Gophers

flatontheice · Post by **flatontheice** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:00 am

BodyShots wrote:The Goph's have a good mixture of size (Flynn, Hoefel), speed (Barribal, Mattson), and talent (Carman, Schoeder) up front. What they are missing is good, big, tough defensemen to clear the front of the net and put a little fear in the opposition.

Ness - Small, shifty defensemen with great vision. Weak in the d zone
Farichild - Small, shifty defensemen with great vision. Weak in the d zone and gets beat 1-1 because of lack of speed
Wehrs - Small, weak, and not sure why he is D1
Fisher - Big, slow, and not very physical
Lofquist - Big, average speed with a good shot. Looked like he was willing to mix it up.
Shack - Big, strong, and not the brighest balb on the tree. Hasn't been given much playing time.

Now you are going to add Leddy to the group. He looks to have average size and good speed with great vision. They need to add a big, rugged defensemen. Losing Stu Bickel really hurt. Is there any big boys out there in the USHL ready to make the next jump?

As for Budish, yes he is big and strong. But he is not going to be ready to jump into the WCHL after sitting out a year. Give the kid time to heal and rebuild the muscles. I expect to see him in 2010-11 season.

They don't need to add anything big and rugged on D. Did you not watch all the games this weekend? They need to add a D that can skate and pass the puck within 2 feet of the forwards stick in other words skilled.

johnnyquest · Post by **johnnyquest** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:27 am

To say that Lucia needs to look outside the state of minnesota for his players is totally absurd. The grass isn't necessarily greener . . . . . .

Why does ann arbor continually invite more minnesota hockey players to their tryouts than players from any other state?

JUGlover · Post by **JUGlover** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:54 am

ill tell you what needs to happen. . . lucia needs to look at me.

FREDFLINTSTONE · Post by **FREDFLINTSTONE** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:09 am

Tigers33 wrote:Ness 2 goals and 15 assists compared to the follwoing:

Jake Gardiner 3 goals and 18 assists
Ryan McDonaugh 5 goals and 11 assists

Would you call these two busts too?? Especially since they were both mid to high 1st round picks. Come on ya loser!! The kid was supposed to be a senior in high school this year. He had 17 points as a freshman, which is not to bad considering everything.

Jay Barriball had 11 goals and 23 assists for a pretty decent season too.

ALSECORD know your stuff...every kid that comes in here as a freshman cant immediately dominate. You are making it sound like every freshman should come in and score 30+ points.

I don't want to do the leg work on this, but what was the plus/minus of the three listed above? Can someone look up?

backcountry · Post by **backcountry** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:40 am

Seeing Zach play next year would be awesome but making the jump to the WCHA from sitting out a year and a torn ACL would be quite the amount of work. The kid does have a tremendous work ethic so it's possible and I would love see it but I don't think Lucia will take him especially after how mad Lucia was when he first found out about the injury.

In response to fredflinstone, Ness is -10, Gardiner is +4 and Mcdonagh is -2 for last year. http://www.wcha.com/genrel/wcha-stand-stat.html

greenway1969 · Post by **greenway1969** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:36 pm

Agree with the posters that Lucia is not recruiting the right Minnesota players. I assume he works hard, but it seems that he only goes for those players ranked high by Central Scouting. The Serratore brothers are a good example of finding players who are good hockey players that come together and make a good team. I also find it interesting that players who do not score consistently at the U, end up scoring well in the NHL (Okpaso, Wheeler). I remember the outrage when an NHL scout said that U players did not develop at the pace they needed to. Maybe he had a point.

Moose Jaw, SK · Post by **Moose Jaw, SK** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:24 pm

greenway1969 wrote:Agree with the posters that Lucia is not recruiting the right Minnesota players. I assume he works hard, but it seems that he only goes for those players ranked high by Central Scouting. The Serratore brothers are a good example of finding players who are good hockey players that come together and make a good team. I also find it interesting that players who do not score consistently at the U, end up scoring well in the NHL (Okpaso, Wheeler). I remember the outrage when an NHL scout said that U players did not develop at the pace they needed to. Maybe he had a point.

That was said by Garth Snow the former NHL goaltender. He is now I believe the GM? I could be wrong but works for the Islanders and was referring to Okposo. Good point, maybe he is right how is it possible to not be able to score at the D-1 level and then move to the NHL and light the lamp?

youngblood08 · Post by **youngblood08** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:37 pm

FREDFLINTSTONE wrote:
Tigers33 wrote:Ness 2 goals and 15 assists compared to the follwoing:

Jake Gardiner 3 goals and 18 assists
Ryan McDonaugh 5 goals and 11 assists

Would you call these two busts too?? Especially since they were both mid to high 1st round picks. Come on ya loser!! The kid was supposed to be a senior in high school this year. He had 17 points as a freshman, which is not to bad considering everything.

Jay Barriball had 11 goals and 23 assists for a pretty decent season too.

ALSECORD know your stuff...every kid that comes in here as a freshman cant immediately dominate. You are making it sound like every freshman should come in and score 30+ points.
I don't want to do the leg work on this, but what was the plus/minus of the three listed above? Can someone look up?

They don't have them listed.

watchdog · Post by **watchdog** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:43 pm

the gophs are fine they just need to start taking it seriously when it comes to finding goaltending..

Jbone · Post by **Jbone** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:18 pm

watchdog wrote:the gophs are fine they just need to start taking it seriously when it comes to finding goaltending..

Watchdog... Wasn't Kangas your saving grace last year? Wasn't he the kid to put the team on his back and come up with game changers? I think that finding goaltending was what Lucia did. He had a down second half. It boggles my mind how people say he is a bad goaltender when Frazee was worse for much longer and people continued to be optimistic. The kid will bounce back next year as much as I hate to say it. He is too good with too much talent not to. There is a good head on those shoulders. Gophers should feel lucky to have him.

Sioux Fan · Post by **Sioux Fan** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 10:24 pm

A couple of D that were tough to get around would help Alex a great deal.

Tigers33 · Post by **Tigers33** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:19 am

What goalie should they have gone out and gotten? I am very curious to hear answers.

Also, the one thing that everyone is missing is that hockey has become extremely equal up and down the board. Everyone would be complaining for Lucia to get fired if the Gophers would have lost to a number 1 seed. This year three #1's lost and three #2's. It just shows the quality of hockey up and down the board.

dpsaucer5 · Post by **dpsaucer5** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:50 am

flatontheice wrote:
BodyShots wrote:The Goph's have a good mixture of size (Flynn, Hoefel), speed (Barribal, Mattson), and talent (Carman, Schoeder) up front. What they are missing is good, big, tough defensemen to clear the front of the net and put a little fear in the opposition.

Ness - Small, shifty defensemen with great vision. Weak in the d zone
Farichild - Small, shifty defensemen with great vision. Weak in the d zone and gets beat 1-1 because of lack of speed
Wehrs - Small, weak, and not sure why he is D1
Fisher - Big, slow, and not very physical
Lofquist - Big, average speed with a good shot. Looked like he was willing to mix it up.
Shack - Big, strong, and not the brighest balb on the tree. Hasn't been given much playing time.

Now you are going to add Leddy to the group. He looks to have average size and good speed with great vision. They need to add a big, rugged defensemen. Losing Stu Bickel really hurt. Is there any big boys out there in the USHL ready to make the next jump?

As for Budish, yes he is big and strong. But he is not going to be ready to jump into the WCHL after sitting out a year. Give the kid time to heal and rebuild the muscles. I expect to see him in 2010-11 season.
They don't need to add anything big and rugged on D. Did you not watch all the games this weekend? They need to add a D that can skate and pass the puck within 2 feet of the forwards stick in other words skilled.

Lucia is doing his part in getting both the skilled defensemen and the big defensemen. for next season he will have leddy coming in with skill and helgeson coming in with size along with skill and 2 years in the ushl. in the season after that he has got schmit from st. cloud cathedral and the year after that is ben marshall. defense will not be the problem in the future for the gophs

northwoods oldtimer · Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:58 am

Siouxfan is correct, the U needs some mean, tough arse defensemen. Matt Demarchi types who will blister a forward at the blue line. There is not a team in D1 hockey that fears attacking the offensive zone against Minnesota and it has been that way for too long now. They also need to make changes to landing so many guys who are "stars". More role players to fit into TEAM play.

breakout · Post by **breakout** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:54 pm

northwoods oldtimer wrote:Siouxfan is correct, the U needs some mean, tough arse defensemen. Matt Demarchi types who will blister a forward at the blue line. There is not a team in D1 hockey that fears attacking the offensive zone against Minnesota and it has been that way for too long now. They also need to make changes to landing so many guys who are "stars". More role players to fit into TEAM play.

The U needs a mix of Stars and B type players that will stay for four years.

CasseauCougar · Post by **CasseauCougar** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:49 pm

Jbone wrote:Watchdog... Wasn't Kangas your saving grace last year? Wasn't he the kid to put the team on his back and come up with game changers? I think that finding goaltending was what Lucia did. He had a down second half. It boggles my mind how people say he is a bad goaltender when Frazee was worse for much longer and people continued to be optimistic. The kid will bounce back next year as much as I hate to say it. He is too good with too much talent not to. There is a good head on those shoulders. Gophers should feel lucky to have him.

All you have to do is look at when the coaching change happened. The guy that took over for Stauber KILLED Kangus. That "coach" should be brought up on charges !!!

in the zone · Post by **in the zone** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 7:21 am

the coach who took over for stauber is a guy who is a coach at his training center so what does that tell you...

Also...Lucia is acting more and more like woog..insisting on going with the MN players...problem is he is not getting the all the best MN kids to wear maroon and gold...

dpsaucer5 · Post by **dpsaucer5** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:06 am

man you guys are critical! the minnesota has been a fairly good program lately and you all would be complaining if he wasnt getting all the minnesota guys.

in the zone · Post by **in the zone** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:53 pm

Find this very interesting..stats from U of M Web site...

All-Time Coaching Records
1985-86 - 1998-99 Doug Woog 390-187-40 .665
1999-2000 - pres. Don Lucia 256-126-45 .649

As a U of M grad, I expect much more from these guys.....

In fact, in the the last two years...the Gophers are 36-30-16 overall, 21-23-12 in WCHA play...which includes a 5th place and a 7th place finish in conference play.

Reggie · Post by **Reggie** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:26 am

toe drag wrote:So when Herb Brooks coached, kids were offered 1mil or so to go pro and a one-way contract? How is 1979 to now a comparison? By the way Herb recruited the best players in the state, not role players for college hockey. (don't get me started on Flynn)

Fast forward...
So if Lucia did not get recruits like Stoa, Okposo, Kessel, Wheeler, Vanek, and win two titles, what would the consensus be? Can't recruit...Can't get the top players...

Do you think this guy doesn't want to win? Lucia goes after and gets the best kids. The top decide to go pro, just works out that way. You don't recruit a kid because "he might leave' in a year or two. So if you were the coach you would look to recruit top 25-40 best kids in the country instead of the 1-25?

Think if you had Stoa, Wheeler, Okposo and Kessel and try to put a top line together. Good problem to have. They all decided on an excellerated path and you (Lucia) actually had a part in their development.

Bottom line, Lucia knows what he is doing and understands the college climate and if he needs Budish he will bring him into the fold, but if he doesn't and the recruits coming in can do the job, so be it. If you are a top player, you will have to prove it...and its kinda weird that Lucia continues to have those players.

Agreed

Nonamer · Post by **Nonamer** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:31 am

Lucia(read:GOPHER HOCKEY) has too many chiefs, not enough indians.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 6:37 pm

Can never have enough Indians.

biscuit in the basket · Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:57 am

in the zone wrote:the coach who took over for stauber is a guy who is a coach at his training center so what does that tell you...

Also...Lucia is acting more and more like woog..insisting on going with the MN players...problem is he is not getting the all the best MN kids to wear maroon and gold...

Funny you should say that because next year they have a transfer from Bowling Green (not from MN) and just picked up a commitment from Eric Haula a forward at SSM (he's from Finland originally). Might want to check your facts first. Maybe things are starting to change.

breakout · Post by **breakout** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:47 pm

northwoods oldtimer wrote:Siouxfan is correct, the U needs some mean, tough arse defensemen. Matt Demarchi types who will blister a forward at the blue line. There is not a team in D1 hockey that fears attacking the offensive zone against Minnesota and it has been that way for too long now. They also need to make changes to landing so many guys who are "stars". More role players to fit into TEAM play.

I loved the way Demarchi played.

blueblood · Post by **blueblood** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:32 am

Getting back to the goalie situation. Lucia relied way to much on Kangas this year. Kangas stuggled from December on. He barely played Patterson, who was the top rated goalie in MN for his age group at all this year.

I agree with the posting about DeMarchi. They need some big strong defense to compliment players like Aaron Ness. I bet if you have a player to like that protext Ness he would be a different player.

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