farce poobah Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 The Friday recipe for Gopher-beating included: * Have Joey Martin center the puck from behind his own net right to Bochenski's knee (Bo could be a decent goalie, I think). * Have Matt Jones shoot the puck from the point towards the corner and have it bounce off Kennedy and past Briggs. * Have Lee Marvin toss it at Briggs from the goal line extended and off Briggs shoulder. Suffice to say we were the recipients of some gift goals Friday. BUT.... there were a TON of plays that we could have and should have scored on, and didn't: * Zach with 3 clean breakaways and no goals (he did draw a penalty on one that ended a Varmint powerplay). Bochenski - Parise - Murray could just as well had 10 goals last night the way they were playmaking. Their performance was as good as ANY I can recall in the past 25 years (and that includes Panzer getting 4 one night, Joyce-Hrkac-Johnson with a bagfull in 1987 etc etc). WOW! The Gang of Five - Jones Greene Prpich McMahon and Fylling - were simply outstanding. They were physical, they were fast, they HIT VANEK HARD starting on their first shift and ending 60 minutes later. Game Pucks to those guys ... if Vanek doesn't score, our odds of winning go way up. On the other hand, Minnesota's goals were borderline soft too, but Jake too made some great saves when the outcome was still in doubt. Last and NOT least, the Sioux penalty kill was good. ========================================== The recipe for Saturday: * No needless penalties. We took too many away from the play, sticks in places where they shouldn't have been (Lundbohm), and MN's powerplay is too good to give them 7 chances and expect it not to bite. * Take the body. Especially Vanek and Guyer. Vanek is big but if you make it hard to get through, he seems to stop working. (Potulny on the other hand likes the bumping, it seems.) * Come out hard in the first 10 minutes. Set the tempo. * Forecheck - Pressure MN's cruddy defensemen, of which there are several playing a lot. Continue exploiting that weakness ... Normally I hate dump and chase, but if there's ever a time to use it selectively, its this weekend. Guys like Taylor, Vanelli, even Joey Martin, just can't play at the pace our forwards do. ============================================ One last comment on the atmosphere Friday: outstanding. Tip of the Farce Helmet to the creativity and energy from the student section (you know who you are!) and the Jumbotron guys. I wish I were a Sioux fan right now! BOOYA! DROP THE PUCK ALREADY! GO SIOUX! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 Ballard and Harrington could not have helped the Gophers last night. Offensive defenseman were not what they needed. The gophers played really well for about 5 minutes (when they were scoring). Yes we got some bounces, but we should've had some other goals, but Briggs stepped up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmidtdoggydog Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 Bochenski - Parise - Murray could just as well had 10 goals last night the way they were playmaking. Their performance was as good as ANY I can recall in the past 25 years (and that includes Panzer getting 4 one night, Joyce-Hrkac-Johnson with a bagfull in 1987 etc etc). WOW! They were a combined +9 last night with Parise's +4 leading the way. Vanek's line last night was a combined -7!!! That is a very telling stat. Two downsides for UND last night, they only won 27 of the 74 faceoffs and Porter was a -2, which is the worst plus/minus a UND player could've had since MN did score one PP goal. If Massen is not hurt, I would expect to see him in the lineup tonight. Any other guesses on possible lineup changes other than the goaltender position? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedorov Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 Any other guesses on possible lineup changes other than the goaltender position? I would expect Bina to be pulled. If he only played one shift, did he get hurt or did Blais not trust him? I don't know if Blais will want Andy playing, so maybe Foyt could be in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
U2Bad1 Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 I like this quote out of the twin cities Minnesota had a possible goal disallowed when Matt Greene gloved a loose puck from the air as he skated into the Sioux crease, then dropped it into the net when he was bumped by the Gophers' Danny Irmen late in the second period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superman0099 Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 I would expect Bina to be pulled. If he only played one shift, did he get hurt or did Blais not trust him? I don't know if Blais will want Andy playing, so maybe Foyt could be in. Bina played a few shifts, threw 1 big hit but didn't impress me much, I was sort of Suprised to see Hale at forward and Marvin back on D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyeagle Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 Ballard and Harrington could not have helped the Gophers last night. Offensive defenseman were not what they needed. I disagree. MN's biggest weakness without Ballard & Harrington is its inability to make good outlet passes out of its d-zone and Harrington & Ballard are head and shoulders better at this than any other MN d-man. Plus I'd argue Harrington is MN's best defensive d-man - so he was missed terribly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprig Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 Right now it would appear the Gophs have neither offensive or defensive dmen, coupled with quite a few forwards who don't come back to help out in their own end (are there like 7-8 Spehar clones on the team right now?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyeagle Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 You know I almost said something about our forwards not helping in the d-zone (or neutral zone or at times in the offensive zone...) but figured I'd not bore you. Anyway, I could not agree more. Spehar clones might be a little harsh, but not very far from the truth. It's still a team game and MN so far seems to think it's only an individual effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farce poobah Posted November 8, 2003 Author Share Posted November 8, 2003 I disagree. MN's biggest weakness without Ballard & Harrington is its inability to make good outlet passes out of its d-zone and Harrington & Ballard are head and shoulders better at this than any other MN d-man. Plus I'd argue Harrington is MN's best defensive d-man - so he was missed terribly. I agree. Sioux forechecking pressure led directly to goals, especially the important #5 from Brady Murray 1 minute into the 3rd period. I think the Gophers missed Ballard and Harrington more than the Sioux missed Schneider. I'd love to see both teams with healthy rosters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farce poobah Posted November 8, 2003 Author Share Posted November 8, 2003 They were a combined +9 last night with Parise's +4 leading the way. Vanek's line last night was a combined -7!!! That is a very telling stat. Two downsides for UND last night, they only won 27 of the 74 faceoffs and Porter was a -2, which is the worst plus/minus a UND player could've had since MN did score one PP goal. If Massen is not hurt, I would expect to see him in the lineup tonight. Any other guesses on possible lineup changes other than the goaltender position? I think Blais will put Murray on a different line. I would not be surprised to see Massen in Bina out, with R Hale moving back to D. I think Canady should play, he played closer to potential last night with outstanding hustle and work effort, and no penalties. Its also a good situation to give JPar a start, but I wouldn't complain if Jake plays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
U2Bad1 Posted November 8, 2003 Share Posted November 8, 2003 Those of you have dataflix, how do you watch archived games. I tried to watch a clip of the first BC game, but it just came up ready to show tonight's game with a blank screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 I disagree. MN's biggest weakness without Ballard & Harrington is its inability to make good outlet passes out of its d-zone and Harrington & Ballard are head and shoulders better at this than any other MN d-man. Plus I'd argue Harrington is MN's best defensive d-man - so he was missed terribly. Good point on the transition game. I don't know that much on Harrington. I was just listening to the wooger and his buddy talk about Harrington as an offensive d-man. BTW, wooger didn't sound too bad for first two periods last night. Only after the gophs started scoring did he revert to lucky bounces and reffing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
U2Bad1 Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 Why are the gophers so obsessed with offensive defensive? They may say well leopold and martin led us to national championships, but the fact is leopold and martin were also 2 of the best defensive defenseman in the country too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprig Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 Most gopher fans don't see hockey from a defensive point of view. It's all points and play in the opponent zone. A few of their forwards didn't find their own end all weekend. You're right, Leopold and Martin can play defense. They would not have made NHL teams right away if they couldn't. News flash, Ballard is not good defensively; he will need a lot of work before he'll stick with an NHL team. He whiffs as often as Mottau did in the 2000 championship. Good offensively, though, and he no doubt would have helped on the PP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farce poobah Posted November 9, 2003 Author Share Posted November 9, 2003 So much for recipes. Geez, I was pretty much wrong about everything. We took some marginal unnecessary penalties early that cost, Let the Varmints score first, Got no goals from Bo or Zach, Gave up a soft goal (MN #3), AND WE STILL WON!!!! Yeeehhaaaawww! More thoughts later after I get "hydrated". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagard Posted November 9, 2003 Share Posted November 9, 2003 Why are the gophers so obsessed with offensive defensive? They may say well leopold and martin led us to national championships, but the fact is leopold and martin were also 2 of the best defensive defenseman in the country too. Not to mention that after Jan 1 of '02 and Jan 1 of '03 DeMarchi played very, very well at both ends of the ice. Gophs fans as a rule way underestimated PMartins defensive play. He was brilliant on the PK. I thought the Gophers would struggle at the start, but 2-6 is way beyond my worst case scenarios. Ballard may help the Gophers transition game, but I'm not convinced he will help reducing the critical turnovers. Harrington will help, primarily by never letting JMartin see an opponents top line again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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