I watched a good chunk of this game and was not happy with what I saw. The play was lackluster and uninspired. What is going on with this team? I mean I know they are not Wisconsin in terms of talent top to bottom...but they do have a lot of talent on this team and I must say that I have not seen this team meet expectations for this year. This team fails to perform when it matters.
I saw more inspired play from Minnesota State against Wisconsin yesterday than what I saw of the Gophers against Ohio State. This does not bode well for the program in my opinion. The other teams in the WCHA are fast catching up to the level the Gophers are at, and my fear is they may drop out of even the top 3 next year.
They seem slower than some of the other teams even at times. Let's go Gophers! Play every game like it's your last one! You may never get this opportunity again. So, make it count!
@outofstateoutofmind Well...I guess I'll have to be patient then. But please do share when you can. Am very intrigued now. I'm ok with other teams elevating their play. In fact, I think it's quite necessary in order for the women's college game to grow. My problem withe the game right now is the fact that only one or two teams seem to have any "real" chance of winning the championship now every year. It's really getting boring watching Wisconsin and Ohio State duke it out year in and year out now.
Minnesota could potentially get an upset, but I suspect more likely would be the case that some other team (this year at least) will upend Minnesota and take them out in an early round of the playoffs once again.
Players out of eligibility this year are Murphy, Laitinen, Bouveng, Morrow, Nelson, Franco, and the third goalie Johnson. Now a clear indication that Kaiser will not use her last year of collegiate eligibility.
I thought they at least fought back a bit but can’t spot good teams 4 goals and expect to win. Gophers finish the season on a 2-7-1 skid in their final 10 games.
The NE goalie had a horseshoe up her hiney for sure. There seemed to be a force field around the crease, so many times the puck looked like it would go in but didn’t.
This is not a good look for this team. What the heck happened to them after they started the season looking pretty good in general. I mean..they beat Wisconsin twice this season. WTF?
I typed something longer out but it wouldn't send because I'm in a hotel with spotty wifi. Narrowed thoughts:
-Thanks to the 2026 graduating class, will end up in all likelihood with six PWHLers, more than 2023's five
-You may be relieved Murphy's done, but in order to win national titles you need gamebreaking talent and she had it more than anyone we've had in years. Not easily replaceable. There are players on the team we speculate can get to a certain level, but none of them have proven it yet, IMO
-Level of play during the period without #18 is every alarm bell ever. Who does that say the most about?
-Concerned about age and to some extent size of the team next year in the physical WCHA. This is where Kaiser leaving a year on the table hurts
-I don't care that over half the team is from out-of-state, I welcome it if the circumstances warrant it and Canada's been particularly strong development-wise recently. The perception that Minnesotans don't want to play for Frost/the staff/the Gophers, that part is alarming enough to wonder if someone can even recover from that
-Simply put, I just have no confidence in Frost to be the coach in charge of Minnesota's next title team. They have a free out this year with his contract expiring. If they keep him it tells me he's probably got the job for life
-Understand the risks of recruits/players transferring if he's let go but I think this team becoming an afterthought rather than just a team that can't win the big one really strengthens my belief that it's time for change
-If they do make the change I'll come up with a pros/cons list for potential coaches
@outofstateoutofmind Very well stated and I have to admit. I have been following Frost and his recruiting of the players for the past 8 or so years. I have seen the evolution of the recruitment of players from in state to more out of state. I was at that time and now I am still on board with that change in recruitment in order to get the best team possible and right this ship into the right direction. Of course, balance that with recruiting in state well...because Minnesota produces a lot of hockey talent and it's the biggest state school, so you want to retain that brand that the school has built its success upon and continue its growth.
Ok...so I'm rambling here. Anyway, I know that Frost started recruiting more Canadians in recent years to keep pace with the studs of Wisconsin and Ohio State and recruit I think he has. Getting Chloe Primerano to come to Minnesota is an excellent example of that. But what has that resulted in? I still see his teams not getting wins in those important games anymore. Although, it seems they aren't even in those important games much often anymore. It's semi's or bust now at best. Next year, I'm not even sure that is going to be the case is my presumption which is sad to say as an avid follower of the women's program.
In my opinion, Minnesota is now officially in the second tier of the WCHA. They are no longer a top team top in their own league. I see them struggling to even beat the top teams in other leagues now let alone make it a close game. This is no longer acceptable to me. When I watch this team compete, they look slow and much smaller compared to the top programs.
I was happy to have Frost the coach of this team, but I am no longer in that camp anymore. A new direction and new energy is needed.
There are going to be fewer transfers available than last year, but they'll need 2-3 up front and one on defense would be nice. There are no obvious outgoing transfer candidates; take the Paul injury out of the equation and everyone except possibly D'Alessandro played as much or more than I expected them to. Of course a coaching change would alter that outlook.
It's an awful look to have this few players who will have even been on campus for three years. 2 of 6 from the 2023-24 recruiting class have made it the whole way, and two have already left from the 2024-25 recruiting class. None of the other four are players I feel this team really could use right now. Neither are the two who have transferred out of the 2024-25 recruiting class. (From those classes, the only players who didn't commit when Darwitz was the lead assistant were Lindsay and the transferred Klepinger [both under Johnson], and Primerano and the transferred Kosobud [both under May].) So that's a talent identification problem.
Would still like to know what exactly happened with the Manness twins, both of whom committed under the current assistants and both of whom really feel like they'd be impact players on a Minnesota team. Sara won ECAC player of the year as a freshman.
I typed something longer out but it wouldn't send because I'm in a hotel with spotty wifi. Narrowed thoughts:
-Thanks to the 2026 graduating class, will end up in all likelihood with six PWHLers, more than 2023's five
-You may be relieved Murphy's done, but in order to win national titles you need gamebreaking talent and she had it more than anyone we've had in years. Not easily replaceable. There are players on the team we speculate can get to a certain level, but none of them have proven it yet, IMO
-Level of play during the period without #18 is every alarm bell ever. Who does that say the most about?
-Concerned about age and to some extent size of the team next year in the physical WCHA. This is where Kaiser leaving a year on the table hurts
-I don't care that over half the team is from out-of-state, I welcome it if the circumstances warrant it and Canada's been particularly strong development-wise recently. The perception that Minnesotans don't want to play for Frost/the staff/the Gophers, that part is alarming enough to wonder if someone can even recover from that
-Simply put, I just have no confidence in Frost to be the coach in charge of Minnesota's next title team. They have a free out this year with his contract expiring. If they keep him it tells me he's probably got the job for life
-Understand the risks of recruits/players transferring if he's let go but I think this team becoming an afterthought rather than just a team that can't win the big one really strengthens my belief that it's time for change
-If they do make the change I'll come up with a pros/cons list for potential coaches
I agree with just about all of this. Speaking to the play during the period without #18, I think my biggest issue at this point is the seemingly lack of consistent identity or structure to the Gophers' game. Far too often, the past couple of years, I've felt like it looked like the Gophers' plan coming into a game was "Our talent will carry us in the end." For years, it's felt like there is little or no structure and little attention to detail. When the talent gap gets shrunk (Whether it's playing against better teams or not having #18), they struggle.
The teams of the past few years have been so dang talented that they have still gone pretty far, but I don't think it's a formula for consistently winning hockey games against equal or better competition. I don't think playing a game of trading odd skater rushes against Wisconsin or Ohio State is a great idea. I have a theory that I haven't had time to dig into, but I feel like this is part of the reason why the Gophers have looked so good early in the season the past couple of years, but struggled more as the season has gone on. As opponents get more comfortable in their systems, the Gophers run and shoot high-event hockey becomes less effective. Other teams are able to close the talent gap with game planning and discipline.
Of course, I'm sure the Gophers have some sort of plan for every game. But at this point, I've run out of patience trying to figure out if the issue is that it's just not a very good plan, or if the plan is not being communicated to the players effectively, or if the players aren't being held accountable well enough for not executing consistently (etc). Whatever it is, I think the responsibility falls on the head coach.
Nadine Muzerall (OSU HC): I mean, if she's the choice you're a threat for the national title right then and there. But while she is an alum and Minnesota has more resources available, she didn't spend the bulk of her post-college life in-state and she doesn't have deep family ties to the area, so I don't think there's a burning desire to go home. Besides, she's already the coach of a perennial national title contender with deep pockets, and they already view her, justifiably, as the face of their program who can do no wrong. I don't think that would be the case here, and I don't see the reason she'd want to leave.
Greg "Boom" May (UMN lead assistant): If you believe the foremost problem was who the head coach was and that the team is just a new leader away from contending, this would be the safest pick—he was involved in recruiting Primerano, this year's freshman class, and the next two freshman classes. Players seem to like him a lot. But he's never been a head coach on the women's side. And with how the team played down the stretch, though, how much of that is he responsible for? (I will say, the best game they played post-Olympic break was when he was the acting head coach.)
Natalie Darwitz (most recently the Frost's GM): Lead assistant from 2021 to 2023, obviously we had some really good forward seasons under her watch. Made a national championship game during her time at Hamline so there's a head coaching acumen there. But the recruits we had when she was lead assistant didn't have a high hit rate. This isn't necessarily a demerit but it's worth noting: she lost the Gopher assistant job and the Frost GM job because of disagreements with the head coach.
Bethany Brausen (UST HC): #2 assistant after Muzerall left for Ohio State then followed Johnson to UST to be the lead assistant, eventually became head coach. She's putting her stamp on the UST program; the recruiting is more spread out than it was under Johnson (small sample size) and they appear to be getting better as a team. Also seems to be very well-liked throughout her coaching career. Recruiting rules were much different when she was an assistant here so that's hard to gauge. There is just no indication yet to how good she is as a head coach. You'd be taking a sizable leap of faith here.
Mira Jalosuo (SCSU HC): Two-time champion as an assistant in the PWHL but with much more limited of a college coaching track record than Brausen. I don't think she's a candidate.
Courtney Kennedy (most recently Team USA U18 HC): Longtime assistant at Boston College, but she hasn't ever worked in the WCHA and BC is not exactly known for expanding the borders recruiting-wise. I think she can be a good college head coach, but this isn't the job for her, IMO.
Kelsey Cline (OSU assistant): #2 assistant at OSU. Not ready for the job right now in my eyes. Maybe see if you can lure her back as an assistant?
Joel Johnson (most recently St. Thomas HC): I'm just listing him here to say he probably will never coach college hockey again if he lost his job in scandal.
No ties:
Shari Dickerman (MSU HC): To me probably the best coach in the conference other than Johnson and Muzerall. She also was an assistant on the Olympic team this year. But she has no ties to the school, isn't from the Cities, and hasn't yet taken Mankato over a very large hump. I'd be surprised if they looked her way.
Brian Idalski (PWHL Vancouver HC): While a thorn in our side for years he is an incredible hockey coach (even with the struggles the Goldeneyes are having this season). Never coached a program with anywhere near Minnesota's resources. Unlikely we'll get him or even try. But I'd take him in a heartbeat.
Dave Flint (NU), Jeff Kampersal (PSU), Courtney Kessel (Princeton): I think they're all very good college hockey coaches who would help the Gophers become national title contenders quicker than some of the non-Muzz options I've listed. But with no background in the area I don't see them being seriously looked at.
Maura Crowell (Dartmouth): Another good head coach who's worked in the WCHA but if she moved from Duluth to Dartmouth specifically to be closer to family I don't think going back west is likely.
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I'll also say that if the coach isn't May, he's probably gone. I would try my absolute damnedest to keep Jess Scott on staff as GM no matter who the hire would be.
Muzzerall is currently making $400K/yr. Frost was making $285-300 his last year of the contract. By comparison, Mark Johnson is at $425K and tBob is $750K.
It would take a very large truckload to get Muzzerall away from OSU and even MN won't get within range of the Men's coach salary, given that it is the only D1 program in the country that actually makes money. I'm guessing unless a major donor steps up and creates an endowment to pay a large portion of the salary, Muzzerall won't be coming here.
I'm curious if anyone has any preferred options here given Muzerall is highly unlikely to be a candidate. I've been very intrigued by Natalie Darwitz for the past few years. I know she was a part of the drama that unfolded at the conclusion of the first PWHL Frost championship season. But it's not clear to me that she was a primary problem in that scenario. Others may have more incite. At any rate, I like the intensity and passion she would bring. It would clearly be a new direction for the program. She seems very similar to Muzerall in her personality and passion to me and also winning follows her wherever she goes.
