Minnesota Gopher Hockey

[buzzsaw]

As a loyal Gopher hockey backer I figured there must be some other people interested in talking about the upcoming season, prognostications, incoming recruits and how disappointed we are for the Sioux to lose the three most important Minnesotan's in there organization.... Parise, Bochenski and Coach Blais. I bet they still make it to the championship game this year. Hakstol will have that first season magic working for him... or not.

[Rolly22]

Sure we can talk about Bulldog hockey if you want to. What was the head to head record last year? (I know it was a rarity and I couldn't resist the temptation.)

[buzzsaw]

SWEET!! A bulldog fan!! I was routing for you guys after you boy Reichmuth stoned us in the NCAA's! If not for him we would have moved on past you guys... coulda, shoulda, woulda right?! The question is... how will the WCHA look this year? No Lessard, Ballard, Parise, Blaise and possibly Bochenski? I say lookout for Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Denver... UMD fourth place.
What are your thoughts?
P.S. That's if we don't lose Vanek the talented sandbagger

[buzzsaw]

one more thing.. the only Gopher game I got to actually go to was when we put the spanking on you guys at the Excel center in the WCHA final five!! That was fun... but followed by disappointment in not winning a third str8 National title. Oh well the banner's and pictures still look good in my basement.

[Rolly22]

It definately is shaping up to be an interesting season. I think it will be like the old days again with UMD, UND, and Minnesota at the top. All teams have lost some key players but have the depth to make up for it. I played at UMD from 88-93, but unlike other 'dogs fans if we can't win I'd like to see the Goph's do it. I have some pretty good friends that are ex-gophers and root with them if they aren't playing the Bulldogs. Yeah, I hear ya, a banner or two would be nice.

[Badgerfish25]

Timeout... First and foremost, the WCHA is the premier college hockey conference in the nation. Not the CCHA and definitely not Hockey East.
Second of all, why do people constantly favor UND, UMD, and UM. I am a die hard Wisconsin fan and it frustrates me when people don't give recognition to UW and some of the other competitive teams such as Denver and CC. Why is that? UW, CC, and Denver are also great teams but why don't they receive the recognition? What about Anchorage? They got hot at the end of the year. Can UMD win the big games? And why can't the Gophers go deep in the playoffs year after year? (Let's not go back to the repeat years either) The Gophers have the top players in the country and they can't seem to put together a full season. What gives?

[30 inch eyes]

the gophers couldn't go deep because when they had Woog as a coach, he would only have 18 year old freshmen, not these 20-21 year old freshmen we and the rest of the league have now. it's about time we got a coach to recruite older players(thanks Don!) now they are starting to go deep. we didn't win last year because we were a little weak in goal, look out this year and the next few! UW would have had a lot better season if they wouldn't have lost the players they did. If I remember correctly Denver won the national title (way to go WCHA, AGAIN!) CC was supposed to get a player from my town but he decided to go to the Dodgers instead, (he's doing great in baseball also) i think he would have made an impact for CC though (Oh well, you win some you lose some)can't wait for the season to start

[IFallsRon]

Look for Ben Gordon from the Falls to contribute. His high school numbers were great and he had an OK season last year in the USHL.

[This message has been edited by IFallsRon (edited 08-02-2004).]

[buzzsaw]

Badgerfish: Hello! I am the guy that started this thread and you'll see that the first team I mentioned "to look out for was Wisconsin" I see who they are bringing back and I recognize the talent they have to compete... I'm not a fan of there stle of defensive play but hey play to your strengths. As far as why Minnesoata has not gone far in the post season in th recent past ?? except for the back to back?? I'd have to somewhat agree with what 30 inch eyes said.... but really I'm not ever in the mood for making excuses on why a team didn't do better or go farther... thats like me asking you why did the Packers lose in the palyoffs again to an inferior team?? why why?? The reason the Gophers lost to Duluth in the NCAA's last year was simply because Reichmuth stood on his head and stoned the Gophers... we outplayed them in the second and third period by a good margin... we just couldn't bury the biscuit. Full credit to them!! They withstood our best and unfortunately lost to Denver. Like I said, I think you'll see Wisconsin in the top three along with Minnesota and ND. UMD and Denver will fill out the top five for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
St. Cloud could finish second to last this year! Make that WILL finish seond to last!

[Rolly22]

Badgerfish
No offense to the Badgers, but I think everyone has their favorites. And if you aren't from Wisconsin, Madison in particular, or if you don't have some tie to UW, then most hate the Badgers. My reason, I played for the Bulldogs, we did OK against the Badgers when I was playing, but going to DCC and dealing with the ***** fans and the cockiness of that campus makes you not like the Badgers. I think if you really look at the upcoming season, anyone has a ligit chance at home ice for the playoffs. Its going to be an exciting season. Go 'Dogs.

[Badgerfish25]

One thing is for sure, no one in this chat cares for St. Cloud...

Woog did screw things up for the U by only selecting 18-19 kids with no hockey experience beyong high school. I guess I'm still confused as to why he couldn't mold those players after a year or two to be one of the top teams in the nation year after year. Then look at Denver and CC who would take the "older freshmen" and not do anything with them. UMD had really gotten screwed by the U and their reciuting abilities.

Wisconsin does have a chance with returning the team leading scorer and defensive leading scorer. Robbie Earl has shown unrefined abilities to score and set up plays and Bruckler, if he gets it together, can be hot in the net. Jake Dowel should be back to full strength as well. But all things aside, the WCHA is going to be at least a 4-5 team race to the top ... Go Big Red!

[buzzsaw]

I'd agree with your last sentence, How would you "guess" they will finish? We can look back at the end of the year and see how our forecasting skills turned out.

I'll start: 1.Wis. 2.CC 3.MN 4.ND 5.Denver

(It's not were you finish but were you end up)!6.who care's, your on the road!!

[Rolly22]

1.MN (I hate to do it)
2.UND
3.St. Cloud
4.UMD
5.Wisconsin

[Badgerfish25]

Here's my top 5...

1. UMD (Darkhorse of the year...)
2. U of M (Who steps up?)
3. Wisconsin (Return a good core of talent)
4. UND (Can't w/o Parise & Bochenski)
5. Alaska-Anchorage (Sneaky, Sneaky...)

It's anybody's game and I think if UMD can start out well and stay consistent, they could win it... could... Gophers should be late season finishers again... should... Wisconsin will probably have a chance and lose it away... again... UND has lost its Czar in Blaise(sp?)and young guns... Seawolves are a long shot...GO BIG RED!!!

[This message has been edited by Badgerfish25 (edited 08-05-2004).]

[buzzsaw]

You guys didn't mention Denver??? HMMMMM I must respectfully disagree with the St. Cloud pick, but they did start off last year very strong so maybe I'll end up choking on my words.... that happens once in a while! I like the AA pick... but I think they lost there best player Curtis Glencross to Aneheim.

[buzzsaw]

I like your predictions Hockey guy! It looks like we'll have this thread open til next spring! Hopefully more College Hockey guys can join in the chatter... so far nobody has come in with the blinders on, everybody here seems level headed and optimistic. That might change when the season gets going...

[Hockey Guy]

Can I get in on this? I think there is a larger group of contenders than you guys are willing to admit! There are a bunch of good players (most from Minnesota by the way) scattered throughout the nation and the WCHA. All the schools are recruiting from Jr. Hockey now so that levels the field more than ever before.

We all know that when the talent pool is leveled, the only other two things that matter are goalies, first and foremost, and coaching.

I went to St. Cloud State and one thing I learned is that Craig Dahl is a good practice/preparation coach but the worst game coach to ever keep his job for more than 2 years. From '88 - present, no team has lost more big leads in the third period than St. Cloud. He goes into a defensive shell instead of continuing to do what got them the lead in the first place. Hence the shooting gallery his goalies go through.

I think NoDak is done without Blaise. Thank God for Donny at Minnesota. He was an answered prayer after watching Woog pretty much take all the Pride out of the "Pride on Ice". As long as Don is there, I will always pick the Goph's to finish in the top 5.

Don't count out Mankato either! I think they are going to surprise some people this year. I haven't looked at who is leaving their respective teams yet, but from how they finished last year, I would pick:

1. Gophers (Great Recruits)
2. UMD (too close last year to let that go)
3. Denver (should be #1 but I expect a let down)
4. Wisconsin (although it KILLS me)
5. Alaska
6. Mankato
7. CC
8. NoDak
9. Michigan Something or other

I have to wait until closer to the season to see who stays, leaves, and comes in before I can make my final predictions.

------------------

[Hockey Guy]

By the way, I'm not recognizing St. Cloud this year!!!!!

------------------

[Jill]

HockeyGuy - I respect your vast knowledge of the sport of hockey, but your disrespect for St. Cloud drives me nuts! Mark my words -- if and when St. Cloud has a decent season, you better not jump on the bandwagon, because I will push you off!

Signed,
HockeyGuy's wife and a husky fan who is not ready to throw in the towel.

[This message has been edited by Jill (edited 08-06-2004).]

[Rolly22]

Wow, husband and wife disagreeing? I've never heard of such a thing.

[Mister Twister]

Can't believe this site is hooked up with fishing, the perfect double-header in my opinion. I'm a transplant gopher fan (hooked since the days of Brooks)and it gets a little tough up here in Duluth. The bulldog fan-wagon is filling up so fast I have gopher faithful friends begining to question their loyalty. It's going to be fun monitoring thesw upcoming insights.

[buzzsaw]

Hockeyguy, I like your wife!! She sounds feisty and thats as far as I'm going to go. ( :

[Hockey Guy]

She is a die-hard; I'll give her that. See I was a huge Gopher fan growing up in Rochester. Everyone wanted to play for the Gopher's! I started to stray after I saw Woog running the program into the ground.

I was up in St. Cloud at the time so I started to really root for the Huskies. They were tough to cheer for with Dahl trying his hardest to blow every lead in the third period. But, the games up there are a blast! I still think that it is the best place to see a game in the WCHA.

I told all my friends that I wouldn't be a full Gopher backer again until they got rid of Woog and hired a real coach (I wanted Lucia or Blaise). My friends that played for Woog didn't like him as a coach either. They said every practice was like a tryout instead of working on things they needed to work on for the team to improve. Anyhow, after Lucia took the job I came back to the Gophers and she won't forgive me for it.

I would still like to see St. Cloud do well but I'm a REALIST!! It's simple mathematics D+SC=NNT (Dahl + St. Cloud = No National Title). The sooner she realizes that, the less stressful her life will be! At least we are both Wild Fans!

[buzzsaw]

Whats your name? That is if you want to say... who do you know that played for the Gophers? I've got a good friend that still plays in leagues with some of the past Gophers and occasionally with current gophers... not to mention my friend Joe Erickson used to go to SCSU and do the play by play on radio and I'm certain if you played there he would know you. He dislikes Dahl as much as you!

[Hockey Guy]

I didn't play for SCSU. I just went to school there. My wife can tell you that my life pretty much revolves around hockey and fishing, but I never made it past Jr. hockey.

My friends that played for Woog are Doug Zmolek and Eric Means. I have other friends from HS that played D1. Mike Curry (Notre Dame), Jeff Kruesel (SCSU), Shjon Podien (UMD), and Mike Aitkens (CC). I currently play with Sean Reddington (CC) and occasionally Pat Madigan (Providence).