Let the season begin. The Cooley era begins.
Saturday 7pm.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
YES!! Can’t wait to get started! The campaign to go get number six begins now!
Should be a Mariucci massacre. Nightmare on oak st? Anybody??
The wife, our two youngest and myself are going to the Sat. game. My youngest can't wait to see Jackson LaCombe!!!
Keep your stick on the ice...
https://lindenwoodlions.com/sports/mhockey-ncaa/roster
Three Minnesotans on the roster. One Michigan kid that played on the NAHL team in Cloquet. On an ominous note, one player whose name is Conquest.
Woot woot!!
With the season soon to start and season previews out there, this is my take on how the Message Board will fare this year. Not a Gopher preview but a Gopher Message Board preview. Sorry if this is too long for the Lindenwood thread.
Just before puck drop for the first game, everyone is posting of excitement for the new season. Once the puck drops, the first order of business is needed. A scapegoat for the forwards and defense need to be established. This year the forward will clearly be Brodzinski. The defense will be harder given our stellar crew. The message board can do hard things though so someone like Staudacher will be the choice. The first period occurs and Brodzinski only scores two goals in it. This just affirms that he is still just a one trick pony and a slow one at that. Posters lament that he is on the team. Meanwhile, one of the lesser-known freshman will be able to go up and down the ice without falling and someone will post how they really like them.
The season progresses and the Gophers are 3-0. Someone will have the audacity to post that the Gophers look pretty good and ask whether this might be the season they win it all. This poster will be severely chastised as it is too early for such speculation and the Gopher hockey message board is no place for posts with speculation like that about Gopher hockey. Once that is complete, everyone shifts to a new thread where they speculate on who will be quarterbacking the 2026-2027 power play.
Mankato scores in the first period of game four to go up 1-0. The cracks in the armor are now showing. The Gophers need to get older. They can’t beat that style. They need more grit. We have too good of players on the fourth line. Sure, we go on to win 3-1 but concerns are mounting.
Further down the line, Notre Dame scores off of Staudacher’s skate. He should now be benched even though he is a plus ten. Again, we can’t be that style. People start to question team chemistry and leadership even though no one is actually in the locker room to know if there are any such issues. This gains traction despite the sweep of Notre Dame.
Then chaos ensues for the next series. There is a Thursday night game at home versus Penn State. Without the game being Friday at 7pm, a series of posts will occur to see which of the 700 different streaming options will show the game. The only thing known for sure is that someone will post that they really dislike the announcers as it is required to post that any and all announcers are disliked by at least one poster.
Brodzinski now only has fourteen goals in fourteen games but he did not score on a 1 on 5 rush during a line change. People wonder if he should still be on the team. In the same game, Staudacher fails to stop a 6 on 1 break. There are no words.
There is another game where lucky goal occurs and a player on another team makes a good play (gasp) and the Gophers are behind 2-0. Motzko is being questioned. Posters are wondering why they follow Gopher hockey and if the hockey program should even exist. Then the Gophers score the next six and in the space of an hour it will move from how terrible our 14-2-1 team is to how much joy they provide. It will be fun the read the change in tone in just an hour of time. Even though we are number one in the pairwise, it is still way too early to speculate if this a tournament team though.
In the twentieth game, Brodzinski falls behind his goal a game pace. It is established that he should no longer be allowed to even attend the games as fan. People do wonder though if his brother ends up having a child whether in eighteen years and then minimum four years of juniors whether he might be a good player for the Gophers.
The Gophers end up 28-5-1 in the regular season. The five losses are due to poor team chemistry, lack of leadership, not enough grit, not being old enough, coaching, and Brodzinski and Staudacher. Never once is it considered that the other team might have just played a good game against us. Still too early to tell on the Gopher’s NCAA tournament prospects.
Four minutes before the selection show, it is now okay to speculate if we are a tourney team. It is impossible to know how we will do because of the one and done nature of the tournament. Mercyhurst might have a hot goalie in round one for example.
I wish I knew how it ends and if this is the year to end the drought but due to the single elimination tournament, I just don’t know. If not, there is always next year if the Gophers get older, figure out how to beat a trap, get more grit, and develop good leadership and chemistry.
@ddillon22 outstanding. The only thing you forgot is that the Sunday night game against Lindenwood and/or the Thursday night game against Penn State will have relatively poor crowd turnouts and the age old discussion (of which admittedly I am guilty of as well) of attendance woes will be brought back up. No cares about these opponents, tickets are too expensive, it’s too hard to get to the rink, never should have left the WCHA, etc. etc.
Glad we're in the final week of waiting for the season to start. This weekend should definitely be a beat-down, and the following weekend much more of a test, but the team definitely needs to come out and play hard, no matter the opponent.
B1G refs... corrupt, or just incompetent?
Can't wait for Saturday! Go Gophers!!
I personally hate cupcake games, but I understand why coaches schedule them. Just get the sweep and hopefully avoid any injuries. I don't have to explain to the veteran hockey people what happens to your pairwise if you lose one of these games. Should be a fun year and yes I'm planning on the Gophers playing in Tampa in April.
We'll be there on 10/1! It's our day on campus following the Homecoming football game. Go Gophers!
I personally hate cupcake games, but I understand why coaches schedule them. Just get the sweep and hopefully avoid any injuries. I don't have to explain to the veteran hockey people what happens to your pairwise if you lose one of these games. Should be a fun year and yes I'm planning on the Gophers playing in Tampa in April.
Just a quick note on this... Motzko was having trouble getting a game on the books, so this was kind of a late add to the schedule. Sounds like scheduling is starting to get tougher in college hockey. Miami-Ohio Coach Chris Bergeron talked about this a little bit at NCHC Media Day and said coaches are getting more protective of their schedules and he was surprised about how proactive Motzko is about playing North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State and Bemidji State. Bergeron basically said that's not the norm in college hockey.
@iceburg Lavelle (out of Chaska) originally committed to Wisconsin I believe.
That’s right. I thought the name seemed familiar, but I couldn’t put two and two together. Too many facts in my smallish brain.
Just a quick note on this... Motzko was having trouble getting a game on the books, so this was kind of a late add to the schedule. Sounds like scheduling is starting to get tougher in college hockey. Miami-Ohio Coach Chris Bergeron talked about this a little bit at NCHC Media Day and said coaches are getting more protective of their schedules and he was surprised about how proactive Motzko is about playing North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State and Bemidji State. Bergeron basically said that's not the norm in college hockey.
Personally I think the UND series will continue. Both programs want it and the fans love it. The SCSU, UMD and Mn. State will continue as long as the Gophers keep on agreeing to a home and home series. Bemidji might be a little hard for a home and home. Unless the do a Fri/Sun series.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Stay healthy and get the easy sweep!
As weird as it sounds, probably the two most important games of the year. (pairwise implications)
More than our other nonconference matchups? How do you figure?
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As weird as it sounds, probably the two most important games of the year. (pairwise implications)
There is zero chance either game will be in danger.
Question-- Where we park, in lot 37, is also a football tailgate lot. On the U's website, it states that people can tailgate in that lot until 7pm. Is it going to be an issue for us to park in that lot at 6pm, or have most tailgaters gone home by then?
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
This is literally Lindenwood's first two DI games. A good chunk of their roster is from their former club team. If Minnesota doesn't win both games by at least 5 goals this weekend that should be concerning. If the Gophers would lose one of these games it would be of a magnitude about 10x worse than Holy Cross.
I'm not worried at all.
Question-- Where we park, in lot 37, is also a football tailgate lot. On the U's website, it states that people can tailgate in that lot until 7pm. Is it going to be an issue for us to park in that lot at 6pm, or have most tailgaters gone home by then?
There may be a few stragglers left but the vast majority won't be there that late.
Question-- Where we park, in lot 37, is also a football tailgate lot. On the U's website, it states that people can tailgate in that lot until 7pm. Is it going to be an issue for us to park in that lot at 6pm, or have most tailgaters gone home by then?
This might be something to take advantage of - they don’t allow tailgating for hockey - but since there’s a football game that day technically they shouldn’t be able to tell what sport you were there for. Maybe we need to coordinate a little pregame?! ??
More than our other nonconference matchups? How do you figure?
Losses against bad teams hurt your pairwise like crazy. Nodak, St. Cloud, Mankato and ASU will all be good. I’m not worried about us losing at all but the fact remains that these are the two most important games to not screw up.
This is literally Lindenwood's first two DI games. A good chunk of their roster is from their former club team. If Minnesota doesn't win both games by at least 5 goals this weekend that should be concerning. If the Gophers would lose one of these games it would be of a magnitude about 10x worse than Holy Cross.
I'm not worried at all.
Expectations should be that of the ASU Covid year series (10-0, 10-2 for those who don’t remember). More important than putting up double digits, I think the team should focus on putting up two zeros by Lindenwoods name over the weekend.
Question-- Where we park, in lot 37, is also a football tailgate lot. On the U's website, it states that people can tailgate in that lot until 7pm. Is it going to be an issue for us to park in that lot at 6pm, or have most tailgaters gone home by then?
This might be something to take advantage of - they don’t allow tailgating for hockey - but since there’s a football game that day technically they shouldn’t be able to tell what sport you were there for. Maybe we need to coordinate a little pregame?! ??
Ooooo... I like this idea. I'm over in C33, but that isn't that far of a walk, I'd just need to park in the back corner by the crossover between the two.
B1G refs... corrupt, or just incompetent?
More than our other nonconference matchups? How do you figure?
Losses against bad teams hurt your pairwise like crazy. Nodak, St. Cloud, Mankato and ASU will all be good. I’m not worried about us losing at all but the fact remains that these are the two most important games to not screw up.
That's not really true with the current Pairwise setup. Since the last changes to the system, RPI is by far the dominant component, and it only cares what teams you play, and what their overall records and your overall record is. Which of the teams you beat/lose to on your way to whatever final record you end up with doesn't actually enter the calculation.
Losses hurt your Pairwise, regardless of who they're against. The only place that losses against bad opponents really hurts PWR is in the Common Opponent comparison, under the assumption that other teams will beat that bad team. And that could be a minor ding this year with Lindenwood playing: Michigan, Denver, North Dakota and Wisconsin (plus a bunch of teams that don't really matter in a PWR discussion, quite possibly including Wisconsin).
B1G refs... corrupt, or just incompetent?
More than our other nonconference matchups? How do you figure?
Losses against bad teams hurt your pairwise like crazy. Nodak, St. Cloud, Mankato and ASU will all be good. I’m not worried about us losing at all but the fact remains that these are the two most important games to not screw up.
Bad losses are killers, but I don't think Lindenwood should be a big concern. I get worried about experienced Atlantic Hockey or a CCHA teams like Bemidji State that can sufficate the rink with defense and shot blocking.
What does the board want to know going into the season? There is availability today and big podcast on Wednesday coming up.
Just sweep and escape with no injuries. That’s the key this weekend.
Hopefully the Island of Kauai gets Bally Sports Plus.. ?
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GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
Just sweep and escape with no injuries. That’s the key this weekend.
Hopefully the Island of Kauai gets Bally Sports Plus.. ?
Everyone goes to bed by 8 pm and the roosters will drive you nuts. No hockey for you.
What does the board want to know going into the season? There is availability today and big podcast on Wednesday coming up.
How close to the '85 Bears will this Gophers team be?
In all seriousness I'd like to know what they think their biggest focus needs to be the first month of the season. For me questions would be:
1. Line combos
2. Improved PP
3. Team chemistry (if there's even a hint of truth to the rumors from last year)
4. Can one of the best defensive corps in the country in 2022 avoid pitfalls in 2023
5. How good can Closer be and should we expect Bart to get more than just a cup of coffee this year
What is the power play looking like? Specifically in terms of d men. They have like 5 that could be on the PP and that’s not even counting Faber.
Are Cooley and Knies together or separate?
Will Barto get a Lindenwood game?
What does the board want to know going into the season? There is availability today and big podcast on Wednesday coming up.
1. Power Play Combinations
2. Will Closer follow up his great last season?
3. Frozen Four or Bust.
@mikeeruzione11 Isnt it more like national championship or bust now? Since under Motzko, the teams been getting closer and closer.
@mikeeruzione11 Isnt it more like national championship or bust now? Since under Motzko, the teams been getting closer and closer.
Yes. I certainly think that way, probably should have clarified better. I’ll be disappointed with anything other than a national championship. I just have a hard time defining the whole season on a single elimination bracket.
Get TO the title game. In a single elim format, that is my expectations this year.
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 just figured I would add the Portal Poll to this thread for those of you that do not use the Portal.
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Given that the single elim tourney lends itself to random results I’m not gonna base too many of my expectations on it. That said I’d like to see this team obviously get to the tourney and then not look like dogshit in any of the tourney games (mainly the offense drying up completely). The game vs Mankato was such a clunker and the game vs Michigan a few weeks earlier was too. It’d suck to lose a high scoring game too but at least I wouldn’t be bored out of my mind while watching it.
So does the team watch film from their club games last year or do they not even bother lol
Assuming they film club games and have anyone from that roster, maybe? Lol
I would be satisfied with the team getting to the national championship game this season. At that point, it is a 50-50. Even w/o winning the natty, the last two seasons have been very successful. I still remember Wally ending the 100th season with a radio call with him stating the season was a success .
I hope I lose my voice doing the rouser and funnel chant this weekend.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Considering some of the best players in Gopher History, and some of the most talented teams, never won the title I am not going to judge this team on that. Too many fluky things can happen. If the team is one of the best teams the whole year and is a legit contender at the end that is what I care about.
Lines based on what Vegoe saw in practice:
Pitlick-Cooley-Snuggerud
Knies-Huglen-Kurth
Nevers-Nelson-Brodzinski
Strobel-Pinoniemi-Lamb
Koster-Faber
Johnson-Chesley
Mittelstadt/Staudacher-LaCombe
Close
Bartoskziewicz
Wiese
I really like how it looks. Spread the wealth.
Here is the podcast for this week.
https://gopherpucklive.com/gpl-podcast-218-season-premiere/
At the bottom of that page, if you are logged in you can comment.
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Is it possible to get a transcript of the podcast?
Is it possible to get a transcript of the podcast?
I do not currently have a way to do this.
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Get your own board!
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