Showing posts with label Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey. Show all posts

Sunday, March 13, 2016

BTHC Brackets Are Set: But Will Anyone Watch It?



Question: If a tree falls in the forest, and there's nobody around to hear, does it make a sound?

The conference tourneys are moving on to the Semifinals and the Big Ten will be taking over the Xcel Energy Center. Word has it that tickets sales aren't very good at all. No one is shocked. I can't imagine that too many fans will go out to watch the afternoon game between the PSU Nittany Lions take on the hapless Wisconsin Badgers. Then the night game isn't any more intriguing.

I imagine that the Big Ten Hockey Conference is hoping that the Gophers don't get bounced the first game that they play in.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

My Early Preseason NCAA Men's Hockey Favorite

Ok, I know that the season is still two months away, but I just can't get over how this one ended, and not just for North Dakota either. In general, this past season saw a lot of  parody and I expect this season to be just the same. We saw a team with just one NHL draft pick win it all, a team beat another in .6 seconds to go to the national title game, but lose and lose badly. The end of an era in NCAA Men's Hockey with the end of one conference, and the addition to two new ones. Surprising blow-outs and spectacular overtime thrillers. Most of this could be seen within the North Dakota club alone.

Looking ahead to the season upon us, one must look at who left early, and from where, and who has the best incoming freshman. You have your usual suspects as one might imagine, with Boston College, Minnesota, and North Dakota probably being in the top 10 all season long, barring the typical first half North Dakota funk they always seem to have. Union, the defending national champs, is a team that I don't know what to think about. They proved that if you have a good core of players, and believe in your coach/team, great things can happen.

Michigan looks like they are back on the upswing once again, but their usual Big 10 football rival,
Ohio State, they too look as if they could become a team to look at when it comes to tourney time. The Buckeyes are off of a Big 10 tournament runner-up finish, losing an overtime heartbreaker to Wisconsin.

One also has to wonder about Boston University and if they will crawl back up the rankings again, or if they will stay out of the tournament picture like last season. Only time will tell.

Once again, the NCHC looks to be the powerhouse conference, with the possibility of sending at least five teams to the tournament once again. Miami has their top players returning this season, and are once again among the favorites to win the conference in preseason polls. However, they said that last season too and you saw how that ended up.

Minnesota, the College Hockey News number one team coming into this coming season in their very preseason poll release, looks to gain revenge after their national title game flop against Union. The always tough Golden Gophers
should be in the top five of the rankings for much of, if not the entire season. Being lead by goalie Adam Wilcox, and Kyle Rau, Minnesota is looking for banner number six to hang up in their barn once the season is over.

Finally, a team I know much more about, North Dakota. With three of five incoming freshman being drafted at this years NHL Draft, they return a line-up that has a lot of options.
If you thought last year's freshman class was impressive, wait until you see this one. You have a stud goalie, a first round draft pick, and good core team guys leaving a game day spot hard to come by this year. Between Minnesota and North Dakota this year, you don't find much deeper line-ups in the entire country, and I know UND is looking for revenge after how their, dare I say Cinderella, season ended.

If you asked me to pick a national champion right now, I'd have to flip a coin between North Dakota and Minnesota, but the season is very long and a lot can happen. Ask me this question at the start of the second half and I might have a different answer for you.

Monday, April 07, 2014

My In-House Rivalry

As we get closer and closer to the much anticipated game against the Gophers, I can't help but see all of the chirping going back and forth between the two fan bases over Twitter and other social media sites.

Coming from a split household myself, I get a first hand experience of the rivalry. My dad, who grew up in Minneapolis, and bleeds maroon, is probably the prime target to chirp with me whenever we end up playing Minnesota.

He is always quick to bring up the National Championship game with Neal Broten's game winner, but like the knowledgeable UND fan that I am, I'm usually quick to fire back with the obvious seven is greater than five, or just bring up the Chris Porter wrap around of 2007.

This in house rivalry for me just makes this series that much more special to me. Not only does it make me get into the games that much more, but it also brings my dad and I closer together, even though we wear opposing colors now.

This is just one of those rivalry's that the fan bases could chirp back and forth for days on and still there could be know true winner, especially from the most knowledgeable fans. That's what makes this fun, but always remember, stay classy everyone.
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Monday, September 02, 2013

Gophers Freshman Gabe Guertler arrested for DUI on a Moped

Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey
Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Minnesota Gophers hockey team is going to have to ban Mopeds for their athletes. You can bet, that Gopher head coach Don Lucia didn’t want to deal with this issue to start the season. Our friends to the south, at the NDSU, in the football program, could learn a lesson from the Gophers Hockey program on how to deal with off of the field issues.
Jason Gonzalez, Star TribuneHennepin County public records show that [Gabe] Guertler was arrested early Saturday morning by the University of Minnesota Police Department and charged with drunken driving. He was released later that morning. He is scheduled to make a court appearance on Oct. 11.

He faces up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

A university representative confirmed that Guertler was driving a moped when he was pulled over.

No other details about the incident were immediately available. University police said more details should be available after the holiday weekend


For those that were asking for a link, here’s the links to this story...

Western College Hockey: Minnesota Freshman Gabe Guertler Suspended Following DWI Arrest

CBS Minnesota: Gopher Hockey Player Suspended After DWI

Arrest Nation: University of Minnesota Forward Gabe Guertler Arrested

The College Daily: Freshman University of Minnesota Hockey Player Arrested For DWI

USCHO: Minnesota Suspends Guertler indefinitely: incoming freshman faces DWI charge

Bring me the news: Lucia suspends incoming freshman Guertler indefinitely
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