Reusse: If Fleck were a hockey coach producing same ratio of BT wins as he has in football, there would not be fan sites with declarations of Fleck

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spermophilus said:
We’re a “blue blood” of hockey - should win more. As I’ve posted elsewhere, the single toughest, gut-punch, loss I’ve endured as a Gopher alum/fan, was the NC loss to Quinnipiac. Not just the loss - the way it happened, and the absolutely, almost obscenely, talent-laden roster we had. Throw in several other big upsets/losses, and acknowledging the back-to-back wins 25 years ago. We should win much more, frankly, and underachieve more so generally, and hurts me to say/opine.

OTOH . . . Our football team exceeds expectations generally, given the gauntlet we play and the relative disadvantage we have recruiting and resources vis-a-vis those others.

Pat has to know this, right?!?!?
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In fairness, Motzko did take a very PJ approach in the 3rd period, with similar results as PJ when he tries it against teams that are not vastly inferior.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
Like many others, my Gophers hockey gut punch loss was the 1989 championship game, at home in the Civic Center, to Harvard (Harvard!). That was another obscenely talented Minnesota team that lost a title it should’ve won.
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#1 heartbreak for sure. I would put 1981 losing to Wisconsin in Duluth with Neal & Aaron Broten as #2.
 


Schnauzer said:
Minnesota produces more NHL hockey talent than any other state, and it isn't close. And the Gophers have the most entrenched hockey program right in the middle of all this talent. To compare hockey to ANY other sport at the U (especially football) is not only apples and oranges, it is apples and hammers. And the sad thing is, Reusse seems to know that when he says "apples and oranges? Maybe." - MAYBE?

None of that means we don't want the football program to succeed greatly. We do! I will always maintain that the football team could win more and even have some Indiana-style seasons. But it is simply undeniable that the UofM football team has performed better under Fleck than any other MN Gopher coach over the past 60 years. His record, both in and out of the B1G speaks for itself.

I get just as frustrated at the "Poor us, the Gophers will NEVER win the B1G" people and the "this is as good as it can get" people as I do with people like Reusse suggesting the program is somehow coasting and under bad leadership. While I don't expect OSU level competition for top 5 rankings EVERY year, I will always maintain that the elephant of returning to national prominence occasionally can be eaten one bite at a time and is possible. I couldn't be a fan if I didn't actually believe that.

I thought Reusse's steady anti-Gopher hatred drumbeat had slowed in recent years. Oh well, I guess not. It is his thing. It's why I quit reading him long ago. I no longer respect or find value in his opinions.
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To be frank, we all know what it takes to take the next step in football, we had a similar year in 2019 that IU had in 2024 and the biggest difference IU clearly made the investments in their coaching staff to keep them from being pick off by helmet schools and obviously made the investments in their NIL as their 2025 season and early portal success shows. Money not everything as Nebraska and FSU will show you but they made the hire, seized the momentum and invested in the program. Grant it in our case NIL wasn't a thing and Covid through a monkey wrench into 2020 and the next few years eligibility wise but we did not invest in our coaching staff in the same way. If we want to do what Indiana did, regardless of who the coach is there needs to be an investment that this program has not shown an ability or willingness to make. I personally think Fleck could do wonders an IU type of budget and I also could be wrong about that too, but I would bet on him over anyone that's coached this program in my lifetime.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
Like many others, my Gophers hockey gut punch loss was the 1989 championship game, at home in the Civic Center, to Harvard (Harvard!). That was another obscenely talented Minnesota team that lost a title it should’ve won.
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We were very good in 89 but that Harvard team had five guys on the 88 Olympic team, they were pretty stacked as well . 81 when Neal Broten shot the puck through the net and it was waived off was the bigger deal. 2014 and 2023 we had the better team as well
 


The Deliberate Stranger said:
We were very good in 89 but that Harvard team had five guys on the 88 Olympic team, they were pretty stacked as well . 81 when Neal Broten shot the puck through the net and it was waived off was the bigger deal. 2014 and 2023 we had the better team as well
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The puck through the net was Aaron Broten, not older brother Neal. Also it was 1980 in the NCAA Quarter Finals against Northern Michigan.

Even with all the talent that left for Lake Placid, they were still really good.
 

spermophilus said:
We’re a “blue blood” of hockey - should win more. As I’ve posted elsewhere, the single toughest, gut-punch, loss I’ve endured as a Gopher alum/fan, was the NC loss to Quinnipiac. Not just the loss - the way it happened, and the absolutely, almost obscenely, talent-laden roster we had. Throw in several other big upsets/losses, and acknowledging the back-to-back wins 25 years ago. We should win much more, frankly, and underachieve more so generally, and hurts me to say/opine.

OTOH . . . Our football team exceeds expectations generally, given the gauntlet we play and the relative disadvantage we have recruiting and resources vis-a-vis those others.

Pat has to know this, right?!?!?
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I mentioned once in the Hockey forum, it's I'm always a bit split on the discussion. On the one hand, I absolutely think the Gophers should compete for more titles as a Blue Blood and the national championship drought has been agonizingly long. It was made all the worse in that talented 2023 team losing the way it did.

At the same time, i think the college hockey tourney is one of the tougher to win, and it's one that gives a lot more chances for smaller programs to compete. In the last 15 years, Yale, Union, Providence, Massachusetts, Quinnipiac and Western Michigan all won titles. That's not as common compared to basketball and football, making it more difficult to compare.

Also, most Blue Bloods and large programs haven’t really won multiple titles since 2000. Wisconsin has 1 (2006), Michigan State has 1 (2007), Boston U has 1 (2009), North Dakota has 1 (2016) and Michigan has none. Minnesota has 2 with their back-to-back wins. The only others with multiple titles are Minnesota Duluth (3), Boston College (4) and Denver (5).
 

His obsession w PJ is crazy. I dont get it. I think PJ has weathered the NIL storm well to get to this portal season where we actually had some monetary advantage of Rev sharing into play now
 

BleedGopher said:
Per Pat:

The older generations of Gophers men’s hockey followers lead the Twin Cities sports market in one area: entitlement.

Or, put it this way: If P.J. Fleck were a hockey coach producing the same ratio of Big Ten wins as he has in football, there would not be fan sites with declarations that P.J. is the finest coach in their lifetimes.

The restless puck faithful would be, instead, pleading for the return of Don Lucia, or perhaps Brad Buetow, now 75 and last reported living in Colorado Springs.

Apples to oranges, you say?

Maybe, but Bob Motzko could only wish the 24 games his hockey team is playing against Big Ten opponents contained as many struggling rivals as Fleck’s nine-game conference schedule this past fall.


Go Gophers!!
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If Patrick Reusse wasn’t a fat, old, dried up drunk he probably wouldn’t write such shitty garbage.
 



MNVCGUY said:
I don't go all in on the Reusse bashing like some but WTF is he even talking about in this article? Not going to pay to read the whole thing but the posted part is really dumb.....like Shooter level dumb.
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Pat's comparison to PJ's on-going support for many seasons of mediocracy was a big reach that missed the mark (he never misses any opportunity to troll on PJ). The article is more a troll of the UMN Hockey fanbase, who constantly complain about Mozko as coach. much of the article details Mozko's ability to bring in talented players who wind up in the NHL, wins a lot (even in the watered down B10), but often fails when in the Frozen 4 (much like his St.Cloud tenure). I'd rate this article as a puff-piece for Mozko, who he likely has a good personal relationship. Much like he does with other local coaches: UST basketball (Tauer), UST Football (Caruso) and anything Johnnies athletics.
 

Ope3 said:
It's a good column about Bob Motzko. 2 paragraphs mention Fleck, the other 29 are all about Motzko.

Also, I think it's a shot at the zealots who bow down to Fleck, not PJ himself.
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I would add trolling those hockey fans who wish to get rid of Mozko
 


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