Gophers @ Michigan State: 12/3/20 &12/4/20

Donate To GopherHole
I

Ignatius L Hoops

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Messages
10,779
Reaction score
3,612
Points
113
www.startribune.com

Gophers men's hockey roster takes a hit but mostly for positive reasons

www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

The positive: Three Gophers defensemen — sophomores Ryan Johnson and Jackson LaCombe and freshman Brock Faber — will play in the Thursday-Friday series at Michigan State but miss the Dec. 8-9 series at Michigan because they will be in training camp with the U.S. junior national team beginning Sunday in Plymouth, Mich.

The negative: Senior forward Brannon McManus suffered a leg injury during the second period of the Nov. 24 game vs. Ohio State and won’t be available for the Michigan State series. Motzko indicated it is uncertain if McManus, the top-line right winger, will play in the series at Michigan.
Click to expand...
 

The Gophers are down to 12 healthy forwards and 7 healthy D for UM series. Just enough to have a full bench.

The series vs Michigan will not be a good indication of anything as Michigan lost five players to the WJC to go along with the three from MN.
 
Last edited:

Would like to see a sweep against Mich St before we lose our guys. Build up as many wins for the PWR as you can as SOS is going to be all over the place so would imagine win % is going to be big
 

upnorthkid said:
Would like to see a sweep against Mich St before we lose our guys. Build up as many wins for the PWR as you can as SOS is going to be all over the place so would imagine win % is going to be big
Click to expand...
PWR is not being used this year.
 




I believe the reasoning is that PWR doesn't make sense with conference only play. It's a little weird that there's no exact plan right now, but I guess we all have to accept that it will be a little flawed due to the unique season.
 

With a basically full squad for MSU, this should be a sweep. I previously thought the three D were gone already. At some point you need to up your expectations and step up. If these guys are for real they'll sweep as contenders like UND, UMD, and DU would expect the same going in.
 




We are seeing uw regress back to their mean. Notre Dame down against ASU. They're not good.

Important note: This is about upside by the end of the year. Teams can likely move up or down one tier.

Tier 1 (would be tournament teams)
UMN
UM

Tier 2 (would be bubble teams)
uw
OSU

Tier 3 (not tournament teams)
MSU
PSU
ND
ASU
 
Last edited:

A nice comfortable 3-1 win.

Go Gophers.
 

Another solid win, led by an excellent defensive performance. A little disappointed in the goal given up by Lafontaine but otherwise not much to complain about. These freshman defensemen are very advanced for their age and Johnson is looking like an elite D man.
 




You could see that Lafontaine was mad at himself at the end of the game. He knew that he had a shutout in hand. To be honest, that was all that I needed to see. A kid that young pushing himself towards perfection is a good sign. He's got the mental side.
 

1994Convert said:
You could see that Lafontaine was mad at himself at the end of the game. He knew that he had a shutout in hand. To be honest, that was all that I needed to see. A kid that young pushing himself towards perfection is a good sign. He's got the mental side.
Click to expand...
Couple of quick thoughts about that...

1... It's a bit troubling to me that I've seen him do this couple of times already this year. He's let in a couple of soft goals against lesser teams but the Gophers have been fortunate enough to get away with it. Will that be the case against legit teams? Hopefully he can shore that up and I'm confident he will.

2...I wonder if it's better for a goalie to have that short memory and just completely forget about it? Probably depends on how he's wired. Does it haunt him for the rest of the game, or does he use it to focus and "tighten up the screws"?

I kind of get the feeling that LaFontaine will be better when there's more consistent pressure applied against him rather than going long stretches between shots. Good news is that if the Gophers are dominating possession, shots, chances, etc., he won't have to be great.
 

UncleSam'sMisguidedChild said:
1... It's a bit troubling to me that I've seen him do this couple of times already this year. He's let in a couple of soft goals against lesser teams but the Gophers have been fortunate enough to get away with it. Will that be the case against legit teams? Hopefully he can shore that up and I'm confident he will.
Click to expand...
He gave up bad goals last year too which is why Moe got so many starts. Unfortunately, goalie is our biggest unknown should we go up against a team like UND.
 



Never noticed before until tonight. At Michigan State they have the teams on opposite sides of the rink. Any disadvantages to that? Off hand I think its a pretty good idea.
 

#2Gopher said:
Never noticed before until tonight. At Michigan State they have the teams on opposite sides of the rink. Any disadvantages to that? Off hand I think its a pretty good idea.
Click to expand...

There are several college rinks with that set up: Notre Dame comes to mind plus some of the eastern teams. I suppose there could be some advantage to the home team built in.

The old Mariucci had benches on opposite sides. It spiced things up in the old "throw some punches" era because a disqualified Gopher would have to walk through or next to the visitor bench to access the locker room tunnel.
 

#2Gopher said:
Never noticed before until tonight. At Michigan State they have the teams on opposite sides of the rink. Any disadvantages to that? Off hand I think its a pretty good idea.
Click to expand...
The advantage is that the home team puts their bench next to the penalty box so that when the guy comes out he can immediately get on the bench
 

Pretty much blew my mind to read that this is the Gophers first 6-0 start since 01-02 when they went 11-0-2 to start the year. Michigan should be tough next weekend, but I'm betting their roster will be gutted for the junior tournament as well. A sweep is very possible, but I doubt anyone would be too disappointed with a split.
 

UncleSam'sMisguidedChild said:
Pretty much blew my mind to read that this is the Gophers first 6-0 start since 01-02 when they went 11-0-2 to start the year. Michigan should be tough next weekend, but I'm betting their roster will be gutted for the junior tournament as well. A sweep is very possible, but I doubt anyone would be too disappointed with a split.
Click to expand...

Games are on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I think I heard Michigan has 5 players gone.
 

Wasn't pretty but they won't all be. Hard to be unhappy about 6-0, even against a soft schedule. Split with Michigan and I'll be thrilled to go into the break at 7-1. It's a shame we can't see MN vs MI with both teams at full strength.
 

MUgopher32 said:
Games are on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I think I heard Michigan has 5 players gone.
Click to expand...
Ah. Thank you. I'm still operating under the assumption that the games are still Fri/Sat. I haven't noticed the strange dates on the schedule yet. Glad you said something or I might have missed it!!
 

Awesome to see them at 6-0. Compared with previous seasons....they look sharp....and FAST!

Oh....and they'll make another move up the polls this week. My SCSU Huskies beat #4 Denver last night 4-3. :)
 

It will be UND #1, BC #2, UMD #3 and UMN #4

I believe there is still a gap between UND/BC and the rest of the field, with UMN closer to UMD than they have been in recent years.
 
Last edited:

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom