Shooter says Gophers have a "major communications issue" within program

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This is nothing new with Lucia. For many, many years, guys on the team have complained about this and almost all prefer to play for Mike Guentzel. He's the guy that the players enjoy playing for an feel close to. If we lose him again, it will be really bad. Every off season I fear we'll lose him again, this last one in particular.
 

The issue seems to be that the coaching staff has failed to communicate to defensemen that they aren't supposed to surrender easy goals by making boneheaded plays and getting outmuscled in front of their own goal.
 

El Amin Fan said:
This is nothing new with Lucia. For many, many years, guys on the team have complained about this and almost all prefer to play for Mike Guentzel. He's the guy that the players enjoy playing for an feel close to. If we lose him again, it will be really bad. Every off season I fear we'll lose him again, this last one in particular.
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I don't think it's any coincidence that the team started to rebound once Guentzel came back into the fold a few years ago. Under the guidance of just Lucia and his buddy John Hill, the program was floundering badly and everyone knew it. Essentially, Lucia hired Guentzel to save himself from getting the axe. Now, it appears the issues that surfaced the first time Guentzel left are coming back. There is obviously big big problems in the program right now. Whoever is responsible needs to held accountable and should be shown the door, whether it's certain players or coaches. It's amazing how quickly this season has come apart at the seems. When things like that happen, you know there are huge problems behind the scenes.
 

Shooter says Gophers have a "major communications issue" within program

MRJ said:
I don't think it's any coincidence that the team started to rebound once Guentzel came back into the fold a few years ago. Under the guidance of just Lucia and his buddy John Hill, the program was floundering badly and everyone knew it. Essentially, Lucia hired Guentzel to save himself from getting the axe. Now, it appears the issues that surfaced the first time Guentzel left are coming back. There is obviously big big problems in the program right now. Whoever is responsible needs to held accountable and should be shown the door, whether it's certain players or coaches. It's amazing how quickly this season has come apart at the seems. When things like that happen, you know there are huge problems behind the scenes.
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Agree with all of this.
 


Do we have any more flavor as to what the "major communications issue" is? Even if we assume it is true, we don't know who is involved or what the nature of the issue is. Is it between different coaches? Coaches and the department? Coaches and players?
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Do we have any more flavor as to what the "major communications issue" is? Even if we assume it is true, we don't know who is involved or what the nature of the issue is. Is it between different coaches? Coaches and the department? Coaches and players?
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There's been talk that the players can't stand Lucia, although I'm not sure that's necessarily the reason for this season's collapse. Most of what I've read is that the players haven't liked Lucia for several years. Even then, the team managed to win three-straight conference titles and advance to the Frozen Four twice in the last four years. Why things seem to be coming to a head this season is anyone's best guess. Something is clearly wrong however and I suspect there are big-time issues between either the players, coaches or both.
 

Geeee, players don't like a coach and its likely because he's critical of their horsesh*t play. I'm not sure that's on the coaches. That just might be on the players for not realizing that maybe they should learn to play a team game...
 

Sparlimb said:
Geeee, players don't like a coach and its likely because he's critical of their horsesh*t play. I'm not sure that's on the coaches. That just might be on the players for not realizing that maybe they should learn to play a team game...
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Yeah, I struggle to blame Lucia. He has shown he can win. He had us in two of the last Frozen Fours, and I believe he is one of only two coaches ever to win a national title at the U. I am not a big fan of some of his decisions and style (I think he values offensive contributions from the defensemen enough for him to tolerate some guys who are a big liability in our end, which I don't like), but it is tough to argue with the results over his tenure here.
 



Sparlimb said:
Geeee, players don't like a coach and its likely because he's critical of their horsesh*t play. I'm not sure that's on the coaches. That just might be on the players for not realizing that maybe they should learn to play a team game...
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What makes this equation even more of a head-scratcher is that this is basically the same group of guys that won the Big 10 title and made it to the NCAA title game last year. In other words, they already know Lucia and his style. In fact, most of these guys had already played at least two years with both Lucia and Guentzel as their coaches and did very well. Again, something is clearly wrong. Pinpointing exactly what remains the problem.
 

MRJ said:
What makes this equation even more of a head-scratcher is that this is basically the same group of guys that won the Big 10 title and made it to the NCAA title game last year. In other words, they already know Lucia and his style. In fact, most of these guys had already played at least two years with both Lucia and Guentzel as their coaches and did very well. Again, something is clearly wrong. Pinpointing exactly what remains the problem.
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It seems to me if they hate Lucia so much, all those guys who could have (6 or 7) would have gone pro. So I don't think that's the issue. We could still get hot, make the tournament and win it all. But it needs to start now.
 

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