Philosophical question while we wait on the ever desired Cooley news:
Would you rather have Cooley go pro now, after one season, or return for his sophomore year and leave mid-season at the break?
Is half a season of Cooley worth it?
I'm not saying he would do that, but I don't put it past a NHL Org. to push for it if a player comes back on their desire vs. the club wanting them to take another year.
Philosophical question while we wait on the ever desired Cooley news:
Would you rather have Cooley go pro now, after one season, or return for his sophomore year and leave mid-season at the break?
Is half a season of Cooley worth it?
I'm not saying he would do that, but I don't put it past a NHL Org. to push for it if a player comes back on their desire vs. the club wanting them to take another year.
Gone now. But we’ve had what, two guys in the last 20 years go pro mid season? If he comes back, I think he comes back committed. I don’t see him as a mid-season flight risk.
Gone now obviously. I don't see the other option happening though unless he gets hurt.
Not too worried about that hypothetical actually happening so whatever. It happened once that I can think of with Okposo and that was more for personal reasons.
It’s purely a question to kill off season time. Not saying he would do it.
Cooley showed his heart this year and how bought in to this program he is. He has mentioned it many times in interviews. He will have 100% buy in on whichever he chooses. As usual, I hope it’s 100% for pride on ice!
Can come back for another season, win the Hobey and a National Championship be an option?
My vote...
My hopes are up now. In the second half of the season, Cooley was worth the price of admission by himself. A rare talent.
Philosophical question while we wait on the ever desired Cooley news:
Would you rather have Cooley go pro now, after one season, or return for his sophomore year and leave mid-season at the break?
Is half a season of Cooley worth it?
I'm not saying he would do that, but I don't put it past a NHL Org. to push for it if a player comes back on their desire vs. the club wanting them to take another year.
I would say go now, but as someone mentioned above it’s happened twice in last 20 years. And if I’m not mistaken one time it was orchestrated by Darth Snow (spit on the ground). The other was a goalie who probably saw the writing on the wall about his future prospects about playing in the nhl and took the money while it was there, knowing the window on that money would close quickly. IMHO
Philosophical question while we wait on the ever desired Cooley news:
Would you rather have Cooley go pro now, after one season, or return for his sophomore year and leave mid-season at the break?
Is half a season of Cooley worth it?
I'm not saying he would do that, but I don't put it past a NHL Org. to push for it if a player comes back on their desire vs. the club wanting them to take another year.
I would say go now, but as someone mentioned above it’s happened twice in last 20 years. And if I’m not mistaken one time it was orchestrated by Darth Snow (spit on the ground). The other was a goalie who probably saw the writing on the wall about his future prospects about playing in the nhl and took the money while it was there, knowing the window on that money would close quickly. IMHO
I think if decides to stay, he will see the season through. I think he likes being here, there are a lot of good guys on this Gopher squad.
Snow wasn't the reason he just took the bullet because Kyle wanted to leave.
@driftryder this is THE story of the offseason. A little nervous with him being the highest pick since Erik Johnson and the numbers he put up... but I'd love him/Phoenix agreeing that they'd like to see him skate a year with a letter on his chest and mature to not take the retaliatory penalties that he took throughout the year. A page out of the Knies playbook. If I was Snuggerud post-committing to return I'd be in his ear to center me again and run it back together for one more shot (maybe using winning the Hobey as an incentive).
@boninthebear - While I agree with you about Motzko building our program back... I was also there - my first Frozen Four after staying home and watching from Dinkytown in 2014. The Thursday Boston game was AWESOME. Energetic and loud - I feel like fans and players were feeding off each other. Saturday... Sadly, that rink was quiet. Energy level felt like it favored Q the whole time, even with the Gophs leading. Like all the maroon and gold faithful were on pins/needles or nervous than excited.
@collegehockeyaddict This post is legit. Love some real numbers after the troll posts I read about Motzko initially on this this GPL thread.
Fighting Whouix very active in the transfer portal, just banked a pair of Michigan defensemen.
Just in case it wasn’t mentioned, but being st.Paul hosts the frozen four next year that could be some incentive that helps not just Cooley to come back but for the team to use that all year as some extra motivation.
Fighting Whouix very active in the transfer portal, just banked a pair of Michigan defensemen.
A pair?
I believe UND has added Pehrson from Michigan, Zmolek from Minnesota State, and Pyke from Alaska from the portal.
The more I hear he may stay the more I'm convinced he's gone. Or that he'll be the next Okposo / LaFontaine.
Cooley doesn't strike me as the type. My money is he's gone, but if he stays he stays.
I believe last year I told everyone to accept that LaCombe, Johnson, Faber and Knies were gone and move on, so… Cooley’s gone guys, get over it.
@maroon_and_gold been following the forum for many many years, and I finally bucked up to start an account. I’m 50/50 with Cooley. It would be beneficial for him to stay another year with us. Not saying just for the U and to get that ship next season, but it makes sense. He’s 18, give him another year to gain some weight/bulk up a few. I saw a comment earlier about having Cooley, Snuggs, and Moore together. Man, that is a line I WOULD NOT want play against. At the end of day, he’s gonna decide what’s best for him. Hopefully he chooses one more year to get that ship and the Hobey.
I see that Sam Rinzel is a stud based on his elite profile.
For those more knowledgeable about junior hockey and incoming talent, looks like Max Rud will be D7 and the weak link next year? Will Bob not bring in an 8th D?
Assuming Fish performs as well as he did in spot duty this year.
For forwards, what will the domino’s be if we lost Nelson, Brodzinski, and Cooley? Looks like we also lose Schmidt and we get Moore and Hendrickson. Two questions:
1)Who likely gets brought in?
2)Who would be ideal (available transfers, etc.)?
Rud profiles as the 7th defenseman next year but I would consider it a positive. He is a big, older defenseman with a lot of USHL experience. Numbers probably paint him an unflattering light given their team has not been strong. Plenty of optimism he develops into a solid four-year player.
Forwards seem dependent entirely on returnees. Moore and Hendrickson look like locks (I have not seen confirmation Hendrickson accelerated but just connecting dots based on signing NLI/draft prospects).
Clark looks to be in same boat as Lamb; ideally one more year in USHL but could probably hold his own next year.
Of course, portal adds change entire equation...
@maroon_and_gold been following the forum for many many years, and I finally bucked up to start an account. I’m 50/50 with Cooley. It would be beneficial for him to stay another year with us. Not saying just for the U and to get that ship next season, but it makes sense. He’s 18, give him another year to gain some weight/bulk up a few. I saw a comment earlier about having Cooley, Snuggs, and Moore together. Man, that is a line I WOULD NOT want play against. At the end of day, he’s gonna decide what’s best for him. Hopefully he chooses one more year to get that ship and the Hobey.
I think your best observations is he needs to get bigger. More weight/muscle on him. I just dont see him at the NHL right now and another year would be in their favor too.
He’s got the skills, but one 30 yr old Slav or Swede will knock him on his ass.
Note: Due to inflation dirty deeds will no longer be done dirt cheap.
I see that Sam Rinzel is a stud based on his elite profile.
For those more knowledgeable about junior hockey and incoming talent, looks like Max Rud will be D7 and the weak link next year? Will Bob not bring in an 8th D?
Assuming Fish performs as well as he did in spot duty this year.
For forwards, what will the domino’s be if we lost Nelson, Brodzinski, and Cooley? Looks like we also lose Schmidt and we get Moore and Hendrickson. Two questions:
1)Who likely gets brought in?
2)Who would be ideal (available transfers, etc.)?
Rud won’t see too many minutes next year. They’ll probably go with an extra forward instead of a 7th D plenty. I love that Carl Fish is finally getting his opportunity as a regular, he’s earned it and he’s understatedly really good.
I don’t think we lose more than one of 92, 22, 24. But yes, if we lost all three we’d have to to some portal digging.
@boninthebear I watched Rinzel here in Fargo at Scheels. He’s fun to watch. Lanky, young, but his IQ is pretty solid. Happy to have him on the team next season.
Welcome. It took me about three years of lurking to sign up as well.@maroon_and_gold been following the forum for many many years, and I finally bucked up to start an account. I’m 50/50 with Cooley. It would be beneficial for him to stay another year with us. Not saying just for the U and to get that ship next season, but it makes sense. He’s 18, give him another year to gain some weight/bulk up a few. I saw a comment earlier about having Cooley, Snuggs, and Moore together. Man, that is a line I WOULD NOT want play against. At the end of day, he’s gonna decide what’s best for him. Hopefully he chooses one more year to get that ship and the Hobey.
Has anyone who paid for a season parking pass received a refund yet for the $30 we overpaid?
My parking refund hit today.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
@maroon_and_gold been following the forum for many many years, and I finally bucked up to start an account. I’m 50/50 with Cooley. It would be beneficial for him to stay another year with us. Not saying just for the U and to get that ship next season, but it makes sense. He’s 18, give him another year to gain some weight/bulk up a few. I saw a comment earlier about having Cooley, Snuggs, and Moore together. Man, that is a line I WOULD NOT want play against. At the end of day, he’s gonna decide what’s best for him. Hopefully he chooses one more year to get that ship and the Hobey.
Agreed. Hit the weights and work on winning faceoffs.
It seems lost in the last game because of the way we played in the last period is how bad we were at winning faceoffs in the 3rd. Man we sucked at it. I know there are no do overs but a few more wins in the faceoff circle late in the 3rd and maybe we have #6. Just a thought...
@driftryder can’t agree with you more. People really don’t understand how crucial it is to win face offs. I don’t even want to bring this up, uhg! They won the draw and it was clearly a designed play, perfectly executed too. I don’t even want to watch the highlights from that game. We got smoked on face offs all friggin night. Anyway, how’s the weather today? Haha.
Can we go back in time to a week ago right now and rewrite the script?
So I'm curious what people think about goaltending - for all we see with the great offensive and defensive recruiting at the U, it seems like our goaltending is a blindspot. Why don't we bring in top tier Minnesota talent or even pull blue chip recruits from across the country? I think the last multi-year starter that I really enjoyed watching was Adam Wilcox... So many of the goaltenders we bring in seem to be lower level junior players that don't have prototypical size or desired production/numbers as junior goalies. Could also be my blind spot without a strong concept of goalie knowledge/recruiting...
So I'm curious what people think about goaltending - for all we see with the great offensive and defensive recruiting at the U, it seems like our goaltending is a blindspot. Why don't we bring in top tier Minnesota talent or even pull blue chip recruits from across the country? I think the last multi-year starter that I really enjoyed watching was Adam Wilcox... So many of the goaltenders we bring in seem to be lower level junior players that don't have prototypical size or desired production/numbers as junior goalies. Could also be my blind spot without a strong concept of goalie knowledge/recruiting...
That blind spot has been there for 40 years.
Stauber, Wilcox, and Close, maybe the top 3 in that long span, are 0-3 in NC games, while Hauser and Weber are 2-0. Go figure. The Gophers are consistently out recruited in this area year after year.
I get that we don’t exactly put goalies in the NHL but you can’t tell me we haven’t had our share of elite college goalies. Close is really really good and not talked about enough. LaFontaine won the Richter. Wilcox is one of the best in program history and Mat Robson might be the best out of all 4. Recently they’ve been doing just fine in net.
I’ll die on the hill that Mat Robson is one of the best goalies in Gopher hockey history. He played behind some suspect defenses in his short time here. I’ll never understand how he didn’t make it in the NHL or even the AHL with his frame. Goalies are weird.
For the goalie aficionado’s, any reason the Gophers do not have a goalie coach on the payroll? If I am a goalie with NHL talent then teams with a full time paid goalie coach are surely going to be more attractive.
See BU, Michigan, and Qunnipiac.
Also don’t see the Close love. He’s average, and I will never forget the cheapy he gave up with 3 minutes left against Q.
Truly elite college goalies are the ones who go to the NHL. They have the pedigree and the size to play at the next level. The Gophers crank out plenty of players to the NHL—except goaltenders.
For the goalie aficionado’s, any reason the Gophers do not have a goalie coach on the payroll? If I am a goalie with NHL talent then teams with a full time paid goalie coach are surely going to be more attractive.
See BU, Michigan, and Qunnipiac.
Also don’t see the Close love. He’s average, and I will never forget the cheapy he gave up with 3 minutes left against Q.
I agree on the goalie coach comment. Makes no sense.
Pretty harsh to blame Close for that game. He allowed 2 goals in 60 minutes. He does that they win 95% of the time. One must remember the team had 15 shots for the game, and 7 after the first period. My point is there's more than enough blame to go around.
While not flashy, he's about as good as we've had since Wilcox, and we will be a far worse team next season if he doesn't come back.
For the goalie aficionado’s, any reason the Gophers do not have a goalie coach on the payroll? If I am a goalie with NHL talent then teams with a full time paid goalie coach are surely going to be more attractive.
See BU, Michigan, and Qunnipiac.
Also don’t see the Close love. He’s average, and I will never forget the cheapy he gave up with 3 minutes left against Q.
There were three goal-mouth shots last week and all three went in. He needs to stop one of those. Motzko was correct in his post-game comments that the second goal should not have gone in. It was unnecessary to make that assessment when he did, and, notably, he didn't comment on his own shoddy coaching performance.
Close had a good season and was solid all year, but he needed to be better in the last game. Given Motzko's rope-a-dope strategy, the Gophers needed a Jack Morris-type Herculean effort to win that game and didn't get one. The Gophers played cautiously and scared and Q didn't.
Close was the 6th ranked goalie in the nation.
Better than Portillo, Dobes, Magnus Chrona, Commesso and whole host of others.
He plays the percentages, and sometimes gets beat like all goalies, but he's definatly not "average". If you get over the butt hurt of last saturday and look at the body of work you'll see it.
Close was the 6th ranked goalie in the nation.
Better than Portillo, Dobes, Magnus Chrona, Commesso and whole host of others.
He plays the percentages, and sometimes gets beat like all goalies, but he's definatly not "average". If you get over the butt hurt of last saturday and look at the body of work you'll see it.
Close is a good goalie. Not the type of goalie that will steal a game but just solid all around. The championship game though he let in 2 that he rarely does normally. Maybe just bad luck but just happened to come at a bad time.
As terrible as the team played the 3rd period, (and a lot of that was on the coaching staff for employing the 'fall back' strategy) Close very easily could have had a shutout in that game.
Agreed though I always assumed it’s a scholarship thing (ie they use them elsewhere). But this team hasn’t had NHL goaltending since the 70’s I think.So I'm curious what people think about goaltending - for all we see with the great offensive and defensive recruiting at the U, it seems like our goaltending is a blindspot. Why don't we bring in top tier Minnesota talent or even pull blue chip recruits from across the country? I think the last multi-year starter that I really enjoyed watching was Adam Wilcox... So many of the goaltenders we bring in seem to be lower level junior players that don't have prototypical size or desired production/numbers as junior goalies. Could also be my blind spot without a strong concept of goalie knowledge/recruiting...
That blind spot has been there for 40 years.
Stauber, Wilcox, and Close, maybe the top 3 in that long span, are 0-3 in NC games, while Hauser and Weber are 2-0. Go figure. The Gophers are consistently out recruited in this area year after year.
I do think goaltending has been fine during the Motzko era though and Robson under Lucia. The last game wasn’t on Close, the team didn’t deserve to win that game after the failed coaching strategy of turtling and throwing the puck around for 30 minutes didn’t pay off.
For the goalie aficionado’s, any reason the Gophers do not have a goalie coach on the payroll? If I am a goalie with NHL talent then teams with a full time paid goalie coach are surely going to be more attractive.
See BU, Michigan, and Qunnipiac.
Also don’t see the Close love. He’s average, and I will never forget the cheapy he gave up with 3 minutes left against Q.
There were three goal-mouth shots last week and all three went in. He needs to stop one of those. Motzko was correct in his post-game comments that the second goal should not have gone in. It was unnecessary to make that assessment when he did, and, notably, he didn't comment on his own shoddy coaching performance.
Close had a good season and was solid all year, but he needed to be better in the last game. Given Motzko's rope-a-dope strategy, the Gophers needed a Jack Morris-type Herculean effort to win that game and didn't get one. The Gophers played cautiously and scared and Q didn't.
I agree. I know it’s been beaten to death, I just haven’t let it go, it’s been a hard one to swallow. The pressure to hold the lead in our own end for that much time was just a lot to ask for. It just felt like the storm that wouldn’t pass through until its damage was done so imo they shouldn’t have been put in that position if they would’ve just kept the foot on the gas and played their style they played all year and kept pushing and try and get that momentum back.
Yeah people always talk about the third period being bad but I remember exchanging glances with my buddy late in the 2nd which would’ve been around the time the strategy change occurred. Even before the third it was obvious that if they didn’t get back to their game this probably wasn’t gonna end how we wanted.
Yeah people always talk about the third period being bad but I remember exchanging glances with my buddy late in the 2nd which would’ve been around the time the strategy change occurred. Even before the third it was obvious that if they didn’t get back to their game this probably wasn’t gonna end how we wanted.
I had four people there with me. We all knew they were screwed in the second. I mean they had a chance, but it was obvious to anyone in that building something changed after the second goal, and it was full on panic in the third. They seemed to just happy to get line changes. Quinnipiac had very few chances until the second goal and everything seemed under control so I really didn't understand the changes they made.
I guess we were hopeful it was the standard second period slump thats kinda been their thing all year and we'd blow them away in 3rd, but deep down we knew. Again I get the plan was to trap and counter, but Quinnipiac's D Men kept getting greedier and they still could not exploit it. By the middle of third the D men were constatly pinching down and holding the puck in the zone, we'd ice and be stuck with tired players out there.
For the goalie aficionado’s, any reason the Gophers do not have a goalie coach on the payroll? If I am a goalie with NHL talent then teams with a full time paid goalie coach are surely going to be more attractive.
See BU, Michigan, and Qunnipiac.
Also don’t see the Close love. He’s average, and I will never forget the cheapy he gave up with 3 minutes left against Q.
I was with you til you called Close average. That’s just wrong.