Gopher Hockey Season Thread 25-26

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Desperately trying to spread out limited depth of talent almost never works. Pahlsson with Ziemer and Mooney? Oh boy, they might get frustrated with a 3C at best between them
 

Clarkson beats PSU at Pegula with three goals by CHL guys. Instant impact from those guys all over the country. Can Bob bring in one that plays both D and goalie?

3 of 5 goals in the Gopher loss to MTU were CHL/Usports guys
 

bonin21 said:
Clarkson beats PSU at Pegula with three goals by CHL guys. Instant impact from those guys all over the country. Can Bob bring in one that plays both D and goalie?

3 of 5 goals in the Gopher loss to MTU were CHL/Usports guys
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But PSU had a lot of CHL guys and lost so are CHL adds actually a bad thing?
 

Gophers1992 said:
But PSU had a lot of CHL guys and lost so are CHL adds actually a bad thing?
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They are table stakes for non blue bloods and the biggest equalizer to happen to college hockey in decades if not ever
 

bonin21 said:
They are table stakes for non blue bloods and the biggest equalizer to happen to college hockey in decades if not ever
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So as a blue blood should we be recruiting them or not? Make up your mind.
 


Gophers1992 said:
So as a blue blood should we be recruiting them or not? Make up your mind.
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Yes every team should have them which is why the Gophers and St Cloud are the only two in Big Ten/NCHC without one this year.

The difference is top teams get superstars and will win titles and also rans will pick up guys that let them steal some games like just happened. If the Gopher bring in a bunch of 4 stars and not 5 stars from the CHL they'll be in the same place as with all the 4 stars from Minnesota.
 


The saddest note about tonight’s game is the team played hard and BC still controlled most of the game. The second saddest note is an air of resignation is already settling-in among the faithful. You could hear conversations two/three rows away in the arena.
 

Married@SiebertField said:
The saddest note about tonight’s game is the team played hard and BC still controlled most of the game. The second saddest note is an air of resignation is already settling-in among the faithful. You could hear conversations two/three rows away in the arena.
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Bad hockey is hard to watch. Gopher fans aren't dumb. They know it's bad hockey and a season full of it to come.

I pray for those souls making the trip to GF.
 



I've stated several times on GopherHole that our best chance for national championships at Minnesota are from three teams: Men's and Women's Hockey, and Women's Volleyball. Sadly, they've sunk so low, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
 

GopherJack said:
I've stated several times on GopherHole that our best chance for national championships at Minnesota are from three teams: Men's and Women's Hockey, and Women's Volleyball. Sadly, they've sunk so low, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
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Yes you're right.

If Motzko is fired/"retires" after this year it will take at least two seasons for the new staff to install their team. So you're already looking at something like 2028 at the earliest for men's hockey.

For women's hockey, they should have moved on from Frost a while ago. They have a much better chance than men's cuz of the few teams ruling women's hockey, but they have totally fallen behind OSU and uw.

Volleyball I don't pay attention to but they def don't seem to be national contenders.
 

bonin21 said:
Yes you're right.

If Motzko is fired/"retires" after this year it will take at least two seasons for the new staff to install their team. So you're already looking at something like 2028 at the earliest for men's hockey.

For women's hockey, they should have moved on from Frost a while ago. They have a much better chance than men's cuz of the few teams ruling women's hockey, but they have totally fallen behind OSU and uw.

Volleyball I don't pay attention to but they def don't seem to be national contenders.
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this should be, and is, wildly untrue in today's era. transfer portal, CHL, and being able to poach from about 55-60 other programs in the country means there is absolutely no reason that it should be a waiting period, particularly given Bob's current roster is heavily skewed to Fr/So talent and some pretty easy ways to "make room" for an incoming coach (no obligation to bring in any of the current commits, Lamb, Thomas, Mitts x2, Wiese graduating plus Begley, Rud, Harris there's no obligation to keep rostered).

Team is not devoid of talent with 13 draft picks, they're just missing a couple "high end" guys and yes there are still a good bunch of them north of the border (which per Schloss, sounds like Bob said no to CHL guys though hard to know what "tier" of guy they're referring to).
 

upnorthkid said:
this should be, and is, wildly untrue in today's era. transfer portal, CHL, and being able to poach from about 55-60 other programs in the country means there is absolutely no reason that it should be a waiting period, particularly given Bob's current roster is heavily skewed to Fr/So talent and some pretty easy ways to "make room" for an incoming coach (no obligation to bring in any of the current commits, Lamb, Thomas, Mitts x2, Wiese graduating plus Begley, Rud, Harris there's no obligation to keep rostered).

Team is not devoid of talent with 13 draft picks, they're just missing a couple "high end" guys and yes there are still a good bunch of them north of the border (which per Schloss, sounds like Bob said no to CHL guys though hard to know what "tier" of guy they're referring to).
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When I said 2028 I meant 2027-28. I don't think that's unreasonable that you need at least one transition year to get rid of lots of bad habits.

Before the transfer portal/CHL era I would have said 2028-29.

It will be different than a guy like Dane Jackson taking over at UND after being there forever.
 



GopherJack said:
I've stated several times on GopherHole that our best chance for national championships at Minnesota are from three teams: Men's and Women's Hockey, and Women's Volleyball. Sadly, they've sunk so low, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
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right there with you. we aren't a bball school and never will be and we won't compete consistently in CFB (though I get it is the biggest money maker).

Some of this will die with Bob (as he's been pretty direct in how he wants to do it), but hockey should absolutely have a GM (there's just too many leagues to scout/keep track of and relationships to maintain) and should be a spot you're spending more NIL as your fan base is far more devoted there and, to be frank, we're not ever going to compete consistently in CBB and you're entering an arms race you cannot and will not win to become anything more than a mid tier team in the B10.

ticket revenue is 2nd highest in men's hockey, despite that the Barn is bigger. Men's BB gets over $5mil from the media rights deal (hockey gets nothing) and distributions from the other teams that make the postseason to the tune of about $2mil. Same as the ad and licensing revenue for an additional 2 mil. Those. Things. Are. Guaranteed.

So that team makes in total the exact same sum as the Men's hockey team when accounting for the difference in the media rights deal and distributions from the conference but we....

pay the coaches about 3-4x more, pay the support staff 3.5x more (interestingly womens bb vs womens hockey they pay the womens support staff for bb 10x more), spent 6x more on recruiting, all despite there being 11 more athletes on the hockey team.

There's nothing wrong with being a "hockey school". It's what we should always be and would be good if you had an AD that realized you own a massive media market here so the B10 is not kicking you out of football and basketball (nor would any "super league"). Go win your titles where they will be easiest to achieve accounting for the demographic you match. Spending an extra 2-5mil in NIL in hockey is going to be waaaaay higher ROI than that on mens bball (or football tbh) in terms of legacy, prospective student recruiting (when Mariucci is rocking, yes that sells local kids to come here when they remember attending games growing up), etc.
 


bonin21 said:
When I said 2028 I meant 2027-28. I don't think that's unreasonable that you need at least one transition year to get rid of lots of bad habits.

Before the transfer portal/CHL era I would have said 2028-29.

It will be different than a guy like Dane Jackson taking over at UND after being there forever.
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that's reasonable. take 2028 to be the 28-29 season so what you say makes sense.

On that last point, I don't know entirely about that as will depend. Gopher hockey has typically been played the same way for a long time (up and down attacking style). Also the joy of that we recruit MN so aggressively is that I don't exactly see a lot of kids "leaving" if Bob is gone unless the coach doesn't want them (would guess most commit to play for the M, not tBob) nor many candidates for early departures.

regardless, won't be surprised with whatever Bob decides to do after this year (and yes it will be his choice, whatever that is). Given he's talked about it as a retooling kind of year, would surprise me if he retires after this year
 

upnorthkid said:
regardless, won't be surprised with whatever Bob decides to do after this year (and yes it will be his choice, whatever that is). Given he's talked about it as a retooling kind of year, would surprise me if he retires after this year
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He recruited hard this cycle because he wants to "leave the program in a better place than when he got here" since the coach at the U is just a "caretaker". He says that kinda stuff.

Unfortunately his poor recruiting in the other recent classes including the 2026 incomers is leaving the program in a tough spot right now.

Nevers, Reid, Katz, Kvasnicka, Cullen, Cullen, Phillips, Grimes. That is a mediocre class by title contender standards.

Rombach/Phillips is a lot like Collins/Glover 2.0 at the end of the Lucia era. The hard to watch play on the ice is a lot like the end of the Lucia era. We've seen this story before.
 

bonin21 said:
He recruited hard this cycle because he wants to "leave the program in a better place than when he got here" since the coach at the U is just a "caretaker". He says that kinda stuff.

Unfortunately his poor recruiting in the other recent classes including the 2026 incomers is leaving the program in a tough spot right now.

Nevers, Reid, Katz, Kvasnicka, Cullen, Cullen, Phillips, Grimes. That is a mediocre class by title contender standards.

Rombach/Phillips is a lot like Collins/Glover 2.0 at the end of the Lucia era. The hard to watch play on the ice is a lot like the end of the Lucia era. We've seen this story before.
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on part 1, that's super fair.

on part 2, a very fair criticism on the 2026 incomers. the class is multiple guys who just didn't pan out and some head scratchers. Reid should not set foot on campus. Nevers it just has never come together but I guess he's coming in as a 4th liner/healthy scratch player if he wants that. Kvasnicka has actually looked really good up in Penticton, which I think will serve him really well coming in for next year (early, but leading their team in scoring with 10 pts in 7 games and 8th in the W), Katz is off to a good start in GB but is one I could see them pushing out (unsure if he's grown or not, but remember he was a pretty small guy).

rombach i'm not quite ready to close the page on and funnel him into that category. he looked better last night. we'll see.
 

bonin21 said:
One of Moe/Townsend should be back too so you should not see Harris or Rud on the ice, ideally ever again.
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Rud already back in the lineup cuz Begley sucks, too. These two being your 7th and 8th D... Oh my god.
 

Pretty sad that we are a hockey school but can’t win. Total D1 hockey teams recently pushed above 60 teams, 28% of all D1 players are from the state of MN yet we haven’t won a natty in over 20 years. Typical of ALL MN sports. Been awhile since celebrating in 87 and 91. Wish it was as simple as choosing a different team to cheer for.
 




GopherJack said:
I've stated several times on GopherHole that our best chance for national championships at Minnesota are from three teams: Men's and Women's Hockey, and Women's Volleyball. Sadly, they've sunk so low, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
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Sadly and embarrassingly Wisconsin has passed us in Women's volleyball and hockey. Men's hockey will go along and win most of their games but that is about it.
 



In a for fun shootout. But one of those two can probably get at least one that counts
 

Feel awful for the guys stripes deciding they were super important tonight in the worst way possible. Way better fight and seem to be learning. Massive next two weekends that really need to be at least 2-2
 

bonin21 said:
In a for fun shootout. But one of those two can probably get at least one that counts
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Thing I love about it is Mooney supposedly wanted it and then just fried the bc goalie. Whenever ur all comes together for him, we will be very thankful he’s not even caufield size and we’ll get extra years from him
 

Biggest rivalry in college hockey and no post yet. Going to be an uphill battle of a weekend up there with a UND team that has pieces to compete for a title this year.

Special teams have continued to look awful so far this year. That and obviously goaltending will be the key to any success this weekend.
PP: UND 66.7% vs UMN 12.5%
PK: UND 77.8% vs UMN 66.7%
Save percentage: UND .923 vs UMN .897
Faceoffs: UND 51.3% vs UMN 49.4%
Average age: UND 21.4 vs UMN 21.3
 

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