HockeyFan31

The problem, as I understand it from Gopher people, is that a lot of those prime seats are sold but are no-shows. So the Minnesota athletic department is getting the dollars, but I think anyone who cares about college hockey can agree that ain't a good look. And that has to be a detriment to recruiting if you have potentials attending games that sparsely attended.

Gophers really packed it in when I was watching Friday night against Wisconsin. Lots of sticks in passing lanes and blocked shots, not to mention an outstanding performance by the starting goalie. That said, UND is scoring at more than a goal per game higher clip than Minnesota, giving up a goal and half less than Minnesota, has a slightly better PP%, and a much better PK%. UND holds all of the statistical advantages but the old proverbial "throw the records out the window" goes for the rivalry so we shall see how it all plays out. Should be a fun series at any rate, it always is!

Took a peek on Minnesota ticket site. Still a bunch of seats available for the Thanksgiving game, as mostly expected. The Friday game has way less available. I imagine there will be a lot of green both nights.

Barring a minor miracle I think we can fill in Bruce's fate as fired as well. Not his fault, but GMs like to bring in "their coach".

I was at the game. What a swing of emotions. The two guys next to me damn near left at halftime and we all but prepared to leave if the 2nd half started poorly, and even though I was with a customer I may have followed right along with them. From wanting to leave to taking the lead late and thinking "holy s***, they are going to pull this one out of their collective a$$es" to watching them give up multiple 4th down conversions before finally stopping them on the goal line. Crazy, easily the most stressful football game I've ever watched in person. Lots of orange there yesterday. Interesting for a 3-6 team coming in to have that many fans travel and/or come out of the woodwork in the Twin Cities. It was a fun atmosphere! Not hostile, just two fanbases cheering for their teams.

Could certainly be a Pairwise killer for Minnesota with not many non-conference chances after Thanksgiving weekend for them.

Interesting Motzko is getting ripped. As bad as it seemed Gopher fans wanted Lucia out, all of his guys seemed to carry Minnesota down the stretch last year when it looked like things were going in the right direction. Especially on the powerplay. It seemed the consensus among Gopher fans was to build of the strong finish last year(even though it ultimately ended in missing the tourney), make the tourney this year, and get ready to make a run next year. Not looking so good for making the tourney this year.......

Leaving Dubnyk in net is a good start if that's the plan

What are you going to do though? Stalock has flashes but he has pretty well proven he is a career backup. Do you want to go trading assets to get a goalie for what is not likely to be a playoff season?

I thought I heard Florio saying the London thing is the NFL's threat in trying to get to a 17 game schedule. Not sure if there's any truth to that.

Remember when Vikings fans were pre-complaining the Packers were going to get to play KC without Mahomes and the Vikings would end up with Mahomes playing a week later? Didn't happen and couldn't even beat the backup.... Can't even decide who I'm mad at. Offense, defense, special teams, and coaching all seemed to play a hand in that loss.

Not sure why the Halloween game/late start. Especially with no PSU football Saturday. I know it's in vogue to rip the B1G/BTN, but the beauty of basketball season is there are almost no Friday night basketball games. So basically every Friday there is a hockey doubleheader once the conference season kicks in. Saturday is then a "B1G" basketball day but they are spread out throughout the entire day and often times there isn't a nightcap or the night cap isn't on BTN(because ESPN or FS1 picks it up) which leaves an opening for hockey. And even if there is a basketball nightcap, the regional Fox Sports channels often times will often pick up the Saturday broadcasts in the cases of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota(sometimes Michigan St as well).

Also as a Vikings fan, curious to see if Mahomes makes it back by Sunday. Moore gave Green Bay everything they wanted so it's not like it's a free win if Mahomes is still out but.......yeah.

Watched most of it. Shouldn't really have been a game. As a neutral observer(but also a Vikings fan pushing for KC, like you): I really thought they missed a shot to the head on a sack of Erin that would have extended a Green Bay drive in the second half. Also thought the hands to the face on the Green Bay defensive back was soft and it directly led to a KC touchdown where they would have otherwise had to settle for a field goal.

I think you're underestimating Penn St's cupcake non-conference schedule. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to schedule a D1 startup Toledo squad.

Tickets are sold

Have noticed some fans, especially UMD fans, really singing the praises of Wisconsin. It will be interesting to see how those two teams look moving forward. I watched a good chunk of both games in Madison and don't get me wrong, Wisconsin's sweep was impressive. I'm not about to write anyone into or out of the tournament based on the results of any early season non-conference series.

Go figure. A destination game that will likely give their program some national publicity. I understand going to Duluth or Cloudtown doesn't move the meter much and their fans aren't likely to make that trip but it still looks bad in my book.

That is hilarious and sad at the same time if true.

My thoughts exactly. Not exactly priming yourself for the teams you'll likely face in the postseason. I understand you have to have a cupcake or two on your schedule every year, that's part of the game with scheduling in college sports. But Penn St is over the top IMO. Penn St missed the tourney last year and got bounced in 2018 first round by DU, like you said. Looks like DU got them in the 2nd round in 2017.

Yeah, their non-conference schedules since joining the B1G is pathetic and embarrassing IMO. That said, they continue to win those games against weaker competition which some teams haven't been able to say the last handful of years.

It's really too bad because I like Bruce and this is not completely his fault, but I'm afraid he will take the fall for this because you can't fire the whole team(and I'm sure Guerin will want his own coach in at some point anyway). I think mostly I will miss stuff like this though:

Late to this one, but yes, those were hideous.

Vikings fan here. Only been to one away game in Chicago and I'd add Soldier Field to that list. Overall it wasn't a horrendous experience (aside from McNabb's notorious bounce pass) but there was one guy who felt the need to harass us the whole game.

I'm sad I took time out of my day to read that post.....