Canadian players ALWAYS shoot the puck and crash the net. They know all the little tricks that draw penalties (especially with these bad officials). Airey is having a bad game, so I'm guessing Coach Motzko goes back to a rotation.
They didn't show a replay of that Whipple interference, I just went back to get a look at it....
Holy fuck was that a ridiculous call.
Like, this should not be a 1-goal game regardless of the stripes, but Jesus these refs are fucking terrible.
The LIU player ran into Whipple, fell over, and got the call lol
The Gruba call was worse imo, LIU player initiates the contact and looked like a Gopher hockey cheerleader pirouetting.
what I don’t get is why our AD puts up with such consistently atrocious B1G reffing that has cost us untold points and maybe banners. I would think that Mark Coyle or his deputy expressing stern words about weekends like this or refs like Bruggeman would have some sort of effect after so many years
The expected goals last night were Gophers 3.1 to 1.5
Tonight the expected goals were Gophers 2.9 to 1.9
Both games the Gophers 19 skaters clearly out played the Sharks 19 skaters. Last night the goaltending was one sided while tonight the goaltending was a lot more even.
I keep telling myself this is a byproduct of inexperience and things will get better over time (mostly talking about next season). Is this still true in your eyes? I’m interested to see how people view the long term.
Hard to predict the long term but next year you have Kvasnicka and a few others coming in who don't exactly seem like massive game changers ala Rinzel or even Oliver Moore. Meanwhile you lose Lamb and your only capable offensive Dman, seems like a wash at best. I suppose you can hope guys like Clark, Gruba, and Pahlsson improve a lot by season end but I'll believe it when I see it. And I don't want to speculate about what Mooney decides to do after this year but you better hope he sticks around.
The short term situation seems precarious at best and there's not a ton of evidence to think it's going to help what happens in 2-3 years either.
we can’t define high end talent as only being immediate-impact 1st round picks like Rinzel, that’s too restrictive, also teams like Western Michigan do more with less top drafted talent.
I assume western won by developing guys into solid 3rd and 4th year guys. I was just talking about guys who will immediately be above average first line or pairing guys as freshmen and typically that means highly drafted. I can’t think of many exceptions.
Anyhow I’m glad they got the split, they probably deserved better if not for atrocious goaltending on our end vs horseshoe goalie last night.
Stripes seemed like they had a quota to make and they definitely made it. Special teams with this team just isn’t pretty (yes I know the PP looked better) I wonder how much better this team looks with even average special teams.
And goaltending continues to be a roller coaster as well. I just feel like this season will be trying to eke out as many splits as possible. At 5-8-1, not sure where in the schedule they’re supposed to make up the 3 games to get back to .500. This weekend was supposed to be one where you make up games.
Am I happy with the weekend? No. Am I happy with this game specifically? I guess. Still aspects of the Gopher’s game that are concerning and need to be cleaned up but right now I’ll take any win we can get.
There does seem to be a disgustingly large contingent of obviously miserable people that have come out of the woodwork this year that only seem to show up to whine/complain/etc. There are certainly several that have been complaining loudly that are here for both good and bad and that I can at least respect.
Has there been plenty to complain about so far this year? Of course. But, the ones that only complain? The site would be better off without them.
I am in that category. While I am glad they won I know that tonight's play just won't cut it in the B1G. LIU didn't convert on situations that other teams likely will.
I am still behind the Gophers and will be cheering them on all year but my optimism is a bit muted.
Hey I have concerns and don’t like where things are at right now either. LIU is no slouch this year though - they are older and a bunch of hacks that got away with a lot. (I hate blaming the refs but this weekend was ATROCIOUS). We have had a very tough schedule and a young team but kudos to them for responding after last night. We just need to start this trend on the first game of the weekend… I was a little worried and saw glimpses of going into a shell briefly when it got close but they didn’t give up. The score could have been 10-1 if the refs didn’t play for LIU and we didn’t hit so many pipes.
Next weekend won’t be easy but I”m not giving up!
Don’t forget - wear white on Friday and teddy bear toss is Saturday.
Much better game tonight. I liked the adjustments they made on the power play, including moving Mooney to the other side of the play and we actually got a one timer off, on goal with the Lamb goal. I still think we are doing too much figure skating on the power play and some of the power play set up seems to create a lot of that with a lot of play starting with a pass to Mooney, or another forward, deep along the boards at the blue line.
These types of weekends are how mediocre teams play. Good games and horrendous games.
I think Bob and the coaching staff made some needed tactical adjustments with both formation and personnel. They controlled the Sharks power play better and had much crisper power play entry and set up. These are the types of adjustments a good coach like Motzko makes.
I still think this does not change the criticisms made about Motzko about recruiting and some other in game issues.
Also, to remark on Chesley and Kurtz leaving. I think it was time for Chesley to leave. He was a second round draft pick and he has a reasonable future in the NHL. He seems to be playing well in the AHL.
Kurtz, on the other hand, is really a mistake on his part in my opinion. He was a late round draft pick, and some people have mentioned he was "needed as a body", but he is slugging it out in the ECHL, the lower reaches of professional minor league hockey. So far in 11 games he has 2 goals and 2 assists for the Orlando Solar Bears. He is a long way from the NHL and I think he could have improved those chances by returning for a 4th year, playing well, and then becoming a free agent signing with a team that best met his future. A 30 point season and he could have been a 100 career point player. A NIL grant and he probably is making similar money to an ECHL rookie contract. (I live about an hour from Orlando, I might check out a game).
There does seem to be a disgustingly large contingent of obviously miserable people that have come out of the woodwork this year that only seem to show up to whine/complain/etc. There are certainly several that have been complaining loudly that are here for both good and bad and that I can at least respect.
Has there been plenty to complain about so far this year? Of course. But, the ones that only complain? The site would be better off without them.
they always do. There was one jamoke way back when (had an old school goalie mask as his avatar IIRC) that would only come on after a loss and whine about Lucia. Real piece of work.
I was concerned when LIU scored the 2 quick goals near the end of the 2nd. If the period was a few minutes longer, I think they tie it up. Thankfully we got to the intermission and I really liked our response. We did play a tighter defensive style in the 3rd. Still had enough offense to ice the game away.
My one comment on the officiating this weekend is the refs barked back at players a lot. Last night the refs had a few shoulder shrugs directed at players after making a call (the Hendrickson one in the 3rd sticks out to me). Tonight the refs were jaw jacking with players and coaches. One even skated directly toward the LIU bench while pointing and yelling at a coach. Felt like they really wanted to be a part of the show this weekend instead of officiating the games.
I think if we can figure out how to get the guys’ mindsets right (don’t give up when not having a lead), we can do good things. One step at a time. Get everyone healthy, keep learning from mistakes and grow.
Now, somebody said something about margaritas? I just found a great margarita seltzer from Junkyard in my fridge. Don’t ask me about the weekend I obtained it :/
I think if we can figure out how to get the guys’ mindsets right (don’t give up when not having a lead), we can do good things. One step at a time. Get everyone healthy, keep learning from mistakes and grow.
Now, somebody said something about margaritas? I just found a great margarita seltzer from Junkyard in my fridge. Don’t ask me about the weekend I obtained it :/
🍻
LOL picked up a 4 pk of Macho Mangalf from them (haven't tried it yet). The label is Macho Man and Gandolf from whatever Rings/Potter movie franchise. The preceding sentence gives you a reason why I bought it. 😉
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.
Hand up, I was very critical of Bob and the team after last night’s game. So I need to comment on tonight to be fair. The special teams still need a lot of work and there are still times when they can’t get out of their own zone or hold the offensive zone. HOWEVER! Tonight was much better on the power play and good shake up by the coaches. That PP goal by Lamb was an absolute bomb. Better intensity and consistent intensity at that. Less unnecessary over passing and good job on taking the goalies eyes away. Reffing was atrocious and good on the boys to play through that and not get down on themselves when it was 4-3. Looking forward to seeing how the Gophs handle Penn State next weekend. I would honestly be ecstatic with a split.
Unfortunately I missed the game, I brought my kids to the US Bank stadium tonight to watch the Chanhassen football game. Just got done reading everyone’s comments and observations. I am feeling pretty optimistic about the PP getting a pulse tonight and just scoring goals in general. I’m still holding out hope that the team will somehow get things figured out. I think there is enough talent on this team to be a competitive team, they all just need to fully buy in to it. Go Gophs!
Was good to see Clark get a greasy goal as well as the team get out to an early lead. The PP had a good day as well. I watched the game at the gym up until it was 4-1 and then had other engagements so I didn't see the third. Can't really complain about the last 4 games, the one loss was mainly due to terrible goaltending against a goalie who had a great game. Not good opponents by any stretch but you gotta just win the games in front of you.
Next series should be interesting, I'll be going to the Friday game. I imagine the student section will have something in store for McKenna.
Insomnia kicked in so I rewatched the game. A few things I noticed:
- Hendrickson’s goal being overturned was bs. - LIU’s first goal (after the first non-call on Mooney being tripped) went off 20’s skate. - Whipple interference penalty? The LIU dude skated into him and fell down. Damn if he had scored on that breakaway out of the box…didn’t realize he lost the puck just short of the goalie. - The fact that the players pronounce their names on the online roster and they are phonetically spelled on the line sheets and Jim Rich is still saying Lood-Key blows my mind. He was also pronouncing Benoit wrong; (It’s Ben-wah, not ben-oyt) Fun facts - this guy played for Q last year, nodak the year before that and is a wild draft pick. - That interference penalty on Gruba? Another guy who sucks at skating and bounced off our guy and fell down. - If you watch in slo mo, LIU’s second goal is also a deflection off 20’s skate. - Thankfully one thing the zebras got right was our 5th goal; LIU pushed Duris’ leg into the net, not Hendrickson. - Love Mooney and his big personality, giving it to the LIU bench after they were finally called for a penalty after accosting him all night.
Rossini did a nice job on the TV broadcast Was he on the radio last night? Who was on with Wally tonight?
When you look at this line chart, you see the Gophers still have top end D1 talent. The difference from the past 5 years is those teams had several top end NHL level talents to go along with the top end D1 talents. When that’s the case you can play a poor period, maybe even two & still find a way win. When that would happen many would call out “lack of effort” when it really amounted to “lack of execution.” With this team they need to play 3 good periods to win. It was a solid bounce back win last night. In particular the power plan was 🔥 They’ll need to play 3 good periods on Friday & Saturday vs Penn Stare. If they do that they’ll be in good shape. It’s about executing on your game plan and not falling behind early & getting solid goaltending, these kids almost always play hard, but while playing hard you have to execute the plays too!
Always good making the drive across the prairie after a win. Also, great to go to hockey in mid November without jackets.
-- Liked the shuffling of the lines tonight.
-- Too bad there wasn't more of a crowd when Teddy scored. It would have been really loud. Happy for him to get one.
-- The stats sheet showed Luke Mitts had 27+ minutes of ice time last night. I know we had a bunch of PP's, so that inflated it a bit, but Wow. Thomas was second on D with 19+
-- I still don't understand why J Mitts isn't involved in the PK. Especially because it is struggling so much.
-- I wish Gruba would shoot more from the point. He has a rocket.
-- Mooney is so fun to watch when he has the puck.
-- Glad to see Bob not play the big guns in the final 2 minutes in case LIU decided to goon it up. No need to risk stuff happening.
-- The boo birds are creeping in when Bob is announced before the game.
-- Having Jamie doing the PA is a pleasure. He gets it, especially when players score their 1st point/goal.
I actually give a @#$* about the Twins
Looking down from my High Horse
Morality Police
