2024 Gopher Hockey Offseason

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Bemidji State is a good hockey school, men and women, even if they aren't among the elite. Good to have them on the schedule.
 

Overall the schedule is weak as crap and an absolute snooze fest. If these really are the 12 NC games, anything less than 10-2 in those games is a miss.

CONFIRMED:
Exhibition @ SCSU 10/5
2 in Vegas vs Air Force/ either UMass or Omaha (Oct 11-12)
2 in Duluth (Oct 18-19)
vs Bemidji State 11/14 (Thursday)
@Bemidji State 11/16 (Sat)
24 Big Ten

6 officially unaccounted for:
PROBABLE/POSSIBLE
2 vs UST (H&H or at home)
Mercyhurst--via Vegoe
Alaska via Vegoe
 

A loss or two in the non con schedule will not be good for the pairwise. That's right, I said it in May
 


Gophers1992 said:
I may be in the minority but until St Thomas shows they are a competitive program I have no interest in wasting NC games on them.
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im right there with you. would much rather see us plan on a trip out east or west each year to play someone decent from HE or the NCHC. Being able to go on the road and play a good team well that you don't normally see is incredibly important for the postseason and helps you grow. would envision denver was probably pretty happy they played at providence and BC this year early in the season. really can help your team grow
 


If I ruled the world, my ideal NC schedule would look something like this each year

UND (locked in every year)
Rotate two of BU/BC/Maine/New Hampshire/Cornell/Harvard/Vermont
Rotate one of UMD/SCSU/Mankato
Rotate One of Denver/CC/Omaha/Arizona St.
One cupcake
 


UST to NCHC. Wow. Huge move for them. They will be competing with the other MN teams for recruits very, very quickly.
 

bonin21 said:
UST to NCHC. Wow. Huge move for them. They will be competing with the other MN teams for recruits very, very quickly.
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Kind of surprised NCHC didn't take Mankato for their 10th team.
 



TNGophfan said:
Kind of surprised NCHC didn't take Mankato for their 10th team.
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They play in the Summit League with UND, Omaha and Denver in other sports. I can see why they are more attractive than MSU going forward when factoring in $ and location. People forget MSU was largely irrelevant pre-Hastings, and I expect them to start trending back that way. This will hurt SCSU and MSU the most, and to a lesser extent could hit UMD a bit. Wouldn't be surprised if UST becomes the new prime spot for gopher rejects.
 
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Gophers1992 said:
They play in the Summit League with UND, Omaha and Denver in other sports. I can see why they are more attractive than MSU going forward when factoring in $ and location. People forget MSU was largely irrelevant pre-Hastings, and I expect them to start trending back that way. This will hurt SCSU and MSU the most, and to a lesser extent could hit UMD a bit. Wouldn't be surprised if UST becomes the new prime spot for gopher rejects.
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Agree. I don't think it will affect Minnesota too much.
 
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Where is the confirmation of that other than reading likely correct tea leaves on Instagram? Should have had confirmation on the 5th years by now, too.
 



bonin21 said:
Where is the confirmation of that other than reading likely correct tea leaves on Instagram? Should have had confirmation on the 5th years by now, too.
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Just that. Wouldn’t expect the changes and thank you without the announcement he’s playing ushl so just inference. Nice to have Koster officially back
 


More importantly he needs to not have his worst games at the worst time like Close did unfortunately.
 


Gophers1992 said:
I may be in the minority but until St Thomas shows they are a competitive program I have no interest in wasting NC games on them.
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St Thomas took Minnesota to overtime early this season. They've taken a half-step up. I can see all the risk to playing them with little rewards. Minnesota is expected to win, it does little for Minnesota.

Hockey is the only sport St Thomas has any chance to hang with the Big Ten Gophers except maybe dance line. It's probably good for the exposure of the sport to have that hockey rivalry right in town, in the state of hockey.

I also think Minnesota should tee up games with Bemidji State even though they're not at Minnesota caliber. In a hockey state, Minnesota needs to play these games at least more often than not. It goes with the state.
 

GopherMarroon said:
St Thomas took Minnesota to overtime early this season. They've taken a half-step up. I can see all the risk to playing them with little rewards. Minnesota is expected to win, it does little for Minnesota.

Hockey is the only sport St Thomas has any chance to hang with the Big Ten Gophers except maybe dance line. It's probably good for the exposure of the sport to have that hockey rivalry right in town, in the state of hockey.

I also think Minnesota should tee up games with Bemidji State even though they're not at Minnesota caliber. In a hockey state, Minnesota needs to play these games at least more often than not. It goes with the state.
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I care about the university of Minnesota hockey team, not the state of Minnesota hockey. We’re a program competing for national championships, we don’t owe charity games to anyone.
 

GopherMarroon said:
St Thomas took Minnesota to overtime early this season. They've taken a half-step up. I can see all the risk to playing them with little rewards. Minnesota is expected to win, it does little for Minnesota.

Hockey is the only sport St Thomas has any chance to hang with the Big Ten Gophers except maybe dance line. It's probably good for the exposure of the sport to have that hockey rivalry right in town, in the state of hockey.

I also think Minnesota should tee up games with Bemidji State even though they're not at Minnesota caliber. In a hockey state, Minnesota needs to play these games at least more often than not. It goes with the state.
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If we want to have a chance to be participating in the Frozen Four and i guessI do, I think we have to play the best whatever state they come from to prepare to be competitive against the best. . Our basketball team plays easy to beat teams before the Big 10 season starts and then the wins against quality competition seem to disappear.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I care about the university of Minnesota hockey team, not the state of Minnesota hockey. We’re a program competing for national championships, we don’t owe charity games to anyone.
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Good point too. The net calculator is what it is.

Let's look at the schedule of the champions Denver:


2023-24 Men's Ice Hockey Schedule - University of Denver Athletics

The official 2023-24 Men's Ice Hockey schedule for the University of Denver Pioneers
denverpioneers.com denverpioneers.com


They opened their season against the weak Alaska Fairbanks hockey team, sweeping both games. Alaska is not in their conference.


Then later Denver played that super hockey power Air Force.


2023-24 Men's Ice Hockey Schedule - University of Denver Athletics

The official 2023-24 Men's Ice Hockey schedule for the University of Denver Pioneers
denverpioneers.com denverpioneers.com


Bemidji State and Alaska do get to play good teams too.


As far as I'm concerned Bemidji State has a "play Gophers" card they get again and again. St Thomas is more complicated but probably needs to happen.

You do make a point about strength of schedule and so forth. Your side is valid.
 

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