For those who those team that want an expert at cross-checking in the back while a player is on down the ice, Michigan's Evan Warner has entered the portal.
Seems like a great fit for the NoDak brand.
Another 3rd team in 3 years guy...
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
We are going to fly under the radar this summer and early next season for a bit but then have a team that pulls it together late in the season and surprises everyone. We won’t be the best on paper or have all the flashy recruits so nobody will give us a chance (apparently some of you are already there…)
Maybe we’ll be just what nobody expects.
This is with zero knowledge about anyone still leaving or entering the program. I’m not going to get my undies in a bunch over things I can’t control.
But I will be renewing my season tickets and in a couple weeks start making plans for Vegas. 😎
How many games did Michel play this year? How many games did Begley play at forward this year? Clearly the "plan" for this past season was a poor one. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wondering if this years plan will be as bad.I will say I am over all "Bob better have a plan" talk. How damn inept do you think D1 hockey coaches are? Bob has been a D1 hockey coach for over two decades so I know he has a plan. He knew 99% of what has transpired probably for some time now. Coaches have to plan for every possible situation for in-season and off season roster happenings. My bosses have told me about how in their donor meetings with the MSU coaches that they have a roster plan near four years out. That's Mankato for cripes sake! You don't think Bob, Miller, and Gordon have their crap figured out for years ahead? Good lord! This keyboard warrior great hockey mind crap just needs to stop!
Rant over...
I’m sorry but I rolled my eyes heavily at this. Clearly he was bringing the roster down to 26 to prepare for what’s happening next year. Short rosters are gonna be the norm from here on out and if you have injuries you’ll see some ugly lineups like you saw for stretches this year.
You try recruiting good players to be a 14th forward in the transfer portal era.
Are you really suggesting that Motzko intentionally hindered himself with a 24 player roster because he wanted to prepare for a future where you can only have 26 players on a roster? That's the thought you're going with? Even more ridiculous when you give it 2 seconds of thought to realize that he was likely to lose as many as 10 players off that roster.How many games did Michel play this year? How many games did Begley play at forward this year? Clearly the "plan" for this past season was a poor one. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wondering if this years plan will be as bad.I will say I am over all "Bob better have a plan" talk. How damn inept do you think D1 hockey coaches are? Bob has been a D1 hockey coach for over two decades so I know he has a plan. He knew 99% of what has transpired probably for some time now. Coaches have to plan for every possible situation for in-season and off season roster happenings. My bosses have told me about how in their donor meetings with the MSU coaches that they have a roster plan near four years out. That's Mankato for cripes sake! You don't think Bob, Miller, and Gordon have their crap figured out for years ahead? Good lord! This keyboard warrior great hockey mind crap just needs to stop!
Rant over...
I’m sorry but I rolled my eyes heavily at this. Clearly he was bringing the roster down to 26 to prepare for what’s happening next year. Short rosters are gonna be the norm from here on out and if you have injuries you’ll see some ugly lineups like you saw for stretches this year.
You try recruiting good players to be a 14th forward in the transfer portal era.
Nobody should ever try and recruit a 14th forward. Get the 14-15 best forwards you can and let them sort out who plays where. Nobody is ever going to miss a player that leaves because he wasn't good enough to make the lineup. And the portal is full of players that would kill for a chance to earn on a spot on the University of Minnesota. A player like J. Mittlestadt should never a lock to play every night.
I refuse to believe Bob had no idea this was coming. Ben Gordon was part of a group of 11 freshmen. It's probably the trend in the NCAA, for better or worse. I am excited to see who Motzko brings in and watch them exceed expectations.
I haven't checked today but I thought they finished first the Big Ten last season.How many games did Michel play this year? How many games did Begley play at forward this year? Clearly the "plan" for this past season was a poor one. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wondering if this years plan will be as bad.I will say I am over all "Bob better have a plan" talk. How damn inept do you think D1 hockey coaches are? Bob has been a D1 hockey coach for over two decades so I know he has a plan. He knew 99% of what has transpired probably for some time now. Coaches have to plan for every possible situation for in-season and off season roster happenings. My bosses have told me about how in their donor meetings with the MSU coaches that they have a roster plan near four years out. That's Mankato for cripes sake! You don't think Bob, Miller, and Gordon have their crap figured out for years ahead? Good lord! This keyboard warrior great hockey mind crap just needs to stop!
Rant over...
Please name a program that wins the national championship every year.
While I agree with your point...it's been over 20 years since we last won. I don't need every year but this is now the second 20 year gap in my lifetime and I'm in my 40s.
every time i see your avatar photo it makes me sigh thinking back to splitsville. such a great time, so much optimism followed by such sadness and a long walk home back to the airbnb (before the tiny tap tavern; highly recommend next time we're down in tampa for the FF)
Splitsville was great! My old roomie was there and my little cousin was in Florida already so he and his dad showed up. He shmoozed a lot of parents!
A lot of fun stories from that weekend...but a lot of crude ones too.
And i want it noted for the record I'm not dogging Motzko...I think he will be fine.
The unspeakable team’s forum is saying we may be getting the Michigan State backup. He does follow the gophers on instagram.
The unspeakable team’s forum is saying we may be getting the Michigan State backup. He does follow the gophers on instagram.
I wondered how coveted he would be. Good numbers in BCHL and with Spartans, though limited playing time in East Lansing. Tough to earn time with Augustine ahead of you.
How many games did Michel play this year? How many games did Begley play at forward this year? Clearly the "plan" for this past season was a poor one. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wondering if this years plan will be as bad.I will say I am over all "Bob better have a plan" talk. How damn inept do you think D1 hockey coaches are? Bob has been a D1 hockey coach for over two decades so I know he has a plan. He knew 99% of what has transpired probably for some time now. Coaches have to plan for every possible situation for in-season and off season roster happenings. My bosses have told me about how in their donor meetings with the MSU coaches that they have a roster plan near four years out. That's Mankato for cripes sake! You don't think Bob, Miller, and Gordon have their crap figured out for years ahead? Good lord! This keyboard warrior great hockey mind crap just needs to stop!
Rant over...
Yet the team still finished 3rd in the country in scoring even with those guys. Doesn’t seem like that bad of a plan. Every team has depth players.
Are you really suggesting that Motzko intentionally hindered himself with a 24 player roster because he wanted to prepare for a future where you can only have 26 players on a roster? That's the thought you're going with? Even more ridiculous when you give it 2 seconds of thought to realize that he was likely to lose as many as 10 players off that roster.How many games did Michel play this year? How many games did Begley play at forward this year? Clearly the "plan" for this past season was a poor one. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wondering if this years plan will be as bad.I will say I am over all "Bob better have a plan" talk. How damn inept do you think D1 hockey coaches are? Bob has been a D1 hockey coach for over two decades so I know he has a plan. He knew 99% of what has transpired probably for some time now. Coaches have to plan for every possible situation for in-season and off season roster happenings. My bosses have told me about how in their donor meetings with the MSU coaches that they have a roster plan near four years out. That's Mankato for cripes sake! You don't think Bob, Miller, and Gordon have their crap figured out for years ahead? Good lord! This keyboard warrior great hockey mind crap just needs to stop!
Rant over...
I’m sorry but I rolled my eyes heavily at this. Clearly he was bringing the roster down to 26 to prepare for what’s happening next year. Short rosters are gonna be the norm from here on out and if you have injuries you’ll see some ugly lineups like you saw for stretches this year.
You try recruiting good players to be a 14th forward in the transfer portal era.
Nobody should ever try and recruit a 14th forward. Get the 14-15 best forwards you can and let them sort out who plays where. Nobody is ever going to miss a player that leaves because he wasn't good enough to make the lineup. And the portal is full of players that would kill for a chance to earn on a spot on the University of Minnesota. A player like J. Mittlestadt should never a lock to play every night.
24 players??? There were 26 on the roster this year (27 counting Matt Bryant the club call up).
And to your second point, recruits aren’t idiots. They can look up a roster the same as you and me and see where they slot in. Quality players don’t want to watch from the press box every night (shocker). I suspect the 14th-15th forwards will be rather underwhelming this year too. That’s just the nature of the beast as a blue blood in 2025. Michigans extra forward was something called Miles Gust and even he hit the portal.
The unspeakable team’s forum is saying we may be getting the Michigan State backup. He does follow the gophers on instagram.
Called a few of his games back when he was in the NAHL. I was impressed by him, though admittedly that was a while ago.
The unspeakable team’s forum is saying we may be getting the Michigan State backup. He does follow the gophers on instagram.
Called a few of his games back when he was in the NAHL. I was impressed by him, though admittedly that was a while ago.
in the BCHL
36-3-1, 1.7GAA, .922 Sv% regular season, 16-0-1, 1.99GAA, .924Sv% playoffs
The numbers are quite good in the NCAA as well though now limited sample sizes backing up Augustine.
Tally thus far:
Out
D (3)-Rinzel, Chesley, Koster
F (7)-Snuggerud, Moore, Kurth, Wood, Huglen, Nevers, Michel
G(1)-Souliere
In
D (3)-Rombach, Grimes, Phillips
F (3 to 5)-Mooney, Ludtke, Townsend, Moore, Kvasnicka
G (0)
My questions:
-D core, not warm and fuzzy about Rud, Begley, Whipple, and 3 freshman battling for 4 spots. What’s the scout on the 3 freshman?
-I think Mooney is in, what about Moore and Kvasnicka?
-Thoughts on other 2-4 forwards?
-Goalie, folks on here saying Sparty backup. Any others?
I'm ok with the defense. The incoming guys are HUGE. Whipple and Grimes or a transfer will be 6-7 guys.
Moore is also a big guy, and has played well in USHL. I would have preferred Kvasnicka staying in USHL another year.
Goalie is ??
The roster is getting bigger...
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
I still feel Grimes is a good bet to play one more USHL season, though as has been mentioned he did sign his NLI.
Rombach feels like the freshman defender most likely to make an early impact. Could even be in a top 4, shutdown role, though he is unlikely to replace much of the offensive production lost on the backend. Phillips is still early in his development but has an edge we have not seen in a bit. He is an early favorite to lead the team in PIMs even if his total minutes are low.
Moore, Mooney, Townsend locks to come in. TBD on Kvasnicka.
Assuming Ludtke is playing wing, a transfer center still a strong possibility.
Is Lamb coming back? The longer we here nothing does that mean he is leaning toward staying?
Tentative lineup:
- still on Lamb watch
- have Ludtke at center for now but obviously that can change
Hendrickson-Ludtke-Ziemer
Mooney-Clark-Lamb
Townsend-Pahlsson-Kvasnicka?
Falloon-Mittelstadt-Moore
Mittelstadt-Gruba
Thomas-Rombach
Phillips-Whipple
Airey
DiPasquo?
Wiese
Sarsland would really beef up that d core. Interesting he hasn’t even hit the portal yet when it was heavily rumored he would be in with multiple suitors.
Tentative lineup:
- still on Lamb watch
- have Ludtke at center for now but obviously that can change
Hendrickson-Ludtke-Ziemer
Mooney-Clark-Lamb
Townsend-Pahlsson-Kvasnicka?
Falloon-Mittelstadt-Moore
Mittelstadt-Gruba
Thomas-Rombach
Phillips-Whipple
Airey
DiPasquo?
Wiese
Sarsland would really beef up that d core. Interesting he hasn’t even hit the portal yet when it was heavily rumored he would be in with multiple suitors.
Oof. Outside of Lamb and Ludtke, goals may be hard to come by in that lineup. Looking at that, I think they need to find a center badly. Ludtke should slide to wing. My gut tells me Pahlsson is going to come in improved and slide to #2 Center. He's got playmaker in his game and just needs time and confidence having a season under his belt and hopefully avoids early injuries this time. Defense should be stout, and any offensive production feels like it rests with how Gruba transforms by next year. He has the history of being very productive.
Pending other adds from portal, this composition feels like the kind of team that will need to do all the little things very well. PP, PK, faceoffs etc. Almost all the areas we got away with at times this last season because we could score. We could be very hard to play physically, lot of players there that don't mind grinding and monsters on the back end. Perfect world, give me one more center who plays a strong 200-foot game and one scorer we can count on 10+ from so Kvasnicka can wait another year.
Outside of a couple notable exceptions which D men left have really put up huge point numbers(I mean left in the tournament). We need DEFENDERS and a goalie. To me scoring will come. Look at the teams that are succeeding not only in the regular season but through the playoffs. Allowing fewer than 3 goals per game. Run and gun is fun to watch but hard to sustain. Defense wins even ahead of a goalie. SOLID players that play their positions. I am so old school I will bring back a classic. We do not need the absolute best players. We need the RIGHT players. That being said we are long time season ticket holders and love it regardless.
love that bobby is using the portal. gotta adjust to the times
Good early pickups by Bob. Showing he can play the portal game. This goalie seems promising and im sure was in demand. Great junior stat line and when he played at MSU.
Get another center, 1-2 more forwards and a right handed Dman and we are in business
I would expect a full competition in net; no reason to not think Di Pasquo can challenge Airey. Either he steps in and is the man or Airey really improves. Feel pretty good about this situation, even if it unlikely to be one of the nation's elite.
If the two of them can give us a .920 that’d be nice.
I like this pickup
Ok sorry for my lack of recognition of the name but yes! Big get here. Airey for the second straight year will either step up or sit down. He has the tools, just maybe lacks experience? Seems to lack confidence at times. Battle boys! So far so good. Do some damage with the really tough ones left and get us a roster
I would expect a full competition in net; no reason to not think Di Pasquo can challenge Airey. Either he steps in and is the man or Airey really improves. Feel pretty good about this situation, even if it unlikely to be one of the nation's elite.
Umm, in my opinion there won't be a goalie controversy. Airey will be on the bench before long. He had a chance to prove he should start this year and Bob gave him a loooooong leash to show it. I saw zero progression in his game this year, he's just fortunate he has a big frame.
Haven’t really seen Mooney listed as a possible center next year but he’s been playing at least some center this year, centering Berchild and Kvasnicka in their game right now. Don’t know how he’s been doing in face offs this year but do people think he’s just too small to play center in college?
This kid should check the goalie box. Now just need a veteran center and I feel much better about the team.
I would expect a full competition in net; no reason to not think Di Pasquo can challenge Airey. Either he steps in and is the man or Airey really improves. Feel pretty good about this situation, even if it unlikely to be one of the nation's elite.
Umm, in my opinion there won't be a goalie controversy. Airey will be on the bench before long. He had a chance to prove he should start this year and Bob gave him a loooooong leash to show it. I saw zero progression in his game this year, he's just fortunate he has a big frame.
Neither has proven themselves over a full season at the NCAA level. No disagreement with regards to Airey missing his opportunity to take the job and run with it this year. I just imagine the staff still sees him as a viable option if he shows improvement this offseason. I would guess Di Pasquo leads the team in starts, however.
Nice pickup! Looks like Airey will be sitting on the bench. This is a clear upgrade.
He played in the holiday tourney that they won. He beat WMU and was named the tourney MVP. Would think he is ready to start but Bob will probably run both guys early on until someone stands out.
I actually love the idea of an actual HOT competition. I feel (and it is just a feeling) that Airey sort of conceded the net to a more experienced player in Soulier. If he has that little competitive fire then he needs to sit. Or watch Fluery videos. Goalies are supposed to be the best athletes and most mentally tough competitors on the ice. Show THAT. Show some FIRE
Great pickup. The only thing that I'm not a fan of is that they are both juniors. Would rather have them staggered. But, we will cross bridge when it comes.
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
Unless you have a Jacob Fowler type you need two goalies who are capable of being at least 1B's in today's game.
I would expect a full competition in net; no reason to not think Di Pasquo can challenge Airey. Either he steps in and is the man or Airey really improves. Feel pretty good about this situation, even if it unlikely to be one of the nation's elite.
Umm, in my opinion there won't be a goalie controversy. Airey will be on the bench before long. He had a chance to prove he should start this year and Bob gave him a loooooong leash to show it. I saw zero progression in his game this year, he's just fortunate he has a big frame.
Neither has proven themselves over a full season at the NCAA level. No disagreement with regards to Airey missing his opportunity to take the job and run with it this year. I just imagine the staff still sees him as a viable option if he shows improvement this offseason. I would guess Di Pasquo leads the team in starts, however.
Agreed, I could see it playing out similar to this year, but the change will be sooner.
We do have a VERY recent history of goalies being really (really) good from unexpected sources. Close? WHO KNEW? Seriously no one. And Souliere? Excellent. Airey? Overall good! He just looks hesitant. He seems like a guy that needs shots. Has he had that chance and lost? Maybe that needs to change. I hate the goalie bashing. Nothing that happened this year other than maybe one or two games was EITHER of their faults.Those games did not cause the early exit from the NCAA
Great pickup. The only thing that I'm not a fan of is that they are both juniors. Would rather have them staggered. But, we will cross bridge when it comes.
I would envision if one of them takes the reins, the other transfers post season. Neither is going to the nhl so this is fine
We do have a VERY recent history of goalies being really (really) good from unexpected sources. Close? WHO KNEW? Seriously no one. And Souliere? Excellent. Airey? Overall good! He just looks hesitant. He seems like a guy that needs shots. Has he had that chance and lost? Maybe that needs to change. I hate the goalie bashing. Nothing that happened this year other than maybe one or two games was EITHER of their faults.Those games did not cause the early exit from the NCAA
I don't think it's intentional bashing, but call a spade a spade. Anyone who knows what a great goaltender looks like, knows Airey is not near that as of today. I'd love for him to be successful, but having eat, slept, and breathed hockey for the last 25 years it doesn't pass the eye test for me. Close routinely made special saves and at times Souliere did too, until he got the yips from that weird floater against Notre Dame. Then he never looked the same.
Airey could surprise many of us (and I hope he does), but odds are not in his favor.
been watching and playing hockey at least that long. Goalies are weird. And we need them to be. You are not wrong on the eye test. I think the same. I also am willing to speculate if Airey had really been under the gun would he have stepped up. No way to know. Some players knowing they have an alternate in case of emergency don't seem to step up. Does he need that do or die? Maybe we will see. I would hope most players at this level have a higher compete level. Have we let him play, struggle, and then succeed yet? Every player but the goalie gets that. Just trying to be open minded since better goalie minds than mine have been positive on Airey
That’d be my guess as well (new goalie eventually wins the job) but we’ll see.
I’m not ready to give up on Airey just yet but it’s definitely put up or shut up time for 29 next season. You aren’t an underclassman anymore. Results matter.
I think the talk of Airey not being any good is nonsense. Remember the whole season? Kid was pretty solid for most of it.
I think the talk of Airey not being any good is nonsense. Remember the whole season? Kid was pretty solid for most of it.
If last season was the finished product then I’d concede he’s not very good but I’m betting there’s another level or two to reach in his game.
Would you take a goalie that had a .900 save percentage, 2.47 GAA, and went 12-3-2? Because that's exactly what Airey did even though people seem to think he sucked
He did the bare minimum in games where the gophers dominated earlier in the season. His year end save% which was good for 63/87 goalies at .900, which is ok for a backup but nothing special. CHN has his CHIP score (think WAR in baseball but for goalies and it includes shot location data) was 73/87 goalies. I can’t think of any gopher starting goalies in my time watching that he was better than in terms of the eye test. I can think of one really bad backup that I won’t name but that’s about it.
If he’s mainly the backup next season (or plays significantly better of course) then that’s fine. If he plays like this season and there’s a goalie controversy that’s gonna make for a long season.
College goalie stats are a bad way to compare goalies. Some of the conferences are really solid and some suck balls. Airey was fine all year. You want him to be Close or Wilcox but they were well above average, so you pretend an average goalie is actually shit. It's nonsense.