Rethinking Lucia

As the Gopher mens hockey team continues to slide towards the abyss of the WCHA I was beginning to think Lucia needed to go.

Then came word of Maturi’s new football coach. Jerry Kill? Seriously? He was the best you could find? Northern Illinois?

Don’t get me wrong. He maybe a great coach. I hope he is. But this is the 15th biggest TV market in the country and we settle for a coach nobody outside of Illinois has heard of?

Hey Maturi …………just retire and I’ll wait for the next guy to hire Lucia’s replacement. I’m afraid you would hire the hockey coach from Miami Florida.

I have to agree with you on this one. If Minnesota is ever going to get off the mat, the first thing they need to do is get rid of Maturi. He’s saying all the same things about this D-2 guy he hired that he said about Wack…er….Brewster. Almost word for word. How did he manage to hire Tubby?

Rootski

Sorry to say, but the 17-19 year old kids that Lucia has been flooding the ice with over the past few years cannot compete against 20-22 year old freshman that have had the time to mature and grow in the Junior ranks.

Lucia needs to stop recuiting premier players and placing them on the ice immediately, only to lose them in a couple of years to the NHL farm system.

Lucia should start following the recruitment process of teams like UND, Denver, BC, and recruit potentially star players who still need time to improve their game in. Until this happens, we will consistently see our bright young starts leave the U after just a few seasons, and shine in the pro ranks instead..

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Sorry to say, but the 17-19 year old kids that Lucia has been flooding the ice with over the past few years cannot compete against 20-22 year old freshman that have had the time to mature and grow in the Junior ranks.

Lucia needs to stop recuiting premier players and placing them on the ice immediately, only to lose them in a couple of years to the NHL farm system.

Lucia should start following the recruitment process of teams like UND, Denver, BC, and recruit potentially star players who still need time to improve their game in. Until this happens, we will consistently see our bright young starts leave the U after just a few seasons, and shine in the pro ranks instead..

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In theory you are right.

Fact is though they are losing more every year Lucia has been here. There are no titles, there are no star players to be seen around here.

Something is missing here. Could it be the coaches he has let go?

I’m still not sold that Lucia has to go, but I for sure don’t want to see him go until Maturi is gone.

The Gopher hockey team has been very frustrating this season. One weekend its because guys are sick or injured, another weekend poor goaltending, another game the defense is terrible, or we can’t score any goals. It would be nice to see the Gophers put together a team that plays together for a few years.

We need more guys like Blake Wheeler who are very talented to start, play a year of Juniors, and then come to the Gopher for 4 years before starting their NHL career.

Go to Canada and get dominate players.

No reason the Gophers can’t score 5+ goals every game. Go get the players, I don’t care where they come from.

I really don’t think Lucia is necessarily the problem, he did bring National championships here back to back not that long ago….2002 and 2003. There are a lot of hockey powerhouses that haven’t won a national championship in longer ago than that. ND(7 titles) hasn’t won since 2000, Michigan(9 titles) hasn’t won since 1998.

Not sure it is time to panic yet but it is definitely frustrating watching what, on paper, should be a good team have the struggles they are having.

The gophs only have 4 guys that don’t appear to have any Juniors experience, Alt, Bjugstad, Holl and Gardiner.
I have no issues with the way Alt and Bjugstad are playing and Holl and Gardiner aren’t getting regular shifts unless guys are sick or hurt.

Should be interesting this weekend against UMD since they are doing so well, I just hope it isn’t a slaughter.

Let me ask it this way………..

If there was a all Minnesota tournament tomorrow who would win?

Duluth
Bemidji
Mankato State
St. Cloud
Gophers

I’m thinking the Gophers finish 4th at best.

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Go to Canada and get dominate players.

No reason the Gophers can’t score 5+ goals every game. Go get the players, I don’t care where they come from.

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I totally agree with starting to recruit the Canadians. Although it is always nice seeing almost all home grown talent on the ice for the U, but because of this, we lose some in coming talent that we could be getting from the land up north.

The most frustrating thing is the inconsistency of play which can be both players and coaches fault in getting prepared to play…

This year….it definitely wouldn’t be the Gophs. I would put UMD at the top of the heap.
The last couple years have been tough for the gophs no doubt. Lucia did great at Colorado, came here and won 2 national championships, something Woog couldn’t do with some VERY talented teams. Last year he was battling that illness and was away from the game a good chunk of the season and this year they are struggling but I don’t think we write Lucia off just yet.
As for recruiting that is a tough situation, if they go out and get the best players…Vanek, Kessel, Okposo, Wheeler, Leddy, Ryan Potulny, Eric Johnson, Shroeder etc etc and then they just leave early. So what are the coaches supposed to do. I think the group they have now will probably stick around and that is what it takes to have a team.

I think the biggest issue right now is they have guys that aren’t playing to their potential, Lucia is not afraid to bench guys if they don’t perform and he has, not sure what else a coach can do, he can’t make them play when they are on the ice. Sadly enough Cepis is probably the hardest working player on the team, even Bariball doesn’t play with the go go go mentality of Cepis, if they all played that hard it would look a lot different than it does this year.
I have loved Gopher hockey for years and it is a bummer to see them struggle but that builds character in the young players and teams across D1 hockey have up and down years.
They will get things back on track.

With all that said…
If they do fire Lucia, I think the replacement is obvious….Dean Blaise, his contract with Nebraska allows him to leave if the Gophs offer him a job.
I think they are both great coaches and I wouldn’t be upset at all to see Blaise behind the bench…IF the decision is made to get rid of Lucia.

I agree with a lot of your assessment. In fact I believed the “going pro” theory at one time to.

Here is my problem with it…………North Dakota, Wisconsin, Duluth all send nearly as many players on to the pro’s. Yet it seems they just reload year after year.

Lucia sent Guntzel and Motzko packing. I don’t think they have ever recovered from that.

This will be Lucia’s last year to get it done. If he fails again this year and starts slow again next year he will be gone.

Blaise I’m sure will be the front runner if he is interested.

You know what I would like to see….these guys that leave early have to pay back their own scholarships and fund another one with their fat signing bonus checks that lure them away from college. I know it will never happen but it would be nice to see.

You go to any games Brian?? My wife and I get to a few now and then. We were at the Michigan State game and are thinkin about getting tickets for one of the games this weekend even though UMD may have their way with the Gophs.

Past years my brother has gotten us tickets. I went to quite a few games when Vanek was here.

Last year I had 2 season tickets to St.Cloud State. Didn’t re-up and haven’t been to any games yet this year.

College hockey is the best sport by far to attend a game in person. Mariucci just isn’t what it use to be. Not much of a home ice advantage anymore.

I will loyally follow the Gophers but I also call a spade a spade and Donnie needs to step up.