@bearpaw28 with the added bonus that we might actually be able to score in a shootout!
@tas1973 That's a gotta see it to believe it --- I saw Matthew Wood last summer in a couple of shootouts look magical --- that magic was apparently neutralized when he arrived in Dinkytown.
But I hope you're correct!
Gopher recruits playing for a National Championship today:
- Gavin Katz (Shattuck) Youth Tier I 18u
- Katya Sander (MN Silver) Girls Tier I 16u
- Avery Hovland (Worcester White Hawks) Girls Tier I 19u
- Bella Fanale (RYHA at BK Selects) Girls Tier I 19u
Posted the above earlier in the Women’s Recruiting thread. Katz’s Shattuck squad wins their championship with an 8-1 victory over the Boston Jr. Eagles (LINK). Katz with a goal and a couple of assists.
@tas1973 That's a gotta see it to believe it --- I saw Matthew Wood last summer in a couple of shootouts look magical --- that magic was apparently neutralized when he arrived in Dinkytown.
But I hope you're correct!
He had so many breakaways and clean 1 on 1 looks with goalies this year too. Just unreal
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What are the odds of him doing that in Maroon and Gold?
Small. Doing that in a U18 tourney against the Swiss is much easier than trying that against 22-23 year olds in D1 hockey.What are the odds of him doing that in Maroon and Gold?
Well unless they’re playing Duluth. He could probably manage that against Duluth.
Kvasnicka making things happen for team USA tonight.
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Mooney is the same size as Caufield at this age isn’t he?
Mooney is the same size as Caufield at this age isn’t he?
Pretty much (taken off of NTDP rosters)
Mooney 5’8”/157
Caufield 5’7”/162
Mooney leading team usa in points so far in the tournament and also throwing his weight around.
https://twitter.com/flux_cc/status/1916307943344967955?s=61&t=-_wGA13cAbVi0rBpXZvfNA
https://twitter.com/flux_cc/status/1916304179544404061?s=61&t=-_wGA13cAbVi0rBpXZvfNA
Looks like the first one drew a penalty. 🤣
Have we been underrating the impact Mooney will have his freshman year?
Have we been underrating the impact Mooney will have his freshman year?
likely no. Will be a massive learning curve against bigger and more physical players. Think he’ll be somewhere around Zeimer last year with some more offensive playmaking this year but he should be a very good 3, likely 4 year player
Have we been underrating the impact Mooney will have his freshman year?
I think I probably have been, wouldn't be surprised to see a 25-30 point season out of him depending on who he's on a line with.
on the flip side, Maceo Phillips has not looked good at all in U18. Hoping he goes to play a year of juniors and we find someone else for next year. D corp lacking depth right now….
on the flip side, Maceo Phillips has not looked good at all in U18. Hoping he goes to play a year of juniors and we find someone else for next year. D corp lacking depth right now….
He may have had a rough tournament but everything I have seen on Phillips indicates he made huge strides at the NTDP. Went from undisciplined and making poor decisions to learning to harness his physicality and play with himself. Likely a fairly high draft pick too. Sheltered minutes whenever he arrives but could become a big asset before long.
He needs to develop his puck play and decision making. Best to do that in ushl.
We have too many guys incapable of playing top 4, Whipple, Rud, Begley, adding Phillips to that list is scary. Especially with Michigan State returning everyone and Michigan likely landing a few high-end CHL’ers.
Why wouldn’t we expect Whipple to be able to elevate his game as a sophomore? Bob has a solid track record of year over year improvement from his players. Whipple seems like a talented and relatively highly touted player who should be able to step into a top 4 role.
Whipple dressed 1 or 2 games from February on and didn't get shifts in either of them. He didn't show much when he did play. College hockey just got access to massive new player pool, and we are only Big10 school to not tap into yet. Relying on Whipple to take jump is a bad strategy in my opinion. Go find a top 4 and let The other guys battle it out for remainder of the ice time.
In this new landscape of college hockey, it's discouraging to see MN do almost nothing to address recruiting needs while other top programs are killing it. Unless there is a lot going on behind the scenes, it comes across as less than impressive.
Considering we have had so few commitments since Aug 1 and no CHLers in route (I never expected Bob to dip his toe into CHL), I'll be ready for a coaching change unless recruiting drastically changes.In this new landscape of college hockey, it's discouraging to see MN do almost nothing to address recruiting needs while other top programs are killing it. Unless there is a lot going on behind the scenes, it comes across as less than impressive.
Motzko is 64 so who knows how much longer he wants to keep doing this. His recruiting has generally been very good up until recently so it is kinda weird to see this team in the position it currently resides. It's not like it would take much to turn the recruiting around a year from now but by his own words he admitted that the in state talent isn't as good as previous years so it's kinda weird to not see any real adjustment yet in terms of either portal or CHL recruiting.
Considering we have had so few commitments since Aug 1 and no CHLers in route (I never expected Bob to dip his toe into CHL), I'll be ready for a coaching change unless recruiting drastically changes.In this new landscape of college hockey, it's discouraging to see MN do almost nothing to address recruiting needs while other top programs are killing it. Unless there is a lot going on behind the scenes, it comes across as less than impressive.
Gophers only lose 2 forwards (J. Mittelstadt and Lamb) and 2 defensemen (Thomas and L. Mittelstadt) to graduation next year. They have the forwards covered with Moe and Katz and probably one of the defenseman covered with Grimes. It just seems like on paper the 08’s weren’t a class they needed to land a lot of recruits from.
Whipple dressed 1 or 2 games from February on and didn't get shifts in either of them. He didn't show much when he did play. College hockey just got access to massive new player pool, and we are only Big10 school to not tap into yet. Relying on Whipple to take jump is a bad strategy in my opinion. Go find a top 4 and let The other guys battle it out for remainder of the ice time.
Great post here. Whipple should not be a top 4 defenseman at the U going into next year. There are too many avenues nowadays to improve your roster.
What is Bob doing? This a joke. Get rid of him if he cannot fix this brutal roster for next year. If he is 64 and ready to retire. Good for him. The U should give a package and say goodbye. Don’t let him coast for more years and stunt the program.
I don’t think the incoming recruits (not necessarily this just incoming class) are replacing outgoing talent. Even if the number of players are there, I don’t see the Gophers being in the run for a title with the current pipeline. The program took a step or two down this year and we can’t let that go too long.Considering we have had so few commitments since Aug 1 and no CHLers in route (I never expected Bob to dip his toe into CHL), I'll be ready for a coaching change unless recruiting drastically changes.In this new landscape of college hockey, it's discouraging to see MN do almost nothing to address recruiting needs while other top programs are killing it. Unless there is a lot going on behind the scenes, it comes across as less than impressive.
Gophers only lose 2 forwards (J. Mittelstadt and Lamb) and 2 defensemen (Thomas and L. Mittelstadt) to graduation next year. They have the forwards covered with Moe and Katz and probably one of the defenseman covered with Grimes. It just seems like on paper the 08’s weren’t a class they needed to land a lot of recruits from.
I am a supporter of Motzko, an am confident he is working on something with CHL kids, hopefully it works out.
I do think his approach may need to change in regards to cutting players. I get that's not fun and you recruited these kids, but if they don't pan out you need to move on to be competitive. With the roster limit, and everyone getting full scholarship you can't have free roster spots. To me Begley, Rud, and maybe Whipple haven't earned their positions, and we shouldn't have 3-4 defensemen (if we bring in Phillips) that you have to hide or protect.
I had to check my URL. I thought I was on Gopherhole for a minute.
I was recently informed by a GPLer that I'm related to Airey
I had to check my URL. I thought I was on Gopherhole for a minute.
Seriously did bonin steal a bunch of logins and passwords?
To say Motzko is going to have to continue to adapt if he has ambitions on coaching five or so more years is certainly fair. The game is changing fast and even the best coaches can grow stale. I just don't see a poor recruiting pipeline and think this board generally underrated many of the players being brought in.
Posts like the one a few above are fortunately few and far between here but seems like there is a portion of the fan base who feels this has become like the basketball program.
Coach brought in multiple portal transfers last year and already this year so he has made changes (adapting) to the way he is building the team.
Coach brought in multiple portal transfers last year and already this year so he has made changes (adapting) to the way he is building the team.
But he hasn't adapted yet apparently.
Coach brought in multiple portal transfers last year and already this year so he has made changes (adapting) to the way he is building the team.
But he hasn't adapted yet apparently.
idk why he didn’t convince bump, slukynsky, Hutson, Howard, Buium and Fink to all portal here. Seems like it should’ve been pretty easy
In Western Michigan's four NCAA tournament games Bump scored
0 goals
and
0 assists
Coach probably knew this would be the case so he wasn't interested. 😉 😀
Some of us are expressing concern about the recruiting situation. For the most part pretty tame posts besides one and out come all the passive aggressive people who seem hurt about the thought that some aren't thrilled with the direction of the program.
Some of us are expressing concern about the recruiting situation. For the most part pretty tame posts besides one and out come all the passive aggressive people who seem hurt about the thought that some aren't thrilled with the direction of the program.
And some of us think the concern has been over the top.
It's one thing to simply talk about supposed holes, it's quite another to suggest Bob hasn't used the portal and doesn't know how to recruit all of a sudden. That's the bonin-like hand-wringing that's being called out.
I had to check my URL. I thought I was on Gopherhole for a minute.
"Gophers need to get older and bigger to compete in the national championship 😡 "
Gophers get older and bigger
"Where is our top end talent 😡 "
My goodness can the coaching staff not win with these people
For those old enough to remember, at the end of both Woog's and Lucia's tenures there was a dip in recruiting. Woog refused to adapt and recruit players from outside MN and also brought in too many straight from high school. Lucia decided to recruit mostly players within 15 miles of Wayzata. They both simply became ineffective recruiters and the program tailed off. Any fan who dared bring it up were labeled heretics and dismissed.
With this last recruiting cycle it appears Bob missed out on many of the top end recruits. I get it. It happens. I think some of us were hopeful he would then focus on the CHL angle to make up for the lack of new recruits. That also doesn't appear to be happening. It seems like a lost recruiting year. I'm not saying Bob needs to get fired over one bad recruiting cycle, but as he approaches the end of his career, I hope he can make up for it in this next cycle and he doesn't instead go down the Woog and Lucia path.
For those of you who have blind faith, I hope you're right.
I think some of the "misses" have already been logically explained as being bad timing, a player from an area that traditionally shuns UM for UND or UMD, etc. I think the misses are less than advertised. Also one of the knocks was he didn't use the portal but that has been debunked. As far as the CHL I think it remains to be seen what he will or won't do there. Not sure it's blind faith so much as not yet ready to panic. I had no issue whatsoever with seeing Woog and Lucia leave and actually would have preferred both departed 1 season earlier. I'm not just not there yet with Bob.
I had to check my URL. I thought I was on Gopherhole for a minute.
"Gophers need to get older and bigger to compete in the national championship 😡 "
Gophers get older and bigger
"Where is our top end talent 😡 "
My goodness can the coaching staff not win with these people
If the only measure of success for a season is winning the final game, fans might as well stop watching. My advice to anyone who would ask is enjoy the season and the product on the ice. It's a thrilling sport, and Minnesota is lucky enough to field elite talent most every year.
Michigan hasn't won an NCAA tournament since the mid nineties, and the talent that has gone through that program in 30 years is nonpareil. BC, BU, and Minnesota with their all-star rosters have come up short. Meanwhile, programs like Yale, Providence, Union, UMD, Quinnipiac, and Western Michigan have notched their belts.
Unfortunately, with 21-year-old freshmen, NIL, and the transfer portal, it's changed forever for the worse and has become a semi-pro league. I've been an ardent fan for decades but these changes have dampened my enthusiasm for the sport.
My goodness can the coaching staff not win with these people
Never can. People will bitch and moan about not getting the Berchilds of the world while turning around and bitching about how we don't have those gritty veteran type players that win championships, even though most of your champions are still led by guys that will get serious consideration from NHL FOs. (Don't kid yourself on thinking it was just grit and determination that win titles, if that was the case, I'm sure a couple Atlantic teams would've found a way in the last decade).
The talent to experience "ratio" question is more in the middle of where the talking heads may tell you it should be. Only thing you can do to really control your destiny, is put yourself in the tournament every March/April, and put your best foot forward once you're there.
IDK if anyone here wants the team to get older on average, it's definitely not a common sentiment that I've noticed anyhow. Most people are fine with these teams being on the younger side because that generally comes with the territory with the high end talent they get.I had to check my URL. I thought I was on Gopherhole for a minute.
"Gophers need to get older and bigger to compete in the national championship 😡 "
Gophers get older and bigger
"Where is our top end talent 😡 "
My goodness can the coaching staff not win with these people
The bigger issue is that we all know Motzko missed on some big recruits and now they're trying to patch holes after the fact. I don't think it means he forgot how to recruit or whatever and maybe they got unlucky, IDK the story. But it's a bit disingenuous to act like missing these recruits and getting older was part of some brilliant strategy that he had all along. And it's concerning (at least for next season) in the sense that the roster talent isn't all that high and we've all seen what the team has accomplished in March the last 3 seasons with high end talent ie some wins but eventually getting worked by Michigan/Cows/Q and then kinda going backwards the next two years. Maybe he'll make some adjustments based on this roster and win it all next year but so far I'm kinda doubtful the team even makes the tourney. If the team makes some huge CHL acquisition or what have you then sure throw all this out the window but so far that hasn't happened.
I don't think anyone is saying there can't be concerns. Be concerned.
Now what?
Look at the roster as currently assembled through maroon and gold colored glasses if you want and don't be concerned. Now what?
We're posting about a roster in the offseason what do you want 😆
Except the eye-rolling wasn't about having concerns for the roster. It was for saying there are now reasons to be concerned for Motzko as a recruiter because of one down off-season.
Ok that's fair.
Maybe we should hire Dave Carle since he should be available. He didn't win the championship so he should be fired. He clearly isn't keeping up with the game.
🙄
Except the eye-rolling wasn't about having concerns for the roster. It was for saying there are now reasons to be concerned for Motzko as a recruiter because of one down off-season.
It isn't one down season if you project into what we have signed.
If you look at the entire commitment group, including the freshmen from 2024-25, is that flow of recruits that can be a national championship contender? Especially when you review the relative talent going to other teams, including teams in the Big Ten?
And, this is another point to make. A team can create some competitiveness via the transfer portal. Look at Quinnipiac they won a championship with a team dominated by older transfer players. You can clump up a group of older, experienced and mostly Canadian players and play a grind it out style of hockey. And if you have ELITE goaltending you can win with that style like the Bobcats and Mankato in its Hastings prime.
But is that the hockey brand you want here in Minnesota?
I personally believe that the high end Minnesota recruits are making a huge mistake in leaving the state to play hockey elsewhere. That was one of Sid Hartman's theories and for the more minor sports like hockey I don't disagree. A player like Mikey Berchild has roots here, and those roots will remain long after his hockey career is over. What will he have in Denver? I especially think the guys who are all "Notre Dame" gung ho are fools. Hockey is a minor-minor-minor league sport in South Bend. Football is everything there, and what little remains after the Touchdown Jesus players goes to their basketball programs.
But that isn't how college recruiting works anymore. The players are being drawn to the spotlight. And although Minnesota college hockey has a long history, for modern recruits from Canada, Illinois, California, and other former non-hockey recruiting bastions, that is meaningless to them.
ANd for those that point out "two years ago", two years ago in the college recruiting world is more like 200 years ago.
I doubt the U will make any move this season, but I don't think we can compete with a 65 year old guy who recruits and coaches in the old school way.
The roster is not finalized yet nor has a game been played in the 25-26 year. I will wait to see how everything pans out and after actual games (not just a weekend or 2) have been played before I get all worked up. Until then, I will put on my Maroon glasses and enjoy the beautiful summer.
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