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Yeah, they looked terrible last night.

On a side note, the latest issue of The Hockey News took some swipes at Lucia/UM in two different articles.

Lack of development, etc. being the theme.

The gophers are in danger of missing the ncaa's again. They're upcoming schedule is getting harder. There's no more excuses. Especially that they have kids leaving early-other schools deal with the same issue.

Can we remove the fork now, it is starting to hurt...

Man, they are getting worse. Is Maturi strong enough to move Don out? I think that we are losing the current players, and we are definitely losing the fans, which was unthinkable after two national championships

It's very sad



We have some very good recruits coming next year and the year after, but I would like to see a fresh face leading behind the bench. I believe it is time.

Is there anyway gophers make the ncaa's (other than winning the final 5--which won't happen) without sweeping 2 of 3 series from Denver, Sioux, or und?

gorilla1 wrote:Is there anyway gophers make the ncaa's (other than winning the final 5--which won't happen) without sweeping 2 of 3 series from Denver, Sioux, or und?

After the tourney loss and tie, I was thinking the same thing you were gorilla... They have put themselves in such a tight spot, they almost have to sweep all their series against very good teams as you mentioned... It just seems thats the only way they could move up in the Pairwise enough to get an at-large bid...

A tall order for the kids... And based on this year's team performance, and on the past few years performances, I just do not see that happening... I am sorry for that take...

Wish them well, but have little hope for anything changing this year...

It might be time to start recruiting players who live outside of the metro area and force players to play 1-2 years of USHL. It's that simple. And a coaching change surely won't hurt.

MNHockey75 wrote:It might be time to start recruiting players who live outside of the metro area and force players to play 1-2 years of USHL. It's that simple. And a coaching change surely won't hurt.

Totally agree. Going directly from High School hockey to D-1 in one transition is too difficult for most players. Young players need time to make that transition; especially when pretty much all colleges require them to play juniors.

However some players can make the transition (T.J. Oshie) and it is up to the coach to assess if that player is allowed to fore go juniors. Bottom line, Gophers need to change their set-up.

How do you force players to play 1-2 yrs of jrs? The gophers have a lot of players that have played jrs or at ann arbor.

mulefarm wrote:How do you force players to play 1-2 yrs of jrs? The gophers have a lot of players that have played jrs or at ann arbor.

Instead of "forcing" its more like making it a requirement. And yes they have players who came from juniors and ann arbor; however, they are known to have several players directly from high school on the roster.

mulefarm wrote:How do you force players to play 1-2 yrs of jrs? The gophers have a lot of players that have played jrs or at ann arbor.

Tell them to play one or two years of Jrs or they will find somebody else. You can't tell me the Gophers can't find out of state players who have one or two years of USHL under their belt.

The top ten scorers in the WCHA have all played at least a year in the USHL, BCHL or the AJHL. It's not rocket science and that's just the top ten.

I understand the whole Minnesota home grown roster thing. And that's something to be proud of, but it's going to get tougher and tougher to win. College hockey gets better and better. What would you rather have? A 17 year old Aaron Ness or a 19 year old Aaron Ness with two years of USHL experience? Plucking a 17/18 year old kid and asking him to slow down a 22/23 year old is awfully difficult.

MNHockey75 wrote:I understand the whole Minnesota home grown roster thing. And that's something to be proud of, but it's going to get tougher and tougher to win. College hockey gets better and better. What would you rather have? A 17 year old Aaron Ness or a 19 year old Aaron Ness with two years of USHL experience? Plucking a 17/18 year old kid and asking him to slow down a 22/23 year old is awfully difficult.

Perfect, just perfect!

HOWEVER

Tell that to "The Don"

MNHockey75 wrote:

mulefarm wrote:How do you force players to play 1-2 yrs of jrs? The gophers have a lot of players that have played jrs or at ann arbor.

Tell them to play one or two years of Jrs or they will find somebody else. You can't tell me the Gophers can't find out of state players who have one or two years of USHL under their belt.

The top ten scorers in the WCHA have all played at least a year in the USHL, BCHL or the AJHL. It's not rocket science and that's just the top ten.

I understand the whole Minnesota home grown roster thing. And that's something to be proud of, but it's going to get tougher and tougher to win. College hockey gets better and better. What would you rather have? A 17 year old Aaron Ness or a 19 year old Aaron Ness with two years of USHL experience? Plucking a 17/18 year old kid and asking him to slow down a 22/23 year old is awfully difficult.

The least Don could do would be to have his star recruits finish high school when they are supposed to and not have them accelerate their learning. That's the exact opposite of what is needed to be competitive in college hockey anymore

MNHockey75 wrote:

mulefarm wrote:How do you force players to play 1-2 yrs of jrs? The gophers have a lot of players that have played jrs or at ann arbor.

Tell them to play one or two years of Jrs or they will find somebody else. You can't tell me the Gophers can't find out of state players who have one or two years of USHL under their belt.

The top ten scorers in the WCHA have all played at least a year in the USHL, BCHL or the AJHL. It's not rocket science and that's just the top ten.

I understand the whole Minnesota home grown roster thing. And that's something to be proud of, but it's going to get tougher and tougher to win. College hockey gets better and better. What would you rather have? A 17 year old Aaron Ness or a 19 year old Aaron Ness with two years of USHL experience? Plucking a 17/18 year old kid and asking him to slow down a 22/23 year old is awfully difficult.

Neither! Would be the same weak player he is now.

MNHockey75 wrote:

mulefarm wrote:How do you force players to play 1-2 yrs of jrs? The gophers have a lot of players that have played jrs or at ann arbor.

Tell them to play one or two years of Jrs or they will find somebody else. You can't tell me the Gophers can't find out of state players who have one or two years of USHL under their belt.

The top ten scorers in the WCHA have all played at least a year in the USHL, BCHL or the AJHL. It's not rocket science and that's just the top ten.

I understand the whole Minnesota home grown roster thing. And that's something to be proud of, but it's going to get tougher and tougher to win. College hockey gets better and better. What would you rather have? A 17 year old Aaron Ness or a 19 year old Aaron Ness with two years of USHL experience? Plucking a 17/18 year old kid and asking him to slow down a 22/23 year old is awfully difficult.

It's a double edged sword, if he doesn't get the homegrown kids, then it reflects poorly on his recruiting, and he gets in hot water with Maturi. If he takes them in as freshmen, the team underacheives and still he is the one to take the blame.

Now take ND for ex. Hakstol gets little if any pressure to recruit in ND. He is applauded when he can pluck a MN player. And IMO, most, not all are plucked from junior ranks. For basically every other WCHA school, no one is held to the "in state" recruiting levels that MN deals with.

I completely agree with making the recruits (some not all) play a year or two of juniors, and the point made about asking a 17 year old to shut down a 22/23 year old is absolutely true.

All in all, I agree it is time for a change at the helm. Since Guentz left, goal scoring is way down, early departures are up, and win % is dismal. the players don't seem to be playing inspired hockey week in week out, which is what i came to expect from gopher teams.

Wishful thinking on my part, but get Dean Blais in here now!!! The sooner the better.

Little King wrote:

MNHockey75 wrote:

mulefarm wrote:How do you force players to play 1-2 yrs of jrs? The gophers have a lot of players that have played jrs or at ann arbor.

Tell them to play one or two years of Jrs or they will find somebody else. You can't tell me the Gophers can't find out of state players who have one or two years of USHL under their belt.

The top ten scorers in the WCHA have all played at least a year in the USHL, BCHL or the AJHL. It's not rocket science and that's just the top ten.

I understand the whole Minnesota home grown roster thing. And that's something to be proud of, but it's going to get tougher and tougher to win. College hockey gets better and better. What would you rather have? A 17 year old Aaron Ness or a 19 year old Aaron Ness with two years of USHL experience? Plucking a 17/18 year old kid and asking him to slow down a 22/23 year old is awfully difficult.

It's a double edged sword, if he doesn't get the homegrown kids, then it reflects poorly on his recruiting, and he gets in hot water with Maturi. If he takes them in as freshmen, the team underacheives and still he is the one to take the blame.

Now take ND for ex. Hakstol gets little if any pressure to recruit in ND. He is applauded when he can pluck a MN player. And IMO, most, not all are plucked from junior ranks. For basically every other WCHA school, no one is held to the "in state" recruiting levels that MN deals with.

I completely agree with making the recruits (some not all) play a year or two of juniors, and the point made about asking a 17 year old to shut down a 22/23 year old is absolutely true.

All in all, I agree it is time for a change at the helm. Since Guentz left, goal scoring is way down, early departures are up, and win % is dismal. the players don't seem to be playing inspired hockey week in week out, which is what i came to expect from gopher teams.

Wishful thinking on my part, but get Dean Blais in here now!!! The sooner the better.

I have to disagree with you one your first point. First, getting Minnesota kids who play juniors is still getting Minnesota kids. Whether or not they play juniors first they would still be highly touted recruits. Second, if they don't get the Minnesota kids and have to resort to other star junior players or, God forbid, the occasional Canadian player, Don would still be ok as long as they won games. Guaranteed Maturi won't be mad at him for making the NCAA tournament. Winning solves everything

I have to disagree with you one your first point. First, getting Minnesota kids who play juniors is still getting Minnesota kids. Whether or not they play juniors first they would still be highly touted recruits. Second, if they don't get the Minnesota kids and have to resort to other star junior players or, God forbid, the occasional Canadian player, Don would still be ok as long as they won games. Guaranteed Maturi won't be mad at him for making the NCAA tournament. Winning solves everything[/quote]

I agree with most of what you are saying... But i guess I was meaning that if Don doesn't sign the HS kids, then he risks them getting scooped up by other programs. I would love to see more canadians on the gophers roster. They seem to be one of the few who don't recruit up there. Come to think of it, what was the last canadian on the roster?? Kennedy?

lastly, winning DOES solve everything, bottom line, he is not, it's time to bring someone else in, with a different way of doing things.

MNHockey75 wrote:

mulefarm wrote:How do you force players to play 1-2 yrs of jrs? The gophers have a lot of players that have played jrs or at ann arbor.

Tell them to play one or two years of Jrs or they will find somebody else. You can't tell me the Gophers can't find out of state players who have one or two years of USHL under their belt.

The top ten scorers in the WCHA have all played at least a year in the USHL, BCHL or the AJHL. It's not rocket science and that's just the top ten.

I understand the whole Minnesota home grown roster thing. And that's something to be proud of, but it's going to get tougher and tougher to win. College hockey gets better and better. What would you rather have? A 17 year old Aaron Ness or a 19 year old Aaron Ness with two years of USHL experience? Plucking a 17/18 year old kid and asking him to slow down a
22/23 year old is awfully difficult.

Especially when that player has never really been a defensive player.

I don't believe more canadians are the answer. I also believe comparing ND not recruiting many ND players vs MN recruiting many MN players is an apples/oranges thing.

There are far more MN players than ND players i.e.

They need new coaches.

Real gutty effort to get a split?What excuses will Lucia have for this one?

mulefarm wrote:Real gutty effort to get a split?What excuses will Lucia have for this one?

Wow, They really needed to sweep the Seawolves...

And good question; his answer should be "I resign"

PuckU126 wrote:

mulefarm wrote:Real gutty effort to get a split?What excuses will Lucia have for this one?

Wow, They really needed to sweep the Seawolves...

And good question; his answer should be "I resign"

Let's hope!

starmvp wrote:

PuckU126 wrote:

mulefarm wrote:Real gutty effort to get a split?What excuses will Lucia have for this one?

Wow, They really needed to sweep the Seawolves...

And good question; his answer should be "I resign"

Let's hope!

Dear Gopher fans,
Don't expect Dean Blais to replace The Don. Although Coach Blais was a Gopher in his youth; he has moved on to Coach MN's arch rival UND (there best ever IMO) and he is now developing UNO's program. Do you honestly believe he will drop UNO's program (currently doing better than MN's) to rebuild another? I believe UNO is going to be his last job before hangs up the whistle **almost said skates**

It wouldn't surprise me to see Blais come for 3-4 yrs. My guess he would get Bill Butters to coach the D and Guetzel would come along and have a contract that says he will be the Head Coach after Blais retires. Blais did this at UNO with Hastings. This program is only going one direction under Lucia! The poorest coached and most underachieving team in the WCHA.

mulefarm wrote:It wouldn't surprise me to see Blais come for 3-4 yrs. My guess he would get Bill Butters to coach the D and Guetzel would come along and have a contract that says he will be the Head Coach after Blais retires. Blais did this at UNO with Hastings. This program is only going one direction under Lucia! The poorest coached and most underachieving team in the WCHA.

Maybe not the poorest coached, BUT they are the most underachieving!!!

PuckU126 wrote:

mulefarm wrote:It wouldn't surprise me to see Blais come for 3-4 yrs. My guess he would get Bill Butters to coach the D and Guetzel would come along and have a contract that says he will be the Head Coach after Blais retires. Blais did this at UNO with Hastings. This program is only going one direction under Lucia! The poorest coached and most underachieving team in the WCHA.

Maybe not the poorest coached, BUT they are the most underachieving!!!

Maybe the coach can help turn around an underachieving team?