Kangas

[MUSKY18]

I think it is about time for Donny to bench Kangas. He is giving up some pretty soft goals and every team in the nation has him figured out. He goes down early, they shoot high.....GOAL! Bout time to see what other talent the Gophers have in the goaltending ranks.

[Quackaddict9]

I don't know Bret...I agree Kangas has not been solid and letting in a few soft goals but I have to blame some on the Defence in front of the net and some shooters for the Gophers like one who couldn't make an accurate backhand shot on a open net which may have been a tough angle but he (Hansen) should have got that one.

I would think Schroeds and Cepis would get some more scoring punch in...but haven't seen much of that. Lots of scoring chances all weekend and hopefully they can do that next series only to put the puck in the net more!

Back on topic- Give Patterson a two-game series start and see what happens.

[DHanson]

Kangas is not a very solid goalie. Either way, the goofs only scored 4 goals in 2 games. You usually have to score more than 2 goals a game to get a W. SCSU is the better team this year and it showed. I was at the game Friday night, good time.

[cbrooks]

I thought he give up alot rebounds on Saturday. He didn't look as sharp as he did the week before. It couldn't hurt to give Patterson a start.

[scsavre]

I think it is about time to get rid of lucia and go for Dean Blais.

[so haaad]

This year's team is coming up short in many areas. Goaltending and scoring are near the top of the list, but it's tough to point fingers at just one thing. I say give Patterson the Friday start to mix things up a little.

[Quackaddict9]

I think it is about time to get rid of lucia and go for Dean Blais.

I think Blais will wanna help build his team out in Nebraska-Omaha in the WCHA starting next season instead!

[scsavre]

I dont know, Blais is a gopher and a Minnesotan, this is where he originally wanted to be including when he was our assistant. His assistant in Neb, Hastings might just be positioning himself to finally get that job that he has wanted for so long.

Lucia can leave and say it was medical. It works perfect for us.

Honestly look up Lucia's record, he has come up short every year. He won 2 titles, yes but his seniors were Woogers (who has lost his mind).; either way this isnt acceptable, he is still getting the best players, they just arent developing. Its gotta be a coaching problem. How do we not have a guy in the top 50 in points.

[cbrooks]

If Dean ends in Minnesota, which I agree will happen sometime, he will recruit players from all over North America not just in Minnesota which has been the tradition.

I hope he does end up in Minnesota and makes them competive again. College hockey is at its best when Mineesota is a contender whether your for them or against them.

[scsavre]

I love the tradition, we can easily win with just MN kids. The problem is they are not developing under our coaching staff. I think Blais would bring in some out of staters, which is fine. I also think he could get some of these MN guys that are going to other schools. We just need to develop these young players into better players. Look at our roster, what the heck happened to Carmen, Hoefel, and White, these guys were suppose to be the best of the best. These guys have actually gotten worse.

[cbrooks]

Yeah you got a point that don's not developing his players.

It wasn't that long ago that Don had back to back championship season(I think 02 and 03). He had Danny Irmen, Poltuny bros, Kris Chunko, Kellen Briggs and Thomas Vanek none of those guys were from Minnesota. He had Minnesota top talent as well. There is too many colleges competing in the state for these kids.

No question where the top talent comes from in the states but Minnesota has a good chance of getting some of the best talent north of the border. You should see the kid that UND just landed from Edmonton. Sounds like he'll go number 1 in next years draft and the only colleges after him was UND, Denver and Nortre Dame.

I also think its pretty cool that Minnesota tries to keep it all local but there selling there program short IMO.

[Quackaddict9]

Grand Forks and Fargo is considered almost Minnesota to me! These teams play a few good teams from MN in HS hockey.

Cbrooks- Actually... Irmen, G.Potulny and Vanek won a National Title while R.Potulny, Briggs, Chucko never won a title, But had great teams through their years at the U.

You're right on MN college teams becoming competitive on recruiting and their programs are strong too. Is this why they call MN the state of hockey?

[&JAG]

I think it is about time to get rid of lucia and go http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubb...d/1264974641for Dean Blais.

If he comes to the Gophers... I will become a fan. Go SOUIX and SCSU!!

[scsavre]

Now the gophs loose to alaska. A change is a coming, i hope.

I hope there is a few alumni reaching out to blais.

Yah those eastern north dakotans are pretty close. They play the MN teams.

I am not real worried about the players. We loose a few, but we still get the top talent. I think if we had a different coach the players we have would have developed into stars, or at least turned back into stars. When we signed these guys they were the best. Now they are not.

I am going to keep a close eye on our freshman Birkholtz. That kid has some awesome awesome skill. Fast as can be, big, tough and a great shot. He should definitely turn into a college star. We will see if Lucia can do it.

[Quackaddict9]

Well a good thing we can look forward to next year is Budish being our goal scorer...coming off a 5 point weekend and I know its Alaska but I'd take that. Maybe Barriball too if he decides to come back.

[scsavre]

Yah, buddish is looking pretty good. I wasnt sure if he would turn out or not. We will see. I think i could get points playing with Cepis and shreoder though. Cepis looks to be the guy trying the hardest out there. He is a good player. It would be nice to have Barribal out there with him. At least we would have 2 hard working playmakers then.

I guess we will see how we do against Denver. We need to win 75% of our games to even make playoffs right now.