He couldn't do any worse
As lifeless of a game as I can remember. Problem is my memory goes bad after 6 days because they sure as hell played this bad last Friday against Penn St. A whole lot of nothing from a lot of players. Freshman haven’t developed. Upper class man haven’t been leaders. Looks like a lot of lazy skating with no real purpose.
@upnorthkid I think my sister who knows nothing about hockey, could still get top Minnesota kids to this program. Top facilities, program and treatment….then you have a coach that has a history of player development, yeah I think he can recruit here.
oh i don't disagree with you. it's a blue blood. anyone can recruit here. was more a question of connections, which is different
Hopefully they can get a big upset tomorrow and come away with the split.
Ben Barr’s contract at Maine runs out the same time as Bob’s and is due for an extension any time now.
Have you paid any attention to how badly most of the eastern powers are doing this season? Barr at least has talent on his roster yet he’s done jack squat with it, this year and over the last 5.
its gonna be Raboin, or someone out of left field, but it definitely won’t be Barr and that’s a good thing
Yeah no missed me with this one. Barr completely turned around Maine’s program. He recruited the Union, Providence and UMass national championship teams as an assistant.
Its goes:
1) Ben Barr
2) Grant Potulny
3) Garrett Raboin
In that order. If you wanna switch Potulny and Raboin that’s fine.
I'm still not super sold that firing him is the magic key to success, mainly because of what you're saying above. Would 100000000% be of the mind with the stipulation is we're hiring a GM. Ensures stability of the pipeline for the future and buys me time to take a peek at what Barr does with his first real adversity as a head coach and gives Raboin another year to prove what he's building.
I agree with that I'd rank Barr above Raboin, but I think my money would be on the hire is Raboin because he's going to feel like a safer hire because the attachment to the M compared with Barr and that I have zero confidence that Coyle is plugged into the hockey community and will, at least in part, look to Bob as I would see Bob retiring over being fired if that's the way it goes this offseason (I think his buyout is still pretty good sized for college hockey right now).
Also, please no on Potulny. Some degree of prior success should be required.
To me Potulny checks a lot of boxes. Captained two national championship teams, has coaching experience at the U, head coaching experience in college hockey and now professional. But yes the thing holding his resume back is that he didn’t get Northern into the tournament during his time there.
Although if you look back his teams finished second fiddle to Hastings wagon Maverick teams a lot. So he was right there. Some would say overperformed based on the program he was at.
yeah i get what you're saying. I guess my counter is, if he didn't play here, would you have him on the list at all? That's to me where I want to hire the best coach possible, not the best coach with Minnesota ties possible.
It is not difficult to see why one would want to coach and play here. Personally this is why I think my dream scenario is you hire someone with winning track as a coach who's young and dynamic (Barr does fit this bill) and you find an alum who will come in and be GM to work with them.
There was some weird stuff with the end of Potulny's tenure there and they finished 3rd, 5th, 5th, 4th and 5th his last 5 seasons. Very good his first year and seemed to get worse as they went on. I worry handing him the keys to a luxury car prior to seeing him be able to handle a regular program and land them in the tourney.
That last part is what would worry me too.
Here’s my dream staff for whenever Motzko decides to call her quits:
Ben Barr - Head
Grant Potulny - GM
Ben Gordon - Assistant
Paul Martin - Assistant
my dream staff would aim a hell of a lot higher than that haha
But if you're talking attainable staff, that may be up there in terms of comp with former players, attachment to the U from a coaching continuity, and connection to pro and recruiting beds (Barr will bring the Canadian scene part).
Ok I just looked up both Raboin and Barr’s coaching stats after your last comments about young and dynamic….. If the goal is truly to hire someone who is young, dynamic, and proven in championship environments, then Barr isn’t just a fit, he is the definition of that candidate. Saying otherwise isn’t an opinion, it’s a distortion of his resume. He’s 44, Raboin is 40. That age gap is meaningless. They are the same generation of coach, period. Trying to frame Barr as “not young enough” or “not dynamic enough” is a lazy argument that doesn’t survive even basic scrutiny.
And questioning his winning background is even more absurd. Barr has spent his career inside programs that actually won. National titles. Frozen Fours. Deep tournament runs. High-end NHL development. That is what winning looks like in college hockey. You don’t accidentally end up in those rooms over and over again.
If someone looks at Barr and claims he isn’t young, dynamic, or proven in championship environments, then they either don’t understand his background or are choosing to ignore it. Because by every standard that actually matters, he checks those boxes more clearly than almost anyone you could realistically hire.
All that being said I think Raboin is an amazing coach and just because I think Barr is a better fit, I’m not willing to distort or ignore his recent success at Augustana.
Are we even being serious here? Potulny abandoned his program for the AHL and left NMU in shambles with a totally gutted roster that won like 4 games the year after, in the CCHA, and 0 national tournament bids to his name as a coach.
That ChatGPT comparison of Raboin and Barr is useless fluff that I could’ve given you without even needing the 2 seconds of googling that it condensed for you. Raboin made a brand new program competitive in a mid-tier conference. We all know that, thanks ChatGPT!
Christ, are people allergic to using their own fucking brain now?
Yes, Barr brought Maine back to national (meaning: w/in Hockey East) prominence, but you’re joking or high or both if you think Minnesota fans would be happy with a non-Minnesota guy (idc if he was born here, track record speaks louder and he clearly doesn’t go hunting for Minnesota players) with 0 Frozen Fours, 2 one and dones in NCAAs to his name over 5 years despite earning 1 and 2 seeds in regionals consistently. Zero acknowledgement of the collapse Maine is currently undergoing despite very high preseason expectations and roster talent.
Ben Barr’s contract at Maine runs out the same time as Bob’s and is due for an extension any time now.
Have you paid any attention to how badly most of the eastern powers are doing this season? Barr at least has talent on his roster yet he’s done jack squat with it, this year and over the last 5.
its gonna be Raboin, or someone out of left field, but it definitely won’t be Barr and that’s a good thing
Yeah no missed me with this one. Barr completely turned around Maine’s program. He recruited the Union, Providence and UMass national championship teams as an assistant.
Its goes:
1) Ben Barr
2) Grant Potulny
3) Garrett Raboin
In that order. If you wanna switch Potulny and Raboin that’s fine.
I'm still not super sold that firing him is the magic key to success, mainly because of what you're saying above. Would 100000000% be of the mind with the stipulation is we're hiring a GM. Ensures stability of the pipeline for the future and buys me time to take a peek at what Barr does with his first real adversity as a head coach and gives Raboin another year to prove what he's building.
I agree with that I'd rank Barr above Raboin, but I think my money would be on the hire is Raboin because he's going to feel like a safer hire because the attachment to the M compared with Barr and that I have zero confidence that Coyle is plugged into the hockey community and will, at least in part, look to Bob as I would see Bob retiring over being fired if that's the way it goes this offseason (I think his buyout is still pretty good sized for college hockey right now).
Also, please no on Potulny. Some degree of prior success should be required.
To me Potulny checks a lot of boxes. Captained two national championship teams, has coaching experience at the U, head coaching experience in college hockey and now professional. But yes the thing holding his resume back is that he didn’t get Northern into the tournament during his time there.
Although if you look back his teams finished second fiddle to Hastings wagon Maverick teams a lot. So he was right there. Some would say overperformed based on the program he was at.
yeah i get what you're saying. I guess my counter is, if he didn't play here, would you have him on the list at all? That's to me where I want to hire the best coach possible, not the best coach with Minnesota ties possible.
It is not difficult to see why one would want to coach and play here. Personally this is why I think my dream scenario is you hire someone with winning track as a coach who's young and dynamic (Barr does fit this bill) and you find an alum who will come in and be GM to work with them.
There was some weird stuff with the end of Potulny's tenure there and they finished 3rd, 5th, 5th, 4th and 5th his last 5 seasons. Very good his first year and seemed to get worse as they went on. I worry handing him the keys to a luxury car prior to seeing him be able to handle a regular program and land them in the tourney.
That last part is what would worry me too.
Here’s my dream staff for whenever Motzko decides to call her quits:
Ben Barr - Head
Grant Potulny - GM
Ben Gordon - Assistant
Paul Martin - Assistant
And questioning his winning background is even more absurd. Barr has spent his career inside programs that actually won. National titles. Frozen Fours. Deep tournament runs. High-end NHL development. That is what winning looks like in college hockey. You don’t accidentally end up in those rooms over and over again.
That’s not what winning at Minnesota looks like. We have a very particular tradition and brand and identity that works, it’s the blueprint that underpins what hockey success in the U.S. as a whole looks like, and to try and plug and play some rootless eastern cosmopolitan (that’s what his entire adult life has been) into that is gonna take a lot longer than one or two or five down years to fall into place
Not sure why he was never even on the radar.
Because coaching Minnesota high school hockey is a completely different job than coaching an NCAA blue blood.
guys are we even being serious here? Potulny abandoned his program for the AHL and left NMU in shambles with a totally gutted roster that won like 4 games the year after, in the CCHA, and 0 national tournament bids to his name as a coach.
That ChatGPT comparison of Raboin and Barr is useless fluff that I could’ve given you without even needing the 2 seconds of googling that it condensed for you. Raboin made a brand new program competitive in a mid-tier conference. We all know that, thanks ChatGPT! Christ, are you people allergic to using their own fucking brain now?
Yes, Barr brought Maine back to national (meaning: w/in Hockey East) prominence, but you’re joking or high or both if you think Minnesota fans would be happy with a non-Minnesota guy (idc if he was born here, track record speaks louder and he clearly doesn’t go hunting for Minnesota players) with 0 Frozen Fours, 2 one and dones in NCAAs to his name over 5 years despite earning 1 and 2 seeds in regionals consistently. Zero acknowledgement of the collapse Maine is currently undergoing despite very high preseason expectations and roster talent.
The Giles stuff is lol.
I agree with your points on Barr and is in part why I'm more skeptical on cutting bait on Bob (coupled with, to be honest, there is no one that's a blue blood/high resource program who's firing their coach this year or next unless Pandolfo gets fired at BU next year if they miss this year and next year somehow).
That said, the former gopher coaching pipeline is ass, which is honestly really surprising with all the high tier players we've had, but that's how it goes sometimes. The guys mentioned are ones that would be in play, but if you're the AD you're behind closed doors needing to make a lot of other calls before we settle on ending up there as I agree with you, the casual fanbase is 0% going to be excited by Barr
I agree with your points on Barr and is in part why I'm more skeptical on cutting bait on Bob (coupled with, to be honest, there is no one that's a blue blood/high resource program who's firing their coach this year or next unless Pandolfo gets fired at BU next year if they miss this year and next year somehow).
Does Gabinet at Omaha have Minnesota ties? Omaha seems to regularly overperform with less than many of their NCHC peers, but he doesn’t even have the regular season resume Bob had at SCSU
So will Bob give Airey and Max Rud some ice tomorrow?
I agree with your points on Barr and is in part why I'm more skeptical on cutting bait on Bob (coupled with, to be honest, there is no one that's a blue blood/high resource program who's firing their coach this year or next unless Pandolfo gets fired at BU next year if they miss this year and next year somehow).
Does Gabinet at Omaha have Minnesota ties? Omaha seems to regularly overperform with less than many of their NCHC peers, but he doesn’t even have the regular season resume Bob had at SCSU
none that I am aware of. If you’re going to route of mn ties, it’s going to skewer the list quite a bit though
I truly don’t know what to even say anymore. I was going to say it’s unacceptable but I’ve already said that like three times this season. I had hoped that they could come into the second half, be tough to play against, and steal some wins but they look worse than they did before the break. Everything about this team is bad right now. This isn’t even a late Lucia era team that’s ranked #19 or whatever and will have to run the table to get into the tournament but at least there’s hope. This is just bad. I’ve been definitely more on the “Motzko should get to run out his contract” side of things but even I’m starting to waiver at this point. It’s the poor results, the seemingly getting little to nothing from his team, mentioning multiple times that he thought he’d have all of those players back this year and then doing very little about it in the offseason. It’s all of it. If the development was there and the team was getting splits and at least playing good structured hockey that was tough to beat then fine but they’re not. Michigan just had their way with this team on home ice and there wasn’t a damn thing that the Gophers could do about it. If Bob was 45, or even 50, and was actually getting something from these players on a consistent basis then I’d feel better about it but he’s past 60, has mentioned that this is last stop and wants to retire soon, and has two years left on his contract. So honestly, I’m torn. Because on one hand I think, why wait and potentially waste another season or two? Just rip the bandaid off now and move on. On the other hand, he’s shown he can still recruit and would we lose any of those recruits if the Gophers and Motzko parted ways. I don’t know the answer but whatever we’ve been subjected to watch for seven of the past nine periods and much of the first half of the season is embarrassing and, I’ll say it but unfortunately probably not the last time this year, unacceptable. But talking to a friend who’s a big Penn State football fan this feels a lot like how he felt about James Franklin this year. Thank you for righting the ship, that can’t be overemphasized enough. Thank you for the memories with fun teams and plenty of regular season success. But very rarely could you win the big games when they mattered most and you’ve taken this program as far as you can and it’s time to part ways. That’s how this feels right now, albeit I’m still reacting with some emotion. Finally, I hope Motzko proves me wrong, I really do. I’d love to see him get these guys playing better, next year is solid and a return to the tournament, and then finally he wins the natty with the Cullen brothers, Conboy up front, Rombach patrolling the blue line, and Ziemer raising the trophy in front of thousands of cheering Gopher fans. Then Motzko can just ride off into the sunset. I genuinely hope that’s what happens. But it’s tough to realistically see that happening from where we’re at now. Apologies for the lengthy rant. Now I’m going to bed.
So will Bob give Airey and Max Rud some ice tomorrow?
oh you know it. If we’re really lucky maybe we see Rud out there on a 5v3 late, while only down 2 goals
I agree with your points on Barr and is in part why I'm more skeptical on cutting bait on Bob (coupled with, to be honest, there is no one that's a blue blood/high resource program who's firing their coach this year or next unless Pandolfo gets fired at BU next year if they miss this year and next year somehow).
Does Gabinet at Omaha have Minnesota ties? Omaha seems to regularly overperform with less than many of their NCHC peers, but he doesn’t even have the regular season resume Bob had at SCSU
Lol you’re joking right
Are we even being serious here? Potulny abandoned his program for the AHL and left NMU in shambles with a totally gutted roster that won like 4 games the year after, in the CCHA, and 0 national tournament bids to his name as a coach.
That ChatGPT comparison of Raboin and Barr is useless fluff that I could’ve given you without even needing the 2 seconds of googling that it condensed for you. Raboin made a brand new program competitive in a mid-tier conference. We all know that, thanks ChatGPT!
Christ, are people allergic to using their own fucking brain now?
Yes, Barr brought Maine back to national (meaning: w/in Hockey East) prominence, but you’re joking or high or both if you think Minnesota fans would be happy with a non-Minnesota guy (idc if he was born here, track record speaks louder and he clearly doesn’t go hunting for Minnesota players) with 0 Frozen Fours, 2 one and dones in NCAAs to his name over 5 years despite earning 1 and 2 seeds in regionals consistently. Zero acknowledgement of the collapse Maine is currently undergoing despite very high preseason expectations and roster talent.
Ben Barr’s contract at Maine runs out the same time as Bob’s and is due for an extension any time now.
Have you paid any attention to how badly most of the eastern powers are doing this season? Barr at least has talent on his roster yet he’s done jack squat with it, this year and over the last 5.
its gonna be Raboin, or someone out of left field, but it definitely won’t be Barr and that’s a good thing
Yeah no missed me with this one. Barr completely turned around Maine’s program. He recruited the Union, Providence and UMass national championship teams as an assistant.
Its goes:
1) Ben Barr
2) Grant Potulny
3) Garrett Raboin
In that order. If you wanna switch Potulny and Raboin that’s fine.
I'm still not super sold that firing him is the magic key to success, mainly because of what you're saying above. Would 100000000% be of the mind with the stipulation is we're hiring a GM. Ensures stability of the pipeline for the future and buys me time to take a peek at what Barr does with his first real adversity as a head coach and gives Raboin another year to prove what he's building.
I agree with that I'd rank Barr above Raboin, but I think my money would be on the hire is Raboin because he's going to feel like a safer hire because the attachment to the M compared with Barr and that I have zero confidence that Coyle is plugged into the hockey community and will, at least in part, look to Bob as I would see Bob retiring over being fired if that's the way it goes this offseason (I think his buyout is still pretty good sized for college hockey right now).
Also, please no on Potulny. Some degree of prior success should be required.
To me Potulny checks a lot of boxes. Captained two national championship teams, has coaching experience at the U, head coaching experience in college hockey and now professional. But yes the thing holding his resume back is that he didn’t get Northern into the tournament during his time there.
Although if you look back his teams finished second fiddle to Hastings wagon Maverick teams a lot. So he was right there. Some would say overperformed based on the program he was at.
yeah i get what you're saying. I guess my counter is, if he didn't play here, would you have him on the list at all? That's to me where I want to hire the best coach possible, not the best coach with Minnesota ties possible.
It is not difficult to see why one would want to coach and play here. Personally this is why I think my dream scenario is you hire someone with winning track as a coach who's young and dynamic (Barr does fit this bill) and you find an alum who will come in and be GM to work with them.
There was some weird stuff with the end of Potulny's tenure there and they finished 3rd, 5th, 5th, 4th and 5th his last 5 seasons. Very good his first year and seemed to get worse as they went on. I worry handing him the keys to a luxury car prior to seeing him be able to handle a regular program and land them in the tourney.
That last part is what would worry me too.
Here’s my dream staff for whenever Motzko decides to call her quits:
Ben Barr - Head
Grant Potulny - GM
Ben Gordon - Assistant
Paul Martin - Assistant
What is this post haha
1) NMU is in shambles BECAUSE Potulny left and everyone jumped ship
2) Barr is a Minnesota guy born and raised
3) Barr has won everywhere he’s gone. NCAA titles at Union, Providence and UMass as an assistant. Goes to Maine as his first head coaching gig and instantly turns them around. He’s a Minnesota guy widely seen as the cream of the crop in college hockey coaching.
Ben Barr’s contract at Maine runs out the same time as Bob’s and is due for an extension any time now.
Have you paid any attention to how badly most of the eastern powers are doing this season? Barr at least has talent on his roster yet he’s done jack squat with it, this year and over the last 5.
its gonna be Raboin, or someone out of left field, but it definitely won’t be Barr and that’s a good thing
Yeah no missed me with this one. Barr completely turned around Maine’s program. He recruited the Union, Providence and UMass national championship teams as an assistant.
Its goes:
1) Ben Barr
2) Grant Potulny
3) Garrett Raboin
In that order. If you wanna switch Potulny and Raboin that’s fine.
I'm still not super sold that firing him is the magic key to success, mainly because of what you're saying above. Would 100000000% be of the mind with the stipulation is we're hiring a GM. Ensures stability of the pipeline for the future and buys me time to take a peek at what Barr does with his first real adversity as a head coach and gives Raboin another year to prove what he's building.
I agree with that I'd rank Barr above Raboin, but I think my money would be on the hire is Raboin because he's going to feel like a safer hire because the attachment to the M compared with Barr and that I have zero confidence that Coyle is plugged into the hockey community and will, at least in part, look to Bob as I would see Bob retiring over being fired if that's the way it goes this offseason (I think his buyout is still pretty good sized for college hockey right now).
Also, please no on Potulny. Some degree of prior success should be required.
To me Potulny checks a lot of boxes. Captained two national championship teams, has coaching experience at the U, head coaching experience in college hockey and now professional. But yes the thing holding his resume back is that he didn’t get Northern into the tournament during his time there.
Although if you look back his teams finished second fiddle to Hastings wagon Maverick teams a lot. So he was right there. Some would say overperformed based on the program he was at.
yeah i get what you're saying. I guess my counter is, if he didn't play here, would you have him on the list at all? That's to me where I want to hire the best coach possible, not the best coach with Minnesota ties possible.
It is not difficult to see why one would want to coach and play here. Personally this is why I think my dream scenario is you hire someone with winning track as a coach who's young and dynamic (Barr does fit this bill) and you find an alum who will come in and be GM to work with them.
There was some weird stuff with the end of Potulny's tenure there and they finished 3rd, 5th, 5th, 4th and 5th his last 5 seasons. Very good his first year and seemed to get worse as they went on. I worry handing him the keys to a luxury car prior to seeing him be able to handle a regular program and land them in the tourney.
That last part is what would worry me too.
Here’s my dream staff for whenever Motzko decides to call her quits:
Ben Barr - Head
Grant Potulny - GM
Ben Gordon - Assistant
Paul Martin - Assistant
my dream staff would aim a hell of a lot higher than that haha
But if you're talking attainable staff, that may be up there in terms of comp with former players, attachment to the U from a coaching continuity, and connection to pro and recruiting beds (Barr will bring the Canadian scene part).
Yes this is a dream staff that is actually realistically attainable. If we’re talking imagination-land it would be Carle with Ferschweiler and Nightangale as assistants lmao
He’s a Minnesota guy widely seen as the cream of the crop in college hockey coaching.
Two Minnesotans on his rosters ever in a lengthy coaching career. Clearly he doesn’t believe in the Minnesota model.
are you Barr’s wife or something? Maine is like 21st in the NPI right now. I don’t really see a huge difference in 21st with some talent vs. 30-something in NPI with less talent and expectations. Bob has previously at least turned around an underperforming preseason hype team into a Frozen Four berth, I doubt Barr will seeing as his good Maine teams didn’t even make an FF. Second, the departures started before Potulny left for Hartford, look at the timeline of the news articles. Still zero tourney bids btw.
i don’t really care to keep arguing rationally with someone who didn’t reason themselves into this nonsense anyways. Your basic factual premises are all wrong and you refuse to accept any well documented info to the contrary. You can fuck off and go ask ChatGPT to summarize what I said if you really want
This team is embarrassing. I've been a Bob defender, he's been good for the program, but it's over.
The replacement discussion is odd here, I think Barr would be a great hire and Raboin would be a solid backup option. If you listen to the national conversation, other than Carle, Nightingale and Barr are the guys most people have next in the US coaching pecking order and expect to get the next WJC team. Potulny should not even be in the conversation.
The Potulny talk is absurd
This team is embarrassing. I've been a Bob defender, he's been good for the program, but it's over.
The replacement discussion is odd here, I think Barr would be a great hire and Raboin would be a solid backup option. If you listen to the national conversation, other than Carle, Nightingale and Barr are the guys most people have next in the US coaching pecking order and expect to get the next WJC team. Potulny should not even be in the conversation.
I think it’s more likely to be Raboin because as someone else mentioned, Coyle is not really a hockey community insider, so Bob would have some input on his successor; greater degree of continuity in systems and relationships; geographic proximity helps too. Lastly, there’s no indication that either Barr or Maine is unhappy with their current state of affairs, and Maine vs. Minnesota is a much smaller gap in quality, resources, prestige than Augustana vs. Minnesota.
He’s a Minnesota guy widely seen as the cream of the crop in college hockey coaching.
Two Minnesotans on his rosters ever in a lengthy coaching career. Clearly he doesn’t believe in the Minnesota model.
are you Barr’s wife or something? Maine is like 21st in the NPI right now. I don’t really see a huge difference in 21st with some talent vs. 30-something in NPI with less talent and expectations. Bob has previously at least turned around an underperforming preseason hype team into a Frozen Four berth, I doubt Barr will seeing as his good Maine teams didn’t even make an FF. Second, the departures started before Potulny left for Hartford, look at the timeline of the news articles. Still zero tourney bids btw.
i don’t really care to keep arguing rationally with someone who didn’t reason themselves into this nonsense anyways. Your basic factual premises are all wrong and you refuse to accept any well documented info to the contrary. You can fuck off and go ask ChatGPT to summarize what I said if you really want
Not sure what reality you’re living in where Barr isn’t at worst a top 2 option for the job. Raboin would be a great hire as well. Only reason I brought up Potulny is because he’s the best alumni option and that could matter in the world of NIL, money raising, etc. but I concede he wouldn’t be my first call.
He’s a Minnesota guy widely seen as the cream of the crop in college hockey coaching.
Two Minnesotans on his rosters ever in a lengthy coaching career. Clearly he doesn’t believe in the Minnesota model.
are you Barr’s wife or something? Maine is like 21st in the NPI right now. I don’t really see a huge difference in 21st with some talent vs. 30-something in NPI with less talent and expectations. Bob has previously at least turned around an underperforming preseason hype team into a Frozen Four berth, I doubt Barr will seeing as his good Maine teams didn’t even make an FF. Second, the departures started before Potulny left for Hartford, look at the timeline of the news articles. Still zero tourney bids btw.
i don’t really care to keep arguing rationally with someone who didn’t reason themselves into this nonsense anyways. Your basic factual premises are all wrong and you refuse to accept any well documented info to the contrary. You can fuck off and go ask ChatGPT to summarize what I said if you really want
What exactly are the facts I’m missing here. Ben Barr has won everywhere he’s gone. Success seems to follow him around. As for him “not believing in the Minnesota model” despite Maine going after MN hard the last couple years, look at the schools he was at! Union, Providence, UMass. No $h!t he didn’t recruit Minnesota heavily, no top MN kids are EVER looking there.
And siting the current NPI ranking as a “gotcha” is just silly too. I suppose Pandolfo has lost his touch at BU too?
Raboin is a great coach and I’d be thrilled to have him take the reins when Bob walks away but your weird little obsession over hating on Barr is so odd. Did he bully you in high school or something?
He’s a Minnesota guy widely seen as the cream of the crop in college hockey coaching.
Two Minnesotans on his rosters ever in a lengthy coaching career. Clearly he doesn’t believe in the Minnesota model.
are you Barr’s wife or something? Maine is like 21st in the NPI right now. I don’t really see a huge difference in 21st with some talent vs. 30-something in NPI with less talent and expectations. Bob has previously at least turned around an underperforming preseason hype team into a Frozen Four berth, I doubt Barr will seeing as his good Maine teams didn’t even make an FF. Second, the departures started before Potulny left for Hartford, look at the timeline of the news articles. Still zero tourney bids btw.
i don’t really care to keep arguing rationally with someone who didn’t reason themselves into this nonsense anyways. Your basic factual premises are all wrong and you refuse to accept any well documented info to the contrary. You can fuck off and go ask ChatGPT to summarize what I said if you really want
Not sure what reality you’re living in where Barr isn’t at worst a top 2 option for the job. Raboin would be a great hire as well. Only reason I brought up Potulny is because he’s the best alumni option and that could matter in the world of NIL, money raising, etc. but I concede he wouldn’t be my first call.
Hey man, calm down…Anybody with half a hockey brain can see this isn’t a zero sum game where one guy is brilliant and the other is a fraud. Raboin is a great option. Barr is also a great option. The only people struggling with that concept are the ones who’ve already decided their favorite and stopped thinking critically.
It’s obvious you like Raboin, and that’s totally fine and he is a great option… But blind loyalty isn’t the same thing as a strong argument. When you can’t even acknowledge the career path, growth, and success Barr has built, it doesn’t make you sound informed. It makes you sound emotional and locked into a narrative you refuse to analyze.
Barr has done an incredible job in his coaching careering, and you dismissing that because it doesn’t fit your preferred storyline doesn’t make it disappear.
Right now it’s pretty clear this fanbase is splitting into Team Raboin, or Team Barr and judging by this forum, Barr is starting to pull in front.. Most rational people can admit both have legitimate resumes and both would be strong hires. The bitterness you’re bringing to it feels more jaded than analytical. It’s not passion for Raboin that weakens your post, it’s the inability to respect Barr that does. This isn’t analysis. It’s bias dressed up as confidence.
Your post reads like someone who can only process one idea at a time and gets angry when the world doesn’t agree. That’s not hockey IQ or viewing something objectively. Thats just tunnel vision with a keyboard.
Also when you tell a fellow Gopher fan on here to “fuck off” because they don’t follow your narrative, you don’t sound tough, passionate or intelligent. You sound unhinged. That’s the language of someone who ran out of logic and replaced it with emotion. It’s not confidence. It’s a meltdown.
Friendly ask - can we start a new thread about “The future of Gopher Hockey”? Or something like that where we can discuss all things moving forward? A lot of TLDR going on right now irrelevant to this weekend’s series.
I know this will be a big discussion moving forward which is fair and warranted, but it’s overwhelming to keep up as threads start devolving. 😁
^^^ I came on this morning to see what folks are saying about MN vs MI. All I see is two pages of Barr vs Raboin.Friendly ask - can we start a new thread about “The future of Gopher Hockey”? Or something like that where we can discuss all things moving forward? A lot of TLDR going on right now irrelevant to this weekend’s series.
I know this will be a big discussion moving forward which is fair and warranted, but it’s overwhelming to keep up as threads start devolving. 😁
Just put it in a thread entirely separate from the weekly threads and the regular season thread. Makes self-filtering easy (I'm sure it will rapidly turn into a little segment of siouxsports/gopherhole being transported into GPL, and I'd really prefer not to have to scroll past all that garbage again and again and again)
I just went ahead and made a thread. Mods - delete, rename, what have you if it was inappropriate to do so. 😬
don't really know what Bob does to try spark this team back up, but I feel like some of the roster has had that frustration/dread feeling sinking in and has disengaged. this thing could get really ugly and spiral tonight. baby steps tonight and hopefully a team that comes out angry. I expect the fans are going to not be real kind to bob tonight if this team wobbles at all
^^^ I came on this morning to see what folks are saying about MN vs MI. All I see is two pages of Barr vs Raboin.Friendly ask - can we start a new thread about “The future of Gopher Hockey”? Or something like that where we can discuss all things moving forward? A lot of TLDR going on right now irrelevant to this weekend’s series.
I know this will be a big discussion moving forward which is fair and warranted, but it’s overwhelming to keep up as threads start devolving. 😁
In a nutshell, the team sucks but we already know that. Lamb was one of the worst players on the ice last night, and Thomas just flat out got beat to the puck on the 3rd goal. Those are the captains.
Ludke looks like he’s on a holiday unless it’s a PP opportunity, and Mooney and Ziemer are trying really hard out there but are handicapped by poor teammates. Passes were hard, offensive zone time was rare, and the defense is awful. Like, really bad. Luca made the score line less embarrassing though.
I’d compare the game to a Varsity vs JV but that would be disrespectful to the JV team. Michigan probably has harder practices than the game they played in last night.
If we did talk about the game we would probably be told by some on here that we are too negative. So what’s there really to talk about? Barr and Raboin are now a trigger!
My hope for the team’s mentality for tonight is “why tf not?” What do I mean by that you ask? Well, thank you for asking, I’ll elaborate. Why tf not staple that wolverine player to the end boards? Why tf not shoot the puck on net and see what happens? Why tf not just go out and play some hockey. It really can’t get a whole lot worse. Just go out and be hockey players. Just go out there and beat Michigan. Just do it. Why tf not? Hit everything that moves, shoot and pass with a purpose, and go put in a little effort like playing with the M on your chest actually means something to you. Because if we’re not going to do that then screw it, let’s just tell Michigan that they can have this one and we’ll head to Sally’s early. Might as well, right? You know what? I’ll even buy the first round. Why tf not?
It takes minimal talent to win a football race or a board battle. Getting outworked in every facet of the game when you already have a talent deficit is just mind numbing hockey to watch.
My hope for the team’s mentality for tonight is “why tf not?” What do I mean by that you ask? Well, thank you for asking, I’ll elaborate. Why tf not staple that wolverine player to the end boards? Why tf not shoot the puck on net and see what happens? Why tf not just go out and play some hockey. It really can’t get a whole lot worse. Just go out and be hockey players. Just go out there and beat Michigan. Just do it. Why tf not? Hit everything that moves, shoot and pass with a purpose, and go put in a little effort like playing with the M on your chest actually means something to you. Because if we’re not going to do that then screw it, let’s just tell Michigan that they can have this one and we’ll head to Sally’s early. Might as well, right? You know what? I’ll even buy the first round. Why tf not?
Can we call up Mace'o for the night lol
I am expecting Michigan to smell blood for tonight’s game. They want to push offense, and now they know what going against Gruba, Begley, McLaughlin, Whipple, and Rombach presents. Look at the defensive unit… how did Bob think this roster could compete?
This team is embarrassing. I've been a Bob defender, he's been good for the program, but it's over.
The replacement discussion is odd here, I think Barr would be a great hire and Raboin would be a solid backup option. If you listen to the national conversation, other than Carle, Nightingale and Barr are the guys most people have next in the US coaching pecking order and expect to get the next WJC team. Potulny should not even be in the conversation.
I don’t know much about any of these candidates, but my evaluation would focus heavily on their ability to raise NIL funds, recruit/ buy top talent globally rather than being limited to Minnesota, and aggressively work both the transfer portal and the CHL.
Coaches who win championships going forward will excel in those areas. Those who don’t will fall behind, regardless of past success.
Feed off the crowd but do something to give fans a reason to get into it like support the puck when your teammate has it and show some effort and love for the game. At this point I think the fans will applaud an effort that looks like something they’ve seen not all that long ago. It’s been one gopher with the puck for 3 seconds and nowhere to go with it with 3 guys in blue on top of him skating a lot faster forcing an easy turnover. Play as a team.
“Good pace, a lot of north and south, or it could be east and west, I’m not sure but either way…” Wooger
There are 220 drafted players in college hockey an average of less than 4 players per team. The Gophers have 13 drafted players the team isn't a bunch of beer league players.
The Gophers are struggling this season because their top players/upper classmen have had down seasons.
The Gophers have four + players.
Hendrickson +10, Rombach +5, Moe +4, Whipple +3. Two freshmen and two sophomores.
The top line Mooney -7, Ludtke -6, Ziemer -6
Top defensemen Luke Mitts -4, Cal Thomas -3
Johnny Mitts -5, Lamb -1, and Clark even
The upper classmen have under achieved this season. There is 13 games left before the conference playoffs begin. Hopefully the upper classmen start playing to their full potential and help make the playoffs interesting.
There are 220 drafted players in college hockey an average of less than 4 players per team. The Gophers have 13 drafted players the team isn't a bunch of beer league players.
The Gophers are struggling this season because their top players/upper classmen have had down seasons.
The Gophers have four + players.
Hendrickson +10, Rombach +5, Moe +4, Whipple +3. Two freshmen and two sophomores.
The top line Mooney -7, Ludtke -6, Ziemer -6
Top defensemen Luke Mitts -4, Cal Thomas -3
Johnny Mitts -5, Lamb -1, and Clark even
The upper classmen have under achieved this season. There is 13 games left before the conference playoffs begin. Hopefully the upper-class men start playing to their potential and help make the playoffs interesting.
with all the players we lost to graduation, going pro or transferring I think we have to accept how this season will end up.
Aloha!
I am expecting Michigan to smell blood for tonight’s game. They want to push offense, and now they know what going against Gruba, Begley, McLaughlin, Whipple, and Rombach presents. Look at the defensive unit… how did Bob think this roster could compete?
Because he was totally blindsided by Rinzel and Chesley’s departures even though any armchair coach could have seen it coming.
I am expecting Michigan to smell blood for tonight’s game. They want to push offense, and now they know what going against Gruba, Begley, McLaughlin, Whipple, and Rombach presents. Look at the defensive unit… how did Bob think this roster could compete?
Because he was totally blindsided by Rinzel and Chesley’s departures even though any armchair coach could have seen it coming.
i mean i agree from the outside looking in, but that's because we see nothing of the locker room or the conversations. Chesley had no real business leaving. Rinzel we all though was gone, but who knows what he, Bob and Rinzel's team are saying in private. Think thats the kicker of all of this as its pretty easy to be blindsided if people tell you one thing then do the other.
that said, how you choose to react to it is all that matters. it's not like they both waited and left on the eve of the season kicking off. them leaving is no excuse for what is out there on the ice right now as you certainly could've stop gapped the defensive group in the portal
Michigan has 4 draft defensemen (a 3rd rounder, a 4th rounder, and two 5th rounders)
The Gophers have 4 drafted defensemen (a 2nd rounder - 3 picks from 1st rounder, a 5th rounder, a 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder)
Michigan has 4 draft defensemen (a 3rd rounder, a 4th rounder, and two 5th rounders)
The Gophers have 4 drafted defensemen (a 2nd rounder - 3 picks from 1st rounder, a 5th rounder, a 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder)
the defense heads up is not the difference. One set is under massively more aggressive forecheck than the other.
Michigans group would struggle to break out if you flipped teams otherwise
That said, their defensive group has much more speed than ours which certainly helps
Chesley had no real business leaving.
For whatever reasons NHL-focused observers/commentators have always been far more bullish than us on Chesley at every stage of his collegiate career and it’s baffled me
Michigan has 4 draft defensemen (a 3rd rounder, a 4th rounder, and two 5th rounders)
The Gophers have 4 drafted defensemen (a 2nd rounder - 3 picks from 1st rounder, a 5th rounder, a 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder)
the defense heads up is not the difference. One set is under massively more aggressive forecheck than the other.
Michigans group would struggle to break out if you flipped teams otherwise
That said, their defensive group has much more speed than ours which certainly helps
I agree. People constantly bitch about our defensemen when like you said there is context to the problem. Coach has clearly made a conscious decision to move to a bigger team and often times that results in some loss of team speed especially when the bigger guys are young and still growing into their body (gaining strength). While that is happening, we need the upper classmen (both forwards and defensemen) to set up and play to their full potential.
This team is so soft
Coach has clearly made a conscious decision to move to a bigger team
It was a wrong and impulsive decision to make. Size might be a prereq for NHL success but it’s not at the NCAA level. Over the last 5 years there isn’t a single big-game letdown I can remember where trading some skill for more size would’ve actually won us the game. Even the L vs. Qpac wasn’t due to a lack of size; Nelson and Knies played like 50min combined that night, and Nelson was getting beat by smaller Cs on every faceoff. The Mankato Ls were always brain related, not us getting outmuscled.
Infuriating watching our defense get a puck and not skate. Our breakout is apparently stand still and wait for someone to move. If they don’t, flick it high and it comes right back out.
Rombach is on track for a Brinkman 2.0 collegiate career
By the time they have possession there’s nothing left for legs because it’s like being on the PK puck chase in their own end too long.
“Good pace, a lot of north and south, or it could be east and west, I’m not sure but either way…” Wooger
Yeah, Motzko's strategy of recruiting big Dmen kinda reminds me of when Lucia did the same thing getting Glover and Collins lol. We all know how well that worked.Michigan has 4 draft defensemen (a 3rd rounder, a 4th rounder, and two 5th rounders)
The Gophers have 4 drafted defensemen (a 2nd rounder - 3 picks from 1st rounder, a 5th rounder, a 6th rounder, and a 7th rounder)
the defense heads up is not the difference. One set is under massively more aggressive forecheck than the other.
Michigans group would struggle to break out if you flipped teams otherwise
That said, their defensive group has much more speed than ours which certainly helps