The Wheels are coming off in Mpls
I have to admit that I am enjoying another implosion down in the Twin Cites. Below is a great illustration on how the Gophers last 8 games have gone. Wow, the Gophers are giving up a lot of goals right now and the fan base in Minneapolis is starting to get restless. The Problem is not Alex Kangas it is the road cones on the Gophers defense that is having problems.
Check out some of the comments here and here. So this season we have had the Jersey excuse, the WJC excuse and the coach excuse and I am now seeing the goalie excuse emerge. What I have failed to see mentioned is maybe the opposition is better than the Gophers.
Here's the deal: Since coach Don Lucia skipped his team's trip to North Dakota to get his medical condition checked, the Gophers have given up 36 goals in eight games, lost six times and dropped like a stone from second place in the conference into a tie with St. Cloud for sixth. Worse: That would become seventh if the Huskies won their late game Saturday night at Alaska Anchorage.
Lucia's health is OK. The Gophers' health? Hard to say.
"We've got to make the game fun again," Stoa said. "When you get frustrated, it turns into a grind."
Stoa shook his head when asked if Lucia's illness caused this team to veer off course after starting with a 7-0-4 record and climbing to No. 1 in the national polls on Nov. 21, then holding fairly steady.
"It's an excuse you can throw out there," he said, "but it comes down to going out there and getting your work done. Put pucks in the net. There are always distractions: School, the coach getting sick and all that stuff is just excuses.
Moron of the Week
This poster right here qualifies as the moron of the week. Check out the same tired logic Sioux fans have suffered through over the years. Just for the record the Minnesota squad he refers to is 3rd nationally in penalty minutes while the Sioux are 12th over all.
sooperthanksfora sking said: The obvious point is that the Gophers, as usual are not physical enough. It's time to offer scholarships to more than just the top three or four offensive defenseman from every graduating class. There are guys out there that can skate, and knock guys on their butts. I am a huge fan of coach Lucia, but it's time for him to adapt a little bit to what the rest of the league is doing to his team. I'm not talking obout turning the Gophers into a bunch of classless clowns like fighting siouxage, but rather finding a balance between the skilled players that they can get at will, and some guys that will come in here and stick up for those guys, and keep the goons from other teams off of their goalie.
I don't trust this Mankato bunch for one second. It's like Eddie Haskell times three.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the Gophers play at all so have no idea what their problem is, but I have watched a lot of defending MIAC champ Hamline and can make an assessment of their current free fall. No.1, three goal tenders, none of whom can stop a beach ball, No 2. Active, big, mobile defensemen with offense on their mind that pinch too much and give up too many break-aways No.3 An ineffective transition game that gives up odd man rushes.
ReplyDeleteI know you guys don't care about the minors of college hockey but it's interesting. Hamline, for instance has as good a team as they're going to get, They can't recruit better players because better players are going to go to division one. That means the difference, at this level, has to be coaching.