Someone please explain!

[SJHovey]

Its a funny thread. Sounds like some fans may have some fun with Grimaldi in a few weeks.

Assuming he's in the lineup.

By the way, better change your sig. Last I checked Michigan left Minnesota in the dust in tournament appearances and has caught them in tournament wins.

[buckysieve]

Assuming he's in the lineup. By the way, better change your sig. Last I checked Michigan left Minnesota in the dust in tournament appearances and has caught them in tournament wins.

Yeah the last few years of sucking killed my signature. Im too lazy to change it so I'll just pretend its still true.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

Yeah the last few years of sucking killed my signature. Im too lazy to change it so I'll just pretend its still true.

A gopher fan misrepresenting the truth? SHOCKING!

[Johnny Five]

I did not watch the game but I talked to people who did and they told me that most of Duluth's shots were from long distances. I can't remember one time last year that our team, IMO easily the best team in the country, came close to 50 shots last year. Even if half of Duluth's shots were from above the top of the circles, 25 shots were still taken from a decent scoring area. Allowing 50 shots, no matter the quality, is a HUGE issue. Not only that the Gophers put up 16 shots that same game. How does a team get outshot by 34 and win the game? I admit the Gophers are improved this year, but those shot totals do not show me that the Gopher team is ready to compete for a Frozen Four like their fan base is proclaiming.

Um...In regards to your last line...I read through GPL, follow Hammy and some of the other Gopher guys on Twitter, and post on a different college hockey message board. I have not read or heard one fan proclaim anything about a title or the frozen four for that matter. Let's just make stuff up, throw it at the wall, and hope it sticks I guess. Forgive the fan base for being slightly excited about getting 4 points on the road in the WCHA opener. Meanwhile, one of our biggest rivals went to Tech and got zero points. Either game could've gone the other way but bright spots are hard to come by for us Gopher fans the past 3-4 seasons. Anytime you go to Duluth and squeek by with 4 points it is a good weekend.

As far as the Gophers defense goes, Helgeson is a Junior. The rest of soph and fresh. There is going to be a learning curve there. As any decent college hockey fan knows, there is a ton of hockey left and anything can happen on any given weekend.

[NDHockey]

Let's not forget that Gorg is also a Koolaide drinker as well.

I think it's funny that the Gophers fans are beating their chest so hard after their sweep but the Bulldogs are a shell of their former self... The Bulldogs lost a of great players from last season's team, Mike Connolly (28-26-54), Justin Fontaine(22-36-58), Justin Faulk (8-25-35), Mike Montgomery (0-10-10) solid underated defenseman and Kyle Schmidt (11-11-22). I am not a math major or good at math but that is a 157 points from UMD's offensive production.

Wouldn't that mean we are a shell of our former self too?

[Hayduke]

Am I the only one posting here (Maybe I missed a prior post) about Michigan Tech? I didn't see them get any points in the USA today poll. Am I missing it? WTH is up with that? And Wisconsin got 15 pts after getting swept by them.

Tech got jacked on that poll. They also should have cracked the top twenty in the USCHO poll.

[Johnny Five]

Just goes to show you that preseason polls mean nothing. Same can be said for college football. Heck come out with the first rankings after 6-8 weeks of play. Usually that is a good enough judge to see where the teams may sit in the rankings barring an epic run and or collapse.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

Minnesota is a better team this year. They are a little weak defensively, but I suspect that's primarily because they are real young back there.

They have some players like Haula, Bjugstad and Rau who can put the puck in the net, and they're playing with a lot of confidence. It is not going to be an easy series for the Sioux in a few weeks, and I could easily see MN with a top 3 finish in the WCHA this year.

On another topic, it looks like our players have a "stalker" in the form of a kid from Minnesota who attends UND. I saw this thread on GPL the other day. I STRONGLY recommend against going on GPL to troll or respond to that thread, since drawing a response from Sioux fans is clearly the intent, but it is a pretty funny read.

http://www.gopherpuc...hp?f=22&t=10817

It started off kind of funny, but then turned into a huge circle jerk followed by some decent posts. Sadly, I won't ever get the 5 minutes I took to read through those posts back. Sounds like Rocco will have "fan clubs" all around the WCHA.

[buckysieve]

It started off kind of funny, but then turned into a huge circle jerk followed by some decent posts. Sadly, I won't ever get the 5 minutes I took to read through those posts back. Sounds like Rocco will have "fan clubs" all around the WCHA.

I hope its in good taste. I realize he opened the door with those strange comments on twitter but no one should be made fun of because of their religion. Hopefully fans wont cross the line but who knows.

[SJHovey]

I hope its in good taste. I realize he opened the door with those strange comments on twitter but no one should be made fun of because of their religion. Hopefully fans wont cross the line but who knows.

It won't be the first time a hockey fan has crossed the line. As a Sioux fan all we can hope for is Rocco uses it as motivation.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

It won't be the first time a hockey fan has crossed the line. As a Sioux fan all we can hope for is Rocco uses it as motivation.

I am sure he is used to getting made fun of due to his height, and his religious beliefs. Hockey players and insults/chirping are pretty standard from the early teen years to the NHL. Rocco will be just fine.

[Goon]

Wouldn't that mean we are a shell of our former self too?

Well Duh but UMD isn't half as good as they were last season.... The Bulldogs had suspect goaltending last season and minus a few key guys on the blue-line now these weaknesses are being exploited.

[buckysieve]

Well Duh but UMD isn't half as good as they were last season.... The Bulldogs had suspect goaltending last season and minus a few key guys on the blue-line now these weaknesses are being exploited.

Reiter is a horrible goalie, I have no idea how they won a title with him. But other than him UMD impressed me last week. They're a good team.

[NDHockey]

Well Duh but UMD isn't half as good as they were last season.... The Bulldogs had suspect goaltending last season and minus a few key guys on the blue-line now these weaknesses are being exploited.

Certainly UMD lost some good players but not half as good? I find that to be more talk than truth. They still look pretty talented up front. In fact, I'd say they have better forwards than we do considering all that we lost. I think it all evens out to some degree. We have better returning defense but they have a better returning offense.

[Goon]

Reiter is a horrible goalie, I have no idea how they won a title with him. But other than him UMD impressed me last week. They're a good team.

I guess I said suspect not horrible but I guess if that works for you fine. I think people forget how good Falk was on defense and then you lose another good defenseman like Montgomery as well.

[GFG]

UMD isn't much worse than last year. They have some very good freshman, primarily Caleb Herbert, the kid is absolutely sick. To be honest I thought UMD looked better this past weekend than they did most of last season. Very talented offensive team.

Here's a highlight reel goal of his against Minnesota.

https://www.snappytv.com/snaps/817-umd-cuts-lead-in-half-with-3-on-2-goal-about-minnesota-at-minnesota-duluth-on-fox-sports-north

UMD really didn't have many quality scoring chances, Minnesota had just as much as them on Saturday night even while being outshot by 34. UMD just threw pucks on net from their own end of the ice and the neutral zone. A lot of them. Just a fun fact as well, Pattersons top 4 games for most saves last season were all against UMD as well.

I've watched the gophers the past three years, and let me just tell you that this is by far the best team they've had in those years. The attitude is completely different than past years, the defense is much improved but is still their weakness. Patterson is honestly probably my vote for best goalie in the WCHA too. Him and Dell are far and away the top two. Patterson finished the season with a 58% save percentage on breakaways, and believe me, he faced a lot of them. An average for that stat is about 15-20%.

I've talked with Schlossman and he said he would be amazed if Minnesota didn't make the NCAA tournament again. I've watched hockey all my life and if the gophers keep playing like they are they will easily finish in the top 3 of the WCHA. They've looked much better than UND has so far (God, I haven't said that forever), but with both of those teams being so young there will be inconsistent play from both of them throughout the season.

[tnt]

UMD isn't much worse than last year. They have some very good freshman, primarily Caleb Herbert, the kid is absolutely sick. To be honest I thought UMD looked better this past weekend than they did most of last season. Very talented offensive team.

Here's a highlight reel goal of his against Minnesota.

https://www.snappytv...ox-sports-north

UMD really didn't have many quality scoring chances, Minnesota had just as much as them on Saturday night even while being outshot by 34. UMD just threw pucks on net from their own end of the ice and the neutral zone. A lot of them. Just a fun fact as well, Pattersons top 4 games for most saves last season were all against UMD as well.

I've watched the gophers the past three years, and let me just tell you that this is by far the best team they've had in those years. The attitude is completely different than past years, the defense is much improved but is still their weakness. Patterson is honestly probably my vote for best goalie in the WCHA too. Him and Dell are far and away the top two. Patterson finished the season with a 58% save percentage on breakaways, and believe me, he faced a lot of them. An average for that stat is about 15-20%.

I've talked with Schlossman and he said he would be amazed if Minnesota didn't make the NCAA tournament again. I've watched hockey all my life and if the gophers keep playing like they are they will easily finish in the top 3 of the WCHA. They've looked much better than UND has so far (God, I haven't said that forever), but with both of those teams being so young there will be inconsistent play from both of them throughout the season.

Minnesota almost always looks better than UND -- before Christmas. And by keep playing like they are, do you mean giving up 50 shots on goal? I would guarantee you that they will not finish top three if they give up 50 shots a game.

[buckysieve]

Minnesota almost always looks better than UND -- before Christmas. And by keep playing like they are, do you mean giving up 50 shots on goal? I would guarantee you that they will not finish top three if they give up 50 shots a game.

The shot total last week was very misleading. After two periods on Saturday the scoring chances were 7-6 in favor of UMD even though the shots were very lopsided. The defense did a great job of keeping the shots from the outside giving Patterson easy saves.

[GPL Mole]

Minnesota is a better team this year. They are a little weak defensively, but I suspect that's primarily because they are real young back there.

They have some players like Haula, Bjugstad and Rau who can put the puck in the net, and they're playing with a lot of confidence. It is not going to be an easy series for the Sioux in a few weeks, and I could easily see MN with a top 3 finish in the WCHA this year.

On another topic, it looks like our players have a "stalker" in the form of a kid from Minnesota who attends UND. I saw this thread on GPL the other day. I STRONGLY recommend against going on GPL to troll or respond to that thread, since drawing a response from Sioux fans is clearly the intent, but it is a pretty funny read.

http://www.gopherpuc...hp?f=22&t=10817

Who are you talking about?

[GFG]

Who are you talking about?

lol

[GPL Mole]

Just have the mods confirm that GFG isn't the mole so you people can have some sane hockey discussion with GFG.

I just want to clear his name.

[Goon]

Just have the mods confirm that GFG isn't the mole so you people can have some sane hockey discussion with GFG.

I just want to clear his name.

Dude, you must really not have much of a life, to want to troll a UND Message board? I know it's boring in Grand Forks but... Come on!!! Really?

You don't see most of us trolling GPL.

[Goon]

Another thing that I wanted to bring up is there aren't as many people pumping the Gophers tires after they gave up a lead to the Vermont Catamounts.

It's obvious that the Minnesota Gophers are better this season, Rau is good but he was hammered every chance that Vermont got. Also, your going to get hammered if you celebrate every goal like you wont the Stanley Cup. If I was a coach in the WCHA I would have that game on DVR. That was a text book win by Vermont today. The Catamounts got in the Gophers grill and they started taking a bunch of penalties.

[siouxforce19]

Another thing that I wanted to bring up is there aren't as many people pumping the Gophers tires after they gave up a lead to the Vermont Catamounts. It's obvious that the Minnesota Gophers are better this season, Rau is good but he was hammered every chance that Vermont got. Also, your going to get hammered if you celebrate every goal like you won the Stanley Cup. If I was a coach in the WCHA I would have that game on DVR. That was a text book win by Vermont today. The Catamounts got in the Gophers grill and they started taking a bunch of penalties.

He does over-celebrate a bit, doesn't he? After he scores a goal in the same spot as all his other goals...

I liked when he got that penalty for embellishment against Duluth. I laughed.

Okay, I'm done being mean now.

[GFG]

Another thing that I wanted to bring up is there aren't as many people pumping the Gophers tires after they gave up a lead to the Vermont Catamounts.

It's obvious that the Minnesota Gophers are better this season, Rau is good but he was hammered every chance that Vermont got. Also, your going to get hammered if you celebrate every goal like you wont the Stanley Cup. If I was a coach in the WCHA I would have that game on DVR. That was a text book win by Vermont today. The Catamounts got in the Gophers grill and they started taking a bunch of penalties.

The freshmen were very bad in todays game, which is expected sometimes with a young team. But there are a couple of them that won't be making next weeks road trip because of stupid retaliation penalties, and not moving their feet on defense. They probably lost most playing time for the rest of the year after today. They've been outplayed by the other guys they were competing with that were scratched today. That being said, gotta give credit where credit is due, Vermont looked much better today and their goaltender Madore was very good in net and was the decisive reason Vermont won.