Moorhead

[CitiesSpudsGuy]

With an 8-7-3 record as of today and about 2/3 of the way through their schedule, I've had a few questions about this year's Spuds team bouncing around in my head for a couple of days.

I've only seen 2 of their games early in the season (vs. WBL and Buffalo), so I can't give an opinion as to why the team is down this year. Longtime assistant coach, Terry Shercliffe, retired before this season. Did his retirement have a huge impact on the team? Morinville has said that this team doesn't have that "killer instinct". This seems to be true when you consider they had leads in the 3rd period of a couple of games and ended up tying both games (Eden Prairie & Brainerd).

Is it a lack of chemistry or leadership on the team? Is it just simply an issue of the talent level not being on the same level as previous years? Or is it some combination of things?

They still have some tough games left (Jefferson, Centennial, Brainerd, Hill-Murray), and could easily end up with a record below .500 at the end of the regular season.

I was hoping some other people who have seen several of their games, particularly within the last month or so, could post their opinion.

[doubleeagle]

I've watched Moorhead play 18 games this year and IMO it's a combination of things,as is usually the case.
Certainly losing a coach like Terry Shercliiffe has had an impact, although the new coaches we have are doing a good job.
This is the way I see it, and remember, this is only my opinion.
Moorhead kept 15 seniors last year in an attempt to give the same group of kids that won both the MAHA and VFW State Bantam A Tournaments a chance to bring Moorhead its first State Championship. It didn't pan out and so we started out with a very inexperienced team.
Our defense has not been very good at times. We've given teams too many good opportunities.
Our forwards haven't scored as often as they should have when they've had good chances.
The goalie situation has not stabilized.
I believe the chemistry is good, but the leadership may be somewhat lacking.
We are improving and I would expect the team to finish the season strong.

[CitiesSpudsGuy]

I've watched Moorhead play 18 games this year and IMO it's a combination of things,as is usually the case.
Certainly losing a coach like Terry Shercliiffe has had an impact, although the new coaches we have are doing a good job.
This is the way I see it, and remember, this is only my opinion.
Moorhead kept 15 seniors last year in an attempt to give the same group of kids that won both the MAHA and VFW State Bantam A Tournaments a chance to bring Moorhead its first State Championship. It didn't pan out and so we started out with a very inexperienced team.
Our defense has not been very good at times. We've given teams too many good opportunities.
Our forwards haven't scored as often as they should have when they've had good chances.
The goalie situation has not stabilized.
I believe the chemistry is good, but the leadership may be somewhat lacking.
We are improving and I would expect the team to finish the season strong.

Thanks, doubleeagle. You mention the fact that the team is young. That was something I did forget to mention. I know for a lot of the players, it's their first year playing varsity hockey. So 'youth' was one factor I wanted to include. Is this the biggest factor, in your opinion?

[doubleeagle]

I've watched Moorhead play 18 games this year and IMO it's a combination of things,as is usually the case.
Certainly losing a coach like Terry Shercliiffe has had an impact, although the new coaches we have are doing a good job.
This is the way I see it, and remember, this is only my opinion.
Moorhead kept 15 seniors last year in an attempt to give the same group of kids that won both the MAHA and VFW State Bantam A Tournaments a chance to bring Moorhead its first State Championship. It didn't pan out and so we started out with a very inexperienced team.
Our defense has not been very good at times. We've given teams too many good opportunities.
Our forwards haven't scored as often as they should have when they've had good chances.
The goalie situation has not stabilized.
I believe the chemistry is good, but the leadership may be somewhat lacking.
We are improving and I would expect the team to finish the season strong.

Thanks, doubleeagle. You mention the fact that the team is young. That was something I did forget to mention. I know for a lot of the players, it's their first year playing varsity hockey. So 'youth' was one a factor I wanted to include. Is this the biggest factor, in your opinion?

The lack of experience was the biggest factor at the beginning of the year. I don't think we can use that as an excuse anymore. The biggest factor now is to settle in on one goalie, and I believe most fans would like to see Logan Marks, who is a sophomore. The team seems to play with more confidence with him in the nets.

[DannyNoonan]

Does Morinville get a free pass?

[doubleeagle]

Does Morinville get a free pass?

When I said that Moorhead kept 15 seniors together last year, you could substitute Dave Morinville kept 15 seniors,....... In this case, they're one and the same.

[rams1989]

From an outside perspective from someone that has seen about 6-8 Moorhead games both this year and last year, Morinville has issues with humility. He has none. Last year's team was crazy good and they got beat by a team that played exactly how it had to in order to win. They could play that game 10 times and Moorhead may win 8 of them. After the game, Morinville downplayed how Roseau played and "blamed" the loss on his team not playing the way they were capable of. The Moorhead coaching staff (Morinville) doesn't seem to understand how humbling this game can be and certainly doesn't give credit to other teams, he only blames his team.

At the beginning of the season, Moorhead was expected to be down due to the youth. 15 seniors last year isn't the problem, they were tremendous. They play a great schedule and have too much youth. That's a problem many programs would like to have.

Enough rambling, Moorhead's youth and schedule is the issue this year, along with Morinville not able to motivate without destroying any confidence they may gain. With that said, the future looks very good for the entire program. Call this a "rebuilding" year.