2023 National Championship Game: Quinnipiac vs. Minnesota

[Kevin G]

This one is for all the marbles: Quinnipiac vs. Minnesota, Saturday, April 8, 7:00pm CT, ESPN/ESPN+.

 

One thing is certain: Amalie looked better in green.

[Clark17]

Should be good.  I think the Goofs are the better team unfortunately.    

[Kevin G]

25 minutes ago, Clark17 said:

Should be good.  I think the Goofs are the better team unfortunately.    

Yeah, I would agree that the Gophers are more talented: 14 drafted players vs. QU's 2.

Perhaps QU can frustrate Minnesota in the neutral zone. And Perets will have to be a stone wall. 

[FightingSU]

How did we swap relevancy with the gophers in like 2 seasons. 2-3 seasons ago we were on fire and Gophers were utter trash. And here we are. 

[90siouxfan]

If bobbo was coaching Q instead of peckerholder I would be much more comfortable cheering for the bobcats...

[The Sicatoka]

6 minutes ago, FightingSU said:

How did we swap relevancy with the gophers in like 2 seasons. 2-3 seasons ago we were on fire and Gophers were utter trash. And here we are. 

Two recruiting classes is how. And it can go the other way that fast again. 

[siouxforce19]

6 minutes ago, FightingSU said:

How did we swap relevancy with the gophers in like 2 seasons. 2-3 seasons ago we were on fire and Gophers were utter trash. And here we are. 

We turned over half our roster 2 years ago, and the freshmen class that came in to replace what we lost wasn’t up to par. 

[Wildfan]

5 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Two recruiting classes is how. And it can go the other way that fast again. 

Motzko. Same reason SCSU has been kinda down since he left. Came in and brought in who he wanted. Those he had previously recruited to SCSU swapped and got the guys he wanted which also may have limited some 5th years(don't know if true or not). 

Also had some guys stay that could've/should've went pro atleast if they were on most other teams. Hopefully we get some more highly highly skilled guys in again soon. We had some but none to the caliber that seemed like we had through that National Championship year who were mostly Hakstol recruits. 

Can Berry win some of these recruiting battles going forward expecially with NIL? 

[Wilbur]

22 minutes ago, FightingSU said:

How did we swap relevancy with the gophers in like 2 seasons. 2-3 seasons ago we were on fire and Gophers were utter trash. And here we are. 

Got to give credit to Gopher Bob.  Super good coach, good person.  I hate the gophers, but it's okay to give the man credit. 

[Wilbur]

If the Q can match Cooley, Knies, and Snuggy and get them in their own end against some big bodies they can have success.

But then Minnesota has 5 NHL d men IMHO. 

[thUNDer]

Mop ‘n glo is a very good coach with close to the most talented goofs team we’ve ever seen going back to the 70s. 4-1 over the peckerholders.

[farce poobah]

My neighbor owns a restaurant near the U of M campus.  

I predict they will be serving blackened chicken Sunday. 

[SJHovey]

One thing I'm taking away from this final is this.  There isn't a lot that separates the top 25-30 college hockey teams in any given year.

QU and MN were clearly the two best teams during the tournament.  They were the top two seeds, and they played like it.

North Dakota played those two teams on back to back weekends last October.  Three of the four games went to overtime.  In every single game North Dakota lead.  In fact, you can argue that we probably should have won three of those four games.  Yet we weren't really that close to either qualifying for the tournament or this championship game.  It doesn't take much to change your fortunes in this sport.

[jk]

9 minutes ago, SJHovey said:

One thing I'm taking away from this final is this.  There isn't a lot that separates the top 25-30 college hockey teams in any given year.

QU and MN were clearly the two best teams during the tournament.  They were the top two seeds, and they played like it.

North Dakota played those two teams on back to back weekends last October.  Three of the four games went to overtime.  In every single game North Dakota lead.  In fact, you can argue that we probably should have won three of those four games.  Yet we weren't really that close to either qualifying for the tournament or this championship game.  It doesn't take much to change your fortunes in this sport.

One thing I'm taking away is there's more than one way to assemble a team, as these two couldn't be more different.  Q has seven fifth-year players and I don't think MN has any, though I haven't checked.  One is younger and is going to end up with a lot of NHL games played, while the other is older and has seen a few things along the way.

[SJHovey]

1 hour ago, Wildfan said:

Motzko. Same reason SCSU has been kinda down since he left. Came in and brought in who he wanted. Those he had previously recruited to SCSU swapped and got the guys he wanted which also may have limited some 5th years(don't know if true or not). 

Also had some guys stay that could've/should've went pro atleast if they were on most other teams. Hopefully we get some more highly highly skilled guys in again soon. We had some but none to the caliber that seemed like we had through that National Championship year who were mostly Hakstol recruits. 

Can Berry win some of these recruiting battles going forward expecially with NIL? 

I'm going to disagree with this, at least with respect to St. Cloud.  Motzko got St. Cloud into the tournament, but their tournament fortunes under him were getting worse.  He took them to the semis, then to the quarters a couple of times.  But the last couple of years they had some bad first round defeats.

Larson has done a good job of maintaining or even building the program, including a trip to the championship game a couple of years ago.

[Godsmack]

Last night, initially I was pulling for Michigan from the simple standpoint of who I thought had a better chance at beating the Gophers. After all, they’d just beaten Minnesota at Mariucci in the big ten championship game so we know they were capable. 
 

However, by the game’s conclusion, Q won me over. They demonstrated the ability to neutralize a dynamic offense. And they’re not too shabby in their own right as well. 

[scpa0305]

3 hours ago, Clark17 said:

Should be good.  I think the Goofs are the better team unfortunately.    

Way better. But I like Q’s D structure and tendy. They could sneak this one out 

[Sweethockey]

15 minutes ago, Godsmack said:

Last night, initially I was pulling for Michigan from the simple standpoint of who I thought had a better chance at beating the Gophers. After all, they’d just beaten Minnesota at Mariucci in the big ten championship game so we know they were capable. 
 

However, by the game’s conclusion, Q won me over. They demonstrated the ability to neutralize a dynamic offense. And they’re not too shabby in their own right as well. 

Q's smothering defensive play and speed will win this game. (I am hoping) 3-2, with the GWG going in at .04 left in the 3rd....

[SiouxFan100]

Hockey isn’t a fair game. 

[siouxfan512]

3 hours ago, Clark17 said:

Should be good.  I think the Goofs are the better team unfortunately.    

Goofs definitely have the talent, but that doesn't mean they will win. Seems reminiscent of their last national championship game against Union.

Not a Pecknold fan, but I'll be pulling hard for Q. If they can take out Michigan, there is not reason they can't take out Minnesota.

[siouxfan512]

1 hour ago, SJHovey said:

One thing I'm taking away from this final is this.  There isn't a lot that separates the top 25-30 college hockey teams in any given year.

QU and MN were clearly the two best teams during the tournament.  They were the top two seeds, and they played like it.

North Dakota played those two teams on back to back weekends last October.  Three of the four games went to overtime.  In every single game North Dakota lead.  In fact, you can argue that we probably should have won three of those four games.  Yet we weren't really that close to either qualifying for the tournament or this championship game.  It doesn't take much to change your fortunes in this sport.

I would say that Minnesota looks far better now than they did in October though. The young talent has become more comfortable at this level and the team has gelled. Similar to UND really, but they have a higher level of young talent. Gophers have just looked good, though I really though SCSU had a chance of taking them out there. Too bad.

[Wilbur]

2 hours ago, SiouxFanSince1990 said:

3-2 bobcats.

If this is the exact score I win my office college hockey pool.  I can win if the gophers win, but this would be me taking all the money 

[Kevin G]

Watching QU last night reminded me of UMD's championship teams (though UMD's d-core was much younger). As in, both QU and UMD played team defense far better than their individual parts suggested. And both teams could manage a one-goal lead. 

[Kevin G]

Wonder if Rand Pecknold will get NHL interest if Q takes home the banner? He's been at Quinnipiac for something like 29 years, I believe.

[Dustin]

What’s our beef with Pecknold?  I must have missed that day.