Future Gopher Coach Discussion

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bonin21 said:
Slukynskys, Stramel, and Pohlkamp were all obvious targets he missed on.

Also both last year and this year he only carried 14 forwards (unacceptable roster management) both times including a D3 PLAYER both times, so it has never been a space thing. Plus a bunch of guys you could cut to make room for better players.
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this is the problem, not so much the targets thing. Provincialism aside, there were players in the portal or from the CHL this year that he should've gone after. zero excuse not to have. I can't really blame Bob for Stramel or Pohlkamp who went to coaches who coached them and good teams.

The Slukynsky thing has always been interesting. Whether it was Fersch knowing he wanted Hampton and that he could make Grant into a player and knowing that they just wanted to play together, probably made it a pretty easy sell (I'm still shocked they didn't end up at UND given their dad played at UND).
That said, WMU has been a really good team since Fersch got there (126-58-5 is a pretty crazy record in the NCHC and is 10th in all time winning %). Not like guys don't want to go play for him. Warroad, 1 year of Jr and then NCAA starter is a pretty rare path for guys
 

upnorthkid said:
this is the problem, not so much the targets thing. Provincialism aside, there were players in the portal or from the CHL this year that he should've gone after. zero excuse not to have. I can't really blame Bob for Stramel or Pohlkamp who went to coaches who coached them and good teams.

The Slukynsky thing has always been interesting. Whether it was Fersch knowing he wanted Hampton and that he could make Grant into a player and knowing that they just wanted to play together, probably made it a pretty easy sell (I'm still shocked they didn't end up at UND given their dad played at UND).
That said, WMU has been a really good team since Fersch got there (126-58-5 is a pretty crazy record in the NCHC and is 10th in all time winning %). Not like guys don't want to go play for him. Warroad, 1 year of Jr and then NCAA starter is a pretty rare path for guys
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The Gophers never have great goalies and the best one to come out of the state in years was available along with a top 6 brother. That miss could have been what sealed Bob's fate.

Casey is already looking like another good but not great goalie.
 

bonin21 said:
The Gophers never have great goalies and the best one to come out of the state in years was available along with a top 6 brother. That miss could have been what sealed Bob's fate.

Casey is already looking like another good but not great goalie.
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yep think that's a very reasonable take based on what we know so far.

And agree Slukynsky is probably the best MN goalie since maybe Otter, would have to go back and check, who also didn't come here. Have always been baffled with how we target goalies and was happy to see us finally go back into the MN HS pool, though can't say it's a super deep pool we've seen historically, which is interesting for the quality of hockey players the state produces

I disagree on the calling Grant a top 6 guy when he transferred. Again he was undrafted, had 9 points at NMU and had never been a point per game guy in the USHL. I give all the credit in the world to Fersch for making him a top 6 guy.
That being said, i'd take a shot on a guy like him every day of the week when he transferred as an older guy with grit, speed, and who had shown he could absolutely light it up in HS over rostering Nick Michel or August Falloon, particularly if it meant you got the brother.

Random additional part, no idea if they had any desire to be in a city. They're Warroad kids and obviously a smaller community/college town might be what they wanted to. Seems to be the vibe from how they've talked about it in interviews.
 

Additional random thing. Kind of interesting to follow Barto's career since leaving. Has gone on to be pretty good at Lindenwood and then MTU
 




Vanek26 said:
Shocked you found something to bitch about Bob in a game that doesn't involve him.
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Good point. Now about my own point...

Scoring defenseman Brock Faber started the gold medal game against Celebrini/Mackinnon/McDavid

But not OT of the national title game.

What an epic achievement if Faber scored the winning goal in the championship.game. Legend! Never given the chance.
 

WinMinGophers! said:
Good point. Now about my own point...

Scoring defenseman Brock Faber started the gold medal game against Celebrini/Mackinnon/McDavid

But not OT of the national title game.

What an epic achievement if Faber scored the winning goal in the championship.game. Legend! Never given the chance.
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How long are you going to beat that dead horse? Are you still mad Skarta hit the post in 89 or Stauber couldn't make a save?
 

Vanek26 said:
How long are you going to beat that dead horse? Are you still mad Skarta hit the post in 89 or Stauber couldn't make a save?
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Well, until the Gophers win another title that game is the story of Gopher hockey since 2003. To the world and to the Gopher fans.

Qpac is number 2 but wasn't as bad.

Holy Cross is number 3.
 






WinMinGophers! said:
That was a good comeback.

I could say, but who did? We will call.it a draw, you got.out of that one.

I won't tell anyone it was 3 on 3.
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He wouldn’t have started 5v5 either. Would’ve been McAvoy and he wasn’t any of the 3 defenders used in OT.

Him being on the Olympic team is enough of a comment that he is a stud.

We played our best defensive forward line to start with senior Lacombe and Mike Koster on to basically try give us 2nd matchup with our best forward line and our defensive defensemen. Nelson wins the first faceoff and it ramps out of play. Faber not being on the ice is so far down the list of errors made. I probably would’ve rolled with our top line and the Lacombe pair to try get more on the offensive foot after we sat on our ass all 3rd period. That 3rd period and the muffin Close gives up as the penalties expire (while quinny has the goalie pulled) are way bigger problems than this random thing you keep bringing up. Wouldn’t have been any different if they scored on some bullshit dump in in OT or had they scored on Faber. The fuck up was already done
 



Probably five more games in the Motzko era... Just gotta suffer through what could easily be five losses. Christ.

Two Thurs/Fri series (thanks Big Ten), including Motzko's last home series which they'll try to give tickets away for since many people will be at the X instead watching more interesting hockey.
 

I gotta say as someone who just read through this whole thread for the first time, it is hilarious how correct bonin was going back to the summer while everyone else was coming at him. This was peak content.

Bob was great but ran his course with no title. This is still a cream of the crop program and should never look this bad in a down year. Cheers for hopefully a Bob “retirement” soon and a new coach that’ll get us back to the promised land 🍻
 

cheeseburgerphil26 said:
I gotta say as someone who just read through this whole thread for the first time, it is hilarious how correct bonin was going back to the summer while everyone else was coming at him. This was peak content.
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This site is full of mediocrity lovers.
 


Crosby said:
Name one. I have not seen a single post on this board even hinting at accepting mediocrity for this program.
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I think too many people were fine with the mediocre effort to reshape the roster before this season started. Theres never been more avenues to reload but Bob refused. There has to be a better balance of using instant impact transfers/CHL and then freshmen building blocks for the future.

Too many thought this roster was good enough to compete before the season, perhaps just because of what Bob’s previous teams looked like. But there were red flags ignored.
 

cheeseburgerphil26 said:
I think too many people were fine with the mediocre effort to reshape the roster before this season started. Theres never been more avenues to reload but Bob refused. There has to be a better balance of using instant impact transfers/CHL and then freshmen building blocks for the future.

Too many thought this roster was good enough to compete before the season, perhaps just because of what Bob’s previous teams looked like. But there were red flags ignored.
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That is a long way from accepting mediocrity. I was one of those who thought it would be a down year, due to talent coming back. But I also thought we'd be better than this. WE SHOULD be better than this. And yes, the current state is unacceptable. Again, please point to a post from anyone who thinks everything is perfectly okay right now.
 

Crosby said:
That is a long way from accepting mediocrity. I was one of those who thought it would be a down year, due to talent coming back. But I also thought we'd be better than this. WE SHOULD be better than this. And yes, the current state is unacceptable. Again, please point to a post from anyone who thinks everything is perfectly okay right now.
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I don’t know about you specifically, I’m just saying I saw people defending the roster construction at the start of the year in these threads and on X before the season. It was a mediocre effort in the offseason after losing all your top scorers.

I’m not saying anyone is accepting what the team currently is. But more people defended Bob for this roster construction before the season than criticized him.
 

cheeseburgerphil26 said:
I’m not saying anyone is accepting what the team currently is. But more people defended Bob for this roster construction before the season than criticized him.
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I have called out the importance of having drafted players many times in the past. Many people looked at the roster and said a team with 13 drafted players would be fine. They likely didn't realize in watching last year's team that this very well could be the worst team with 13+ drafted players in college hockey history.

Also it's no longer about just having drafted players. It's about getting highly drafted players since the CHL floodgates are now open. If you're gonna be a skill team (which the Gophers always are over grit), the level of skill needed is higher than it used to be. The reality is the Gophers are just always filled with a bunch of kids that have faced no adversity growing up.
 

Prima Donna high school players abound on Gopher Hockey roster. And have for years.
 

GopherJack said:
Prima Donna high school players abound on Gopher Hockey roster. And have for years.
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It's just the nature of the demographics in the Twin Cities. Sure UND has a bunch of rich kids too but for some reason they still love to hit people unlike most Gopher teams. And northern kids at UMD develop an us against the city kids attitude that gives them some grit even if they mostly come from Hermantown in neighborhoods that could fit in Plymouth.
 

bonin21 said:
It's just the nature of the demographics in the Twin Cities. Sure UND has a bunch of rich kids too but for some reason they still love to hit people unlike most Gopher teams. And northern kids at UMD develop an us against the city kids attitude that gives them some grit even if they mostly come from Hermantown in neighborhoods that could fit in Plymouth.
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I think this has always been a lazy take that has been too popular for years. Metro kids want it just as much as northern or southern kids (which the Gophers have still had). Talent is talent, and it will always come down to coaching and preparation in equal circumstances
 

I gene
cheeseburgerphil26 said:
I think this has always been a lazy take that has been too popular for years. Metro kids want it just as much as northern or southern kids (which the Gophers have still had). Talent is talent, and it will always come down to coaching and preparation in equal circumstances
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I generally agree with this. But I can tell you that there is a little chip on the shoulder for some kid from up north vs the metro kids. If a kid from Hibbing or Warroad ends up wearing the 'M', they automatically want to prove that they are as good, or better, than the kids from the suburbs. For me though I just like to see a roster with a little more geographic representation of the whole state. Feels more like the old Minnesota's Pride on Ice thing than West suburbs Pride on Ice. I'll take winning games over everything though, even if every kid on the roster played for Minnetonka.
 

Crosby said:
I gene

I generally agree with this. But I can tell you that there is a little chip on the shoulder for some kid from up north vs the metro kids. If a kid from Hibbing or Warroad ends up wearing the 'M', they automatically want to prove that they are as good, or better, than the kids from the suburbs. For me though I just like to see a roster with a little more geographic representation of the whole state. Feels more like the old Minnesota's Pride on Ice thing than West suburbs Pride on Ice. I'll take winning games over everything though, even if every kid on the roster played for Minnetonka.
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I definitely like having kids from all over in Minnesota, it should be that way. But mostly because it’s just better to have pipelines all over the state than one area, elite talent will randomly pop up everywhere. The fact of the matter is there will just always be a bigger number of elite talent in the metro
 

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