Gopher mens hockey thread

Anybody know when the season starts? How are they expected to do?

Ranked 7-8th in the country. Currently Tied for second in a pretty loaded Big Ten. Lost their stud starting goalie a couple weeks back when he left for the NHL.
Anything else you would like to know about them?

Missing 3 players at the Olympics.

Big Ten hockey is over rated.

Sure is especially when Michigan had 5 guys drafted first round of the NHL and they are in second place in the Big Ten.
Woof.

Michigan is a bunch of pansies and their coach is a liar. They backed out of playing Western Michigan because their studs were at the World Juniors, citing “health of player protocol” when in reality they were simply afraid of playing the Broncos again, who nearly swept them in November.

I’m more curious how the UND Fighting Hawks are doing.

Are they on TV? Have they moved to Ridder Arena yet so they can look like they have a crowd? Hows that big hockey rivalry with Ohio State doing? Has Bemidji passed them in popularity yet?

Dutchboy wrote:

Are they on TV? Have they moved to Ridder Arena yet so they can look like they have a crowd? Hows that big hockey rivalry with Ohio State doing? Has Bemidji passed them in popularity yet?

Ha! The fifth best D1 program in the state. Thanks Don Lucia for the Big10 move and for running the program into the ground.

AK Guy wrote:

Ha! The fifth best D1 program in the state. Thanks Don Lucia for the Big10 move and for running the program into the ground.

This wasnt Lucia’s fault. They had no choice. If you want to blame anyone it was Alvarez who was behind it. All teams that were in the BigTen for other sports who had hockey programs were forced into it when PennState started their program and the BigTen would have a viable number of teams to qualify for NCAA tourney.

Donny Lucia is doing fine these days I’m sure. He’s the current commissioner of the CCHA.

I’d rank the Goofs as 4th best in the state at the moment. Bemidji and St Thomas would be behind them.

gim wrote:

St Thomas would be behind them.

Speaking of the Tommies, have they won a game yet?

tswoboda wrote:

Speaking of the Tommies, have they won a game yet?

A quick check of their schedule/results show they have 2 wins this season, both over Ferris State.

I think they will be competitive in a few years. That school has money to build a new arena, and if they recruit players from Minnesota, it won’t take long.

If the goofers play and no one is there to see it, do they still remind you of yesteryear? This was from earlier in the year hosting Michigan.

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Ridder Arena is the answer.

This thread is kind of funny.
Lucia had 0 to do with the move.
St Thomas will be one of the top teams in the state soon enough.
They have the money resources and education that will blow Mankato, bemidji and St. Cloud out of the water.
Duluth is a niche market with a niche coach that if he leaves so will the recruits. IMO best college hockey coach in the country. Maybe best amateur coach in the country.
Gophers are making more money now than when they packed the house with the TV contract.
Sorry that you can’t figure out your TV on how to watch. No different than I am sure Dutch trying to find the Wild on TV.
Gopher hockey and the other teams in the state are doing just fine.
It’s not 1985 anymore sorry.

Oh, I can find the Wild. The start times seldom change. Can anybody tell me who & when the Gophers play again?

Friday at 530 Saturday at 5. You should tune into to first place in the big ten Ohio State. Pretty easy. If you can get on IDO surely you can type Gopher hockey.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Friday at 530 Saturday at 5. You should tune into to first place in the big ten Ohio State. Pretty easy. If you can get on IDO surely you can type Gopher hockey.

Why so salty It’s easy for anyone to see the gopher mens program is a shadow of its former self. Maybe not the game play this year but the fans behind them. The move to the big ten lost interest all over the state including North Dakota and Wisconsin. I think Losing all of these key rivalries just turned people away from the gophers for now.

Im a Sioux fan but enjoyed going to the gophers games when it was packed. Nothing better than tying one on in dinky town after the game got over.

Not salty at all. Still enjoy college hockey and Gopher hockey. I am not the one still complaining about a decision made TEN years ago.

gim wrote:

Donny Lucia is doing fine these days I’m sure. He’s the current commissioner of the CCHA.

I’d rank the Goofs as 4th best in the state at the moment. Bemidji and St Thomas would be behind them.

And St Cloud according to the people that rank teams.

Ripjiggen wrote:

And St Cloud according to the people that rank teams.

You’re right, I just checked they are ranked 10.

They’re in 5th place in their own conference and ranked 10 in the country?! Cripes. That must be one tough conference.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Not salty at all. Still enjoy college hockey and Gopher hockey. I am not the one still complaining about a decision made TEN years ago.

Yep & I will be complaining 10 years from now (God willing) they destroyed a sport and rivalries I really enjoyed.

It’s kind of what you do here Dutch.
I mean that in the kindest way.

What’s a gopher? Oh, wait. Isn’t that what you feed BULLDOGS! (Sorry guys. jus couldn’t help myself)
This might be the year Mankato gets past the first round.

With the growth of UMD, St Coud, Mankato, and to a lesser degree Bemidji and St Thomas, the Minnesota program is no longer the premier program in the state, and their recruiting shows it. Make a few more trips to the frozen four and recruiting will improve…………… again.

duh queen wrote:

This might be the year Mankato gets past the first round.

You do realize that Mankato went to the Frozen Four last April, right?

I do agree with you though, the other programs in this state have caught up to and passed Minnesota recently with their success. Minnesota is no longer the “flagship” team they once were. That’s not to say they aren’t any good though. They should fairly easily make the NCAA tournament this year.

gim wrote:

They should fairly easily make the NCAA tournament this year.

Losing their starting goalie to the NHL halfway through the season sure isnt going to help. His replacement has been OK, but not quite to Jack’s level.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Losing their starting goalie to the NHL halfway through the season sure isnt going to help. His replacement has been OK, but not quite to Jack’s level.

Ya that doesn’t help.

There’s absolutely no reason that the Gophers shouldn’t make the NCAA tournament almost every season with the built-in recruiting advantage, facilities, and money they have as a Big 10 school. That occurred for a number of years at the end of Lucia’s tenure and after Motzko took over.

Expecting them to win the conference or make the Frozen Four every season is unrealistic. There is a lot more parity involved in college hockey now than there used to be.

College hockey has changed a ton in the last 20 years. The talent is so spread out. It used to be teams like Boston, Michigan, BC, Minnesota, UND pretty much dominating every year. Now it could literally be anyone.

gim wrote:

Expecting them to win the conference or make the Frozen Four every season is unrealistic.

I think Motzko (who is probably second to Sandelin for college coaches imo) will have them competing for Big10 Championships and Frozen Four runs every year. Maybe not winning/making it, but in the conversation. The real question is if the fanbase ever returns, a ticket at Mariucci for a top ten matchup used to be one of the hottest tickets in town. Now the tickets are almost all corporately owned, and rarely entirely filled. Lou Nanne has talked about this a lot on KFAN, and I’m not sure what they can do to remedy it, but something should be done.