Hotspotoutdoors

The Baribal injury is huge.

This team lacks talent big time.

This is going to be a long season.

You could always watch the Gopher Women's hockey team There doin' pretty well despite all the score they lost from last year.

It's tough to watch.

Maybe IFALLSRON is right and its time for Lucia to go!... There I said it!..

Relax Gofer fans, it's only November. Come back off the ledge and see what the remainder of November and December brings. Jan, Feb and March is when it counts and teams come together - especially young teams (i.e. North Dakota).

Your squad has too much talent and they will bounce back and make a run - even with "poor" coaching.

The championship Gopher teams from eariler in this decade didn't play well in Nov/Dec either. Not suggesting that's where this team is headed, but they will improve! If they don't, I'm reluctantly agreeing that Lucia's time is ticking.

Have to throw in my UMD cheers for a win in Colorado Springs.

Yeah, let it ride some...takes some time for the kids to get it on....should be a fun season coming up.

Win or lose I enjoy the game a big bunch.


T

YAWN....thats like 4 years in row we've heard this same ole song and dance company line...

Looked better tonight, but still seem to be lacking the individual talents of years past.

They will be lucky to finish above .500 this year.

Has Seth Helgeson been seeing much ice time? He has the size and ability to contribute.

Um Ya Gophers Heh.

Is it possible (or even an option) for the Gophers coaching staff to consider targeting recruits that are more prone to staying in school a full term rather than leaving early for "greener grass"?

I would guess that the "top" talent that they are recruiting are exactly the ones that will go for greener grass as they'll follow the $$. Can't say as I blame them as I know at that age I would have probably followed the $$ as well. Lucia wants to win to keep his job, so he'll continue to recruit the guys that stay a year or two. It's not working out well so far this year, so we'll see if he keeps his job. Or, he's planning for the opposite of past years by starting slow and finishing strong...

Go BEAVERS!!!

I'd LOVE to see a BEMIDJI sweep next weekend already counting down the days till Friday night! GO BEAVERS!!!!! UN-DE-FEAT-ED! 2008 BSU Graduate...
(Even though if you look closely in my picture I am wearing a Gophers stocking hat... LOL - second favorite team!)

Unfortunately that's just the way it is with college hockey today. And it's going to stay that way until the NHL and NHLPA step in to change things. It's really hurt the college game. I thought I heard there's been over 50 players just from the WCHA who have left early in the past 4 years. The only positive that I see, if there actually is one, is that it has created more parity among all teams and allowed teams like Mankato and Bemidji to compete more with the traditional powerhouses. I mean no disrespect to those teams, I'm just saying these teams match up better in today's game compared to say 5-10 years ago.

If a player leaves early and are under any kind of scholarship or grant, they should have to return the applicable amount back to the university.

Pier, seems the Gophers hockey program has done well over the years.

Yeah we've had one of, if not the premier program in the country over the years. But if you have followed Gopher hockey the last 4 years you'd have noticed we have hit rock bottom and things don't look very promising.

Seems to me the WCHA is really bunched up right now, and we're only 2 pts. out of first place.

A split @ Wisconsin - I'll take that. AA beat No. Dak a couple weeks ago, and had another big win this past weekend. Nobody is running away with this thing yet. Losing Barribal hurts, no doubt. But, if we can just stay in the hunt, anything can happen.

I may be, and am willing to be wrong; but it's a long season. I hope they're there at the end...I just re-ordered my Final 5 tickets and reserved a room at the Holiday Inn

If you show up Fri. night, you'll have the place all to your self. It's a Sat/Sun series.

Yeah, I see that now maybe I could go up there Friday night and party till Saturday's game! I guess I can wait one more day! Love to get tickets for it!

What do we expect of them, a champion every season. They put there skates on just like everyone else.

All teams have a slump from amatuer to pro.

Man, give them a break. Or do they have to always win? no one does.

What I see wrong with the Gopher hockey team is that it is not a team. It hasn't been a team for several years now. It is a bunch of NHL prospects trying to improve their signing bonuses by looking good for a year or two in college. The talent is there but there is something missing when it comes to the TEAM. I don't know if it is coaching or just the type of people that get recruited but somehow something has to change if things are going to get better for them. Either way I hope they lose to the SIOUX and BEAVERS every year.
I have heard rumors that Lucia will be let go at the end of the season.

Hard to say what has been wrong with the gophers the past few years. Guys jumping to the NHL early certainly hurts but if you start restricting them they will just play Jr's in Canada and it hurts NCAA hockey overall. Or you can recruit 4 year guys and then everyone will rip the team/coach when the next Parise, Vanek, Towes, Kessel is playing for the other team and you'd sure wished he would have signed with the gophs, even if its only a year. I do think we need a balance of young stars and 4 year players and certainly some players with a little edge couldn't hurt either.

Is it coaching? Maybe, too early to tell but I would say Lucia's seat might be getting a little hot. I still don't see the U firing him after all that he has accomplished. Maybe he has become a little complacent, there have been a lot of coaching changes lately that leave me wondering what is going on but I guess I will give him the benefit of the doubt for now. However I'm not sure how much longer I can take these below average years, at least from a gopher perspective.

The players? Most of these guys are stars at lower levels and may not be use to playing 3rd and 4th line minutes. It also seem like players haven't been developing like most of us had hoped, that could be traced back to coaching but sometimes you just can't make a player better no matter how good a coach you are. We have alwasy been kind of a soft team, this has alwasy kind of bothered me but in the past our superior talent has been enough to get us over the hump. This year its hard to say, we do have talent but maybe its just down a notch from years past. Other teams are also finding a lot of talent out there and there is a lot of parity in the league.

Since I am the eternal optimist I think this is finally the year we start out a little slow but figure things out, have a great 2nd half and see where that takes us. A little consistancy would be nice, we played great on Saturday against Bemidji, I didn't see the Sunday game but it sure didn't look good.