Gopher Hockey Season Thread 25-26

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bonin21 said:
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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probably a bit too early to tell a ton on the PP in terms of percentages, but they do look better in zone with Mooney much more dynamic than us just setting up one timers for Snuggy like last year, and Zeimer looks like a great bumper player. So I've got some optimism there. The PK looks the same as usual, though again on really low volume.

Tell of the weekend is going to be who's forechecking gets going. They will hit and lean on our defensemen similar to what BC did, though are probably slower overall team speed wise. If they can't break out with better efficiency, going to be a long weekend.

Personally, think UND is a year away from being a true contender provided Reschny and Verhoeff both stay. Don't think they quite have enough scoring to keep up with the top end contenders but their D group should be up there as one of the better ones in the country

Thinking split (shocker I know with these teams' history) but also wouldn't surprise me to see sweeps either way in a couple tight games (though we could also get shelled as this is young guys' first games on the road and how they respond always is a toss up)

On goaltending, Airey has actually been better than the xG all 3 nights (3 GA on 3.5 xG for MTU, 2 on 3.3 and 2 on 3.6 for BC). his rebound control was bad the first period of MTU, but looked overall really good against BC. Not holding my breath but at least some optimism there on him taking the next step
 

I'm expecting UND to work the Gophers in one game (cuz of the home ice advantage) and the other game to be closer and obviously could go either way.

If it were at the U I'd say two close games
 

Frozen Four ticket new website is an absolute shit show. Thankfully I got in and got a couple seats and based on how few are already remaining, hopefully not too hard to offload them at face value
 

bonin21 said:
Frozen Four ticket new website is an absolute shit show. Thankfully I got in and got a couple seats and based on how few are already remaining, hopefully not too hard to offload them at face value
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this does not sound encouraging for me. Think our slot is in like 5 days
 

upnorthkid said:
this does not sound encouraging for me. Think our slot is in like 5 days
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If I can get back in I'll let you know what's left. The problem is getting in. It's terrible. They think everyone is a bot and block it. I got in on my phone eventually.
 


upnorthkid said:
this does not sound encouraging for me. Think our slot is in like 5 days
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I'm back in.
Lower level sides and corners = basically nothing left
Lower level ends = good chunk left
Upper level sides = Top half of seats
Upper level ends = Lots

I'm not a fan of end seats so my selection was pretty weak compared to past years. I ended up in row H of a upper level just goal side of a blue line.
 

bonin21 said:
I'm back in.
Lower level sides and corners = basically nothing left
Lower level ends = good chunk left
Upper level sides = Top half of seats
Upper level ends = Lots

I'm not a fan of end seats so my selection was pretty weak compared to past years. I ended up in row H of a upper level just goal side of a blue line.
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that's a little more reassuring. from what I remember, overall seating at T Mobile is pretty good. we were in the uppers in STL at about mid-ice. Usually try end up middle of the ice if i can, but ends are ok if you get up high enough imo.
 


Starting to hope by some miracle the Gophers make it. I like the deal I got at the Nomad and it's so close to the arena.
 





bonin21 said:
For the all in cost, I'd rather go somewhere else than watch another team lift a trophy. I'm a college hockey supporter but only a Gopher hockey fan.
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Then act like a Gopher fan instead of always ripping on the program.
 

For those that flip channels or multi-screen, the MSU BU game is going to be insane hockey from a talent perspective.

15 draft picks on MSU side and 19 on BU side if all are healthy.

BU
11 of 12 forwards drafted
7 of 7 D drafted
Star goalie drafted
 



bonin21 said:
For those that flip channels or multi-screen, the MSU BU game is going to be insane hockey from a talent perspective.

15 draft picks on MSU side and 19 on BU side if all are healthy.

BU
11 of 12 forwards drafted
7 of 7 D drafted
Star goalie drafted
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Needless to say the talent on that ice is unbelievable evident in the first period
 

Mason Moe you just earned a lot of respect

Apparently the game plan is ice the puck? What is that seven times in five minutes?

Great now Moe is hurt. And they score right after.
 
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Gopher game plan
1. Play like shit
2. Score absolutely insane goals out of nowhere
3. Hope to do more of the latter

It's hard to watch this team play hockey
 

bonin21 said:
Gopher game plan
1. Play like shit
2. Score absolutely insane goals out of nowhere
3. Hope to do more of the latter

It's hard to watch this team play hockey
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You realize you’re just talking to yourself tonight right, get help!
 

1-3-1 ties for worst start in last 30 years.

PP is an ugly joke. Again.

Bob not enjoying his farewell tour.

Side note that might have been a top 3 worst reffing I can remember in the last five years.
 

Refs were bad which didn’t help game flow. Looked decent first 2 periods with 2 boneheaded mistakes but an even game. Similar in the 2nd. 3rd was like they were clearly worn down

Refs were bad. Inconsistent in penalties, clearly don’t know what an icing is anymore, and next to no control over the game despite calling 12 penalties. I’d guess und fans would say yeah it’s textbook nchc refs as fans have been pretty consistent their crews are bad
 

Let's count how many times they desparately clear the zone off the boards tonight giving the puck right back to UND. In their own zone they look like B bantams out there half the time.

Still judging but I'm really thinking this team is worse than the worst end of Lucia era teams
 

bonin21 said:
Let's count how many times they desparately clear the zone off the boards tonight giving the puck right back to UND. In their own zone they look like B bantams out there half the time.

Still judging but I'm really thinking this team is worse than the worst end of Lucia era teams
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i feel pretty comfortable saying this team would lose to the 17-18 team.
the 09-10, 10-11 teams probably is closer.

the only hope is this team should get a lot better. If they don't, its a major indictment on Bob standing pat with these guys as many don't look ready right now though its not exactly the kindest way to start the year with BC and UND, but that is Gopher hockey and you need to plan for that so its not an excuse either
 

upnorthkid said:
i feel pretty comfortable saying this team would lose to the 17-18 team.
the 09-10, 10-11 teams probably is closer.

the only hope is this team should get a lot better. If they don't, its a major indictment on Bob standing pat with these guys as many don't look ready right now though its not exactly the kindest way to start the year with BC and UND, but that is Gopher hockey and you need to plan for that so its not an excuse either
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I kind of meant those teams too but good call (I was in school then). This team is worse than those cuz there is just no top end talent. Those teams had Schroeder, Bjugstad, Haula at least and Cepis was like a better version of Mooney just because he was way older coming over. Mooney is nowhere to be found.

We saw Bob standing pat all last year not going to the CHL. Yes we don't have any money but still, this team is horseshit and we all saw it coming.
 

bonin21 said:
I kind of meant those teams too but good call (I was in school then). This team is worse than those cuz there is just no top end talent. Those teams had Schroeder, Bjugstad, Haula at least and Cepis was like a better version of Mooney just because he was way older coming over. Mooney is nowhere to be found.

We saw Bob standing pat all last year not going to the CHL. Yes we don't have any money but still, this team is horseshit and we all saw it coming.
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i won't write a ton, but what you're describing is they had a couple high end talent guys and some upperclassmen who actually were performing (Lamb is non-existent at times and is not an "engine" like this team needs and would be a hell of a lot better if 2 guys like Kurth and Moore would've realized they're not NHL players right now and come back but here we are). Can't say I agree with you on Mooney. He looks good on the puck and has skated down numerous guys in the BC series as well as a couple times last night. The problem is the lack of additional creators. He's set up Zeimer a couple times. The PP they clearly just storm him as they know he's the only creator and the rest of the crew isn't moving the puck fast enough (a good PP would tic tac toe the shit out of that UND PK).

It's a little cheating citing having those guys Haula and Bjugstad both had some pretty big struggles their freshman years though

On those teams you mention, it's kind of weird looking back at those rosters and trying to figure out how the fuck they were so bad with the guys they had on that team and the number of NHL games played (especially some sneaky ones like I never would've imagined Justin Holl would have 400 NHL games under his belt) but is the joy of development trends and team cohesion
 

McLaughlin scratched tonight. Hopefully gives him a reset and we basically play 5 D tonight
 





upnorthkid said:
Yep you’re right. Was not mathing right.
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Also if you check CHN TOI stats know they are often way off. You can check individual games where the sum of the D men time on ice isn't close to a full game even with PP time.
 

bonin21 said:
Also if you check CHN TOI stats know they are often way off. You can check individual games where the sum of the D men time on ice isn't close to a full game even with PP time.
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Yep this was the problem and realized math was off even with them crediting some egregious high games randomly
 

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