Faber is on the most recent episode of Spittin Chiclets. Great interview and talks about the Wild, getting traded while in college, playing for the Gophers, and growing up and living in Minnesota. Mentioned that he lives in the North Loop. Joked that he’s just across the highway from campus so he “didn’t leave his boys too far”.
Directly from Paul Martin: "Coach put us into a 1-3-1 which we really didn't work on that much during year. It is a more of a defensive structure"
Goes on to say it is tough to have the guys change the way they play in that situation.
Can't imagine Bob is thrilled hearing those comments.
I think it would be an even bigger problem if Motzko wasn't aware that he did a terrible job in that game.
Motzko said in the weeks after the game that they didn't change how they played. Riiiggghhhhhht....
That little coaching gaffe played right into Q's hand, a team that was desperate to get back into that game. The Gophers stopped playing offense, which is exactly what Q needed. A grind-it-out game evens the playing field because that's how Q likes to play. I might have added a third cause: Close was only average that night. In the two NC wins, Minnesota got good goaltending from average goalies. In the subsequent losses, the goaltending performances were average to poor from better goalies.
Martin accurately encapsulates the loss, insinuating that experimenting with a new playing style in the middle of a national title game is a bad idea and mentioning that a dumb penalty (and the shoddy reffing that went with it) changed the game.
From what I remember, Bob has been adamant that they did not change the style of play in the 2nd and 3rd. I think we could all see that wasn't the case. Now we know.
From what I remember, Bob has been adamant that they did not change the style of play in the 2nd and 3rd. I think we could all see that wasn't the case. Now we know.
Yes he had a couple podcasts last season where he hammered home the fact “they didn’t change anything”. Guess that was total BS.
I believe the only time he admitted to any change was directly after at the post-game interview when he said they changed their forecheck.
The weird thing is that Bob has owned up to coaching gaffes in the past, so why not come clean in this instance? It is 100% obvious to anyone that watched the game from the start - as well as saw how the Gophers typically played throughout the season - that they changed it up.
Directly from Paul Martin: "Coach put us into a 1-3-1 which we really didn't work on that much during year. It is a more of a defensive structure"
Goes on to say it is tough to have the guys change the way they play in that situation.
Can't imagine Bob is thrilled hearing those comments.
I think it would be an even bigger problem if Motzko wasn't aware that he did a terrible job in that game.
Motzko said in the weeks after the game that they didn't change how they played. Riiiggghhhhhht....
That little coaching gaffe played right into Q's hand, a team that was desperate to get back into that game. The Gophers stopped playing offense, which is exactly what Q needed. A grind-it-out game evens the playing field because that's how Q likes to play. I might have added a third cause: Close was only average that night. In the two NC wins, Minnesota got good goaltending from average goalies. In the subsequent losses, the goaltending performances were average to poor from better goalies.
Martin accurately encapsulates the loss, insinuating that experimenting with a new playing style in the middle of a national title game is a bad idea and mentioning that a dumb penalty (and the shoddy reffing that went with it) changed the game.
Huh…a Gopher coach actually acknowledging the Cooley penalty was DUMB (along with the shoddy reffing that went into it). Who knew? lol Unfortunately for Cooley, that will be his lasting legacy as a Gopher.
I'll refrain from giving that comment the colorful reply it deserves.
He played one year for the Gophers & (that play aside) had a fabulous year. But he lost his poise on the ice (after missing a scoring chance) at the worst possible time…and the rest is regrettable history.
I'll refrain from giving that comment the colorful reply it deserves.
He played one year for the Gophers & (that play aside) had a fabulous year. But he lost his poise on the ice (after missing a scoring chance) at the worst possible time…and the rest is regrettable history.
Is there a mute button? or a Ban button? Dude, we get it.
A year and a half later and we're still speculating on what really happened. There were posters on here at the time who were at the game that were adamant that Bob didn't change a thing and it was the players that were afraid to make a mistake so they went into a defensive posture. But I can't see any reason Martin would be saying this now if it wasn't the case.
Another thing is that when we went up 2-0 Q totally changed their style and it seemed like we were clueless as to how to counter. Bottom line is you can't play "rope a dope" for 30 minutes and expect to not get scored on.
Can we please move on? We lost, ok. In heartbreaking fashion. It sucks and it’ll suck for a long time but to go back over and over again trying to pick apart why we lost and who’s to blame. We lost. That’s it! We. Lost. Honestly, all I really care about at this point is that the team and coaching staff really take the phrase “unfinished business” seriously and go win it in St Louis this year.
You’re right. But I don’t really know what us fans can do about it. I’m going to let them deal with it internally and trust that we still have a great program with good players and good coaches. I understand the desire to discuss specifically what Martin said and why it contradicts Motzko but at the end of the day it doesn’t change what happened and I, as a fan, can’t walk into the coaches office and say “hey guys, figure this out”. They’ll have to deal with this and hopefully after April 2025 and a trip to St Louis it doesn’t really matter as much anymore.
There's nothing wrong with having a discussion about the facts of a topic that have recently surfaced. Seems like the sting of the loss is causing your emotions to get involved, but the Martin comments are interesting and certainly acceptable to talk about.
Dear Bob, good luck and remember to remind your team, "Play your game."
1-3-1, 4th line gifting Q their first goal, bad Snuggy miss on the 2 on 1 in the 3rd, couldn’t get the puck out of their zone / win a face-off in the 3rd, stupid Cooley penalty, and a weak goal given up by Close to force the game to OT. Plenty of blame to go around that night in Tampa.
Sorry but going into a shell at least as early as halfway through the 2nd period was the biggest difference. Individual plays don't go your way all the time during games. Completely changing the style of play that made you successful through the year and built you a 2-goal lead is unthinkable.
btw I'm not an anti-Bob guy. I have faith in him overall, but watching them fumble around looking like they had no idea what they were doing for half the game, yelling at my laptop to, "get it out" will never leave my memory.
A year and a half later and we're still speculating on what really happened. There were posters on here at the time who were at the game that were adamant that Bob didn't change a thing and it was the players that were afraid to make a mistake so they went into a defensive posture. But I can't see any reason Martin would be saying this now if it wasn't the case.
Another thing is that when we went up 2-0 Q totally changed their style and it seemed like we were clueless as to how to counter. Bottom line is you can't play "rope a dope" for 30 minutes and expect to not get scored on.
Just a note... watching back the game you'd hardly have any evidence that they were trying to setup a 1-3-1 forecheck during the third period. They essentially had three rushes during the period and should have gotten a grade 'A' chance on one of them, but were hemmed in their own zone for most of the period and were struggling to get a clean line change done after zone clears. The Bobcats put them under pressure on every wall play during the period and it seemed like Knies was the only forward that could handle the pressure.
Seeing Johnny Pohl reminds me of how my boss still has nightmares from playing against him. Pohl was freshman when my boss was a senior for Mankato West and was a defenseman. My boss said that Mankato had no answer for Pohl.
I am theofficial Iowa Hawkeye football fan of GPL!
Nope…nothing to do with OSU, (yuck) the un-capitalized t simply looks better preceding a capitalized D…and Lucia is italian, thus the Godfather reference (noted above).
My God, It seems like such a short time ago I drove up to the old DECC for the Section 7 semis specifically to see him. He had recently committed and I hadn’t heard of him before (a rare occurrence in recruiting). Enjoy retirement, I heartily endorse it.
