We were trailing 2-1 when Snuggy took the 5 minute major and a game DQ 5 minutes into the 2nd period. To score 5 goals in less 40 minutes the rest of the way against a very good Michigan State team to win is a great sign.
The offense is really starting to click the last three games:
A 4 goal game against defensive minded Notre Dame then 3 goals (47 shots on goal) and 6 goals (41 shots on goal) against Michigan State.
The Gophers have played seven series and out scored their opponent in 6 of the 7.
No college team can lose five NHLers and expect the same results as last season. Add the fact, the Big Ten overall is much improved. I'm expecting a lot of splits and tight games. Personally, I would be happy with a top four Big Ten finish and a NCAA berth. LOTS to clean up on the film study this week.
Fun series. Deflating to lose the lead late. Great play by Rinzel and Clark to salvage series win.
This team is flawed but surprised by all the doom and gloom. They'll be a factor in B1G with opportunities to get better as the year goes on.
I like what I'm seeing from this team and we are seeing a fairly young group of defensemen (+ Koster) really start to come together
Still some D stuff to shore up but it's mostly individual coverage gaps and not how they've played as a team.
MN's centers are much more involved in our zone and back checking is way better than it was early.
Huglen is such a good hockey player
Faceoffs were even after one and (IIRC) MN dominated after that. Game is so much easier to play when you don't have to chase and fight for the puck
Moore was as noticeable this weekend as he has been all weekend season.
Kurth was really feeling it this weekend
MN is getting better with the puck at the blue lines
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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Ok I found this amusing.?
My wife and I were at the game today.
I had an opportunity to chat briefly with Frank Mazzocco before the game. Then when I got to my seat, I was right behind Bill Baker! I was a freshman in 1978-79 for the Natty. Being in the band, I was able to go to all the games, including the championships in Detroit. Great memories.
Question, is the PP gettting better? Or is it just a coincidence that the goals are scored while on the PP?
Our power play is terrible...cannot gain the zone with possession, but also don't forecheck hard enough to dump and chase. If by chance we do get zone time we are completely predictable, all they do is pass it around above the circles. They never work the puck down below the goal line and try to get the one timer for the guy in the slot.
Anybody know if the Indiana football coach still has a job?
I like what I'm seeing from this team and we are seeing a fairly young group of defensemen (+ Koster) really start to come together
Still some D stuff to shore up but it's mostly individual coverage gaps and not how they've played as a team.
MN's centers are much more involved in our zone and back checking is way better than it was early.
Huglen is such a good hockey player
Faceoffs were even after one and (IIRC) MN dominated after that. Game is so much easier to play when you don't have to chase and fight for the puck
Moore was as noticeable this weekend as he has been all weekend
Kurth was really feeling it this weekend
MN is getting better with the puck at the blue lines
Couldn't have said it better myself 
From Gopher Game Notes on Twitter or x or whateverthehellitisnow.
• The Gophers posted their fourth-highest faceoff percentage of the season by winning 42-of-72 draws (58.3 percent); Jaxon Nelson led the way with a career-high 20 faceoff wins on 28 draws (71.3 percent)
Couldn't have said it better myself
Never underestimate my grasp of the obvious! ?
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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Never a bad thing to state the obvious ?
The Power Play is 23.3% 13th in the country out of 64 teams.
Bryce had 2 goals and 2 assists today. He now is leading the team in points by 3. He is tied for the team lead in goals with 8 and is second on the team in assists with 8 (Rinzel has 9). All he does is score goals and set up goals. ?
Moore-Pitlick-Kurth line really seems to be finding some chemistry. Don’t think this team is far off. Overall a good weekend
It seems that the foward lines have been figured out for the time being. Hopefully they can all start building chemistry.
Leftover turkey coma in the 3rd. Thankful they came away with the win. That's the last home game for a while. As long as the Gophers keep improving each week, I like their chances. Go Gophers!
Brodz had 5 points this weekend. 4 today. All joking aside (Brodz sucks), I like him a lot. He’s been an understated and under appreciated cog for this team.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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Have OT wins always been just two points? Or did that change when we went 3 on 3? Either way it is dumb. A win in OT should be worth more than one in a SO.
Clark's reaction to scoring the game winner is priceless he just stands there and looks for a teammate to hug. I would think when you score in OT you would go celly mode especially doing it as a freshmen but apparently he is Mr. Cool - Yep I scored the game winner but no biggie that's what I do. ?
Have OT wins always been just two points? Or did that change when we went 3 on 3? Either way it is dumb. A win in OT should be worth more than one in a SO.
It was changed with the 3 on 3 in order to make a regulation win count more than a 3 on 3 OT win.
I agree an OT win should be worth more than a SO win. For conference points it's the same but for Pairwise it does count more since Pairwise doesn't count shoot outs.
That was an entertaining weekend of hockey, I appreciate watching teams like Sparty who try and beat you in a game of hockey rather than mucking it up and hoping the refs refuse to call anything. That’s not to say the refs didn’t have some questionable moments today either, namely the stick lift penalty. I think they got it right on the majors though and were fine the rest of the game, though like I said it helps when the other team tries to beat the gophers at their own game. Can’t say before the season that I would’ve expected the Michigan state series to be the most entertaining but I can confidently say that was the case. One look at the shot total would tell you what kinda game it was today.
Brodzinski does seem to have improved in his fifth year, my trepidation with him in previous years was that he was a one dimensional perimeter shooter who didn’t offer much else. This year he seems to be a lot harder to play against especially with the puck on his stick. It helps that he’s found a home on the Nevers/Nelson line, I think his game improved a lot once the coaching staff figured that out. Ideally they would’ve figured that out earlier in his career but whatever.
Unfortunate that we couldn’t win either off those games in regulation and get a bigger pairwise boost from it but they’re not in a horrible spot as far as that’s concerned so whatever. I think this team can and will improve as the season goes on too and typically has been better in the second half of the year under Motzko so I imagine that trend will continue.
a bigger pairwise boost from it but they’re not in a horrible spot as far as that’s concerned so whatever. I think this team can and will improve as the season goes on too and typically has been better in the second half of the year under Motzko so I imagine that trend will continue.For the pairwise, the OT win is a full win.
OT weighting: As of 2021-22, when college hockey went to 3-on-3 overtimes across the board, The Committee decided to weight these differently. OT wins are counted as 2/3 (0.6666) of a win, and 1/3 (0.3333) of a loss.
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/info/?d=pwcrpi#google_vignette
Pretty sure they count as a partial win though 2/3 isn’t bad obviously. I don’t know enough to know that other 1/3 would’ve pushed us up the rankings if at all though and I realize it’s highly dependent on everything else that happens across the league.
Also like I said I’m not overly concerned about being 12th at this point of the season.
An OT win is a full win for the head to head portion of Pairwise comparisons and 2/3 of a win for the RPI part of Pairwise comparisons.
Pay attention people and take notes this will be on the final test at the end of the season. ? ? ?
Minnesota played a solid game today. I don't think Close was super sharp but he made some big stops, too.
I think the team needs to figure out how to limit shots. They played OK defense, but when you allow 44 shots in regulation, you're asking for trouble.
The Gophers also take shifts sometimes that are too long. If they're stuck on the ice and forced to defend when they're gassed, the puck has a way finding the net.
Ah ok, I don’t pretend to be a PWR expert but that makes sense.
And agreed, they played a more complete game on Friday but were a bit unlucky. Today’s game was a bit more of a high flying game where neither team was great in their own end. I don’t think either goalie was bad either they just didn’t get much help.
I think the team needs to figure out how to limit shots.
Going to be tough with games at Penn State coming up. Pucks dumped into the corner equal a shot for the home team.
I am a math person so I know more about (spend time on) Pairwise than I probably should. ?
Currently 6 of the top 11 teams are from the Hockey East conference even though the Big Ten conference has the best overall non conference record. This will likely even out more as the season moves along. As has been pointed out in the past Pairwise is volatile until the second half of January.
The Big Ten has a similar non conference record this season as last season. The Big Ten has a good chance to get 4 teams to the NCAA this season like they did last season.
Only lost 1 game all month?♂️
The Farm Kid had a heck of a good series. Snake bitten on his shots as he hit multiple posts.
I liked Clark on the wing after Snuggy got tossed. Would be nice to move him up in the lineup.
Even though Close gave up 5, he made some spectacular saves tonight.
The team still has issues exiting the zone. Plus, way to many times Sparty walked in alone on Close.
Rud got walked on one of Sparty's goals. Woof.
Still, just not quite there yet. Getting closer.
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
The Gophers extend their undefeated streak against Michigan State to 16.
15 wins and 1 tie
I think further down he clarified that he was joking.Brodz sucks.
No one said that.
I wasn’t exactly shy re being critical of Brodzinski in past years but some of that was on the coaches imo (forcing him beside Walker and McLaughlin for far too long) and his game is more refined this year. Being a fifth year player probably doesn’t hurt his cause but he also got called up a year earlier than most ppl figured he would, in the end it’s working out nicely. Kinda interesting because in the past you’d have years where older players stagnated, something I haven’t noticed as often under Motzko.
Pino needs to find the press box. Strobel-Clark-Mitts from here on out (in my opinion)
Yeah… he certainly shouldn’t be penciled into the lineup every night. Tinkering with that line and creating competition for playing time there is probably the ideal solution, I don’t think he needs to be benched the rest of the year or anything but he kinda looks out of place at times and I like what I’ve seen of Mitts more.Pino needs to find the press box. Strobel-Clark-Mitts from here on out (in my opinion)
So it's only a matter of time before Pino turns into a goal scorer like Bryce. It could happen. There is always a chance.
Trying to decide what I hate more. OT wins = 2/3 of a win or that OT means a point just disappears to the ether.
That point goes to the NHL where for whatever reason their OT games are worth more points than a regulation game.Trying to decide what I hate more. OT wins = 2/3 of a win or that OT means a point just disappears to the ether.
*affixes an onion to my belt*
A win is 2 points. A tie is 1. A loss is zero.
the shootout is dumb and it's the sports equivalent of sugary cereal. Borderline poison in the hands of children. it actively degraded the rest of the game by forcing teams to take away time from practicing actual hockey skills. Kids cheer for it because it's just mainlining dopamine every ten seconds.
if you want to derate an OT win, it should be proportional to the length of the potential OT. (Which is also dumb and we shouldn't do it. Why should a game that took at most 8% longer be worth 33% less?)
I'm not entirely opposed to 3v3. I'd prefer 5v5, but not the hill I have circled for my last stand.
I'll never understand the *ew cooties* reactions that ties receive in this country. It seems perfectly valid that two teams can be equally matched on a given night.
I'm not sure introducing more randomness and luck into a game that arguably has too much of both already is a necessary fix.
Rud got walked on one of Sparty's goals. Woof.
That was brutal, and IMO, cost the Gophers a win in regulation.
I wasn't specifically watching for it, but I'm pretty sure he never saw the ice after that, either.
Tact is the ability to step on a man's toes without messing up the shine on his shoes - Harry S Truman
I'll never understand the *ew cooties* reactions that ties receive in this country. It seems perfectly valid that two teams can be equally matched on a given night.
First, I agree with everything in your post - ties shouldn't be a bad thing, especially in a game like hockey where scoring is hard, and is in single increments.
That said, I think there are two reasons why there is such a negative reaction to ties (especially in college hockey).
- One team dominates another team in every aspect, but a goalie stands on his head - I think there are a lot of people that look at a game like this and say, "These two teams aren't evenly matched." (Conveniently forgetting that goalie is a part of the team).
- Two teams play relatively equally during a game, but one (or both) completely change how they play in the last few minutes of regulation and overtime (getting more conservative, "playing for the tie").
I think that the second reaction is why you have the gimmicks of 3x3 and shootouts. Not saying I agree with either, but I think that a lot of the casual hockey fans hate a tie - so the league tries to gimmick it's way out of a tie.
Rud got walked on one of Sparty's goals. Woof.
That was brutal, and IMO, cost the Gophers a win in regulation.
I wasn't specifically watching for it, but I'm pretty sure he never saw the ice after that, either.
I hate ragging on Freshman but that was absolutely brutal. Your one job as a 7th defenseman is to not be a liability and give the other 6 D a shift here and there to rest up. He got caught fishing and got absolutely walked by a MSU dman. I was keeping track and he didn’t see the ice the rest of the way.
If you only see 3-4 shifts a game and still find a way to be -1 then you’re forcing your coaches hand to not play you.
With 40 seconds left and the Gophers up by one, they were doing a terrific job keeping the puck in the Spartan's end--until Kurth decided to try and hit Pitlick, who was set up at the top of the circle, instead of just pushing the puck back into the corner. This mental lapse allowed State to gain possession of the puck and pull their goalie. The Gophers didn't need a goal there; they needed to prevent one. These guys are experienced enough to know this.
Rud's mistake was pretty bad. He had a terrible gap and then a godawful step-out, effectively giving up ice twice on the same rush. The first can be forgiven--he's still learning the speed of the college game. The second is a little more concerning because that's a skill that should be developed at this level.
I'll never understand the *ew cooties* reactions that ties receive in this country. It seems perfectly valid that two teams can be equally matched on a given night.
- One team dominates another team in every aspect, but a goalie stands on his head - I think there are a lot of people that look at a game like this and say, "These two teams aren't evenly matched." (Conveniently forgetting that goalie is a part of the team).
This all might be true, but one problem is that the dominant team isn't guaranteed an OT win, and when that happens it makes the previous 60 minutes feel even more wasted than had the game simply ended as a tie.