If you were the Coach (Lucia)......

elliott70 · Post by **elliott70** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:50 pm

At 7 & 5 and a middle of the pack WCHA record what would you do if you were given Don Lucia's ear?

(I am not ciriticizing the GR native, but when we expect the Gophers to be near perfect and not just a little above average we start to be ARMCHAIR QBs.)

theref · Post by **theref** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:21 pm

I guess my first suggestion would be more starts for Kangas. I've never been impressed by Frazee and I think with every game, he just shows me why. He didn't have a difficult game in the 3-0 shutout and the next game he got shelled. Also, whatever coaches do to work on maintaining a lead in the third period. I'm not a coach though, so I guess I can't give too much of an insight.

nikebauer_07 · Post by **nikebauer_07** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:04 pm

Agreed about Frazee.. He is so inconsistent, give Kangas a shot and maybe that will put some pressure on Frazee to start playing like he can, and if he can't, maybe it's time to give Kangas more playing time so he can be the goalie in the coming years..

breakout · Post by **breakout** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:54 pm

nikebauer_07 wrote:Agreed about Frazee.. He is so inconsistent, give Kangas a shot and maybe that will put some pressure on Frazee to start playing like he can, and if he can't, maybe it's time to give Kangas more playing time so he can be the goalie in the coming years..

Kangas may be an answer. Better TEAM D play would help. Also, we are missing three good forwards due to injury.................that makes a difference.

Things can turn around. UND got off to bad starts the last two years. Even with bad starts, they made it to the Frozen Four.

nikebauer_07 · Post by **nikebauer_07** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 6:13 pm

Agreed.. once Fairchild and Bickel gain some experience I think they will be fine. I'd rather have them struggling earlier in the year and picking up momentum when March rolls around.

dangla. · Post by **dangla.** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:41 pm

theref wrote:I guess my first suggestion would be more starts for Kangas. I've never been impressed by Frazee and I think with every game, he just shows me why. He didn't have a difficult game in the 3-0 shutout and the next game he got shelled. Also, whatever coaches do to work on maintaining a lead in the third period. I'm not a coach though, so I guess I can't give too much of an insight.

thank you

newsguy35 · Post by **newsguy35** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:11 am

Kangas is the future for the Gophs but they cannot shell him. Frazee is more than capable of playing in certain games and should play the weaker opponents (ie Wayne State, etc). Where is the leadership on the team? Look at the years when they were the top notch team and who the captains were. Leopold, J. Pohl, etc were tremendous leaders and skilled athletes all the way through the program. Now the gophs are getting kids before they learn what team play is and before they are fully developed and ready. Blake Wheeler does not have the numbers J. Pohl had and was expected to be this all-world scorer. Now the gophers and the rest of the NCAA D1 is seeing that he is only clutch in certain situations (against UND last year for an example). Patience will get him through this year. the gophs are very very inexperienced and with that you take lumps. Lets hope it only takes a half a year to get over the lumps.

My dad calls it the youth treatment or youth movement. You take your butt-kickings/lack of wins and live for the next day because once those kids are grown up and developed, this team could be very very dangerous. Of course that only works if they stay around for 3 or 4 years which most likely wont happen.

LetsPlayHockey22 · Post by **LetsPlayHockey22** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 4:34 pm

I dont want to insult the highly skilled forwards that the Goph's have...but I think they need to get less goal-scoring pretty boy forwards, and get skilled guys that will grind it out and mix things up. They get these goal scorers that leave after a year or 2. Ben Gordon is a perfect example, hes not a huge goal scorer, but last year stepped up as a big contributer and so far is contributing this season as well.