UMD applied slight pressure, or skated around east-west and then threw the puck away to go for a change.
Our defense, aside from L.Mitts, Thomas, and Whipple (who played another great game), constantly look lost and disjointed from their partners, goalie, and forwards.
Also, how many times did the Bulldogs attempt and nearly finish on that one rush play, where the puck carrier posts up at the circle and then threads a pass to the other forward, streaking to the net on the weak side? Like a dozen times they were able to get the pass thru the D-man and come within an inch of scoring a tap-in. Never got corrected and they tried it on every partial odd man rush we gave them.
It's one of those situations where you have a good but not great coach. There's certainly risk to moving on but in theory recruiting here shouldn't be a huge problem and you hope to see improvement in other areas as well. I'm not advocating for the guy to be fired or forced into retirement by any means but I also kinda doubt he's gonna be Joe Paterno age on the bench so presumably it's something they need to think about anyhow.That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
I wish. Can you imagine a major college football or basketball program giving someone 8 years and still have nothing to show for? His seat will never be hot.
I'm completely ready for a coaching change. But to say he has nothing to show for the last 8 years is a little ridiculous, this has been a top 5 program during his tenure.
Just curious why you want a coaching change when according to you this has been a top 5 program during his tenure. Btw, I agree with you that it has been a top five program during Coach Motzko's time here.
It's one of those situations where you have a good but not great coach. There's certainly risk to moving on but in theory recruiting here shouldn't be a huge problem and you hope to see improvement in other areas as well. I'm not advocating for the guy to be fired or forced into retirement by any means but I also kinda doubt he's gonna be Joe Paterno age on the bench so presumably it's something they need to think about anyhow.That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
I wish. Can you imagine a major college football or basketball program giving someone 8 years and still have nothing to show for? His seat will never be hot.
I'm completely ready for a coaching change. But to say he has nothing to show for the last 8 years is a little ridiculous, this has been a top 5 program during his tenure.
Just curious why you want a coaching change when according to you this has been a top 5 program during his tenure. Btw, I agree with you that it has been a top five program during Coach Motzko's time here.
If Bob is a good-not-great coach, IMO that means Carle and Pecknold are basically the only “great” coaches out there right now. If anything, Bob and Pecknold are basically even as far as this decade’s performance goes. Bob has one more Frozen Four appearance, a B1G tourney title, and more consistent regular-season success year to year.
Yes, Ferschweiler has a natty now. But his last stacked WMU team in 2021-22 got throttled by Bob on our way to the Frozen Four, when Close was our newly minted starting goalie, Sammy Walker was one of our captains, Bryce Brodzinski was our 4th or 5th leading scorer, and Matt Staudacher played top-4 minutes.
Hastings clearly doesn’t have what it takes to coach a B1G team. Rohlik misses the tourney every other year and has won a single game in it since 2020. Naurato could get replaced by a ham sandwich and Michigan would probably be the same as they are under him. Pandolfo is better than Hastings, Rohlik, and Naurato, but also doesn’t have a recent resume that blows Bob out of the water.
If Townsend was healthy, I would put 72 in the press box. He has been downright brutal.
That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
Gopher Football:
Motzko has some serious advantages over Carle, Pecknold, and Fershweiler in terms of recruiting, an area where I acknowledge that he is definitely above average and is one of his biggest strengths. It's definitely carried the program during his tenure here imo. I'm somewhat willing to give a pass for this year because it seems like the in-state talent is down a bit from where it used to be and recruiting is done years in advance, it's impossible to always get it perfect. Either way though comparing wins/losses of this program to small private schools that have punched above their weight and do more with less isn't entirely fair imo. I just think great coaches tend to do more with less.It's one of those situations where you have a good but not great coach. There's certainly risk to moving on but in theory recruiting here shouldn't be a huge problem and you hope to see improvement in other areas as well. I'm not advocating for the guy to be fired or forced into retirement by any means but I also kinda doubt he's gonna be Joe Paterno age on the bench so presumably it's something they need to think about anyhow.That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
I wish. Can you imagine a major college football or basketball program giving someone 8 years and still have nothing to show for? His seat will never be hot.
I'm completely ready for a coaching change. But to say he has nothing to show for the last 8 years is a little ridiculous, this has been a top 5 program during his tenure.
Just curious why you want a coaching change when according to you this has been a top 5 program during his tenure. Btw, I agree with you that it has been a top five program during Coach Motzko's time here.
If Bob is a good-not-great coach, IMO that means Carle and Pecknold are basically the only “great” coaches out there right now. If anything, Bob and Pecknold are basically even as far as this decade’s performance goes. Bob has one more Frozen Four appearance, a B1G tourney title, and more consistent regular-season success year to year.
Yes, Ferschweiler has a natty now. But his last stacked WMU team in 2021-22 got throttled by Bob on our way to the Frozen Four, when Close was our newly minted starting goalie, Sammy Walker was one of our captains, Bryce Brodzinski was our 4th or 5th leading scorer, and Matt Staudacher played top-4 minutes.
Hastings clearly doesn’t have what it takes to coach a B1G team. Rohlik misses the tourney every other year and has won a single game in it since 2020. Naurato could get replaced by a ham sandwich and Michigan would probably be the same as they are under him. Pandolfo is better than Hastings, Rohlik, and Naurato, but also doesn’t have a recent resume that blows Bob out of the water.
I don't really disagree on your assessment of Naurato, Hastings, or Rohlik though Naurato did beat this team in the conference tourney two years in a row (I think it was Mel in the first of the three in a row) with a similar amount of talent.
IDK, if Motzko turns this team around and gets it playing at a high level in the second half of the year I'm willing to reconsider, this is a good year to test that theory if anything. The OOC schedule is rough but the in conference likely won't be any easier against loaded MSU, PSU, and even Michigan squads.
Cal Thomas not in the lineup tonight?
though Naurato did beat this team in the conference tourney two years in a row (I think it was Mel in the first of the three in a row) with a similar amount of talent.
Yes, it was Mel in 2022, and in hindsight Michigan that year was well ahead of us in terms of sheer talent. They had Beniers, Power, Johnson, Bordeleau, Blankenburg, Samoskevich, Beecher, (all NHL regulars now) with Brisson another 1st-rounder, and Luke Hughes put up 20 goals that year. So for Bob to engineer a mid-year turnaround and earn basically identical season results is a major accomplishment, and we also bloodied Michigan twice that season in very different ways (5-1 W, 2-1 OT win). The thing is that our defense was experienced and had much stronger transition and offensive capabilities.
in 2023-24 I think Michigan and Minnesota had comparable rosters and trajectories, both teams overperformed down the stretch and Michigan went one game further in both tourneys. That being said I think Michigan had more top end forward talent, and their late surge was much more player-driven; a 2-1 W over us in B1G playoffs shows players themselves locked in to execute effectively when they were always capable of it. Whereas we just never got quite as many goals as we needed to keep going, and that shows we reached the upper limits of what our talent had to offer.
To me, this is the whole Woog discussion from years ago. If Skarda scores against Harvard his whole legacy is different. To me, it appears many fans base any coaching success on winning the National Championship. Fair enough, but to me Motzko has done wonderfully. Before he arrived, there were writers and fans that believed the program was done, never to rise again. He brought in the great recruits, fans back to Mariucci, and wins on all levels. I’ve stated before every program will take a step back at some point, and this is the year for the Gophers. If they beat Quinnipiac in OT, the whole narrative changes. One game does not define him. Let’s see how this goes.
That is the type of game that gets the Athletic Directors attention. Absolutely pathetic.
I wish. Can you imagine a major college football or basketball program giving someone 8 years and still have nothing to show for? His seat will never be hot.
I'm completely ready for a coaching change. But to say he has nothing to show for the last 8 years is a little ridiculous, this has been a top 5 program during his tenure.
Just curious why you want a coaching change when according to you this has been a top 5 program during his tenure. Btw, I agree with you that it has been a top five program during Coach Motzko's time here.
I think that Bob has recruited well and generally has had one of the best rosters in the nation - top 10 at least. I don't think he's a great coach though and certainly not a great big game coach. He tends to shy away from what works well in big games, all the sudden going conservative when IMO we should be playing more aggressively. He seems to be able to coach one style of play, and only one style of play. But yet then goes away from it in playoff games. It's frustrating as hell, and I have no confidence that he can win a championship.
Logan Cooley swats in a goal (out of the air) on his 1st shift of the game vs Wild tonight. And then he scores another goal at the 3:29 mark. And he scored a hat trick in his last game…point being…he cud still be a Senior on this Gopher squad! lolCal Thomas not in the lineup tonight?
Ludtke out as well it appears.
this will be a very tough game to watch, regardless of outcome.
Ludtke and Thomas in suits yikes. Injuries or just sending a message?
It's frustrating as hell, and I have no confidence that he can win a championship.
If Snuggerud buries the late 2-on-1, Cooley draws a coincidental instead of QU getting a PP, or Nelson wins the last faceoff, this could well be a very different conversation, and the number of “but-for us not executing,” moments from that game shows the players had control over their own destiny more than Motzko did. Yes, the way it ultimately went, maybe going out guns blazing would have been less heartbreak, but we can only say that because we know how it actually ended.
for some perspective: Greg Brown at BC won 9 games in 2022-23. The very next year he took a #1 overall seed superteam to a hard-fought national championship game.
You're not wrong but they definitely didn't deserve to win that game and they didn't so here we are. Wooger was before my time but I imagine it's a good comparison.If they beat Quinnipiac in OT, the whole narrative changes. One game does not define him. Let’s see how this goes.
Gotta imagine injuries because Ludtke was one of the only players to record a scoring chance yesterday and there isn't enough depth on the blue line to sit Thomas even if he has a rough game.Ludtke and Thomas in suits yikes. Injuries or just sending a message?
You're not wrong but they definitely didn't deserve to win that game and they didn't so here we are.
“Deserving” to win that game is not the correct way to look at it. They stormed out to a 2-0 lead early with contributions from our depth players, top line grinded out lots of chances well into that hellish 3rd period. Our defense played impeccably well, beyond the entire team struggling to break out late. Yes, 15-2 shots in the 3rd, but the shot chart itself is mind-boggling; QU only had like 1-2 shots inside the house over the entire 3rd, and got basically zero second chances.
If the roles were reversed and we were unable to tie it late despite a push like that, our opponent would absolutely be viewed as deserving the win. See: last year’s losses vs. Bemidji and then vs. Notre Dame in game 1 of B1G playoffs.
We all knew the first part of the schedule would be tough. It doesn't get any easier, I'm remaining positive. Get the split tonight and go from there! 
Hoping it’s an illness keeping guys out and can explain how discombobulated and lackluster they looked last night. Tonight could get interesting. 😬
We're outshooting tUMD? So confused.
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.
Hoping the boys dig deep play a hard, physical, grinding game early on. Hopefully grab an early lead and maybe that will make UMD open up the ice a little bit. But they cannot get down early again, because it will be a carbon copy of last night and a very boring affair to behold for all involved.
Nice one man short-handed rush there.
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.
And crap
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.
I actually feel good about this period. Good effort, quality chances stopped by ridiculous goaltending.
The lack of speed on this team is troubling. We look really slow.
My god Finn McLaughlin has been terrible for us
Zero shots on two PPs? While the overall effort has been there tonight they aren’t generating any scoring chances besides the shot in front by Harris.
Hate to say it but this is looking like a shutout weekend and I hope I have to come back and eat my words.
edit… my words are sufficiently eaten…
There we go! More, do it more. Just like that!
The Gophers seemed to have gotten a boost of confidence and energy after that goal. Hopefully it carries over to the 3rd period and they get this thing knotted up. Fingers crossed and optimistic!
Tonight’s outcome feels undeserved. That last penalty seemed ticky tack fighting for a puck in the feet.
But 1-4-1 at home isn’t going to cut it.
Nor is 1 goal over 6 periods.
He cross checked him in the back. That’s going to be called every time. Doesn’t mean they had to let them score easily on the PP again.
A trash can kickin' is a-comin'.
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.
Well that sucked. I really hope that this due to a flu bug going around or something because if not…. this could a long year.
You're not wrong but they definitely didn't deserve to win that game and they didn't so here we are.
“Deserving” to win that game is not the correct way to look at it. They stormed out to a 2-0 lead early with contributions from our depth players, top line grinded out lots of chances well into that hellish 3rd period. Our defense played impeccably well, beyond the entire team struggling to break out late. Yes, 15-2 shots in the 3rd, but the shot chart itself is mind-boggling; QU only had like 1-2 shots inside the house over the entire 3rd, and got basically zero second chances.
If the roles were reversed and we were unable to tie it late despite a push like that, our opponent would absolutely be viewed as deserving the win. See: last year’s losses vs. Bemidji and then vs. Notre Dame in game 1 of B1G playoffs.
Midway through the 2nd period there was a clear adjustment to the game plan and throughout the 3rd we completely abandoned trying to break the puck out in favor of just launching it out of the zone. Could see the loss coming from a mile away. Motzko tried to blame it on the players being nervous, but it was basically leaked that he did in fact instruct them to play the passive style that we saw in the last half of the game. He is not a coach who will ever win an NCAA championship, if he's going to coach like that.
Embarrassing
You could see this coming from March. You can’t lose 9 high caliber college hockey players and replace them with freshman who are on the 3-4 year development curve and expect to compete.
I still like the outlook of this team in 26-27 & 27-28 but this year is gonna be rough. Play the young guys, get them minutes.
What a great weekend. Vikings blown out on Thursday, Gophers swept by the Bulldogs (at home), Gophers (football) blown out in Iowa. Wild have lost 5 of 6 games.
Gophers Hockey:
Goaltending: Average at best
Defense: Below average overall
Offense: Below Average. Zero high end talent. I like Mooney's future though
Overall: I see a .500 Big Ten team. Probably going to miss the NCAA tournament
Pahlsson has got to figure it out. He has not impressed me at all beyond a handful of games last year vs. Wisconsin and… Mercyhurst. A random Peewee B could probably also get 15 assists just by playing with Snuggerud, Rinzel, Koster, Ziemer all the time, like he did last year.