All things Players Coming and Going.








Any more info? I could see that happening after all he's been through and what he's said about this being the best team he's ever coached..
A poster on GPL said he heard directly from Bob (within 18 hours of an emotional loss) that Bob was going to be stepping down. Not exactly the most believable thing I've heard someone throw out there.
 


It would be nice to get someone good from the transfer portal. I wonder if Brandon Koch is an option for a year to let Max Rud try to figure out his defensive game (-26 both years in the USHL). Ideally someone better than that, though.
 




I'm not too worried about replacing talent. Next year, we will have more talent than the team that just won a national championship. I'm more curious to see if the talent we have can do a better job at the things Quinnipiac did better than us.
Spoiler: The Gophers will not be playing the Quinnipiac style any time soon. Look at how much older they are. The Gophers coming in will be 18, 18, 19, 19, and 20.

Sure the Gophers can get "older" by nature of bringing back Brodzinski and Nelson but are they really going to take another step at this point? They both play pretty slow whereas Qpac flies and makes crisp passes.
 

Spoiler: The Gophers will not be playing the Quinnipiac style any time soon. Look at how much older they are. The Gophers coming in will be 18, 18, 19, 19, and 20.

Sure the Gophers can get "older" by nature of bringing back Brodzinski and Nelson but are they really going to take another step at this point? They both play pretty slow whereas Qpac flies and makes crisp passes.
I don't want us to make a drastic style change to match QU, but I also don't think we lost this year because we didn't have enough talent. If we had enough talent but didn't win this year, that leads to the conclusion that we must have lost because of a deficiency in something other than talent. Identifying and solving that deficiency is the only way to get a different result.
 

I don't want us to make a drastic style change to match QU, but I also don't think we lost this year because we didn't have enough talent. If we had enough talent but didn't win this year, that leads to the conclusion that we must have lost because of a deficiency in something other than talent. Identifying and solving that deficiency is the only way to get a different result.
The Gophers did not lose because of lack of talent.

I'm just saying for those that want the Gophers to magically get older, it's not going to happen. The Gophers can't pass on the top guys or people will be pissed about that. The top guys come in at 18 and 19. Period.

The next tier of recruiters (like Qpac and formerly Mankato) then get to pick from the 20 year olds that have taken a step in junior hockey and are going to be solid college players.

On top of that the Gophers are not hitting the portal like UND, which would be the only realistic way they could get older.
 



I'm not too worried about replacing talent. Next year, we will have more talent than the team that just won a national championship. I'm more curious to see if the talent we have can do a better job at the things Quinnipiac did better than us.
Do you really think we will have more talent next year if Knies and Cooley also leave? Maybe, but not sure if I see it.
 

Do you really think we will have more talent next year if Knies and Cooley also leave? Maybe, but not sure if I see it.
He's saying the 2023-24 Gopher roster will have more talent than the 2022-23 Qpac roster. As far as pure talent and potential, ya it might be true. Will they be a better hockey team than Qpac this year? Extremely unlikely. They were 34-4-3.
 

The Gophers did not lose because of lack of talent.

I'm just saying for those that want the Gophers to magically get older, it's not going to happen. The Gophers can't pass on the top guys or people will be pissed about that. The top guys come in at 18 and 19. Period.

The next tier of recruiters (like Qpac and formerly Mankato) then get to pick from the 20 year olds that have taken a step in junior hockey and are going to be solid college players.

On top of that the Gophers are not hitting the portal like UND, which would be the only realistic way they could get older.
I agree we didn't lose because of a lack of talent. I also don't think QU won because of their birth certificates. If we didn't lose because of a lack of talent, we lost because of something else. And that is what we need to fix. I don't accept that there is anything on the ice that Quinnipiac's players did that our (much more talented) players are not capable of doing better if properly coached and motivated.
 

If we didn't lose because of a lack of talent, we lost because of something else. And that is what we need to fix.
Effort and lack of coaching adjustments.

The coach is going nowhere unless he chooses to. For the effort? Well, I have seen Gopher teams be Jekyll and Hyde for more than a decade. And unfortunately the wrong team showed up in the biggest game.
 

He's saying the 2023-24 Gopher roster will have more talent than the 2022-23 Qpac roster. As far as pure talent and potential, ya it might be true. Will they be a better hockey team than Qpac this year? Extremely unlikely. They were 34-4-3.
Got it. My bad. I misread.
 

I agree we didn't lose because of a lack of talent. I also don't think QU won because of their birth certificates. If we didn't lose because of a lack of talent, we lost because of something else. And that is what we need to fix. I don't accept that there is anything on the ice that Quinnipiac's players did that our (much more talented) players are not capable of doing better if properly coached and motivated.
For whatever reason(s), Gophs didn't impose their style on Qpac for more than the first period. Had they done so, I firmly believe the score would have been similar to the win against BU. 15 shots on goal when averaging over 32 in the season might tell most the story of that game.
 

Effort and lack of coaching adjustments.

The coach is going nowhere unless he chooses to. For the effort? Well, I have seen Gopher teams be Jekyll and Hyde for more than a decade. And unfortunately the wrong team showed up in the biggest game.
Wow - can I relate to that! We used to call it a “Friday nite game” as it was usually the first game of a series. It seemed the team was “not ready to play” and lose and then come back on Saturday and make a win look easy. It happened so often we often just expected it as we arrived at the arean on a Friday nite.
 


What are the odds that brodz, nelson, and close all stick around?
 

What are the odds that brodz, nelson, and close all stick around?
With the lack of forwards available to come in, I'll say:
Nelson: 75% back
Brodz: 50% back
Close: 50% back

I kinda expect all three, for better or worse...
 

What is anyone hearing on Cooley? Maybe I missed some news.
 

Last interview he said "50/50", which is more hopeful than I thought. But his interview post game when he said he'd "miss the guys" feels it's still inevitable he's on the way out.
 

Last interview he said "50/50", which is more hopeful than I thought. But his interview post game when he said he'd "miss the guys" feels it's still inevitable he's on the way out.
Thanks
 

I agree we didn't lose because of a lack of talent. I also don't think QU won because of their birth certificates. If we didn't lose because of a lack of talent, we lost because of something else. And that is what we need to fix. I don't accept that there is anything on the ice that Quinnipiac's players did that our (much more talented) players are not capable of doing better if properly coached and motivated.
All they did was shadow Knies and Cooley and then run a neutral zone trap. It's not hard to do and it helps reduce any advantage the Gophers have from the massive skill disparity. They did the same thing against Michigan.

Cooley took that penalty because he was so frustrated by not having any space.

Nothing the Gophers can do about that. It's a developmental program and I would much rather watch a bunch of early round draft picks than a bunch of 24-year-old journeymen.

They don't need to fix anything. They just need to get one more bounce or one more call to go their way and they are national champions.
 


Knies just got his first shift of probably many with Matthews and Marner.
 





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