2022-23 Gopher Hockey Season

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Has Schmidt secured his spot in the lineup? Do we see J. Mittlestadt and Strobel coming back in the near future?
 

bonin21 said:
Why not? You will sell more tickets overall with the super regional idea than the trash we have today.

Maybe the bottom two or four teams are forced to travel to maintain bracket integrity.
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Agree we should but NCAA seems not to care too much (who knows why) about ticket sales at regionals and seems, at the moment, to be married to 4 neutral site regionals. Other than Fargo and Twin Cities, they've been generally poorly attended for years. Haven't heard any scuttlebutt that they are considering change, unfortunately. If you've heard anything, let me know.
 


Michigan rising from the ashes. At least now the gophers will only play them in the championship game.
 





I'm just poking in for a moment.

It's super exciting that this hockey team is #1 excellent and that the other hockey team is excellent too. These hockey athletes are so impressive in action.

Both teams could win the championships this season. Please keep an eye on both Minnesota teams down the stretch.





 




Of course we'd lose our best player during a potential championship season. Silver lining is we are deep on D and it's 5 weeks until regionals. But by all means that's a significant loss.
 

That's Minnesota sports.

Michigan gets another first rounder back and we lose our defenseman that can stop their best forwards. On the plus side it would be thousands of dollars back not traveling to Tampa. The heartbreak would be to make it to Tampa without Faber but then lose to a team like Michigan without him. Especially after laying an egg in the first game in Boston last year.
 

I'll wait to punch a wall until I hear he's out for the NCAAs. Obviously I'd love to win the B1G tournament, but if I had assurance that he'd be back for regionals, I can live with going the rest of the regular season/conference tourney without him.
 

bonin21 said:
That's Minnesota sports.

Michigan gets another first rounder back and we lose our defenseman that can stop their best forwards. On the plus side it would be thousands of dollars back not traveling to Tampa. The heartbreak would be to make it to Tampa without Faber but then lose to a team like Michigan without him. Especially after laying an egg in the first game in Boston last year.
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Is it confirmed he's gonna be out for that long? Feel like it's to0 early to tell especially since no one saw the specific injury. Hopefully Russo overreacted a bit. Fingers crossed.
 




Injuries happen to every team. Look how decimated Michigan was when the Gophers swept them. But yes, this is happening at the worst time for the Gophers in what is surely the year.
 

bonin21 said:
Injuries happen to every team. Look how decimated Michigan was when the Gophers swept them. But yes, this is happening at the worst time for the Gophers in what is surely the year.
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I would argue the worst time would be a month from now. It’s mid February, better to have it happen now. Looks like Faber will be back for conference playoffs and Chesley for NCAA’s.
 

Even without Faber and Chesley, PSU and OSU are not that great and still sweepable. Like MSU, pretenders come NCAA time.

Title will come from:
Big Ten (2): UM, UMN
NCHC (3): DU, SCSU, WMU
ECAC (2): Qpac, Harvard
HE (1): BU
 
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bonin21 said:
Even without Faber and Chesley, PSU and OSU are not that great and still sweepable. Like MSU, pretenders come NCAA time.

Title will come from:
Big Ten (2): UM, UMN
NCHC (3): DU, SCSU, WMU
ECAC (2): Qpac, Harvard
HE (1): BU
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I agree with PSU being nothing special, but I don't know what makes Western any better.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I agree with PSU being nothing special, but I don't know what makes Western any better.
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More scoring. Less goals against. 9-1 in their last 10 (peaking at right time). More high end game changing talent (top goal scorer in the country, two of top 2 point producers). WMU goaltending looks questionable.

And at the end of the day, the NCHC is still the king come playoff time until someone knocks them off consistently. 7 teams in the last 7 finals. 5 of the last 6 titles.
 

As long as they take care of business, I think the odds of the Gophers taking over Fargo in a UND-less regional and playing an AHA team are at like 75% right now...

Thursday/Saturday may be tough for some people but I still have hopes to maybe make that happen.
 

bonin21 said:
More scoring. Less goals against. 9-1 in their last 10 (peaking at right time). More high end game changing talent (top goal scorer in the country, two of top 2 point producers). WMU goaltending looks questionable.

And at the end of the day, the NCHC is still the king come playoff time until someone knocks them off consistently. 7 teams in the last 7 finals. 5 of the last 6 titles.
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The NCHC winning a title 7 years ago is irrelevant to what is happening in 2023, and Denver and UMD's success in no way makes Western a better threat to do anything this year. That's foolish reasoning.
 

Gophers1992 said:
The NCHC winning a title 7 years ago is irrelevant to what is happening in 2023, and Denver and UMD's success in no way makes Western a better threat to do anything this year. That's foolish reasoning.
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The NCHC plays a brand of hockey that sets their top teams up well for the tournament, clearly. More physical than Big Ten hockey. Gophers have always relied on skill and never been overly physical, even in WCHA days. That works because they have enough skill to do it. Though it didn't work in Lucia down years because the skill was not there.
 

So a couple days ago a few people were saying the sky is falling and our championship season is gone and now we find out Faber will probably be back for Big ten tournament and Chesley will be back for NCAA tournament. Teams face adversity down the stretch and we are a win away from clinching so no reason to panic.
 

bonin21 said:
As long as they take care of business, I think the odds of the Gophers taking over Fargo in a UND-less regional and playing an AHA team are at like 75% right now...

Thursday/Saturday may be tough for some people but I still have hopes to maybe make that happen.
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Already have my tickets and hotel next to Amalie.
 

Michigan and OSU are in overtime, which I believe means we are now at least co-champs in the Big Ten this year. If OSU wins it, we have the title outright.
 


Nice, would be our third straight conference title had the B10 not artificially changed the rules 2 years ago.
I know a lot of us bicker about whether we are consistent enough, plays to their potential, etc. But if we step back and look at where this program was around 2018ish, we've won multiple B1G titles, made a frozen four, have arguably the best team in the country this year, and are recruiting just about as well as anyone in the country. As a bonus, Wisconsin and UND both are trending downwards. It's a good time to be a gopher fan and Bob has done an excellent job thus far.
 


Man, if ever there was a year to get our next Natty, this is it. C'mon boys, lets close out this BIG season and tournament on a high note and then put the icing on the cake in the NCAA's.
 


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