BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 62,431
- Reaction score
- 19,283
- Points
- 113
per Borzi:
Late last month, Minnesota’s most obnoxious and self-righteous fan base finally got what it wanted: University of Minnesota men’s hockey coach Don Lucia stepped down after 19 seasons.
It shouldn’t have surprised anyone that Lucia, approaching 60 and graying faster than a second-term U.S. president, had had enough. Coaching Gopher hockey is the toughest sports job in the Twin Cities, tougher than any pro job, burdened as it is by the unreasonable demands of highly knowledgeable alumni and fans who act like it’s still 1979.
Gopher fans expect a national championship every year. On its face, that isn’t a bad thing. It’s actually refreshing in a state with a long-standing inferiority complex, in men’s sports and pretty much everything else. Vikings fans are used to disappointment. Twins fans long ago lowered their expectations to warm summer nights, an occasional playoff berth and memories of Jack Morris in the 1991 World Series. Wild fans await their team’s annual first-round collapse, and Timberwolves fans … well, at least they finally have a postseason to cheer about.
Hockey, though, is unique, the one area where Minnesotans can proudly claim superiority and back it up. And that’s why Gopher men’s hockey matters, even to non-puckheads. Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle is not wrong when he says, “I tell people all the time, this program in a lot of ways is the heartbeat of the state.”
Minnesota turns out more youth and collegiate hockey players — male and female — than any other state. Lots of NHLers, too. The boys high school tournament pulls crowds of 19,000 at the Xcel Energy Center; that doesn’t happen anywhere else. Minnesota produced the iconic coach and almost half the roster for the 1980 Olympic Miracle on Ice team, plus many key players on the only other U.S. Olympic gold medal squad from 1960. And it boasts the recently-crowned NCAA men’s champions: Minnesota … uh, Duluth.
And that’s the problem.
https://www.minnpost.com/sports/201...minnesota-and-why-it-may-never-again-be-what-
Go Gophers!!
Late last month, Minnesota’s most obnoxious and self-righteous fan base finally got what it wanted: University of Minnesota men’s hockey coach Don Lucia stepped down after 19 seasons.
It shouldn’t have surprised anyone that Lucia, approaching 60 and graying faster than a second-term U.S. president, had had enough. Coaching Gopher hockey is the toughest sports job in the Twin Cities, tougher than any pro job, burdened as it is by the unreasonable demands of highly knowledgeable alumni and fans who act like it’s still 1979.
Gopher fans expect a national championship every year. On its face, that isn’t a bad thing. It’s actually refreshing in a state with a long-standing inferiority complex, in men’s sports and pretty much everything else. Vikings fans are used to disappointment. Twins fans long ago lowered their expectations to warm summer nights, an occasional playoff berth and memories of Jack Morris in the 1991 World Series. Wild fans await their team’s annual first-round collapse, and Timberwolves fans … well, at least they finally have a postseason to cheer about.
Hockey, though, is unique, the one area where Minnesotans can proudly claim superiority and back it up. And that’s why Gopher men’s hockey matters, even to non-puckheads. Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle is not wrong when he says, “I tell people all the time, this program in a lot of ways is the heartbeat of the state.”
Minnesota turns out more youth and collegiate hockey players — male and female — than any other state. Lots of NHLers, too. The boys high school tournament pulls crowds of 19,000 at the Xcel Energy Center; that doesn’t happen anywhere else. Minnesota produced the iconic coach and almost half the roster for the 1980 Olympic Miracle on Ice team, plus many key players on the only other U.S. Olympic gold medal squad from 1960. And it boasts the recently-crowned NCAA men’s champions: Minnesota … uh, Duluth.
And that’s the problem.
https://www.minnpost.com/sports/201...minnesota-and-why-it-may-never-again-be-what-
Go Gophers!!
