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Who will win between Minnesota and Michigan?

I'll take Minnesota

Minnesota. Yeah, they looked bad at times against RPI, but Michigan was just plain sloppy in their game. They almost let BC back into it when they had the door all but shut. I think the U had some major jitters going on at the beginning and that allowed RPI to get the early ones. Also, MN's PP will do much better against Michigan's passive PK, RPI was playing like they had nothing to lose and MN didn't know what to do against that.

Minnesota 4 (en)
Michigan 1

Gophers 3-1

Michigan 3 Gophers 2 ot

4-2 Michigan

I'm going to take the Gophers in a wild one..

Gophers 5
Wolverines 4

2-0 Gophs at the end of 1 Theyre looking good so far, controlling the game with a lot of good chances. Looks like those kids on defense did a lot of growing up last night...

2-1 Minnesota after 2.

The wolverines get one back and put some good pressure on at the end of the period

4-2 gophers 3rd period
Patrick White with goal

Great shot by Patrick.

Rust has cut the lead in half.

4-3 Gophers.

8:00 to go.

Gophers win by the score of 4-3.

my thoughts

Gophers improved from last night, the questions on this team are, Can Frazee be the fix in the Nets after Losing Briggs?, and Can this Young Defense Step Up?

Anyone else impressed by the way Fairchild played tonight. He looks pretty solid. Also Wheeler looks to be on a good start.

congrats to pat white on getting his first goal in maroon and gold!!

Congrats to Pat White & RJ Anderson on their first goals in a Gophers uniform.

With that said, I was not very impressed with Pat White's play over the weekend. I really hope it was just jitters and not a sign of the future. He didn't seem like he wanted to get physical at all and was looking to dipsy doodle his way around guys and they weren't about to let that happen. Didn't play a lot of defense either which will hurt if he doesn't start. Just my impressions.

With that said, Fairchild impressed the heck out of me. He was super composed with the puck and didn't look like a freshman at all. Lucia had him on the PK and it showed why, he played it very well. Can't say enough good things about him.

I'm excited to see what Hoeffel does this year. He's got a big body and wasn't afraid to use it. Seems like a mix of Wheeler & Lucia out there.

Nice game by the Gophs, sloppy at times, but man can they skate.

I'd say it is rather premature to be too critical of any freshman. It is their first weekend of college hockey and it is naturally going to take some of them a little bit longer to adjust. Especially for a kid like White who is making the step to high level D1 with very little junior hockey experience. I am sure he'll look much better in about four to six weeks once he gets accustomed to the speed, etc. I thought he looked solid this weekend.

Cade Fairchild looked very good. I was also rather impressed with Stu Bickel. He moves around decent for a big guy.

I'm saying right now that Okposo is done after this year. He is just a force when he has the puck and he is always in the play. Seems to be very tough to knock off the puck and his hands look better than last year. Wheeler is also looking strong, especially around the net. The Gophers were giving him credit, but I don't think Frazee looked real strong in net. Alot of uncontrolled rebounds and a few that ended up in the net this weekend. I think the defense will come together since it's still pretty early. Showed a lot of grit this weekend and should be a good year for the Gophers.

theref wrote:I'm saying right now that Okposo is done after this year. He is just a force when he has the puck and he is always in the play. Seems to be very tough to knock off the puck and his hands look better than last year. Wheeler is also looking strong, especially around the net. The Gophers were giving him credit, but I don't think Frazee looked real strong in net. Alot of uncontrolled rebounds and a few that ended up in the net this weekend. I think the defense will come together since it's still pretty early. Showed a lot of grit this weekend and should be a good year for the Gophers.

I agree with the rebounds statement to Frazee...to many times the puck was shooting right back out into dangerous territory.

I hope Wheeler comes up with another move cause the goalies should be on to that one by now... He looked very solid and seems to me he's a real leader and a protector of his teammates out there...any time it looked like pushing or shoving was starting he was right there.

EREmpireStrikesBack wrote:Congrats to Pat White & RJ Anderson on their first goals in a Gophers uniform.

With that said, I was not very impressed with Pat White's play over the weekend. I really hope it was just jitters and not a sign of the future. He didn't seem like he wanted to get physical at all and was looking to dipsy doodle his way around guys and they weren't about to let that happen. Didn't play a lot of defense either which will hurt if he doesn't start. Just my impressions.

With that said, Fairchild impressed the heck out of me. He was super composed with the puck and didn't look like a freshman at all. Lucia had him on the PK and it showed why, he played it very well. Can't say enough good things about him.

I'm excited to see what Hoeffel does this year. He's got a big body and wasn't afraid to use it. Seems like a mix of Wheeler & Lucia out there.

Nice game by the Gophs, sloppy at times, but man can they skate.

Maybe we didn't watch the same games. Pat White did some impressive things out there over the weekend. Friday night, he played within himself and didn't try to do too much, but he was at least creating opportunities for his team. He backchecked well, and was solid taking draws. For a first game as a true freshman, he played well and will only continue to get better as evidenced by his game on Sat. Before all is said and done, Whitey will be talked about as one of the best to wear the Maroon and Gold.

boblee wrote:Cade Fairchild looked very good. I was also rather impressed with Stu Bickel. He moves around decent for a big guy.

Bickel played well overall. He got walked a few times. He is going to have to adjust to the speed of college hockey. I do like his physical presence and willingness to hit. He should play a good role this year for the Gophers, especially in front of the net.

GR3343 wrote:

EREmpireStrikesBack wrote:Congrats to Pat White & RJ Anderson on their first goals in a Gophers uniform.

With that said, I was not very impressed with Pat White's play over the weekend. I really hope it was just jitters and not a sign of the future. He didn't seem like he wanted to get physical at all and was looking to dipsy doodle his way around guys and they weren't about to let that happen. Didn't play a lot of defense either which will hurt if he doesn't start. Just my impressions.

With that said, Fairchild impressed the heck out of me. He was super composed with the puck and didn't look like a freshman at all. Lucia had him on the PK and it showed why, he played it very well. Can't say enough good things about him.

I'm excited to see what Hoeffel does this year. He's got a big body and wasn't afraid to use it. Seems like a mix of Wheeler & Lucia out there.

Nice game by the Gophs, sloppy at times, but man can they skate.

Maybe we didn't watch the same games. Pat White did some impressive things out there over the weekend. Friday night, he played within himself and didn't try to do too much, but he was at least creating opportunities for his team. He backchecked well, and was solid taking draws. For a first game as a true freshman, he played well and will only continue to get better as evidenced by his game on Sat. Before all is said and done, Whitey will be talked about as one of the best to wear the Maroon and Gold.

And your opinion isn't skewed? Were you watching the same game? Besides his goal on Saturday, he didn't seem to do much. Was in the right place at the right time, nothing more. He just hasn't impressed me yet.

EREmpireStrikesBack wrote:

GR3343 wrote:

EREmpireStrikesBack wrote:Congrats to Pat White & RJ Anderson on their first goals in a Gophers uniform.

With that said, I was not very impressed with Pat White's play over the weekend. I really hope it was just jitters and not a sign of the future. He didn't seem like he wanted to get physical at all and was looking to dipsy doodle his way around guys and they weren't about to let that happen. Didn't play a lot of defense either which will hurt if he doesn't start. Just my impressions.

With that said, Fairchild impressed the heck out of me. He was super composed with the puck and didn't look like a freshman at all. Lucia had him on the PK and it showed why, he played it very well. Can't say enough good things about him.

I'm excited to see what Hoeffel does this year. He's got a big body and wasn't afraid to use it. Seems like a mix of Wheeler & Lucia out there.

Nice game by the Gophs, sloppy at times, but man can they skate.

Maybe we didn't watch the same games. Pat White did some impressive things out there over the weekend. Friday night, he played within himself and didn't try to do too much, but he was at least creating opportunities for his team. He backchecked well, and was solid taking draws. For a first game as a true freshman, he played well and will only continue to get better as evidenced by his game on Sat. Before all is said and done, Whitey will be talked about as one of the best to wear the Maroon and Gold.

And your opinion isn't skewed? Were you watching the same game? Besides his goal on Saturday, he didn't seem to do much. Was in the right place at the right time, nothing more. He just hasn't impressed me yet.

I disagree with that. He played very well for a third line center.

Patrick played fine. He won 11 faceoffs and lost 10. That's not too bad. Any center over 50% is alright. He had 3 shots on goal (1.5 per game) which is very good for someone who played on the third line both nights. He scored one goal. And it was a great play. He trailed and picked a corner. He was even for the weekend. Sure, he didn't check a whole lot, but he didn't in high school. He made some very nice quick moves to give him one more second with the puck.

With all that said, Fairchild and Hoeffel probably looked a little bit better. And they both had just as much talk about them coming in. Wehrs didn't impress me and neither did Bickel, overall. They both did some things very, very well. Out of those four, Fairchild and Wehrs won't hit much. I think everyone is doing just fine. Not a lot of college freshman score on the first weekend. So let's relax and enjoy the season.