SiouxScore

Really solid weekend of hockey. Seeing a lot of growth in guys. Kunz and Ness are two that have stepped up and grown their game a lot from the beginning of the season, Jamernik and Strinden are another couple.

One of the more complete performances we’ve seen from this team Really solid job coverage wise defensively one of the slip ups results in a goal though although Ludvig surely wants both of them back tonight James/McLaughlin/Blake get better every time out D need to clean up some bad giveaways to nowher, too many weak pass/clear attempts that didn’t hurt tonight but were scary. Go get the sweep tomorrow!

Solid productive weekend if we can get our top line playing consistently like this weekend going forward we are in a really good spot Blake scores if Basse doesn’t trip him with his glove, should get another attempt for that.

Dominant at times especially in the 1st and 2nd trapping st.clown in their zone for minutes at a time James-OMac-Blake combo was really good tonight Berg might’ve had the best all around game Felt like we shoulda had 4-5 goals in the 1st Basse was very good and we just missed wide on great looks Ludvig was very good and made some huge saves. Way too many big rebounds on shots that you’d like to see him swallow clean Way too passive in the dzone the last 8-10 minutes, pressure the guy and make him make a play instead of sitting back Have to cut down on the panic plays. Ton of just throwing pucks blindly without really any pressure. I think for the most part those plays didn’t directly result in any Scsu goals tonight but just take a breath and make a productive play

So many bad gaps, turnovers, and just DZ breakdowns. Ludvig wasn’t real sharp either. This team has to lock in here and start taking care of business against bad times. Things aren’t trending well right now.

James

Really up and down effort last night. Just not ready at all to go in the 1st, slow to pucks and to react and basically on heels the whole 1st. Took advantage of some opportunities that really turned the game in the 2nd. 3rd was sloppy at times but got it to the end with a W. Hoping to see a more complete effort tonight.

3/3 on the FM targets

Livanavage

This loss can be put right on KOC but all areas certainly contributed. Defensively you can't finish on some big negative plays and can't go and make a play on the ball, offensively you can't gain 6 inches in two plays and continue to turn the ball over consistently. Coaching-KOC hasn't adapted to coaching like he has a backup QB he still is calling the game like Cousins is back there especially with the lead. Where was the screen game, throws to the flats, and leaning on the run game to keep the clock moving a little with the lead. How about personnel usage the biggest one is why is Powell even on the field for 3rd/4th inches use Hockenson/Oliver/Ham. Remember how good Ham used to be in short yardage? Here is the major red flag for me on KOC along with the number of times not being able to close games in his 2 seasons, we could see in the preseason that Chandler was much more effective runner than Mattison and he still hasn't realized it. Maybe the injury forces him to finally see it today.

Mullens refuses to throw any ball away

I'd go with Hall at QB next week but think KOC goes with Mullens Think the Vikes are probably underdogs in these final 4, Bengals and Packers are really playing well while Detroit is struggling at the moment

Just a really bad weekend of hockey. Did so much good in the first half of the season and then just laid a complete egg in your last series of the year. No excuse for a showing like that with the big break coming.

Johannes

Team really showed something last night. First period might have been the worst all around period from the guys this season. They never got down never mailed it in, just regrouped and kept chipping away and getting better as the game went on.

Solid weekend of hockey, this team so far has done a good job of taking care of teams they should take care of. Should be a good test next weekend with a couple high intensity matchups.

Took care of business this weekend

Some sloppiness at times but overall a good workmanlike win. Need to jump on them again tomorrow and give a bad team no reason to believe.

Really solid weekend of hockey. Duluth is in for a long year I think.

He definitely needs to adapt. He is so concerned with time of possession and so risk averse it makes every game close. Sure that might keep you in a game against a team with more talent than you but when you are playing a less talented team or similar it keeps the game close as well and reduces your margin for error. My biggest frustration yesterday would be with the defense and Rossi basically taking a half to get out of soft zone coverage that Illinois was picking apart. Gotta adapt quicker, I get you are worried about the QB run which didn't happen very much at all but you are a terrible zone coverage team so take your chances with man looks. The other part was the 3rd and 9 run at the 22 from PJ playing for the FG and with the passing game clicking not trying to get into FG range with about 30 seconds left from your 30 before half. Then out of half you have that huge drop in the endzone from Crooms after the strip sack and then basically went to run on 1st and 2nd down the rest of the quarter. It made no sense you had so much success with the early down passing game in the 1st half. The 3rd and 1 slow developing outside zone was so dumb too, Illinois absolutely loaded the box and knew what was coming and not only do you stick on the ground you go with a slow play outside zone. If you really want to run there go with the QB push that you get 2+ on every time you do it. I will give them credit I loved the 3rd and 4 call in the 4th and Athan had a chance to end it but made a terrible throw. He is improving a lot but had a couple key mistakes and missing that 3rd and 4 and the play before you run sideways on the 2nd down instead of get upfield probably cost you a 1st down there too. I sometimes think PJ is more concerned with eating clock than scoring points. Fleck also absolutely needs to fire Wenger. Putting Tyler the fumbler back at returner yesterday and your return sucks to start with and you fumble the opening kick.

Needed to get out of there with a split and got it. Certainly some breakdowns that need to be cleaned up. Way too many careless giveaways. Liked the line combos a lot more last night than what we have seen.

Gophers had a chance to grab full control of the west yesterday and let it slip right through again. Just inexcusable to lose that game to Illinois. These situations have been far too common under PJ. Iowa and Wisconsin in 2019, Illinois and Iowa in 2021, Purdue in 2022, and now Northwestern and Illinois in 2023. They just can't get over the top.

That is the type of game you need to win. BU got some bounces but you have to take advantage of more of your looks against a goalie who didn't look sharp at all. Wasn't real impressed with BU. Of the teams we have faced so far I'd have them 3 at best behind Minnesota and Wisconsin. Officiating as seemingly is always the case when you go out East was pretty weak. Have to do something with the PP, think you have to look at trying to work from down low more maybe operating more from behind net/goal line extended. Think maybe a little bit of line tweaking might be in order too, feels like Schmaltz just doesn't fit real well with McLaughlin and Blake. Would love to see Perron get the look there. James and Johannes could be 2 other potential guys there. Move Schmaltz back to center and bump Jamernik down to center the 4th line. Perron-McLaughlin-Blake James-Berg-Gaber Johannes-Schmaltz-Strinden

Vikes probably have to add a QB for this week as I believe Mullens is still IR for another week. Play Hall and see what you have there. If he struggles like most would predict you should have a top 10 pick. The Kirk injury pretty well ends the playoff hopes and makes it easy to trade Hunter, Hicks, and any other pending FA you can get value for in the next 48 hours.

Vikings upcoming schedule looks very advantageous. Now having said that I fully expect that the win over SF convinced Kwesi to hang onto Hunter, Hicks, Osborn, Smith, etc. and they'll go fall on their face in Green Bay picking up a loss but with the trade deadline next Tuesday Vikes just opt to hang onto everyone anyway.