Gopher Hockey

[BRULEDRIFTER]

I was at Friday's game and thought Patterson fought the puck all night. He had 40 or so saves but at least a dozen of them were on rebounds that in my opinion should have never been there...shots that should have been held cleanly.

On the other hand though it's hard to argue with 40 saves and I didn't see Saturdays game.

[MUSKY18]

Didn't get to see Friday nights game, but Kangas was the same old Kangas on Saturday night. I have been wanting Lucia to sit him for quite a while now. Don't know if he is tired or what, but perhaps sitting him down for a couple of games will clear his head and get his fire back. With weak goaltending, the Gophers arent going anyhwere! He has been getting beat high constantly over the past month or better. Seems like he is committing himself down well before the shooter is releasing the shot. He definately needs a wake up call of some sort.

[redlake]

The gopher coaches should look at how they recruit. Their philosophy is to stay away from Canadian players. Why? 10 of the last 14 UND players to make it to the NHL have been from Canada. Oh, those dirty Canadian players! To recruit north of the border would toughen up and add some talent to a gopher team that lacks in both. But, as they say, we like our Minnesota boys. We take pride in only recruiting our own. Good Minnesota boys.

[PierBridge]

Its nothing non-Gopher fans will EVER understand Red.

Its just so much funner and more rewarding to do it the RIGHT way with Minnesota High-school kids for the most part.

You guys can keep your Canadians and 20 year old Freshmen, thanks but no thanks Red!

Good Points Sidekick. I'm not saying Patterson is the answer right now I think his inexperience could/will hurt us and will probably be the reason Lucia sticks with Kangas in spite of him being a bit off!

Go Gophers!

[so haaad]

I agree with you Redlake. I'd welcome the Canadians to the Gophs. NDak, Denver and Duluth have all found decent players north of the border over the years. I like the "Minnesota kid" Gopher teams of the past, but also I think it's time to start looking more outside of the borders. Lucia started doing it when he came here, but he could do so much more.

[fishingMN4eyes]

I love that the Gophers only recruit Minnesota kids, it's so cool to have all Minnesota kids competing at the highest level year in and year out(for the most part). That's not possible in many other sports. I don;t disagree with it, but at times I do question it. BUT, I don't think having a couple Canadien players would make the Gophers a for sure Natl' Title contender automatically. It seems to me like most of those guys come play college for a year to boost their rep and then they get the heck outta there to go make some money in the nhl. Now I guess that isn't any different than some of the guys that leave college early either, but I think when the Gophers recruit Minnesota kids, there is a pride with wearing the M. For some of them, that makes them stick around college a year or two longer than the others that bolt for the nhl.

[Bear55]

Its pretty hard to pickup a guy from Canada when we have plently of equally talented kids from MN right here. Now if you are talking about the next Towes or someone who going to be drafted in the top ten by all means go after them.

Sometimes we seem to be lacking a certain amount of toughness that the Canadians have and maybe Lucia could sprinkle in a grinder or character guy here or there. A lot of times we have these High School or Jr's All Stars that end up grinding it out on the 4th line which is probably something they aren't use to.

[fishyguy]

I don't think the state lacks the talent to compete but I would say the last few years the Gophers lack the heart and grit it takes to win some of those grind it out games. A few recruits to toughen up the overall roster and bang some guys around to open up space for guys like Schroeder might not be a bad idea regardless of where they are from.

[Wapiti]

Its nothing non-Gopher fans will EVER understand Red.

Its just so much funner and more rewarding to do it the RIGHT way with Minnesota High-school kids for the most part.

You guys can keep your Canadians and 20 year old Freshmen, thanks but no thanks Red!

Good Points Sidekick. I'm not saying Patterson is the answer right now I think his inexperience could/will hurt us and will probably be the reason Lucia sticks with Kangas in spite of him being a bit off!

Go Gophers!

Well said PB!! Non-Gophs fans don't understand it and Gophs fans don't understand how those "other" fans can't understand it!! That's one of the great things about the MN program...it's probably the greatest identity tradition in all of college sports...can't think of another even close right now! I couldn't be fan of a program that had players coming in that I had never heard of before and didn't know where they were from! But to each their own!

[Wapiti]

Sorry about the way my reply looks...for some reason my reply ended up in the same box as what I quoted from PB...I'm an one-who-thinks-I-am-silly!

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

Good Points Sidekick. I'm not saying Patterson is the answer right now I think his inexperience could/will hurt us and will probably be the reason Lucia sticks with Kangas in spite of him being a bit off!

There was a time when Kangas had little or no Experience and brought him in to take over Frazee and man he was Hot...this could do it for Patterson! Wouldn't hurt to try! Give Patterson both starts this weekend and carry on the momementum!

[yakfisher]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the last time the Gophers won a championship they brought in "outside" talent to help do it. I believe Potulny and Vanek aren't exactly Minnesota born and bread. But hey, I guess Grand Forks is close enough. If I wore maroon colored glasses I might try to adopt them too, just to keep the dream alive.

[Wapiti]

I believe you are correct yak...I don't believe however that anyone ever said that they were all MN kids throughout the history of the program! It's great being able to follow a future Gophers high school career before he gets to the U and "almost" always Gophs fans have the opportunity to do so! I wouldn't expect you to understand. Much better IMO, than trying to figure out who that 21 year old freshman is and where they came from year after year! On a side note, what a terrible job of recruiting by the susie staff for letting the Potulny boys and Irmen get away...maybe we wouldn't have to look back so far to find the last sue title if that wasn't the case?? Thanks for bringing that up!

[Bear55]

I'm all for recruiting Minnesota kids as long as the talent is there but to compete every year you can't self impose boundarys or recruiting rules to make fans happy. That is why Woog isn't behind the bench any more. Vanek pretty much carried us to the NC in 03, without him there is no back to back.

Now I also take pride in our Minnesota boys and I'm pretty sure the gophers will always be 90%+ home grown. However 1 or 2 elite players can make a huge impact at this level and I would hate to see us pass on the next Paul Kariya because he was on the wrong side of the line.

[PierBridge]

I always got a chuckle out of the Fans that thought Woog lost his job because he didn't recruit out-state and when Lucia came in he was going to open the flood-gates to outstate/Canadian recruiting.

Go Minnesota!

Also I don't think Lucia has any magic boundaries recruiting wise to appease anyone.

[Bear55]

I never said Woog lost his job because he didn't recruit out of state. He couldn't adapt to recuiting the older JR players that all the other schools were and he was missing on some high end Minnesota players. So when you are not getting the best MN talent and you aren't recruiting out of state its a recipe for disaster.

[PierBridge]

I wasn't referring to you but many others think/thought Lucia was heading str8 to the Border for recruiting purposses....LOL.

Not to nick-pick but I certainly wouldn't call 9 straight years of finishing 1st or 2nd in the best conference in the country and 4 straight final fours a disaster by any means. Woog had basically one bad year was an outstanding coach and a class act to boot!

[fishingMN4eyes]

Too bad the Wooger is crazy now

[Bear55]

I wasn't referring to you but many others think/thought Lucia was heading str8 to the Border for recruiting purposses....LOL.

Not to nick-pick but I certainly wouldn't call 9 straight years of finishing 1st or 2nd in the best conference in the country and 4 straight final fours a disaster by any means. Woog had basically one bad year was an outstanding coach and a class act to boot!

Agreed. I guess its a good thing two average years are considered a disaster by Gopher standards.

[yakfisher]

I'd be great if the U was getting all the top talent in the state, however the list of non-U MN players in the NHL is big. The Gophers might be well served to look at some of these MN kids that have played some USHL they are more mature physically and mentally. You don't want Canadians, fine then work harder to actually have a team made up of the best MN kids. If the players are only gonna be around for two years get some older ones that have matured in the USHL. There is plenty of MN talent going to all the schools in the WCHA. I guess since MN doesn't have a USHL team and you can't follow them after high school it must be off your radar Wapiti.

[PierBridge]

Actually we do recruit both USHL players and from the USA Development team.

I'm still not sure what the heck Ness and Lucia were thinking bringing in a 17 year old High-School senior to play in the WCHA...that was an obvious mistake. Ness really needed some additional ice team to ready himself for the jump to D1 Hockey!

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

I'm still not sure what the heck Ness and Lucia were thinking bringing in a 17 year old High-School senior to play in the WCHA...that was an obvious mistake. Ness really needed some additional ice team to ready himself for the jump to D1 Hockey!

I disagree, Ness is one of the quickest player, and smartest on the ice for the Gophers but he's lacking his strength in the D-Zone...I'd take him over any D-Men on the Gophs, but they need an all around D-Men and I don't see one on the Gophers since Keith Ballard, Mike Crowley, Paul Martin, Alex Goligoski and more. Fairchild really envys me on the PP, he's always shooting in the PK defense. I would have said that Ness should have stayed another year in HS but what I have seen, I'm more than satisfied with Ness.

I say stop bringing in "talented defencemen" and recruit some "Goons" like Joe Finley who will play tough and not worry about their pretty plays.

you don't need to say I'm insane, I already hear it.

[PierBridge]

How dare you call Joe Finely a Goon!...LOL

I know what you mean but we'll see how Nodak does again this Post season before we talk about bringing any goons in here...

[NDSUski]

I have been watching this topic for a while now and really have to though out one name. Stu Bickel. He was major part of our defense and the only physical presence on the team. I really like Ness but just think how much better he would be if he were on the same shift as Bickel. No reason that guy should have left.

[Quackaddict9]

well Bickel ain't here! Got to replace him with a player like him! Yeah no reason for him to leave.

Quote:

How dare you call Joe Finely a Goon!...LOL

you know Pier, I had to say Goon because that's what most Gopher fans think, right??? Except for me, man I like that guy!

I think Sioux and Gophs will play in the Championship game at the Xcel! That would be a game right there!