Thank you for the perspective. When you dig into the minutia it appears things are better than they may seem. But I do remember a time when Gopher hockey was the toughest ticket to get in town. The rink seems rather sparse these days. And no national championships in 15 years is inexcusable for a program like Minnesota. When you are even able to use other in state programs as a barometer of success it is a little scary. They should have much loftier aspirations in Dinkeytown. If you feel comfortable with the statuses quo, that's cool. The program in the past few years seems to have gotten stale. A little reboot would be good for the program.
Hey, introduce me to a sure thing replacement coach and I'm all in. I just haven't heard anyone mentioned that fits that description. Guentzal? Are you kidding me? Motzko? Hasn't proved anything yet. I'd be comfortable with Potulny, but no one else is bringing up his name???
So... I feel Lucia is the best option, FOR NOW, until a better option is presented.
Btw, if you only knew just how HUGE the gap is, in regards to producing NHL point producers.
UMn's getting plundered of all of its best talent like NO OTHER PROGRAM out there. It's not even close.
I have the #s, for 80% of the relevant teams, I'll post them soon, as soon as I get the other 20%.
But as a teaser, I'll post this much
UMn alums, that left early for the NHL have scored
349 pts
SCSU alums, all of them, have scored
38
349 vs 38.
UMD alum have produced 55 pts
UND alum have produced 221 pts, to lead the nchc. UMn, Wisc AND Mich alums all produce more pts than the best the nchc team's alum produce.
349 vs 221???
I mean, its not even close. And those are ONLY the UMners that left early.
Not even including the guys who played 4 years and got into the NHL, for UMn. I'm including everyone for all the other teams I mentioned.
When you consider the University's PRIMARY MISSION, which is not pleasing sports fans, but servicing its students and giving them the tools to go out into society and make a difference, well, our students are making far more of an impact on the NHL than any other school's.
But no one gives Lucia credit for this.
All they care about is whether the team wins and entertains them.
Well, the days of Blue Blood hockey programs winning a ton are done. Thank the NHL for that. It's not Lucia's fault. No one else out there is raking in tons of FFs and Natl Titles either. York with 3, is getting old and is on the verge of his 2nd straight season of not even making the NCAA tourney, which would be his 6th season of not returning to the Title game.
Hakstol is in the NHL.
The Denver coach that led them to B2B titles is gone.
There is no one out there that can claim to be dominating the NCAA mens hockey scene
BC and UND are the only 2 programs that can claim more than the 2 FFs Lucia has gotten us to in the last 6 years.
And UND lost the coach that basically got them those 3 FFs. And like I said, York is getting old and maybe losing his touch?
Lucia could be arguably the best guy out there, if FFs are important.
And with 4 wins vs Top 4 ranked teams this season so far, more than any other team can claim? It's not unreasonable to consider he may deliver again this season?