Quote: mixxRJ Thompson to Michigan. Pretty impressive freshman season at EP.
removed link
und fans were pretty convinced awhile back they would land him
Quote: upnorthkidQuote: maroon and goldQuote: Go4birdvowelQuote: maroon and goldQuote: Go4birdvowelAlso to add, Vilmer Salen Forsberg from Sweden, the only A-rated goalie on the list is uncommitted. Don’t know if he has interest in college hockey but follows the gophers and michigan. Strahl being a fellow swede could hopefully put in a good word. I know we have Casey but it would be nice if the gophers were finally in the mix for one of these top end goalies for once.
Don’t see us making a move on any goalies until Owen Ryan makes his choice (St. Thomas Academy 2011 birth year). Hopefully it’s here. Best Minnesotan goaltending prospect since Oettinger.
That very well may be true but a 2011 born playing high school hockey right now is still years away from college hockey. Salen Forsberg looks like he could step in next year. He has a .931 sv pct which is 3rd best in the OHL and a potential first round pick. Casey has a .888 sv pct which is 33rd best in the WHL and is not a Larson recruit. No offense to Casey but if you have a chance at Salen Forsberg I don’t know how you could say no. Casey could always be pushed back another year too and still come in.
Never know what to think about goalie numbers in the CHL. Defense is an afterthought so often in those leagues.
Personally I’ll take the 6 6 kid with the better save % who’s projected to be a 1st rounder and ask questions later
I’m an avid Casey defender and even I can’t argue with this lol. Let’s get him
I know there is a craft to keeping commitments to your commits and balancing your word with the best interest of the team, but it seems like the goalie position is probably one area where Minnesota can afford to just say "the best gets the job" considering its historical track record... But I'm no hockey mind haha...
Quote: maroon and goldQuote: upnorthkidQuote: maroon and goldQuote: Go4birdvowelQuote: maroon and goldQuote: Go4birdvowelAlso to add, Vilmer Salen Forsberg from Sweden, the only A-rated goalie on the list is uncommitted. Don’t know if he has interest in college hockey but follows the gophers and michigan. Strahl being a fellow swede could hopefully put in a good word. I know we have Casey but it would be nice if the gophers were finally in the mix for one of these top end goalies for once.
Don’t see us making a move on any goalies until Owen Ryan makes his choice (St. Thomas Academy 2011 birth year). Hopefully it’s here. Best Minnesotan goaltending prospect since Oettinger.
That very well may be true but a 2011 born playing high school hockey right now is still years away from college hockey. Salen Forsberg looks like he could step in next year. He has a .931 sv pct which is 3rd best in the OHL and a potential first round pick. Casey has a .888 sv pct which is 33rd best in the WHL and is not a Larson recruit. No offense to Casey but if you have a chance at Salen Forsberg I don’t know how you could say no. Casey could always be pushed back another year too and still come in.
Never know what to think about goalie numbers in the CHL. Defense is an afterthought so often in those leagues.
Personally I’ll take the 6 6 kid with the better save % who’s projected to be a 1st rounder and ask questions later
I’m an avid Casey defender and even I can’t argue with this lol. Let’s get him
Strahl is also a sophomore. No reason you could not take both of these guys. Casey is a long track guy and not a major contributor on a ncaa team next year anyway (and I think has another year of jr eligibility?)
Quote: rowshkexI know there is a craft to keeping commitments to your commits and balancing your word with the best interest of the team, but it seems like the goalie position is probably one area where Minnesota can afford to just say "the best gets the job" considering its historical track record... But I'm no hockey mind haha...
You're 100% right, not trying to say our goalies have been bad over the years but I also don't think they've stolen a ton of games in the postseason or anything either. I'd like to see the program start getting higher end goalies so that we can reasonably compete with schools like Denver in that area.
Quote: trixR4kidsI'd like to see the program start getting higher end goalies so that we can reasonably compete with schools like Denver in that area.
safe to say DU makes the goalies far more than the other way around. Johnny Hicks was previously committed to Tennessee State, meaning 60+ other teams passed on him (including his own sorta, as DU started the other guy most of the first half incl. against us last year) Matt Davis and Magnus Chrona didn't do much before their respective title runs and haven't done very much since, although Chrona still has some non-zero degree of NHL potential I'd say.
irrelevant sidebar, Matt Davis happened to be at my law school graduation. His gf's sister was in my 1L cohort. Wanted to ask him if he brought his '24 ring but thought better of it and (mainly) it was a giant ceremony for the 300+ people in my class.
There's definitely some truth to that, their defensive structure definitely helps their goalies, but they also definitely stole some key games over the years or kept them in it long enough to pull off the W. The Michigan game last year, the championship against Mankato, also the first two periods vs Wisconsin. Those are a few games that come to mind but I assume there were others over the years. The other thing is that the Gophers typically haven't played a super conservative defensive structure either and so they kinda need more talented goalies to make up for it. I also felt like the Gophers were pretty evenly matched with Michigan during the better Motzko years but they got out-goaltended in those playoff games vs them.
Quote: trixR4kidsThere's definitely some truth to that, their defensive structure definitely helps their goalies, but they also definitely stole some key games over the years or kept them in it long enough to pull off the W. The Michigan game last year, the championship against Mankato, also the first two periods vs Wisconsin. Those are a few games that come to mind but I assume there were others over the years. The other thing is that the Gophers typically haven't played a super conservative defensive structure either and so they kinda need more talented goalies to make up for it. I also felt like the Gophers were pretty evenly matched with Michigan during the better Motzko years but they got out-goaltended in those playoff games vs them.
Right I more meant that DU likely coaches the voodoo special sauce they have into whoever their goalies happen to be in a given year. Rather than finding a ready-made NHL/AHL bound talent to plug and play. There's no real way to know, years in advance, that guys like Davis and Hicks would outplay Trey Augustine over a 4-game stretch. So, it must be something that got coached into them after they arrived at DU.
I think the U could definitely just shell out a bunch of money to hire away whoever Denver's goalie coach is, unless he's one of those volunteer alumni types who can't be bought
Quote: Walker? I Barely Know HerQuote: trixR4kidsThere's definitely some truth to that, their defensive structure definitely helps their goalies, but they also definitely stole some key games over the years or kept them in it long enough to pull off the W. The Michigan game last year, the championship against Mankato, also the first two periods vs Wisconsin. Those are a few games that come to mind but I assume there were others over the years. The other thing is that the Gophers typically haven't played a super conservative defensive structure either and so they kinda need more talented goalies to make up for it. I also felt like the Gophers were pretty evenly matched with Michigan during the better Motzko years but they got out-goaltended in those playoff games vs them.
Right I more meant that DU likely coaches the voodoo special sauce they have into whoever their goalies happen to be in a given year. Rather than finding a ready-made NHL/AHL bound talent to plug and play. There's no real way to know, years in advance, that guys like Davis and Hicks would outplay Trey Augustine over a 4-game stretch. So, it must be something that got coached into them after they arrived at DU.
I think the U could definitely just shell out a bunch of money to hire away whoever Denver's goalie coach is, unless he's one of those volunteer alumni types who can't be bought
As we saw playing und, selling out blocking shots and playing connected hockey also does wonders against your opposition.
on Davis, he made some nutty and lucky saves and got post help vs bc or this isn’t a conversation. Sometimes you also just need the bounces in a one and done
Quote: upnorthkidQuote: maroon and goldQuote: upnorthkidQuote: maroon and goldQuote: Go4birdvowelQuote: maroon and goldQuote: Go4birdvowelAlso to add, Vilmer Salen Forsberg from Sweden, the only A-rated goalie on the list is uncommitted. Don’t know if he has interest in college hockey but follows the gophers and michigan. Strahl being a fellow swede could hopefully put in a good word. I know we have Casey but it would be nice if the gophers were finally in the mix for one of these top end goalies for once.
Don’t see us making a move on any goalies until Owen Ryan makes his choice (St. Thomas Academy 2011 birth year). Hopefully it’s here. Best Minnesotan goaltending prospect since Oettinger.
That very well may be true but a 2011 born playing high school hockey right now is still years away from college hockey. Salen Forsberg looks like he could step in next year. He has a .931 sv pct which is 3rd best in the OHL and a potential first round pick. Casey has a .888 sv pct which is 33rd best in the WHL and is not a Larson recruit. No offense to Casey but if you have a chance at Salen Forsberg I don’t know how you could say no. Casey could always be pushed back another year too and still come in.
Never know what to think about goalie numbers in the CHL. Defense is an afterthought so often in those leagues.
Personally I’ll take the 6 6 kid with the better save % who’s projected to be a 1st rounder and ask questions later
I’m an avid Casey defender and even I can’t argue with this lol. Let’s get him
Strahl is also a sophomore. No reason you could not take both of these guys. Casey is a long track guy and not a major contributor on a ncaa team next year anyway (and I think has another year of jr eligibility?)
Casey does have another year if he wants it. His 5 year eligibility clock starts ticking next season. I guess the question is how long is Strahl here?
Perfect scenario:
2027-28: Strahl/Casey
Strahl takes the reigns behind what should be a pretty veteran blue line, puts up good numbers, signs
2028-29: Casey/Salen Forsberg
Salen Forsberg being an August ‘09 probably doesn’t come in as a barely 18 year old, takes the Ravensburgen path.
Should be worth noting to those who don’t wanna scroll to last page, Vilmer Salen Forsberg is NOT a commit. The Potential Future Recruits thread is locked so we have to talk about it here lol. Pure speculation.
While we’re talking goalies, Slovakian Samuel Hrenak, brother of David Hrenak who played 4 years under Brett Larson in St. Cloud, is putting up insane numbers for Fargo in the USHL. Third round pick of the Jets.
I like Casey, I really do, but if either Hrenak or Salen Forsberg are options you probably gotta do what you gotta do.
who else remembers this one goalie commit we had way back in the day: Gino Pichora ?
iirc Gino helped sell Cooley on the U after he decom'd from Notre Dame (childhood buddies from Pittsburgh?), even though Gino never made it to campus
Quote: Walker? I Barely Know Herwho else remembers this one goalie commit we had way back in the day: Gino Pichora ?
iirc Gino helped sell Cooley on the U after he decom'd from Notre Dame (childhood buddies from Pittsburgh?), even though Gino never made it to campus
I did NAHL play-by-play at the time when Pichora was in my team's division. Weirdly enough, another goalie in the division was Luca Di Pasquo.