I’d almost rather have Nevers on that line with Knies and Huglen. Maybe I’m wrong but I feel like his style of play could compliment the other two. The kind of goal he scored yesterday could work with Knies and Huglen. He also has plenty of experience playing with Knies after last year.
Yeah let’s just say they have plenty of options. Kurth could do it, Nevers, Lamb, just someone who at the very least has decent forechecking, net front, and puck retrieval instincts would be an upgrade.
It’s early in the season & Brodzinski is a senior. He has a great shot, a great release and is a decent playmaker. He doesn’t skate very well & never has. But nobody complains when he buries the puck, which he will, he always has. The thing is to gain experience playing the Mankato’s & Whioux…as they will likely cruise threw a Big Ten schedule that appears down from last season. Because the true success for this season will almost exclusively be measured by how the team does in the NCAA tournament, advancing to Tampa, and playing their best hockey in April. And to accomplish this. seniors like Brodzinski & Nelson will need to play an important role.
I don't think Close is "average" at all...
Do you think he is above, or below…..average….???
Above. He isn't great but he is is well above average.
Then again I'm old enough to remember when many of our fans thought Travis Weber was average so...
It’s early in the season & Brodzinski is a senior. He has a great shot, a great release and is a decent playmaker. He doesn’t skate very well & never has. But nobody complains when he buries the puck, which he will, he always has. The thing is to gain experience playing the Mankato’s & Whioux…as they will likely cruise threw a Big Ten schedule that appears down from last season. Because the true success for this season will almost exclusively be measured by how the team does in the NCAA tournament, advancing to Tampa, and playing their best hockey in April. And to accomplish this. seniors like Brodzinski & Nelson will need to play an important role.
I mean he averages like 9 goals a year he isn't exactly setting the back of the net aflame...
@handyman True, but they’ve never used him to his strengths on the power play…if they consistently fed him pucks at the top of the left circle on the PP (the Ovi spot) he’d score 10 power play goals this season alone. Sometimes U need to adjust your system to the players strengths…not force the player to adjust to your system. Cooley & Snuggy have unlimited upside, but they’re freshman & Cooley won’t be around long. Guys like Johnson & LaCombe & Brodzinski & Nelson (along with Faber) need to lead on & off the ice…the young guys simply need to perform. You can play Brodzinski on the 3rd line as long as he’s featured on the power play (his shot). If the coaches haven’t figured this out by now, they never will. It just perplexes me…
Bob said they haven’t had time to practice 5 on 3 pp yet and it showed. Why you wouldn’t set up Snuggerud for a one timer on a 5 on 3 is beyond me.
There’s definitely some chemistry issues that should get better with time, you can tell that they haven’t played with each other much but still look way better than they did in previous years’ struggles against the MN schools.
And #22 has a nice shot but he can use that on the third line or something. I don’t think he should be a mainstay on the bench I just don’t think he’s cut out to play other teams’ top forwards and that becomes all the more obvious against top opponents.
I think Brodz is a bit of a problem for Motzko that maybe he's a little too close to. He should be pushed down the bench, but at this stage of the season the coach is just doing his job by tinkering with the lineup. Snuggerud already is cementing his status as an elite player who can play with anybody. His shot is probably better than Brodzinski's.
Mankato has more experience and is more season-ready than this young team, but it took everything they had to get a win this weekend.
*During* the 5 minute PP yesterday, Frank commented about this. The odds are higher that you won't score on the 5 minute penalty, and much less to get 2 or more. (I couldn't find statistics on it, and he didn't have them) So on average, the penalized team gets a boost that is probably outsized to the actual benefit. I think there is a lot of truth to this.
Bob made it clear that he was looking to the latter part of the season in this series. He left a tired group of freshmen on the ice after an icing to learn how to deal with it. He played all four lines the whole way through to get everyone experience. It seems he wants to throw the freshmen into the fire, even if it leads to some losses (He specifically said this about the Kato series--he is more concerned about how they do in the conference) He seems to want them to learn now so they are playing better later in the season. Not a bad idea.
My thoughts:
After Mankato killed off the 5 min powerplay they became more physical and had more jump. It looked like Hastings and the Mavericks were treating this like a must win game and the Gophers were just rolling their four lines. Justin Close is an average college goalie, but with our Defense we have a decent shot to return to the Frozen Four.
PS: I do hate that OLE goal song Mankato plays ?
the Whioux also play that annoying OLE ?
What makes Close 'average"? He was 11th in the country last year for SV% at .925 and remember most of his games were the latter half the season meaning played in the meat grinder of trying to win the B1G regular season and all of the playoffs.
For comparison the greatest college goalie of all time McKay last year was .931 SV%. In case anyone wants to argue it's all because of the defense in front of them McKay faced 17.7 shots/gm vs. 22.4 for Close.
Before anyone freaks out I'm not saying Close is arguably at the top of the list in college hockey, but good Lord he's above average.
The “D” in front of any goalie can make a big difference in stats.
My thoughts:
After Mankato killed off the 5 min powerplay they became more physical and had more jump. It looked like Hastings and the Mavericks were treating this like a must win game and the Gophers were just rolling their four lines. Justin Close is an average college goalie, but with our Defense we have a decent shot to return to the Frozen Four.
PS: I do hate that OLE goal song Mankato plays ?
the Whioux also play that annoying OLE ?
I don’t get all the hate for the OLE song, seems like misdirected animosity.
It’s early in the season & Brodzinski is a senior. He has a great shot, a great release and is a decent playmaker. He doesn’t skate very well & never has. But nobody complains when he buries the puck, which he will, he always has. The thing is to gain experience playing the Mankato’s & Whioux…as they will likely cruise threw a Big Ten schedule that appears down from last season. Because the true success for this season will almost exclusively be measured by how the team does in the NCAA tournament, advancing to Tampa, and playing their best hockey in April. And to accomplish this. seniors like Brodzinski & Nelson will need to play an important role.
He has 28 goals in 110 games while getting the benefit of playing on top lines and on the powerplay.
Nathan Burke had 16 goals last year alone for context
Right and there’s more to hockey than just having a good shot, especially when you’re generally not creating your own time and space. He’s not particularly good at defense, setting people up, forechecking, making good decisions with the puck (especially yesterday) or even just being strong on it under pressure etc. Even in terms of goal scoring CK posted the numbers above me, it’s not like he’s prolific in that sense by any means.
@chill-kessel Nathan Burke didn’t score 16 goals for the Gophers lol…and Brodzinski has NEVER been positioned in the CORRECT spot (for him) on the power play. tBob rushed him in as a true freshman too. But I guess every Gopher team has a GPL whipping Boy. But when Brodz scores a BIG late season/playoff goal, everyone will be singing his praises & kissing his keister. Book it 
Seth Ambroz scored 40 in his Gopher career but didn't get the same benefits 22 does.
Of his 28 goals, 7 have come against Arizona State, Mercyhurst, Michigan State, and Lindenwood.
My 2 cents on Brodzinski. Obviously tBob is close to his family, but Bryce is one of the few players tBob has benched during games for stupid plays and had demoted him mid game. That is something he never did with last years captain. Should Bryce be moved down in the lineup? Sure, but he still has value and he is now on the #2 PK unit. I hope they can find someone who can play with Knies, and I hope someday something will click with Bryce.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Bob made it clear that he was looking to the latter part of the season in this series. He left a tired group of freshmen on the ice after an icing to learn how to deal with it. He played all four lines the whole way through to get everyone experience. It seems he wants to throw the freshmen into the fire, even if it leads to some losses (He specifically said this about the Kato series--he is more concerned about how they do in the conference) He seems to want them to learn now so they are playing better later in the season. Not a bad idea.
I like it. There will be some growing pains but that will pay dividends later on.
Where on Earth would we be without a UMD fan to tell us we are wrong for not liking the correct players on our favorite team? Thank goodness we don’t have to wonder.
@chill-kessel Nathan Burke didn’t score 16 goals for the Gophers lol…and Brodzinski has NEVER been positioned in the CORRECT spot (for him) on the power play. tBob rushed him in as a true freshman too. But I guess every Gopher team has a GPL whipping Boy. But when Brodz scores a BIG late season/playoff goal, everyone will be singing his praises & kissing his keister. Book it
Doh’kay
Lots of missed holding calls, the purple cows played a clutch and grab whack hockey game. They're a tough team to beat on their home ice, and the Gophers nearly beat them. A sweep would have been nice, but the Gophers will only continue to improve and learn from this game. 
Go Gophers!!!
Did they tinker with the PP as much as they did vs. Lindenwood? I think tBob went with 3 different units in the 2nd game of the 1st weekend. Expect a lot more of that in practice this week and then trying to settle into more concrete units the 2nd week leading up to the UND series.
Can’t say they didn’t have chances last night. Cooley and Knies both being stopped on a breakaway is something you wouldn’t see coming. Strobel had one too.
I’m thinking back to last year’s start. This is a much younger team yet they are playing much better to start the year than last year. Thinking about where guys like Lamb, Kurth and Pinoniemi will be 4 or 5 months from now is exciting.
The reason why we like having recruits from the NTDP isn’t because they get more press, more hype, isn’t because they have flash, it’s because these guys come in having played 20+ games of college hockey already. It’s visibly apparent with Snuggerud, Chesley and Cooley that they needed virtually no time to get up to speed because they already had over half a season under their belt as a 17 year old. That’s absolutely huge when bringing in a big freshman class.
Not to mention guys like Eiserman who are playing up and SCORING against college teams as a 16 year old in his U17 season. Heck, he might have a full 36 game season of college hockey under his belt by the time he reaches campus. That’s insane.
Anyways this probably should’ve been in the recruiting thread but I was just admiring how quick Snuggerud, Chesley, and Cooley have acclimated to the college game. Still some lessons to be learned ahead but they look fantastic.
@chill-kessel Nathan Burke didn’t score 16 goals for the Gophers lol…and Brodzinski has NEVER been positioned in the CORRECT spot (for him) on the power play. tBob rushed him in as a true freshman too. But I guess every Gopher team has a GPL whipping Boy. But when Brodz scores a BIG late season/playoff goal, everyone will be singing his praises & kissing his keister. Book it
I don't think "ya he doesn't produce but that's the coaching staff's fault" is the strong endorsement of the player you seem to think.
Yeah that alone doesn’t really explain much, especially when he’s not really shown an elite one timer that warrants being in that spot.