Donny Puck

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio

2010-05-16T19:51:00.000-05:00

Dead at 67 Sunday morning.

May the music live forever in memory for the Godfather of Heavy Metal.

Tamer Opening Weekend of NCAA Hockey Tourney

2010-04-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

The breaking news last Friday regarding Frank Mazzocco’s firing from FSN North’s Gopher hockey broadcasts trumped NCAA Tournament coverage. However, the weekend featured several intriguing matchups, some wild finishes, and one shocker. However, in comparison to the craziness that was the 2009 NCAA Tournament, this year’s version seemed somewhat tame.

In the East Regional, top-seeded Denver seemed poised for a virtual cakewalk to the Frozen Four, but ran into the freight train that was Rochester Institute of Technology. RIT scored first and never let the Pios in the game and bounced George Gwozdecky’s club from the tournament with a 2-1 victory. The Tourney’s first game provided the first shocker, and Denver was bounced from the Tournament for the third-consecutive season in the first round – all the while DU held its bracket’s top seed. Third-seeded New Hampshire throttled Cornell 6-2 with four third-period goals setting up an RIT/New Hampshire regional. In a matchup nobody expected to see, RIT controlled the play for much of the night and notched three goals within 1:34 of the second period to take the regional 6-2. In just the squad’s fifth season of Division I play, RIT was headed to the Frozen Four and became the first Atlantic Hockey club to qualify for the final group.

In the West Regional, St. Cloud State and Northern Michigan met in the first matchup and the Huskies were looking for their first NCAA Tournament victory in the program’s Division I history. In seven prior appearances, St. Cloud compiled an 0-8 mark. Northern didn’t make it easy on SCSU, coming back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game on a goal with 3:49 remaining in the third period, and St. Cloud needed two overtimes to beat Northern Michigan 4-3 on a goal by Tony Mosey. Top-seeded Wisconsin held off Vermont in the nightcap 3-2 to set up an all-WCHA Regional Final the next night. Red-hot Sconnie avenged the defeat by St. Cloud a week prior in the WCHA Final Five to take the Regional with a 5-3 victory, returning to the Frozen Four for the first time since winning it all in 2006.

In the Midwest Regional, #1 overall Tournament seed Miami (OH) matched up against plucky Alabama-Huntsville in the first game. UAH was quite a story; playing in a lame-duck conference and being the only school which did not find a conference home for the 2010-11 season (they’ll play as an independent). Huntsville was also looking to become the first team to win an NCAA Tournament game despite fashioning a losing regular season record, and they gave the RedHawks all they could handle before Miami held them off for a 2-1 victory. In the second semi-final, third-seeded Michigan continued its hot streak with a 5-1 drubbing of Bemidji State. The Wolverines stretched their winning streak to seven games – all with walk-on goaltender Shawn Hunwick in the nets, replacing starter Bryan Hogan – with the victory over BSU and made the Tournament only because of that winning streak, stretching their incredible Tournament appearance mark to 20 consecutive seasons. An all-CCHA final ensued with Miami facing Michigan, and the battle was incredibly spirited. Save for a 10-minute stretch toward the end of regulation where Miami controlled play, Michigan buzzed all night long and put constant pressure on Miami goaltender Connor Knapp, but the netminder stood firm and turned aside 55 shots in the game which went into double OT. In the second extra session, Miami’s Alden Hirschfeld scored to send the RedHawks back to the Frozen Four for the second-consecutive season.

In the Northeast, top-seeded Boston College was not terribly impressive in beating Alaska in the opening game 3-1, but they got the ‘W.’ In the second semi-final, Yale started out fast and grabbed a 3-0 lead over North Dakota and survived a furious Sioux rally in the third period to hold on for the 3-2 win. That set up a wild Regional final which eventually saw BC survive 9-7. The Eagles put on an impressive offensive performance and opened up a 9-4 lead with less than 13 minutes remaining in the game. Yale actually played three goaltenders in an effort to stop the bleeding, but it was largely to no avail. Yale stormed back and netted three-consecutive tallies to cut the margin to 9-7, but the basketball game on ice finally ended and BC was headed to the Frozen Four.

So, three of the Tournament’s top seeds advanced to Ford Field in Detroit and the other spot was filled by a Cinderella team – RIT. Denver’s failure to advance was somewhat puzzling, as the Pioneers featured college hockey’s best goaltender and largely the country’s best overall talent. However, Denver's struggles in the Tourney continue for a third-straight season and only one WCHA team is left standing.

Hype week concludes this week, and it’s down to business starting on April 8, as Wisconsin faces RIT and Miami plays Boston College. A full preview will appear next weekend.

However, I’ll give you a quick hint: Rico Blasi.

Mazzocco's Firing Simply Disgraceful

2010-03-26T20:04:00.001-05:00

Fox Sports North announced Friday that the contract of longtime Gopher hockey TV play-by-play man Frank Mazzocco was not going to be renewed for the upcoming season, ending his nearly 20-season tie with the team.

Mazzocco had worked in the FSN booth with former Gopher coach Doug Woog for the past several seasons, and FSN announced that Woog's role would be different next season. Mazzocco will be replaced by Anthony LaPanta in the booth for next season.

LaPanta has received some exposure doing high school hockey games on FSN and called games on the radio for the State High School Hockey Tournament. He is also the lead studio announcer for FSN's Twins, Gophers, Wild, and Timberwolves coverage, and may be familiar to some fans as one of the Twins radio announcers in the 1998 season. He'll likely do a fine job in the both.

Woog served as the team's head coach for 14 seasons and has been a popular broadcaster since leaving the bench prior to the 1999-2000 season. He has slipped somewhat over the past few years, but his homespun observations have been much appreciated by Gopher fans over the years. Nobody cares more about this program than the "Wooger."

Moving Woog to more of a studio role leaves the opportunity for others like Darby Hendrickson, Tom Chorske, and Kevin Gorg to move into the #2 slot in the booth. Former NHLer Derek Plante also had some exposure in March and would be a decent possibility. Each of the named individuals would be fine alongside LaPanta, except Gorg, whose incessant talking seemingly makes him a decent candidate for a studio spot.

All this is well and good, but the firing of Mazzocco is a horrible decision by the suits of FSN. Minnesota hockey fans know "Francois's" style very well from his days as a North Stars' announcer in the mid-80s, and his subsequent seamless transition to Gopher hockey. He is anything but a homer and makes honest evaluations of the team while clearly wanting the team to do well. He is an energetic announcer, but clearly lets the game stand on its own. It's a style perfected by the great hockey announcers of modern times like Mike "Doc" Emrick, Dave Strader, the late, great, Tom Mees, and the incomparable Al Shaver. I recently ranted about the hysterical hockey announcers of the modern times and how their histrionics would not work in this market. Mazzocco personified what an effective hockey announcer is like in his area.

This is going to backfire huge on FSN. The comments section of the StarTribune article is littered with negative comments about the move. There is a Facebook page set up to lobby for his return to the booth. Don't hold your breath, however. This decision is made.

Mazzocco is far too talented to not be working next season. I could easily see him on the ESPNU broadcasts for the NCAA Tournament next spring. This blogger would love to see Francois working with another FSN castaway, Clay Matvick, to provide some quality broadcasts. Also, with the Big Ten Network likely to make a bigger splash in the WCHA, he would be a perfect addition to the staff. We'll see Frank again; just not on Gopher broadcasts for a while.

FSN has clearly made a decision without consulting the most important people, and that is the fans of Gopher hockey broadcasts on FSN North. If management had asked us, they would have found out that the fans love the coverage, would wish that Wooger would seem more lucid at times, and would be looking forward to new gadgets to add to the already fine broadcasts. Most importantly, they would have requested FSN leave the booth as-is. Instead, management has decided to bring in a new announcing team and will likely see its quality suffer.

FSN North GM Mike Dimond (pictured left) stated that he wants a revamping of the Gopher broadcasts and he has certainly invited some backlash among the faithful by replacing not one but two popular announcers in one fell swoop. Not a good move in my book, and this has certainly been met with a lot of disdain from fans across the state.

While Dimond is in the mood for firing folks, why not address the awful Wild broadcasts with Dan Terhaar and Mike Greenlay? They can certainly go. I've also been highly critical of Twins' announcers Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven (I'm fine with Bert in a role, but Bremer needs to go and Roy Smalley absolutely needs to be in the booth full-time).

Clearly, the replacement of the Gopher announcers is a short-sighted, knee-jerk, management decision which hurts the fans the most. Then again, what's new?

About Ness....

2010-03-24T05:00:00.000-05:00

I am a New York Islanders' fan, as I have mentioned many times prior, and I really enjoy reading the Point Blank site of Chris Botta which covers the team independently. However, this post appearing last Friday about the apparent departure of defenseman Aaron Ness struck me as somewhat odd and utterly wrong.

The article suggests that Ness wanted to turn pro if the Isles wanted him and that he needed to get away from the U program in order not to hamper his development. The post was denied by Ness's father that evening and it appears Ness will stay with the Gophers.

Ness has been a disappointment in Minnesota. As a sophomore, he netted just 2-10-12 in 39 games, coming off a 2-13-15 freshman season. A big scorer in high school, Ness has looked tentative throughout his career at the U and seems gun-shy when needing to pull the trigger from the point. Arguments can be made that Ness has stalled under coach Don Lucia, but the truth is that Ness came in struggling and hasn't changed much at all.

He's a bit undersized for a defenseman at 5-10 and 170 lbs. and his future is as a finesse-type guy. The Isles took him in the second round of the 2008 NHL Draft, one season after the Kyle Okposo fiasco.

Everyone remembers the Islanders signing Okposo midway through the 2007-08 season. The Gophers were struggling somewhat and Okposo was in a bit of a funk. After teaming up with linemate Ryan Stoa to score 19-21-40 as a freshman, Okposo was off to a 7-4-11 start in 18 games during the season in which he left. Stoa was hurt in the team's opening game and Okposo's scoring chances were fewer. Islanders' GM Garth Snow signed the player mid-season and then ripped Lucia for stalling Okposo's development. Of course, Snow then turned around and took Ness the very next draft, showing just how big a problem Lucia was for Snow. (Sidebar, Botta talks a lot about Okposo being the Islanders' next captain, which I find interesting, given that he completely bailed on his team mid-season once before).

Now, Ness's development may have been stalled under Lucia. I wrote in a previous post that the Gophers should seriously consider bringing in a new assistant coach to work exclusively with defensemen and/or the defensive zone game (I tossed out Mike Guentzel's name specifically). However, maybe the Islanders over-rated Ness from the get-go? Is it possible? Definitely.

Botta's comment about the Gopher program being in "shambles" is a bit hyperbolic as well. Yes, the team missed the Final Five this season and finished seventh in the league, but this was the first time the team hadn't advanced to the Final Five since 1998 and just the second time in 34 seasons that they haven't passed the first round of the playoffs. They were hit by injuries last season (Jay Barriball mainly; Taylor Matson to a much lesser extent) and were hampered by inconsistency. Yes, Jordan Schroeder left for the NHL, but he was a first round pick for chrissakes, and this stuff happens. That is hardly the personification of a program in shambles.

As I wrote before, next season will be a make-or-break season for coach Lucia at the 'U.' Many Gopher supporters would probably like to see him gone right now. I choose to preach patience for a guy who has won over 60% of his games here and has two National Championship banners hanging from the Mariucci Arena rafters. I wrote earlier that I expected Ness to potentially leave anyway, and if the Islanders choose to "save him" by sending him to Bridgeport, CT, then so be it. They own his rights, so it's their (and Ness's) call. However, Ness's development will be far faster and better in the WCHA, which I have argued is the second-best league in the world in terms of intensity of competition. That Lucia counsels players against the long bus rides in minor league hockey is simply stating reality. The money is obviously much better in the professional ranks, but one rides buses for a while before the bright lights shine. And, it's not like the prospects on Long Island are very bright, either. Snow's team made the playoffs in his first season as GM (2006-07), but has missed each year since. The Isles finished with the fourth-fewest points in the league one season after that and had the fewest in the entire NHL last season. This year, the stand tied for 27th out of 30 NHL teams. Obviously, Snow has assembled quite the juggernaut on Long Island. Add to that the craziest owner in the NHL (Charles Wang), the worst building in the NHL (Nassau Coliseum), and an unsettled situation surrounding their long-term whereabouts, and everything comes up Milhouse with the Islanders.

As I said earlier, Aaron Ness may indeed decide to start his pro career next season and forego his final two seasons of collegiate eligibility. That's his decision, but it is clear that he needs further seasoning. Let's hope he (or Chris Botta or Garth Snow) does not take any cheap shots on his way out the door should be decide to leave early. The hit piece courtesy of Islanders Point Blank on the Gopher program was simply misguided and misses the likelihood that Ness's development wouldn't be any faster in the AHL than it is in the WCHA. For further evidence to this point, see Jordan Leopold, Paul Martin, Keith Ballard, and Alex Gologoski; defensemen all coached by Lucia at the University of Minnesota.

Gopher Hoops' Season Ends in Familiar Fashion

2010-03-22T17:00:00.001-05:00

The Gopher basketball team saw its season end against Xavier on Friday in the NCAA Tournament in a familiar form as many other losses during the 2009-10 season. The team looked strong early on but ultimately struggled shooting the basketball in losing 65-54 in first round action.

Minnesota shot just 31% from the floor for the game, including an anemic 7-26 from three-point territory. The Musketeers didn't shoot much better (34% for the game), but shot 56% from the floor in the second half, compared to just 26% for the Gophers.

Senior Lawrence Westbrook led the team in scoring with 19 points in his final game in maroon and gold, but he only achieved four points in the second half. He was the only Gopher to reach double-figures for the game. Paul Carter grabbed a team-leading nine boards for the Gophers, who were out-rebounded by Xavier 50-41 for the game.

So, in a season marked by inconsistency, the Gophers could not follow-up its inspiring run in the Big Ten Tournament with any post-season victories, meaning the drought continues. Minnesota has not won an "official" NCAA Tournament game since 1990, since the wins of the 1997 Final Four team were wiped from the official NCAA records. The Gophers finished 21-14 on the season, which was viewed by many as being optimistic from the outset. However, off-court issues marred this club, and they struggled for an identity in Big Ten play. Still, coach Tubby Smith did lead his team to the big dance for the second-consecutive season, the first time that has happened since Clem Haskins's tenure. Despite the good play in the Big Ten Tourney, Gopher fans have to be disappointed with the ending to this season and wonder what would have happened if Royce White and Trevor Mbakwe would have played at all this season.

Of course, "what if" questions are becoming commonplace in the athletics department at the University of Minnesota.....

BTW - I'm not doing an official post-mortem of the Gopher season, since I believe I have done this on many different occasions down the stretch when things started taking a turn for the worst. Please check in here for continued coverage of the NCAA Tournament - hockey, that is.

NCAA Field Set; WCHA Leads Way

2010-03-21T12:13:00.000-05:00

The NCAA Hockey Tournament field was unveiled Sunday morning, and the WCHA leads the way once again, placing four teams in the field of 16. Of the four teams, two (Denver and Wisconsin) qualified for #1 seeds, and the other two (North Dakota and St. Cloud State) captured #2 seeds.

The bracket is here, but here is the breakdown by region:

East (Friday/Saturday in Albany, NY):

#1 Denver vs. #4 RIT
#2 Cornell vs. #3 New Hampshire

West (Friday/Saturday in St. Paul, MN):

#1 Wisconsin vs. #4 Vermont
#2 St. Cloud State vs. #3 Northern Michigan

Midwest (Saturday/Sunday in Ft. Wayne, IN):

#1 Miami vs. #4 Alabama-Huntsville
#2 Bemidji State vs. #3 Michigan

Northeast (Saturday/Sunday in Worcester, MA):

#1 Boston College vs. #4 Alaska
#2 North Dakota vs. #3 Yale

There are some pretty good matchups in this field. I believe all of the 2/3 games could be very good, and I am especially intrigued by the Wisconsin/Vermont matchup in St. Paul. If this year is anything like last year's craziness, it should be quite a tournament.

Stay tuned to DP for analysis leading up to Friday's face-offs.

UND Captures Broadmoor

2010-03-21T12:04:00.000-05:00

The North Dakota Fighting Sioux became the second team in WCHA history to win the Broadmoor Trophy from the play-in game spot on Saturday night, defeating St. Cloud State 5-3 to win the WCHA Tournament. The Siouxies won three games in three days and joined UMD as the only two teams to accomplish this feat. The Bulldogs did the deed last season.

UND survived two SCSU goals in the game's first minute to take a 4-2 lead into the third period before St. Cloud's David Eddy lit the lamp for his second goal midway through the third. Although St. Cloud controlled play for much of the third period, Matt Frattin's empty-netter sealed the fate and gave UND the tournament crown.

North Dakota put itself in a good spot to snag a #1 seed with the victory, but Boston College's win in the Hockey East tourney gave the Eagles the final #1 seed.

The Final Five lacked much intensity all weekend, mostly because Minnesota wasn't there. It's amazing how attendance fluctuates depending on the Gophers' fate, isn't it?

Huskies, Sioux Advance

2010-03-19T23:19:00.000-05:00

It will be St. Cloud State and North Dakota playing for the WCHA Tournament Championship Saturday night in St. Paul. The Huskies defeated Wisconsin in the afternoon game, and UND beat Denver in the nightcap.

The winner of the game seemingly will make a strong case for a #1 seed in next weekend's tournament. The most current PairWise shows some tightening at the top, and the UMD Bulldogs look to be on the outside looking in after their loss to North Dakota Thursday night.

We'll find out on Sunday how it will all shake out.

Non-Gopher Final Five Preview

2010-03-18T05:00:00.001-05:00

After a few days of really drawing out the North Dakota faithful (thanks for reading, folks), we turn our attention to the WCHA Final Five getting underway Thursday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. This year's version will not have the presence of the University of Minnesota Gophers for the first time since 1998. However, the five teams heading to St. Paul pose some very solid matchups for college hockey fans.

The only team playing for its NCAA Tournament life would seem to be UMD, who faces off against North Dakota in the play-in game Thursday night. The Bulldogs are tied for 11th in the most recent PairWise rankings. However, remember that Alabama-Huntsville has already secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by virtue of winning the CHA Tournament, meaning that only the top 15 will qualify for the post-season based on the PairWise. Put another way, teams should really strive to finish in the top 10 to guard against upsets, and UMD is squarely on the bubble.

The other four participants, Denver (#1), Wisconsin (#3), North Dakota (#4t), and St. Cloud State (#4t) are seemingly safe.

That doesn't mean the hockey won't be good this weekend in St. Paul. The play-in game is one of the better opening night matchups in recent memory, and both semi-finals on Friday promise to be solid. Let's take a look at the two games we know will be played:

#5 UMD vs. #4 North Dakota - Both teams survived three-game series in last weekend's opening round, with the Bulldogs disptaching Colorado College and North Dakota taking care of Minnesota. The two teams met for two series this season, with the Siouxies winning three of four matchups. The 'Dogs are fighting for their tournament lives, but this year's version does not feature a goaltender named Alex Stalock. Still, UMD has plenty of firepower with Jack Connolly, Mike Connolly, Justin Fontaine, and Rob Bordson. Are the Sioux going to be able to stop the high-scoring 'Dogs? If they can stay out of the box, UND has a good chance. However, it may come down to who is most desperate in this one.

UMD Schedule, Roster, and Stats
North Dakota Schedule, Roster, and Stats
Donny Puck Prediction: UMD Wins

#3 St. Cloud State vs. #2 Wisconsin - The Huskies had to work overtime in their opening round series against Minnesota State. After dropping the first game in overtime, the Huskies rallied to take game two and then won the series with an overtime besting of the Mavericks. The Badgers, on the other hand, throttled Alaska-Anchorage in Madison. The Badgers are hot right now and seem to be scoring at will. The Huskies have struggled as of late and really had to battle last weekend in the first round playoffs. St. Cloud has a #1 Tournament seed on the line and should definitely bring a solid effort.

SCSU Schedule, Roster, and Stats
Wisconsin Schedule, Roster, and Stats
Donny Puck Prediction: Wisconsin wins in OT

Denver is the tournament's top seed, the MacNaughton Cup champion, and #1 seed in the PairWise. They feature the nation's best goaltender (Marc Cheverie), the best coach (George Gwozdecky), and are loaded with talent. They are the favorite to win the tournament in my book.

The Pioneers swept North Dakota 4-0 during the regular season and split two games with UMD. No matter who the Pios play at 2pm on Friday, they will win.

Denver Schedule, Roster, and Stats

Hope you enjoy the hockey action this weekend! By the way, DP went 5-0 last weekend in his picks and even correctly predicted the number of games each team needed to take the series. Looks like I'm on a roll!

Gopher Hockey Post-Mortem

2010-03-17T05:00:00.010-05:00

Season Summary:

Overall Record – 18-19-2
Regular Season Record – 17-17-2
Post-Season Record – 1-2 (Lost at North Dakota in WCHA first round playoffs)
WCHA Record – 12-14-2
WCHA Finish – Seventh
Home Record – 10-8-1
Away Record – 8-10-1
Neutral Site Record – 0-1-0
Leading Scorers – Tony Lucia (11-17-28); Jordan Schroeder (9-19-28)
Leading Goaltender – Alex Kangas (16-15-1; .911 Save %; 2.61 GAA; 1 Shutout)
Team Statistics

Season Recap:

Sky-high expectations seemed reasonable for a Gopher squad which returned virtually its entire team from a season prior and added a first round (Nick Leddy) and second round (Zach Budish) NHL draft picks to its lineup. All told, the Gopher roster contained 20 NHL draft picks, highlighted by three first-rounders. The goaltending tandem was solid and experienced and the team was poised for a bounceback following a disappointing 2008-09 fifth place finish.

Instead, the season fell apart really in the opening game of the season up in Grand Forks against North Dakota. The Gophers were barraged by the Sioux 4-0, and had goaltender Alex Kangas not stood on his head all night long, it could have been far worse. Minnesota battled back for a 3-3 tie the next night, and then proceeded to be shut out in consecutive games at home courtesy of Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie. This had not occurred since the 1930s, and it kind of set a tone for things to come. When it was all said and done, the Gophers would find themselves shut out six times, would never be more than one game over the .500 mark, and finish a very disappointing seventh in the WCHA. After a first game embarrassment in the first round of the WCHA playoffs at North Dakota, the Gophers fought hard to win game two and were competitive in the decisive third game, but ran out of gas and saw their season end by not qualifying for the Final Five for the first time since 1998. Until this season, the Gophers had gotten by the first round of the playoffs 31 years out of the last 32, with 1998 being the only hiccup along the way.

Save for a solid stretch from November 28 through January 16, which saw the Gophers go 8-2-1, the 2009-10 would have been an unmitigated disaster. The team struggled with consistency all season long. Injuries to forwards Jay Barriball (5 games played before season-ending knee surgery) and Taylor Matson (19 games played prior to an ankle injury) thinned the core up front. The departure of defenseman Sam Lofquist did not help matters either. Frustrated by a lack of ice time, Lofquist left the program for the Ontario Hockey League, and left a thin defensive core already without freshman Nick Leddy (broken jaw caused him to miss six weeks) with a shortage of healthy bodies and forced walk-on Brian Schack into action. The team struggled to score goals all season long but the real struggles came in the defensive zone. Simply put, the team wasn’t good enough night in and night out.

Team Grades:

Forwards (C) – Senior Tony Lucia tied for the team lead in total points (28), sharing the title with talented sophomore Jordan Schroeder. Mike Hoeffel led the team in goals with 14, but struggled with consistency. The Gophers received a much-needed shot in the arm from transfer Jacob Cepis, who added 19 points in his 21 games played and created many other opportunities when he was on the ice. Apart from Lucia and Hoeffel, no Gophers reached double-figures in goals. On far too many nights, Lucia and Cepis were the only ones bring solid effort.

Defensemen (D) – This was the team’s Achilles heel all season long. The Gophers struggled in the defensive zone. Costly turnovers hurt the team, and they were prevalent early and often. The play of senior David Fischer actually improved late in the season, but he certainly did not look like an NHL first-rounder throughout his career in the maroon and gold. Sophomore Aaron Ness seemed to regress late in the season. Leddy was solid as a freshman but passed up many an offensive opportunity. Cade Fairchild (4-17-21) came on strong at the end, but was a bit of a disappointment after a fine sophomore campaign.

Goaltenders (B+) – Kangas was good all season long. His numbers improved across the board from his disappointing sophomore campaign. He received little help from the team’s defensive core, and it seemed like a majority of the goals were scored against him with three feet of the net. The Gophers needed a bounceback season from Kangas this year, and he did his part. Sophomore Kent Patterson was promised more playing time this season, but still found action in only 8 games. At times, it would have been nice to see him get a start here and there, but the coaching staff elected to ride Kangas throughout the season.

Newcomers (B-) – Leddy was solid as a freshman, and Budish (7-10-17) showed flashes of what he should be able to provide in the future. Remember, he did not play hockey during his senior season in high school due to injuries. The other freshmen, Josh Birkholz and Seth Helgeson, were ok in their first seasons, but lacked consistency, as one would expect from newcomers.

Coaching (C) – Don Lucia and his staff took a lot of heat this season from a disappointed booster organization and an all-too-happy-to-oblige media. The team stagnated as the season progressed, but did play reasonably well down the stretch. Still, failing to show up for the first game of the playoffs was inexcusable. Lucia read his team the riot act, and they responded with solid efforts the next two nights. However, play in the defensive zone has been brutal the last two seasons and suggests a problem. Lucia should consider adding an additional coach to work with the defensemen to address this issue. You know, someone like Mike Guentzel.

Flight Risks:

Schroeder's as good as gone (UPDATE: He's gone). The Vancouver Canucks’ first-round pick last season was reported to be wavering about turning pro before this season, but stayed in school. The Canucks will make a strong effort to sign him.

Ness is a NY Islanders' pick but still needs more seasoning. GM Garth Snow has said the right things about his development after the Kyle Okposo fiasco a few years ago when Okposo quit on his team mid-season, but the smart money is on the youngster to continue his development at the U of M.

There were whispers about Leddy maybe considering the junior route as well, and there were issues with his development (if the StarTribune and Wild Assistant GM Tom Thompson are to be believed) after his trade to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks have a ton of WCHA-developed players on their roster and in their system, and I don’t seem them pushing Leddy to either turn pro or go to juniors. My guess is that he comes back.

Key Losses:

The senior class was large compared to past seasons. Tony Lucia will be missed. David Fischer’s experience will be missed, but his play will not. Forwards Mike Carman and Ryan Flynn had very disappointing senior years. Brian Schack was pressed into duty during his final year and acquitted himself quite well. The team will miss his unsung leadership.

Key Additions:

The incoming freshman class is large and decorated. It includes:

2009-10 Minnesota Mr. Hockey forward Nick Bjugstad of Blaine
Minnetonka forward Max Gardiner, who compiled 55 points for the start runners-up
Big defenseman Mark Alt of Cretin-Derham Hall, who passed up a football opportunity at Iowa to play hockey at the U
Forwards Seth Ambroz, Nate Condon, Erik Haula, and Tom Serratore of the USHL
Defensemen Nate Schmidt of the USHL and Jake Parenteau of the NAHL
Forwards Jared Larson and Jake Youso of the NAHL

The eleven players listed above will provide depth to the Gopher roster and give the team some insurance in the event of injury. Also, remember that Barriball petitioned for an medical redshirt and will return for his senior season next year, and the team will be able to add a healthy Matson to the lineup. Of the group, Bjugstad, Gardiner, and Alt can be expected to be solid contributors immediately. The last time Lucia brought in such a large class was only two seasons ago, and three players are no longer with the program: Lofquist, Michael Dorr, and Grant Scott.

2010-11 Outlook:

The 2009-10 season was nothing but an unmitigated disappointment for the Gophers. It started out poorly in Grand Forks and ended up there as well in equally disappointing fashion. Nobody expected to be writing a post-mortem of the Gopher season BEFORE the NCAA Tournament, but that’s what happened.

So, 2010-11 will be a huge season for the fans of the maroon and gold. After three-consecutive subpar campaigns, the Gopher will be under pressure to compete next season. The heat will be on the coaching staff next year, and the public may turn on them at the first sign of mediocrity. This is a program which deserves not to accept mediocrity as a standard. Simply qualifying for the Final Five is not acceptable; it is expected.

Now, the team next year should be very good. Although it loses Lucia and likely Schroeder up front, offensive firepower still is available. Forwards like Cepis, Nick Larson, Jake Hansen, Hoeffel, and Budish will be expected to ratchet up their games next season. Gardiner and Bjugstad should score a fair amount as freshmen.

The key will be in the defensive zone. Assuming Ness and Leddy return, they will be counted upon to provide leadership and solid defensive zone play. Fairchild will be expected to get the team’s anemic power play back on track, and newcomers Alt and Schmidt will be regular contributors to the team’s top six defensemen. Kangas will need to do the same in the nets. Hopefully, the defense will give him some help.

Lucia deserves another season behind the bench. Calls for his dismissal were a bit premature. A coaching change only makes sense if the replacement is better than what is currently in place, and there is nobody who is available and better equipped to coach this program than Lucia. However, adding a defensive-minded coach will help in this area. However, if we’re writing a similar column at the end of next season, it’s possible we’ll also be discussing the merits of a new coach.

Gophers' Season Ends in GF

2010-03-15T05:56:00.000-05:00

The season ended for the Gophers up in Grand Forks Sunday night as North Dakota brutalized the Gophers 4-1 to take the best-of-three game series and advance to the Final Five, as they have done each year since 2003. The Gophers, on the other hand, will stay at home during the Final Five for the first time since losing to UMD in March of 1998.

Jason Gregoire's goal with just over three minutes remaining in the second period broke a 1-1 tie and gave the Siouxies a lead they would never relinquish. The third period showed how drained the Gophers were after being battered by UND all night long. The Sioux salted the game away with two tallies in the third and out-shot Minny 29-19 for the game.

With the Gophers buried in the PairWise rankings, there was no chance of them making the NCAA Tournament absent a run in the Final Five. That meant they had to get past North Dakota in the first round, and it was just not in the cards.

Give the Fighting Sioux credit for setting a physical tone in this one. They out-shot the Gophers 13-2 in the opening period and established a physical presence. Minnesota was beaten up throughout the game and simply ran short of energy in the end.

What follows in the next few paragraphs may be construed as sour grapes by some. However, I must say that I have a bit of a bug up my ass about dirty play and high hits in hockey. Sunday's game featured plenty of these in the second period alone and one hit in particular really stuck in my craw.

In the second period, UND's frequent legal offender Matt Frattin attempted to put Gopher defenseman Kevin Wehrs through the boards with a viscous hit to the head, resulting in a major penalty. Shockingly, two things occurred immediately thereafter:

The North Dakota fans gave Frattin a standing ovation as he left the ice for the penalty box as Wehrs lay somewhat motionless on the ice and were visibly happy with the cheap shot. That was predictable.
The officials called Frattin for a major penalty for contact to the head but did not eject him from the game. That is simply inexcusable. If ever there were an attempt to injure, that was it. The refs blew this one big-time.

Minutes later, Brad Malone hit Minny defenseman Nick Leddy with a late knee to the thigh which staggered Leddy. No penalty was whistled. The Gopher defenseman had released the puck seconds before the contact. I know players are instructed to finish their checks, but that was ridiculous. Later in the stanza, Ben Blood bull-charged the Gopher net, collided with Alex Kangas, and knocked his mask off. Kangas responded with a shot to the face, and guess who received the only penalty called on the play? That's right - Kangas! The Sioux scored the go-ahead goal seconds after the power play ended but before the Gopher player serving the penalty, Josh Birkholz, could join the play in the long-change period zone. Absolute. Putrid. Officiating.

The UND fans showed their true class in the wake of the Frattin hit. It was disgusting to say the least. Anyone with a cursory knowledge of hockey knows that those types of hits - leading with the head or elbow and leaving your feet to do so - are verboten in the game. Still, these idiots cheered like it was free grinder night in the Forks.

Of course, Frattin figured prominently in the outcome of the game, scoring the one which salted it away. That he shouldn't have even been in the game after his hit on Wehrs is academic.

There will be plenty of time for a post-mortem of a monumentally disappointing Gopher season, and mine will appear after next weekend's Final Five. However, this one leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Elsewhere Around the League:

UMD 4, Colorado College 0 = UMD Wins Series 2-1; Kenny Reiter (22 saves in a shutout), Justin Fontaine (0-3-3) for UMD
St. Cloud State 3, Minnesota State 2 (OT) = St. Cloud State Wins Series 2-1; Drew LeBlanc with the GWG in OT for SCSU

WCHA Final Five Matchups:

Thursday Night: UMD vs.North Dakota
Friday: UMD/North Dakota vs. Denver; St. Cloud State vs. Wisconsin

THEY'RE IN!!!!!

2010-03-14T17:23:00.001-05:00

#11 seed in the West regional and will play ~~Butler~~ Xavier in Milwaukee next Friday. A matchup against Pittsburgh looms should they advance. One has to think a good contingent of Gopher fans will follow the team to Milwaukee next week.

Plenty of analysis will follow, but Gopher Nation breathes a collective sigh of relief.....

And Now We Wait......

2010-03-14T16:32:00.000-05:00

The Gophers ran out of gas in the second half Sunday afternoon. Ohio State shot a torrid 65+ percent from the floor in the second half to open up a game which was only a three point deficit at the half. The Buckeyes scored at will in the game's final 10 minutes and beat the Gophers 90-61 in the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament. Evan Turner had 31 points and 12 rebounds in the game for the Bucks, who won the tourney title after splitting the regular season title three ways.

The Gophers shot just 41% from the floor for the game and committed 16 turnovers. They hit the wall in the second half and were out-scored by OSU 57-31 in the game's final 20 minutes. Lawrence Westbrook (17 points) and Devoe Joseph (14 points) were the only Gophers to hit double digits.

Ohio State embarrassed the Gophers down the stretch and coach Thad Matta kept his five starters in the game until only two minutes remained. The Bucks kept raining threes until the end, and the Gophers had no answer nor demonstrated any ability to stop the barrage. OSU is a thin six-man team outside of Turner (whom I hope the Wolves are able to snag this upcoming draft) which, in my opinion, will lose in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Gophers finished 21-13 on the season and must await the selection committee's decision on whether or not their performance in the Big Ten Tournament was enough to qualify for the big dance. As I posted earlier, I believe they should be in even before the blowout loss to Ohio State. Of course, the Gopher game was the final game before the final selections are to be made, so getting blown off the court is the last thing in the collective mind of the committee. Still, the resume contains wins against top-30 RPI squads like Butler, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Purdue, and Michigan State, and that should carry the day.

We will await the committee's decision at 5pm central daylight time.

Gopher Day Underway......

2010-03-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

The basketball squad is in action right now. The intelligentsia on CBS is split on the Gophers' NCAA Tournament worthiness. I think they should be in regardless of outcome today. Bubble team Mississippi State played Kentucky very tough in a losing cause, which may stick with some of the selection committee members. My money is that Illinois is toast, but the Gophers are in. Of course, they should just win today and remove all doubt.

The hockey team is in action in a few hours, and their case is much simpler: They must win and keep winning to be able to have a fighting chance. Anyway, forcing a third game in Grand Forks is more than I expected 24 hours ago.

We'll be back probably later tonight with the results of the tournament selection committee. Also, with three decisive third games in the WCHA first round playoffs, it should be a busy night to kick off a fun and busy week ahead.

Go Gophers!

Gophers Will Fight Another Day

2010-03-14T08:45:00.000-05:00

The Gopher hockey team rebounded from one of its worst performances in recent memory with a great effort Saturday night and forced a decisive third game in the best-of-three WCHA first round playoffs, beating North Dakota 4-2 at Ralph Engelstad Arena. Seth Helgeson's first collegiate goal and point came just seconds after Jacob Cepis's game-tying power play tally in the third period to give the Gophers a lead they would not relinquish.

Alex Kangas made 41 saves in a victorious effort, one night after being pulled after allowing four goals in two periods.

Minnesota's effort was exponentially better Saturday than the putrid performance Friday. Their good effort was rewarded midway through the first period when Mike Hoeffel scored on the power play to give Minny a lead. UND freshman Corban Knight scored off a faceoff in the second period to tie the score, and the game stayed that way until the third.

Matt Frattin scored midway through the frame to give UND a lead and wake up the Engelstad crowd who could sense a sweep. However, Ben Blood went to the box just 30 seconds after the Frattin goal on a tripping call, and Cepis tied the score. Less than a minute later, Helgeson tossed the puck toward the net, and goaltender Brad Eidsness misplayed it and it went behind him for the Gopher lead. Jordan Schroeder scored into an empty net to cap the scoring, and the Gophers live to fight another day.

Sunday night's game is for all the marbles for the Gophers. UND has the NCAA Tournament seemingly made win or lose Sunday night, but Minnesota needs to win and keep winning to keep its hopes alive. With efforts like Saturday night, they should have a chance Sunday night. However, UND has been in this situation before, being forced to go a full three games in the first round six times since 1999 and won the series each time (HT to Jeff Atkins for his tremendous research). The Ralph crowd will be hostile, but the Gophers were able to neutralize it most of the night on Saturday. Plus, the Gophers proved they could get to Eidsness. After the Cepis goal, Minnesota put on relentless pressure the balance of the game, out-skating the Sioux and winning the puck battles. They need to channel that intensity all night Sunday. Finally, the Gophers need to take care of the defensive zone. Although they still allowed too many shots Saturday night, the Gophers played much better in the defensive end and escaped with a win.

It should be fun as Gopher fans have one more chance to have a reason to cheer at the Final Five next weekend in St. Paul.

Elsewhere Around the League:

St. Cloud State 3, Minnesota State 2 = Series Tied 1-1 - SCSU with three third period goals to force a decisive third game; Garrett Roe (2-1-3) for SCSU.
Colorado College 5, UMD 3 = Series Tied 1-1 - Nick Dineen (1-2-3) for CC
Wisconsin 7, Alaska-Anchorage 2 = Wisconsin Sweep - UW is the first to punch its ticket for St. Paul
Denver 4, MIchigan Tech 2 = Denver Sweep - DU advances with the sweep

Gophers To Play For Big Ten Tourney Title

2010-03-13T18:59:00.000-06:00

The Gophers played their finest game of the season in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday, throttling #6 Purdue 69-42 in a game which didn't even seem that close. With three wins in three days, the Gophers qualified for the title game of the tournament for the first time in school history and may have cemented their bid for the NCAA Tournament.

The Gophers scored the game's first seven points and then turned a 9-4 lead into a 26-4 margin as the Boilermakers were held scoreless for an incredible 11:26. The halftime score of 37-11 reflected total domination by the Gophers, who held Purdue to an ice-cold 18% shooting percentage at the half, while shooting nearly 60% on their own. The Gophers cooled in the second half, but the Boilermakers never got any closer than 18 points.

Ralph Sampson III led the Gophers with 13 points. Colton Iverson continued his solid play in the Big Ten Tourney with 11 points off the bench, and Devoe Joseph added 10 points of his own. Purdue couldn't get anything going all day long, shooting 2-14 from three-point land, and emptying its bench midway through the second half.

So, the Gophers will now face Ohio State for the tournament championship Sunday afternoon. The two teams split games this season with each winning in convincing fashion on its home court. The winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but Ohio State's ticket is already punched. One has to believe the Gophers punched their own ticket as well with the victory on Saturday. The win gave them 21 victories on the season, and added a quality win to an already impressive resume which includes victories over Butler, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois, and Michigan State. That should be enough to get in, but we'll have to see what the selection committee has to say on Sunday evening. ESPN's barcketologist Joe Lunardi had the Gophers as the "first team out" Saturday morning prior to the win against Purdue, so their case was only helped by the victory. A loss to Ohio State on Sunday should not damper the chances.

The prediction here is that the Gophers are in at a 12 or 13 seed. A Big Ten Tournament championship would be a nice cap to a great weekend of basketball for Tubby Smith's team, which has struggled for consistency all season long. They sure picked a nice time to get its act together, however.

Gophers Don't Show Up in Grand Forks

2010-03-13T07:53:00.000-06:00

The Gopher hockey team was embarrassed Friday night in Grand Forks, losing to North Dakota 6-0 in first round WCHA playoff action. UND's Danny Kristo scored 1:39 into the game to launch the Siouxies into a period which would see them out-shoot Minnesota 12-4 and take a 3-0 lead on the scoreboard.

Multiple law offender Matt Frattin lit the lamp twice for UND and goaltender Brad Eidsness turned aside all 27 Gopher shots for his second shutout of the season against Minny.

There was nothing - repeat, nothing - redeeming about the Gophers' effort on Friday night. The team came out flat from the opening drop and played that way throughout. The Sioux out-hustled, out-moved, out-skated, and out-scored the Gophers all night long. The problem area for Minnesota all season long - defensive zone turnovers - cost the team dearly Friday night. Goaltender Alex Kangas was not at the top of his game, but was defenseless on many different occasions Friday. The Gophers played like a team which had the luxury of being able to drop a game in the playoffs instead of a squad fighting for its NCAA Tournament life.

It's surprising (shocking, really) that the Gophers came out this flat in a playoff game in which the team absolutely needs to win the Final Five in order to qualify for the NCAAs. Getting to the Final Five is impossible if the team loses in the first round, which the Gophers are now in danger of doing for the first time since 1998. Hopefully, the effort will be there Saturday, as the Gophers now need a two game sweep of UND to keep its post-season hopes alive.

Elsewhere in the playoffs:

Denver 2, Michigan Tech 1
Wisconsin 4, Alaska-Anchorage 1
UMD 3, Colorado College 2 (OT) - Mike Connolly with the OT winner for UMD
Minnesota State 5, St. Cloud State 4 (OT) - Mavericks come back from 3-0 and 4-2 deficits to beat SCSU. Geoff Irwin's goal with 0.3 seconds remaining forces OT and Kael Mouillierat's goal 20 seconds into OT wins it.

Hoopsters Score Great Win, Live to Fight Another Day

2010-03-12T23:17:00.000-06:00

The Gopher basketball team's quest to stay out of the NIT continued Friday night as it played one of its better games of a frustrating up-and-down season in defeating Michigan State 72-67 in overtime in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

Devoe Joseph rebounded from a scoreless first half to end the game with 17 points. Blake Hoffarber had 14 points, highlighted by 4-9 three-point shooting, and Colton Iverson had 12 points off the bench. The Gophers shot a pedestrian 39% from the floor, but held State to 41% and forced 14 turnovers. The Gophs even withstood a MSU 7-0 run at the end of regulation to force OT. In a game reminiscent of the teams' earlier matchup in Minneapolis, the Gophers got the better of this one, thanks to some clutch OT play from Joseph and Lawrence Westbrook.

The Gophers now have 20 victories on the season and will face second-seeded Purdue in the semifinals Saturday afternoon. Whether or not the victory over Michigan State is enough to catapult the Gophers into the NCAA Tournament is debatable. The team's resume is getting stronger with every victory. The team has reached 20 victories on the season and now features solid victories against Butler, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois, and now Michigan State. Each of those teams would likely qualify for the big dance if it started today. However, two losses to Michigan will hurt this team, as well as the inability to close out sure victories at home against Michigan State and Purdue during the regular season. If but one of those losses would have turned around, the Gophers would already be in.

My bet is that the Gophers need to beat Purdue to get in. I do not feel like they need to win the Big Ten Tourney to get an invite. A victory over a top-five team like Purdue should be enough.

Purdue is beatable and they struggled to hold off Northwestern in their quarterfinal matchup on Friday. The Gophers have proven they can play with the Boilers this season and Purdue is definitely hurting without guard Robbie Hummel. If the Gophers want to erase some of the disappointment of an inconsistent season, they need to defeat the Boilermakers on Saturday.

Remember, this is where most observers thought this team should have been all season long.

Gophers Face Uphill Battle in Grand Forks

2010-03-12T05:00:00.004-06:00

#7 Minnesota at #4 North Dakota – College hockey fans would have thought last summer that this playoff preview would end up being written in a WCHA Final Five championship game format, or even an NCAA Tournament matchup. Instead, it is a first round playoff matchup between two teams which struggled with lofty pre-season expectations. In Minnesota’s case, the team seemingly did not recover from a putrid start – which began with a 4-0 drubbing by the Sioux at Ralph Engelstad Arena – and could not find consistency all season long. For the Sioux, the team went on its customary late-season charge, but could climb no higher than fourth in the standings.

Despite the disappointing locations in the standings, the Gophers and Sioux are at polar opposite positions in NCAA Tournament consideration. The Sioux are solidly in the top ten of the PairWise and have climbed to a tie for firth place overall. This weekend’s series means nothing in terms of getting into the final 16, but will go a ways in determining whether or not the Sioux can snare a top-four position and a regional top seed. For the Gophers, this weekend is just the beginning of a run the team needs to go on just to get consideration. Realistically, the Gophers need to run the table in the WCHA playoffs – both first round and the Final Five. Barring upsets elsewhere and a huge assumption that they were able to get past UND this weekend, they’ll have to win five games in eight days.

The Gophers do not match up particularly well with the Sioux. The issue all season long for Minny has been play in their own zone. The Sioux’s high energy style and attacking forecheck should pose many problems for the Gophers. Couple that with a game in a hostile building in front of a bevy of fans who detest the M&G, then this weekend should pose plenty of issues.

However, the Fighting Sioux is not invincible. The team is on a six-game winning streak but has struggled somewhat in doing so. The Gophers also split the season series against UND, going 1-1-2 in the four games between the two teams. The Minnesota victory was perhaps the Gophers’ best performance all season long, and it came one night after the Gophers out-played UND in a tie game. Gopher goaltender Alex Kangas has played well against UND all season long (the 4-0 season-opening game should have been 10-0 had Kangas not kept it somewhat respectable), but he’ll need to stand on his head this series.

The Gophers and Sioux should play each other very tough. There is no excuse for Minnesota to come out flat for any game this series. Their season is on the line with each start. The effort in both games against Wisconsin last weekend was solid, and they’ll need that and more this weekend in Grand Forks.

This is the matchup Gopher fans have dreaded all season long. Grand Forks seems to do weird things to the Gophers. However, they have won up there in the past, and if they want to keep playing hockey in 2009-10, they’ll need to win twice this weekend.

UND Roster, Stats, Schedule
UM Roster, Stats, Schedule
Donny Puck Prediction: UND Wins in a three-game series

WCHA Round One Previews

2010-03-11T05:00:00.002-06:00

The most exciting four weeks in college hockey get under way this weekend with the WCHA's first round playoffs. All ten teams will face off against one another in reverse order for best-of-three series.

In order to prepare for this weekend, we'll look at four matchups today and save the Minnesota/North Dakota preview for Friday.

#10 Michigan Tech at #1 Denver – The supremely-talented Pioneers raced to the top of the league’s standings this season and won the MacNaughton Cup in convincing fashion, finishing five points ahead of Wisconsin. They scored the second-most goals and allowed the second-fewest tallies in league play. Goaltender Marc Cheverie (.937 Sv%; 1.97 GAA; 6 shutouts) is among the nation’s best, and forwards Rhett Rakhshani (20-28-48) and Tyler Ruegsegger (16-23-39) will lead the offense. The Huskies, on the other hand, suffered through yet another last-place finish, accumulating only eight points in 28 games. This series is a mismatch in every stretch of the imagination and the Pios should score early and often against the Huskies. MTU goaltender Kevin Genoe (.904 Sv%) has been solid this season, but Tech gives up far too many shots on goal and Denver should be able to buzz around all night long.

The teams met for two games in Denver in February with the Pioneers winning both contests.

DU Roster, Stats, and Schedule
MTU Roster, Stats, and Schedule
Donny Puck Prediction: Denver Sweep

#9 Alaska-Anchorage at #2 Wisconsin – The Badgers have undergone an offensive explosion in the second half of the season. Sconnie has notched 109 goals in 28 games of WCHA play. Before last weekend’s series at Minnesota, the Badgers had scored 17 goals in three games, including putting a seven-spot in normally stingy St. Cloud State. Wisconsin has five players who notched double-figures in goals, including the WCHA’s leading goal-scorer Blake Geoffrion (21-16-37). The team features three 40-point getters – Michael Davies (15-30-45), Derek Stepan (8-33-41), and Brendan Smith (15-25-40). Goaltender Scott Gudmandson (.910 Sv%; 2.41 GAA; 14-3-4 record) has been a revelation for Wisconsin this season. On the UAA side, the team played reasonably well in the month of January, going 4-3-1 against Denver, Michigan Tech, Colorado College, and Minnesota, but a five-game losing streak in February cooked a promising season. Kevin Clark (23-14-37) turned in a nice offensive season, but defense and goaltending has been suspect for UAA all season long. The Badgers’ high-energy attack should be a big mismatch for the Seawolves.

The two teams met for one series in Madison back in November with the Badgers winning both games convincingly.

UW Roster, Stats, and Schedule
UAA Roster, Stats, and Schedule
Donny Puck Prediction: Wisconsin Sweep

#8 Minnesota State at #3 St. Cloud State – The Huskies forced a rematch of last weekend’s series with the Mavericks when they held on for a tie last Saturday night. Cloud rode a nine-game winning streak in the month of January toward the top of the national rankings, but a 1-3-1 finish over the final three weekends of regular season play knocked them down a bit. Still, in a season expected to be one of transition following the departure of two-year starting goaltender Jase Weslosky, St. Cloud has surprised many. The turnaround started in goal, where both Dan Dunn (.914 Sv%; 2.57 GAA) and Mike Lee (.914 Sv%; 2.81 GAA) have been solid on the season. Ryan Lasch (18-22-40), Garrett Roe (16-23-39), and Tony Mosey (11-20-31) have been productive up front for SCSU. For Minnesota State, it has been a tough season. The team has struggled to find a consistent goaltender following the graduation of long-time starter Mike Zacharias, and the team has used three goaltenders semi-regularly all season. The Mavs have struggled to score goals all season long, notching just 75 in 28 WCHA games, third-lowest among the ten teams. Freshman Phil Cook will likely get the nod in goal in the playoffs and the Mavericks will play St. Cloud very hard. This is a matchup which is not overly favorable to St. Cloud State, but they should have enough firepower in the end.

The two teams met for two games last weekend – the only seriesof the season – and Minnesota State won at home on Friday and tied up in St. Cloud on Saturday.

SCSU Roster, Stats, and Schedule
MSU Roster, Stats, and Schedule
Donny Puck Prediction: St. Cloud State wins in three games

#6 Colorado College at #5 UMD – Inconsistency has plagued the Bulldogs all season long. UMD features one of the most potent forward corps of any collegiate team, yet has struggled to score goals elsewhere. The foursome of Jack Connolly (18-27-45), Justin Fontaine (21-21-42), Rob Bordson (9-28-37), and Mike Connolly (11-25-36) is as formidable as any combo in the country. Sophomore goaltenders Kenny Reiter (.908 Sv%; 2.45 GAA) and Brady Hjelle (.898 Sv%; 2.85 GAA) have been solid all season long. However, UMD has not played very well in the months of February and March, going 3-5-0 down the stretch. Colorado College has struggled mightily after a very strong start. As 2009 turned to 2010, the Tigers stood at a surprising 12-5-3 (8-3-3 in the WCHA) despite losing star goaltender Richard Bachman. However, CC went 6-10-0 down the stretch to finish 18-15-3 and drop out of the PairWise consideration. Freshman goaltender Joe Howe was solid this season but seemed to tire as the year went on. Still, he finished with a .908 Sv% in his debut season. The Tigers and Bulldogs desperately need victories to make a NCAA Tournament run, so this series should be a good matchup.

The two teams met for two series this season with UMD holding a 3-1-0 edge. The lone CC victory came in Colorado Springs.

UMD Roster, Stats, Schedule
CC Roster, Stats, Schedule
Donny Puck Prediction: UMD wins in a three game series

WCHA Standings - How'd I Do?

2010-03-09T05:51:00.000-06:00

Back in September, while I was still writing for the examiner.com publication, I ventured to predict what was going to happen in the regular season and even offered up my final picks. Now, I'm no Jimmy "The Greek" or Pete Axthelm, but I'd like to think I get one right once in a while. Here's how I saw the league shaping up last October:

Denver
Minnesota
North Dakota
Wisconsin
UMD
St. Cloud State
Colorado College
Alaska-Anchorage
Minnesota State
Michigan Tech

Now, here's what actually occurred, followed in parentheses by the difference between reality and my prognostications:

Denver (N/C)
Wisconsin (+2)
St. Cloud State (+3)
North Dakota (-1)
UMD (N/C)
Colorado College (+1)
Minnesota (-5)
Minnesota State (+1)
Alaska-Anchorage (-1)
Michigan Tech (N/C)

Gee, I wonder what looks to be the outlier here.

I cannot believe I'm too far off in being wrong, especially about Minnesota. Only the most fervent Gopher-haters would have predicted the team would have finished seventh in the league this season despite returning 20 NHL draft picks including three first-rounders. Also, I think St. Cloud State and Wisconsin surprised some out there. Many believed the Huskies would have trouble replacing departed goaltender Jase Weslosky and few could have foretold Wisconsin's offensive explosion in the second half. Other than that, the league sort of fell into expected territory.

The playoffs start this weekend and the WCHA has four teams solidly in the PairWise's top ten:

Denver (1)
Wisconsin (3)
North Dakota (5 - how?)
St. Cloud State (7t)

There is little which could happen this weekend to bump any of these teams out of the top ten and they should all secure NCAA Tournament berths in two weeks. That means for the other six teams are fighting for their tournament lives this weekend, running into next week's WCHA Final Five. UMD is on the bubble at #15, Colorado College needs to go on a run at #21, and the Gophers need to run the table over the next two weeks due to their #23 ranking. With teams having everything for which to play, the WCHA playoffs should be very exciting this week.

Programming Note: DP will have playoff previews coming later in the week for the four series not involving the Gophers and will have the UND/Minnesota preview on Friday. Predictions will abound!

Gopher Hoopsters Close Out Regular Season With Victory

2010-03-08T05:00:00.006-06:00

The Gophers saved perhaps their best effort for last Sunday. Against a pitiful Iowa team, the Gophers shot 59% from the floor and held the Hawkeyes to just 53 points in an 88-53 victory on Senior Day at Williams Arena. The Gophers finished the regular season 9-9 in the Big Ten and 18-12 overall.

Seniors Lawrence Westbrook (20 points) and Damian Johnson (10 points, 11 assists) led the way Sunday and sophomore Devoe Joseph added 17 points on 6-7 shooting. Colton Iverson and Blake Hoffarber each had nine points as the Gophers completely manhandled Iowa. At one point in the first half, the Gophers went on a 21-2 run to blow the Hawks away.

With a sixth place finish, the Gophs will tip off against Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament this Thursday in Indianapolis. Obviously, given the events of last week and the loss to Michigan, the Gophers need to win multiple games in the Big Ten Tourney to give the NCAA selection committee something to think about. Playing one more game against Penn State - a team they should handle - will give the team another conference victory in their march toward the magical 20 win mark. The bad news is that should the Gophers win on Thursday, they would face third-seeded Michigan State on Friday, which is certainly not a favorable matchup for the Gophers. However, this team needs victories and will likely need at least two to have any sort of chance at the big dance.

The Gophers played themselves into their current predicament. It will be interesting to see which Gopher team shows up next weekend in Indianapolis.

Note on Donny Puck Coverage This Week: The dark period for BP Baseball will likely continue this week as the focus is on the Gophers' winter sports teams in their conference playoffs. We'll have full recaps of the Gopher hoops' game on Thursday, and any further games beyond. We'll check back in on selection Sunday next weekend to see if Tubby's boys found their way into the tourney. If not, the post-mortem on this disappointing season will appear after the team is eliminated from the NIT. Should the Gophers make the NIT, we'll cover it like any other game and pretend it's as interesting as the NCAA Tournament.

On the ice, we'll cover the likely carnage of the first round playoffs in Grand Forks. We'll also cover the Final Five next weekend should the Gophers qualify or not. DP will have coverage of the NCAA Tournament until its conclusion on Easter Sunday in Detroit.

Gophers Head to Grand Forks For WCHA First Round Playoffs

2010-03-06T21:38:00.003-06:00

The Gophers will head to Grand Forks to start the WCHA first round playoffs next weekend. North Dakota's victory over Michigan Tech clinched at least fourth place, a position which was solidified once St. Cloud State and Minnesota State tied at St. Cloud. Therefore, SCSU clinches third place and will play either Alaska-Anchorage or Minnesota State (UMD and UAA play in Anchorage later tonight for the final spot UPDATE: MSU gets the eighth spot) and the Gophers will get the Sioux at the Ralph.

So, next weekend's first round matchups are as follows:

#10 Michigan Tech at #1 Denver
#9 Alaska-Anchorage at #2 Wisconsin
#8 Minnesota State at #3 St. Cloud State
#7 Minnesota at #4 North Dakota
#6 Colorado Collega at #5 UMD

We'll have much more on these matchups later in the week.

It's hard to see how this could have worked out worse for the Gophers. Grand Forks has been extremely unkind for the Gophers for many years and most followers would have given just about anything to stay away from that matchup. The teams last met in the first round playoffs in 2001-02 in Minneapolis, with the Gophers winning the series on a dramatic OT goal by Keith Ballard (after a stupid-ass penalty by Matt DeMarchi set up a late power play which led to the tying goal). The Gophers would go on to win the national title that season.

That ain't happening this season.

The final home game is Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis. The hockey team and basketball will honor its seniors within hours of each other. To say that each season was a complete disappointment would be a gross understatement.

UPDATE #2: The Gophers won the regular season finale 6-1 over Wisconsin to finish 17-17-2 overall and 12-14-2 in regular season WCHA play. Mike Carman came out of hiding and notched 2-2-4 for the Gophers and fellow senior Tony Lucia chipped in with 2-1-3. Jacob Cepis (1-1-2), Mike Hoeffel (0-2-2), and Cade Fairchild (0-2-2) had multi-point games and Alex Kangas picked up the win with 26 saves. Minny hit on five of eight power play opportunities.

The standings and PairWise have been updated below.

Elsewhere Around the League:

North Dakota 3, Michigan Tech 2 = UND Sweep
St. Cloud State 2, Minnesota State 2 = MSU Win and a Tie
UMD 6, Alaska-Anchorage 3 = Split
Denver 7, Colorado College 3 = Split
Final League Standings
PairWise

Game One to Bucky

2010-03-06T06:18:00.001-06:00

Things started off well for the Gopher hockey team Friday night against top-three team Wisconsin when Ryan Flynn notched a short-handed goal four minutes into the game. However, Bucky eeked out a victory in the first game at Target Center, winning 3-2.

Craig Smith scored the game-winner for the Badgers with under five minutes remaining to allow Wisconsin to escape the Target Center with a victory over Minny for the second time in eight tries.

With the Gophers' loss and Colorado College's victory over Denver means the Gophers will finish seventh in the WCHA standings this season. Their first round opponent remains to be determined pending the results of Saturday's games. However, it renders Sunday's finale with the Badgers meaningless, as Wisconsin will finish second by virtue of the win over the Gophers. UW's first round opponent is yet to be decided, as either Minnesota State or Alaska-Anchorage can still finish ninth.

So, to recap quickly, positions one (Denver), two (Wisconsin), six (Colorado College), seven (Minnesota), and ten (Michigan Tech) are locked in for the WCHA. St. Cloud State, UMD, and North Dakota are jockeying for positions three-five, and Minnesota State and Alaska-Anchorage are fighting for positions eight and nine. All will be decided after Saturday night's action.

Roman Augustoviz has a good breakdown of first round possibilities in his blog. The Gophers should have their opponent known by 9:30pm Saturday night. It's looking like a strong possibility that the Gophers may be heading to Grand Forks next weekend, which was definitely a worst-case scenario going into the weekend.

Friday night's loss also quaranteed the Gophers a sub-.500 mark in WCHA regular season play. Six months ago, that seemed an impossibility.

Elsewhere around the WCHA:

North Dakota 5, Michigan Tech 1 - Darcy Zajac (2-1-3) for UND; Kevin Genoe (43 saves) for MTU
Minnesota State 4, St. Cloud State 2 - Rylan Galiardi (2-1-3), Kurt Davis (1-2-3) for MSU
Colorado College 2, Denver 1 - DU's ten-game winning streak snapped
Alaska-Anchorage 3, UMD 2 - Kevin Clark (2-0-2) for UAA
Updated Standings
PairWise

WCHA's Final Weened Scenario Time

2010-03-05T05:00:00.000-06:00

As the regular season enters its final weekend, the top five is locked in for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. Denver is the MacNaughton Cup champion; Wisconsin, St. Cloud State, UMD, and North Dakota have all clinched home ice. Of that group, North Dakota can finish no higher than third, but UMD and St. Cloud State can still end up bouncing Wisconsin out of second place. All this means is that there will be plenty of jockeying for positioning among first division teams.

At the bottom of the bracket, things are clearer. Colorado College, Minnesota, Alaska Anchorage, Minnesota State, and Michigan Tech all are resigned to opening the playoffs on the road. Michigan Tech has "clinched" last place; Colorado College and Minnesota will finish either sixth or seventh; Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota State will finish either eighth or ninth.

The final weekend's matchups are:

Wisconsin at Minnesota - The Gophers and Badgers split their prior series in Madison last November. The offensively-potent Badgers lead the WCHA with 105 goals scored, 17 more than the next-highest total. Sconnie comes into Minneapolis with a 9-3-1 in WCHA play during the new year and has won six of seven. Wisconsin is solidly in third place in the PairWise rankings and seems a lock for a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. A win this weekend will assure the Badgers play either UAA or MSU in the first round instead of CC or Minny. The Gophers also need wins to improve their NCAA Tournament chances, but it's looking increasingly likely they'll need to run the table in the post-season just to get an invitation.
UMD at Alaska-Anchorage - The Bulldogs are still in desperation mode after the previous weekend's split with Minnesota. UMD is tied for 12th in the PairWise and needs wins to stay off the NCAA bubble. The 'Dogs are 3-7-0 in their last ten and have dropped far in the rankings. Still, this is a dangerous team come playoff time, with one of the nation's most potent power plays, and high-scoring threats like Mike Connolly, Jack Connolly, Justin Fontaine, and Rob Bordson. The two teams have not yet met this season.
Colorado College at Denver - This series looked huge a few weeks ago, but CC's 5-9-0 WCHA mark since January 1, highlighted by its current four-game losing string, has dismissed the Tigers from the NCAA Tournament bubble - for now. CC needs wins, and a series win over the Pioneers would help it tenuous PairWise (currently 18th) situation. The Pios, on the other hand, have clinched the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular season champion and are currently first overall in the PairWise. This series obviously means much more for CC than DU. Denver scored a win and a tie against the Tigers back in November.
St. Cloud State at Minnesota State - The Huskies had last weekend off after splitting series the previous two weekends with Wisconsin and North Dakota. SCSU is currently fourth in the PairWise and is holding off a late charge from North Dakota for the final #1 regional seed. Of course, there are still three weekends of hockey left to play, so many factors could change. However, the Huskies need a couple of wins this weekend to keep its position. Dropping to fourth place means having to play Minnesota in the first round playoffs instead of Alaska-Anchorage or Minnesota State. The Gophers are not as good of a matchup for the Huskies as those other two teams. Plus, it keeps SCSU's PairWise ranking in good standing. This is a big series for St. Cloud State.
Michigan Tech at North Dakota - UND took a while, but it is on its seasonal end-of-season roll right now, The Siouxies still have a shot at third place and are currently tied for fifth in the PairWise rankings. Winners of their last five, the Sioux would love to crack the top three to avoid Minnesota or Colorado College in the first round, but that looks to be difficult.

The fact that the Gophers are on the outside looking in this weekend is disappointing. Still, the WCHA is still wide-open outside of Denver and plenty of good teams have much on the line this weekend as the playoffs - and NCAA Tournament - loom.

Embarrassing. No Really, Embarrassing

2010-03-03T05:00:00.012-06:00

Michigan 83, Minnesota 55. Proper words to use to describe this loss - the second in as many tries this season to a rotten Michigan team:

Awful
Unacceptable
Disgusting
Pitiful
Pathetic

Feel free to join in to add others.

Even though Myron Medcalf reported the experts are split on Minny's chances of getting an at-large bid to the big dance, two losses to a sub-.500 Michigan team will certainly not help its cause.

Michigan shot 60% from the floor, for chrissakes!

Silver.

2010-03-01T05:59:00.000-06:00

One goal short.

The US Olympic hockey team battled back from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime in the most improbable of circumstances. With an extra attacker on the ice in the game's final minute, Zach Parise (U. of North Dakota, New Jersey Devils) knocked home a rebound past Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks) to tie the game at two and send the gold medal game to overtime. In the extra session, Sidney Crosby's excellent individual effort led to the game-winning goal, and Canada captured its eighth gold medal - and its first on home soil - with a 3-2 victory.

Luongo and his US counterpart, Ryan Miller (Michigan State, Buffalo Sabres) were spectacular in the nets, with Luongo stopping 34 shots and Miller 36. Luongo, who moved into Canadian folklore after his replacement of legendary Martin Brodeur after last Sunday's 5-3 loss to the Americans, finished the tournament 5-0, while Miller had to settle for a 5-1 overall mark. Miller was especially brilliant in the third period when the US trailed 2-1. A goal by Canada would have meant curtains for the Americans, but Miller was spectacular in keeping his team in the game, never more so than stopping Crosby on a semi-breakaway with just over two minutes remaining in regulation play.

Also incredible was Parise's tying goal. With Canada playing a stifling defense in the game's final minutes, the US faced difficulty in getting the puck in the Canada zone. Still, Parise managed to bat home a rebound in front of Luongo to stun the Canadian faithful and force an extra session for the gold medal. However, Crosby's strong forecheck, creating a turnover in the US zone, set up the game-winning opportunity, and Crosby beat the US's Brian Rafalski (U. of Wisconsin, Detroit Red Wings) to the puck and slid it past Miller to launch the partisan crowd - and the dominion - into a frenzy.

Truth be told, I almost would have rather seen the US shut out of the medal podium than lose to the Canadians. A silver medal for a team which many expected to finish in the lower half of the bracket is definitely a tremendous accomplishment, but I wish it hadn't come at the expense of Canadian gold. After the US debacle in Torino in 2006 and the fact that this team was the tournament's youngest, many (including me) thought this would be a rebuilding Olympics for the Yanks, but the team assembled by Brian Burke and Don Waddell was perfectly suited to Olympic play. In the end, the Canadians won the gold many expected was nothing but a formality.

In a game which many have already considered one of the best of all-time, the US fell one goal short. The pace was torrid all game, the emotion showed on both sides was tremendous, and the game somehow managed to live up to its incredible hype. In the end, the team which was supposed to win did and the team of which little was expected came up just short.

Gophers Lose; Will Open Playoffs on the Road

2010-02-28T07:51:00.000-06:00

One night after playing inspired hockey in a 3-2 victory over UMD, the Gopher hockey team sleepwalked its way through a 3-0 loss to the Bulldogs, assuring they will open the first round of the WCHA playoffs on the road.

Justin Fontaine scored twice for the 'Dogs and Brady Hjelle picked up his first collegiate shutout, which was also UMD's first of a Gopher team since 1980.

Minny just didn't have it Saturday night. The intensity wasn't there. The team hit two posts in the first period, and Hjelle stopped three Gopher breakaways in the game. It just wasn't meant to be for the Gophers in this one.

With North Dakota's victory over Colorado College, the Gophers are assured of playing on the road in the playoffs. However, they can finish no lower than seventh place and still have a shot at sixth place. More importantly, the team has two games next weekend at home against red-hot Wisconsin. The Badgers are ranked high in the PairWise, and any victory against the Badgers will help the Gophers' prospects for an NCAA Tournament berth. At this point, however, that seems unlikely without the team winning the Final Five tournament.

To say next weekend is a critical series for the Gophers would be an understatement. Of course, it's looking far more likely that this team will need to run the table in the playoffs to get a tournament bid, regardless of what happens against Wisconsin next weekend.

Elsewhere in the WCHA:

Denver 4, Minnesota State 3 (OT) = DU Sweep and Denver wins the MacNaughton Cup - Rhett Rakhshani (GWG in OT) for DU; Tyler Pitlick (2-0-2) for MSU
Wisconsin 5, Michigan Tech 2 = UW Sweep -
North Dakota 3, Colorado College 2 = UND Sweep - UND clinches home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs; Brad Malone (0-3-3) for UND
Alaska 3, Alaska-Anchorage 2 = Alaska Sweep
Updated Standings
PairWise

Gopher Hoops Wins, But......

2010-02-27T17:14:00.000-06:00

The Gopher basketball team had a 19-point lead over Illinois with 7:30 remaining in the game Saturday afternoon. The Illini were ice-cold from the floor and the Gophers were playing one of their best games of the season. However, Illinois went on a 28-8 run over the next six minutes to cut the lead to one point with one minute remaining. Damian Johnson made a critical steal of the ball, leading to a perfect pass from Ralph Sampson III to Paul Carter, and the Gophers were able to escape with the victory 62-60.

Devoe Joseph had 16 points to lead Minnesota, which won at Champaign for the first time since 1996. Carter and Lawrence Westbrook each added 10 points.

The Gophers are now 17-11 on the season and an even 8-8 in Big Ten play. If the Big Ten Tournament started today, Minny would finish sixth and play Penn State in the first round. Finishing in the top five in regular season play means not having to play on Thursday (i.e., a first round bye). With two games remaining in the regular season (vs. Michigan and Iowa), the Gophers' win on Saturday meant they still have a shot at finishing in the top five. Of course, the other side of that equation is that the Gophers desperately need wins, and being able to play on Thursday against a team it should beat will only add to the win total. However, nobody has won the Big Ten Tournament from the play-in slot, and the Gophers are getting into territory where they need to win the tournament - or at least get to the title game - in order to get an invitation to the big dance.

Saturday's game was a microcosm of the season: good stretches and a disturbing trend of letting other teams back into games. This time, the Gophers closed the victory out; against Purdue last Wednesday, they didn't. This season will still be deemed a disappointment unless the team is able to run off 4-5 consecutive wins over the next two weeks.

Of course, taking away the five losses either in OT or by one point means this season would look much different than it currently does, no?

Big Win for Gopher Pucks

2010-02-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

The Gopher hockey team just won't go away.

Despite facing an uphill battle for home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and an NCAA Tournament bid seeming like a pipe dream, the U finds itself on a three-game winning streak after defeating UMD Friday night 3-2 at the DECC in Duluth.

Despite being out-shot 34-24 by the 'Dogs and allowing UMD to hit on two of five power play opportunities, the U held on for the victory, thanks to some timely goaltending by Alex Kangas. The junior turned aside 32 shots and seemed to see the puck well all night long.

Nick Larson's goal midway through the first period gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead, which they held throughout the first frame and just about all of the second. However, after a terrible goaltender interference call against Mike Carman put UMD on the power play, David Grun scored with just three seconds remaining in the period to give the Bulldogs a tie and some momentum going into the third.

Duluth native Cade Fairchild scored nine minutes into the third to put the Gophers back on top, but UMD's Travis Oleksuk tied things up just over a minute later with a power play tally. However, Jacob Cepis's goal with just over five minutes remaining sealed the deal for the Gophers and gave the team a nice road victory.

Minny played well Friday night, despite allowing the two power play goals and going 0-4 on their own power plays, including a five-minute advantage in the second period. The U held the high-scoring tandem of Mike Connolly, Jack Connolly, Justin Fontaine, and Rob Bordson to just two assists in the game. They withstood the pressure, battled adversity, and scored a good victory.

The second game in the series is Saturday night, and a quick look at the standings shows the Gophers just one point back of sixth-place Colorado College and three points behind fifth-place North Dakota. The bad news there is those two teams play each other Saturday night, meaning the Gophers will not be able to gain ground on both of them. Still, the victory helps the PairWise, although these rankings show the Gophers still have a long way to go.

The past two weekends have shown that the Gophers are capable of beating good teams in the WCHA and tease fans somewhat into seeing what this team should have been playing like all season long. A victory on Saturday night will do much for this team's confidence going into the regular season's final weekend.

Elsewhere in the WCHA:

Denver 3, Minnesota State 1 - DU wins the MacNaughton Cup with a win on Saturday and is current on a nine-game winning streak
North Dakota 3, Colorado College 2 (OT) - Matt Frattin (GWG in OT) for UND; Joe Howe (39 saves) for CC
Wisconsin 5, Michigan Tech 1 - Michael Davies (0-3-3), Derek Stepan (0-2-2) for UW; Kevin Genoe (58 saves) for MTU
Alaska 7, Alaska-Anchorage 4
League Standings
PairWise Rankings

USA, Canada to Meet for the Gold

2010-02-27T06:56:00.002-06:00

The US Olympic hockey team throttled Finland on Friday afternoon 6-1 to give itself a spot in Sunday's gold medal game in Vancouver. The opposition in that game will be provided by a familiar foe.Canada held off Slovakia 3-2 later that day to take the other spot in the game. Sunday's matchup will be a rematch of last Sunday's contest which saw the US beat Canada 5-3 and set off alarm bells throughout the Dominion. The Canucks have now won three consecutive games to right the ship.

In the US game on Friday, the barrage started early with Ryan Malone's (St. Cloud State U., Tampa Bay Lightning) goal just over two minutes into the game. By the 13 minute mark of the opening frame, the US had received additional goals from Zach Parise (U. of North Dakota, New Jersey Devils), Erik Johnson (U. of Minnesota, St. Louis Blues), Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks), Kane again, and Paul Stastny (U. of Denver, Colorado Avalanche). By the time it was all said and done, the US led a stunned Finnish squad 6-0 and cruised to the victory thereon.

Ryan Miller (Michigan State U., Buffalo Sabres) didn't have to work too hard and stopped all 18 shots he faced. Tim Thomas (Boston Bruins) played the third period for his first Olympic action and allowed one goal on seven shots.

The US team moved to 5-0 in the tournament and has lost some of the underdog edge. With the elimination of Russia and Sweden, arguably two of the tourney's favorites, the US's medal expectations increased rapidly, and the team played games against Switzerland and Finland with the swagger and confidence of a favorite. Still, they will be heavy underdogs on Sunday night against Canada.

The pressure on Canada to win on Sunday will be immense. They were expected to be in this game and have stumbled many times in the tournament thus far. Still, all will be forgotten with a gold medal. To do so on home ice will cause the expectations for the Canucks to be sky-high.

This is a good spot for the US to be in. Although the #1 seed in the medal round, the US coaches can play up the "nobody expects us to win" moniker for Sunday's game, and the Yanks can certainly play like there is nothing to lose. A silver medal will be a fine result for a squad which was not expected to do much in the Olympics. Still, the Americans have played five very good games in this tournament and will have to ask Miller to potentially stand on his head one more time. He hasn't had to do so since the Canada game last Sunday, so hopefully he's up to the task. The hope will be that Canada will grip the sticks a bit too tight, and one thinks that if the US can withstand the game's first ten minutes, the advantage should swing its way.

This is the matchup the Canadians have wanted since last Sunday. The Americans have a great opportunity to absolutely ruin the Canadian Olympics Sunday night, and let's hope they're up to the task.

Gopher Hockey: Scenario Time

2010-02-26T05:00:00.000-06:00

Two weeks remain in the WCHA regular season and the race for home ice in the first round playoffs is intense. Given the decline of eastern teams, the WCHA currently holds three of the top four places of the current PairWise rankings, which determine the top seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Five WCHA teams appear in the top 16 - corresponding to the number of teams in the tournament, with Colorado College just on the outside at #17. The Gophers check in at #24, meaning that they'll have to make a run to have a shot at the tournament.

This means the final two weeks will be all about jockeying for position for those top three teams (Denver, Wisconsin, St. Cloud State), holding on for dear life (North Dakota, UMD), breaking back into the top 16 (Colorado College), making a run (Minnesota), and winning the Final Five (Alaska-Anchorage, Minnesota State, Michigan Tech). Either way, it should be a fun two weeks.

This is the time of year where we cease looking at national polls and focus on conference standings and the PairWise. For those new to this site, the PairWise is a computerized ranking system used to mirror the NCAA Tournament. The 16-team tourney has six automatic bids (one for each of the league champions of Atlantic Hockey, CCHA, CHA, ECAC, Hockey East, and the WCHA) and ten at-large bids. Given the automatic bids for the conferences, a good rule of thumb is that the PairWise will mirror the actual tournament for the top 12 or 13 teams, allowing for upsets in the conference tournaments and automatic bid winners not in the top 16 of the PairWise. This week's major conference leaders are listed below, complete with their current PairWise rankings:

Atlantic Hockey: RIT (N/A)
CCHA: Miami (2)
CHA: Bemidji State (4-tie)
ECAC: Yale (6)
Hockey East: New Hampshire (9)
WCHA: Denver (1)

Everything you wanted to know about the PairWise is here.

The current WCHA standings are listed here, and the following details the individual teams' remaining schedules:

Denver (36 points) - Wins the MacNaughton Cup with a sweep this weekend; Can finish no lower than fourth; Remaining games (4): at Minnesota State, home-and-home vs. Colorado College
St. Cloud State (33 points) - Can finish anywhere from first to sixth; At a disadvantage in that it has only one series remaining and does not play this weekend; Remaining games (2): at Minnesota State
Wisconsin (31 points) - Hottest team in the WCHA right now; Can win the WCHA if Denver stumbles, but can also finish anywhere from first through sixth; Remaining games (4): at Michigan Tech, at Minnesota
UMD (29 points) - Desperate right now to stay in the PairWise top 12; Remote chance to win the WCHA if everyone else stumbles, but could also possibly drop to seventh; Remaining games (4): vs. Minnesota, at Alaska-Anchorage
North Dakota (25 points) - Righted the ship last weekend at home against UMD, and has now followed up three consecutive losses with three consecutive wins; Cannot finish first but could still tie for second; Remaining games (4): at Colorado College, vs. Michigan Tech
Colorado College (25 points) - This weekend's series with UND is crucial for the sinking Tigers who have gone 3-7 in their last 10 WCHA games; Like North Dakota, CC cannot finish first, can tie for second, and could finish as low as eighth; Remaining games (4): vs. North Dakota, home-and-home vs. Denver
Minnesota (22 points) - Can finish as high as fourth and as low as eighth; Any victory over UMD or Wisconsin the last two weekends will improve the PairWise; Remaining games (4): at UMD, vs. Wisconsin
Alaska-Anchorage (18 points) - Only one conference series remaining means Seawolves are have an outside shot at finishing seventh, but could still finish ninth; Remaining games (2): vs. UMD (also has a non-conference series with Alaska)
Minnesota State (17 points) - Can still finish sixth, but the schedule is brutal the last two weekends; Only bright spot is that both series are at home; Remaining games (4): vs. Denver, vs. St. Cloud State
Michigan Tech (8 points) - Locked into a tenth-place finish; Remaining games (4): vs. Wisconsin, at North Dakota

The Gophers still could break through should they sweep their remaining four conference games, win the first round of the WCHA playoffs, and win a few games in the Final Five conference tournament. However, it is unlikely this will be able to be accomplished, given the strength of the schedule. Stranger things have happened, none more stranger than UMD's classic run last season where the Bulldogs won the Final Five from the play-in spot, winning three games in three days and advancing to the NCAA Regional finals. It's too early to give up on the Gophers just yet.

Once Again, Gopher Hoops Cannot Close

2010-02-25T09:00:00.002-06:00

The Gopher basketball team was presented with a golden opportunity to pick up a signature win on Wednesday night at home against #3 Purdue. The Gophs held a nine-point lead with just under 10 minutes remaining, but Purdue ended up walking away with the victory, 59-58.

After a lackluster first half which saw the Gophers shoot 29% and trail the Boilermakers by seven points, Minnesota came out with a vengeance in the second half, scoring the half's first 12 points and gaining the lead and the momentum. With Purdue star Robbie Hummel on the bench with a leg injury, the Boilers' prospects did not look good. Add to that, Ralph Sampson III was in the midst of a career game and the Gophers looked like they may blow Purdue out of the gym.

However, Purdue rallied to pull within one point and got a stop of Minnesota with less than a minute remaining with Colton Iverson's put-back was out-of-control. The Boilers rushed the floor on a fast break and scored the lay-up to give them a one-point lead with 40 seconds left. Minny set its offense and Lawrence Westbrook could not pass up a good look, draining a 14-footer to put the Gophers back on top with 25 seconds remaining. However, Keaton Grant hit from 19 feet with 8 seconds left to give Purdue a 59-58 lead.

After a Gopher time out (called by coach Tubby Smith a fraction of a second before Devoe Joseph drained a jumper, of course), the Gophers ran a play for Joseph, but his side jumper was too strong, and Damian Johnson's put back - although good - did not count because it came after the final buzzer, and the Boilermakers escaped. Editorial note - Joseph is good, but why did Westbrook not get the last look? He has a history of draining big shots. Better yet, why did they call time out before the final play? They way things are going, the coaches should have just let the play go on without a time out - and I'm not saying that because Joseph ended up draining the shot after Smith's time out signal.

Oh, the Gophers had plenty of chances, including:

Sampson's career night (21 points, 7 rebounds)
Purdue went nearly 10 scoreless minutes, spanning the final 4:48 of the first half and 5:30 of the second half
During that time, the Gophers out-scored Purdue 19-0
With Hummel on the bench, Purdue's jump-shooting was severely curtailed

However, like the Michigan State game earlier this season, which saw the Gophers kick away a 13-point lead in the second half, Minnesota came up short, and severely damaged its flickering NCAA Tournament hopes.

The Gophers are 16-11 and 7-8 in Big Ten play. A signature win over Purdue would have helped immensely for a team running out of games. Now, the team heads to Illinois to play the Illini on Saturday afternoon and closes out the season with a road game at Michigan and a home game against Iowa. Gone are the chances for a signature regular season victory and the pressure mounts for the team to be forced to win the Big Ten Tournament to have a shot at the big dance.

The Gophers should have been able to close things out on Wednesday and now their NCAA Tournament hopes are on life support - if they weren't already.

USA Hockey Gains Berth in Semis

2010-02-24T19:55:00.001-06:00

The march continues for the US Olympic hockey team after its 2-0 win over Switzerland on Wednesday, assuring the team of a berth in the Vancouver Games' semifinals.

Zach Parise (U. of North Dakota, New Jersey Devils) scored just over two minutes into the third period to finally solve Swiss goaltender Jonas Hiller (Anaheim Ducks) and give the Yanks a lead they would not relinquish. Parise scored the game's other goal into an empty net with 12 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

Ryan Miller (Michigan State, Buffalo Sabres) wasn't particularly busy, but did turn aside all 19 Swiss shots to record the shutout. Team USA improves to 4-0 in Olympic play.

I had written earlier in the day that the Swiss would prove a formidable challenge for Team USA and Wednesday proved that. Hiller stood on his head throughout, beaten only once in 43 attempts. The US dominated play but could not solve a hot goaltender until the third period. In a single-elimination format, hot goaltenders can wreak havoc on teams with superior talent. For a good example of this, look no further than Miller's performance against Canada last Sunday night. Reaching further back into history, Jim Craig stood on his head against the Soviets in 1980 and we've been talking about the Miracle on Ice for 30 years now. Still, the US won the game despite it being way too close for comfort (copyright, Ted Knight) for many of the US faithful. It wasn't nearly as sexy as beating Canada, but the Americans did what they needed to do to stay alive.

Next up for the US is a date with the winner of Wednesday night's tilt between Finland and the Czech Republic. The winner will face the USA on Friday afternoon in Vancouver. (Thursday Morning Update: Finland beat the Czechs 2-0 and will face the US on Friday; Canada crushed Russia and Slovakia knocked out Sweden Wednesday night, meaning the final four contains the US, Canada, Finland, and Slovakia). The US needs one more victory to gain a medal. Just what color that medal will be remains to be seen.

USA Olympic Hockey Team to Play Swiss Wednesday

2010-02-24T06:02:00.000-06:00

By virtue of Switzerland's 3-2 shootout win over Belarus Tuesday, the US will now face the Swiss on Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinal game in the Vancouver Olympics. The US defeated Switzerland 3-1 in the first game of the preliminary round last Tuesday.

Canada drilled Germany 8-2 to gain the quarterfinals against Russia Wednesday. The Czechs and Slovaks each won one-goal games over Latvia and Norway, respectively, to round out the field of eight. The other teams in the final eight are Finland and Sweden.

The Swiss played the US tough and scared the hell out of Canada two days later, forcing the Canucks to a shootout. They're tough and goaltender Jonas Hiller (Anaheim Ducks) is playing very well in the nets. This is no gimme game for the Yanks, but don't expect them to relax in this one.

The US game is at 2pm Wednesday and we'll likely have a recap Wednesday evening. Should the US advance, the semifinals are on Friday.

USA Hockey Stuns Canada; Grabs #1 Overall Seed

2010-02-22T06:04:00.000-06:00

The US Olympic hockey team scored a surprising 5-3 victory over Canada on Sunday night, capping round robin play with a 3-0 record and grabbing the #1 overall seed in this week's medal round.

Defenseman Brian Rafalski (U. of Wisconsin, Detroit Red Wings) scored the Americans' first two goals and assisted on another. Fellow defender Ryan Suter (U. of Wisconsin, Nashville Predators) set up two goals. However, the story was Ryan Miller (Michigan State, Buffalo Sabres). The goaltender kicked away 42 of 45 shots to record his third win of the tournament. He was clearly the star of the game.

The US silenced the raucous crowd with Rafalski's first goal just :41 into the game to give the Americans an early lead. Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes) tied the score, but then Rafalski found the back of the net again to give the US a 2-1 lead after the first period.

Dany Heatley (U. of Wisconsin, San Jose Sharks) tied the score at 2 with a rebound goal 3:32 into the second period and the score stayed that way for the next 13 minutes. However, Chris Drury (Boston U, New York Rangers), found the back of the net to give the US a lead it would not relinquish.

Team captain Jamie Langenbrunner (New Jersey Devils) stunned the Vancouver crowd with a power play tally just over seven minutes into the third frame to give the US a 4-2 lead. Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins) made things interesting with his nifty goal with 3:09 remaining in the game, but the US's Ryan Kesler (Toronto Maple Leafs) scored into an open net to create the final margin of victory.

Miller was absolutely fantastic in the game, completely dominating play and out-playing Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils) on the other end.

I had written previously that the only chance the US had at an Olympic medal was if Miller stood on his head in a big game, and he certainly did so on Sunday. In the single-elimination medal round, he'll likely have to do the same a few more times, but proved to everyone on Sunday that he was capable of doing so.

With the top seed in the medal round, the US will get a bye and will face the winner of Tuesday's Switzerland/Belarus play-in game on Wednesday afternoon. Canada dug themselves into a huge hole with the loss on Sunday. The Canucks now have to play on Tuesday against Germany for the right to move on in the medal round, and face a matchup with third-seeded Russia should they win their play-in game. Pressure is intense on the Canadians, who barely survived against Switzerland earlier in the week, winning in a shootout.

The US has surprised many with its play in the first three games of the Vancouver Olympics. As much as the words "miracle" and "biggest win since 1980" will be uttered over the next few days, keep in mind that this team has won absolutely nothing yet an still faces an uphill battle to medal, given the strengths of the teams still alive. However, with its victory on Sunday, the US proved that the young team is talented enough to beat the best in the world and is a dangerous team heading into the medal round.

Gopher Cagers Keep Hopes Alive

2010-02-22T05:00:00.000-06:00

After a crushing previous week which saw them lose winnable games to Michigan and Northwestern, the Gopher basketball team rebounded with impressive victories over ranked Wisconsin and league bottom-feeder Indiana. With an 81-56 victory over the Hoosiers at Williams Arena on Saturday night, the Gophers capped a 2-0 week and moved to 16-10 overall and 7-7 in Big Ten play.

Seniors Lawrence Westbrook (20 points) and Damian Johnson (16 points, 10 rebounds) led the way as Minny avenged a crushing OT loss to Indiana in January. Ralph Sampson III added 11 points, and all eleven Gophers scored, including little-used Bryant Allen, who notched a three-point basket for his first points as a collegian.

Minnesota shot 55% from the floor for the game and limited themselves to 11 turnovers for the game. Their pressure defense helped hold Indiana to 32% shooting for the game, including an ice-cold 28% in the first half, which saw the Gophers build a 19-point lead. One game after holding Wisconsin to 31% shooting, Indiana shot 32%. It's much easier to win games when the other team shoots poorly, but give the Gophers' defense some due credit.

The Gophers won the rebounding advantage 40-32, but Indiana grabbed 15 offensive boards to the Gophers' ten. This must improve in the league's final four games.

The Gophers face a critical week ahead with tests at home against Purdue on Wednesday night and at Illinois on Saturday. Purdue was ranked #4 this past week and the Illini are one of the teams ahead of Minny in the standings. Right now, the Gophers would finish sixth in the Big Ten, meaning they would be forced to play on Thursday in the conference tournament. For a team which will likely need to win one or two games in the Big Ten Tournament to have a shot at an NCAA Tourney bid, the Gophers desperately want to stay out of the Thursday games and winning one or two of the games this week will help that cause. Winning two games will put them on the right side of .500 and give the NCAA selection committee something to think about.

It's refreshing to see the Gophers play two solid games on the heels of two of their most disappointing losses, but this team still has a long way to go to grab an NCAA bid.

Much-Needed Sweep For Gopher Six

2010-02-21T07:19:00.000-06:00

The Gopher hockey team will not go down for the count quite yet.

Facing a second-division finish squarely in the face prior to this weekend, the Gophers responded with somewhat inspired hockey and swept the seventh-ranked Colorado College Tigers, capping the weekend with a 7-4 victory on Saturday.

Nick Leddy had a goal and two assists for Minnesota on Saturday, Josh Birkholz had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Schroeder and Jacob Cepis set up two goals apiece for the maroon and gold, who received four goals from defensemen.

A first period offensive explosion saw goals by Mike Hoeffel, David Fischer, CC's Rylan Schwartz, and Aaron Ness all with a span of 1:42 of the period, and the Gophers carried a 3-1 lead into the dressing room, and the Tigers looked like a team which had not yet found its legs for a second-straight night.

Birkholz's goal 2:53 into the second period gave the Gophers a three-goal cushion, but the Tigers' Kris Friedheim cut into the deficit with a power play tally after a steady parade of Gopher penalties midway through the second period. However, Leddy found the back of the net with 2:12 remaining in the period to give the Gophers another three-goal lead.

Gabe Guentzel and Tyler Johnson each scored within 3:46 into the third period as CC cut the lead to one goal and carried a lot of momentum. However, Cade Fairchild's and Tony Lucia's tallies late in the period gave the Gophers the victory and an absolutely vital series sweep.

Alex Kangas was not particularly sharp in goal, but he did pick up the victory with 22 saves.

The sweep was Minny's first in the conference since it beat Michigan Tech on December 11-12 and the first conference sweep at home since defeating Alaska-Anchorage in late October. The victories also put the Gophers back into the WCHA first round playoffs home ice picture, as the Gophers trail fifth place Colorado College and North Dakota each by three points.

With four games remaining in the season, crunch time is upon us, and Minny heads up to now-struggling UMD to play a series at the DECC next weekend. The Dogs have lost three of four and were hammered this past weekend at North Dakota and have dropped all the way to 12th place in the PairWise rankings. It is a series the Bulldogs need just as badly as the Gophers. Of course, last weekend's series was vital for CC as well, and the Gophers responded well, providing some hope in a series which has seen precious little.

Elsewhere in the WCHA:

Minnesota State 4, Alaska-Anchorage 3 = MSU Sweep - Michael Dorr (2-0-2) for MSU
Wisconsin 7, St. Cloud State 4 = Series Split - Derek Stepan (1-3-4), Brendan Smith (1-2-3) for UW
Denver 5, Michigan Tech 3 = DU Sweep - Anthony Maiani (0-2-2), Cody Brookwell (0-2-2) for DU
North Dakota 5, UMD 1 = UND Sweep -
League Standings
Updated PairWise

Gopher Pucksters Get Crucial Victory

2010-02-20T04:02:00.000-06:00

The Gopher hockey team absolutely needed a win Friday night and received one with an impressive 3-0 victory over visiting Colorado College. Junior goaltender Alex Kangas stopped all 26 CC shots, including 13 in the third period, to record his first career shutout.

Minnesota controlled the play throughout and fired 35 shots at the Colorado College net. They seemed to go unrewarded after a fine first period until Patrick White's goal with 0:00.3 remaining gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead. The game remained the same through two periods, despite Minnesota holding a 26-13 edge in shots on net, and despite CC enjoying two 5-3 power play situations to that point.

In the third, Jordan Schroeder scored 1:38 into the frame to put the game farther out of reach. Josh Birkholz's tally at 11:36 sealed the deal; all that was left was waiting to see if Kangas would get the shutout.

CC's Joe Howe kept the game from being a laugher with 32 saves.

The win came at a great time for the Gophers, who moved two points ahead of Alaska-Anchorage and moved within five points of fifth-place CC for the final WCHA playoffs' first round home ice spot. It makes one wonder if the Gophers had beaten UAA in the finale in Anchorage a few weeks ago, no?

Elsewhere in the WCHA:

St. Cloud State 5, Wisconsin 1 - Dan Dunn (37 saves). Ryan Lasch (1-1-2), Drew LeBlanc (0-2-2) for SCSU
Minnesota State 5, Alaska-Anchorage 2 - Kael Mouillierat (2-1-3) for MSU
Denver 5, Michigan Tech 2 - Brandon Vossberg (1-2-3), Anthony Maiani (1-2-3) for DU
North Dakota 5, UMD 2 - Brett Hextall (2-1-3), Chris Vande Velde (0-2-2) for UND
League Standings
Updated PairWise - Gophers back in

USA Hockey 2-0; Canada Next

2010-02-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

The US Olympic hockey team made it two-for-two Thursday afternoon with a resounding 6-1 victory over Norway to move to 2-0 in the round robin format.

As was the case in the 3-1 victory over Switzerland on Tuesday, the US struck early on Thursday, as Phil Kessel (U. of Minnesota, Toronto Maple Leafs) scored just 2:39 into the game. Chris Drury (Boston U., New York Rangers) made it 2-0 just over ten minutes later to give the US a two-goal lead heading into the first intermission.

The Americans struck just once in the second with Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks) converting. In the third period, the US broke open a 3-1 game with three tallies to close things out, as Ryan Malone (St. Cloud State U., Tampa Bay Lightning), Brian Rafalski (U. of Wisconsin, Detroit Red Wings), and Rafalski again tallied. In all, twelve different Yanks notched points in the game.

Ryan Miller (Michigan State, Buffalo Sabres) faced only 11 shots in the game and turned aside 10 of them.

A matchup against Canada looms for the US in prime time on Sunday night. The host Canucks are loaded but are beatable in a one-game format. The US can show a little of what it's made of on Sunday night, but hopefully won't show too much before the medal round begins next week.

As I've written here before, I like the composition of this team. GM Brian Burke has rid the US program of the "old guard" with the likes of Mike Modano, Jeremy Roenick, Mike Richter, and Bill Guerin who won the inaugural World Cup back in 1996 and headlined the international competition for the next decade. This year's Olympic squad is young, fast, and exciting, but is a heavy underdog going into this weekend's tilt against Canada. Sunday will be a fine test for this young squad.

Gophers Dominate Wisconsin

2010-02-19T05:47:00.000-06:00

In a season marred by inconsistency, the Gopher basketball team followed up disappointing losses to Michigan and Northwestern with a 68-52 victory over #13 Wisconsin Thursday night at Williams Arena. The win was the Gophers' third-consecutive triumph over the Badgers and pushes the Gophers' record to 6-7 in the Big Ten, 15-10 overall.

Blake Hoffarber (16), Damian Johnson (11), Ralph Sampson III (10), and Devoe Joseph (10) each notched double-figures for Minnesota, who shot 58% from the floor in the first half in route to a nine-point lead. Cooler shooting in the second half put the game total to a more pedestrian 48%, but it was enough on Thursday night. The Gophers took care of the basketball for the most part with 11 turnovers in the game.

Wisconsin's poor shooting ruined its chances all night long. Although the Badgers turned the ball over just five times, they shot a putrid 31% from the floor. Trevon Hughes had 19 points, but the bulk of those came at the end in virtual garbage time. Jason Bohannon added 18 for UW.

The Gophers now face Indiana at the Barn on Saturday night - a game they should absolutely win. Matchups against Purdue and at Illinois follow next week. The Gophers need to win at least two of three to keep flickering NCAA Tournament chances alive, but realistically need to win them all.

Thursday's win was the Gophers' second-most impressive victory of the season (the win over Ohio State was #1), and makes fans even more disappointed about the two losses last week and the loss at Indiana last month.

Time For a New Voice?

2010-02-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

In the Gophers' disappointing season, calls for the dismissal of coach Don Lucia have become increasingly louder over the past few weeks. The team's current 1-5 skid has relegated the Gophers to second-division status in a season in which they were realistically expected to compete for the league - if not national - title. Far from one who believes in knee-jerk reactions (remember, I was called "Sid" for my desire to have football coach Tim Brewster coach a fourth season), it has become apparent to me that a change in leadership of the hockey program is necessary.

The hockey program appears to be stuck in neutral right now. The Gophers finished seventh two seasons ago, but beat Minnesota State in the playoffs to advance to the Final Five and snagged a NCAA Tournament berth. Last season, the Gophers finished fifth, thanks largely to their season sweep of St. Cloud State. The swept those same Huskies to advance to the Final Five, but lost the play-in game to UMD and were out of the NCAA Tournament.

This season began with very high expectations, given that the Gophers returned a ton of talent from the previous year's roster and added talented freshmen Nick Leddy and Zach Budish to an already solid roster. The season started out like a dud with the Gophers being shut out three times in the season's initial four games and has not rebounded much since. Minnesota has hovered around the .500 mark all year long and will miss the NCAA Tournament for a second-consecutive season, barring an unforeseen miracle.

The last sentence is damning, given that the 'U' hosted a regional at Mariucci Arena last season and will do the same at the Xcel Energy Center this season. Unlike basketball, college hockey not only allows bur forces host teams to play in regionals at the host site, provided they qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers' missing the tournament last season and likely to do the same this season means no tournaments in consecutive seasons when they have hosted a regional. That is simply unacceptable.

I've heard all the arguments this season why Gopher fans have been disgusted by the team's play:

"We're better than this"
"We're the 'Notre Dame' of college Hockey" (never mind that there is an actual Notre Dame which plays college hockey)
"This is a 'what have you done for me lately' business"
"Lucia hasn't done anything after the national titles" (as if those are to be discounted)
"Lucia cannot recruit"

And so on....

Up until the past few weeks, I've dismissed the arguments and calls for Lucia's dismissal because there were plenty of reasons not to dismiss the hockey Gophers. First and foremost was the team's remaining schedule, packed with nationally-ranked opponents, and provided Minny with opportunities to rack up quality wins against highly-ranked teams and padding the all-important PairWise rankings. After getting swept by St. Cloud State, splitting at Alaska-Anchorage, and getting swept at Denver, that hope has gone out the drain in the form of a 1-5 run when all the pressure was on the team. Worse, other than the opening games in the St. Cloud State and UAA series, the Gophers looked listless and suffered breakdown after breakdown. I am not one to judge whether or not the team quit in any game, but the speed and energy has been oftentimes lacking during this crucial span.

It's clear that it is likely time for a new voice at the 'U.' Lucia is a great coach and recruiter, but for whatever reason it hasn't worked well for him over the past three seasons. Perhaps the recruiting edge has been lost in that the focus has moved to bring in all-star teams of Minnesota high school-age players instead of more seasoned junior players. Perhaps, those brought in have balked at being third-liners in college after being scoring superstars in their prep careers. For whatever reason, Lucia and his staff have been unable to get the most out of the players this season. In some cases, it looks like players are regressing. Whispers from NHL circles suggest the same.

Right now, AD Joel Maturi needs to do something. The supporters of Gopher hockey are angry and have a right to be. This year's team had legitimate title expectations and in no way, shape, or form should be fighting for its NCAA Tournament life right now. Mariucci Arena is quiet on game nights and hundreds of empty seats abound. After three years of mediocrity, season ticket renewals are bound to decrease again - there were around 90% after last season.

A shake-up is needed in this program. Don Lucia will go down as one of the great Gopher coaches of all time. He belongs with John Mariucci and Herb Brooks in Gopher lore. The two national titles will be forever ingrained in Gopher fans' minds. However, with a stagnating program personified by underachievement over the past three seasons, it's time for a new voice to be heard from behind the bench.

US Scores Win in Olympic Opener

2010-02-17T05:00:00.000-06:00

The United States Olympic hockey team scored a pedestrian victory in the first game of their round robin action on Tuesday in Vancouver, defeating Switzerland 3-1.

Bobby Ryan (Anaheim Ducks) scored an unassisted goal late in the first period to give the US a lead. David Backes (Minnesota State, St. Louis Blues) added another unassisted tally nearly six minutes into the second to give the US all it would need. Ryan Malone (St. Cloud State/Tampa Bay Lightning) converted a power play tally from Ryan Suter (U. of Wisconsin/Nashville Predators) to seal the victory.

Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres) made 14 stops in a game in which he wasn't asked to do too much.

The US will be in action again Thursday against Norway. The big test ahead is Canada on Saturday night in a prime time affair.

The young US team got the jitters out in the first game against a team they were supposed to beat and now move forward as an unbeaten squad. This is exactly where this team is expected to be.

Pucksters: They're Done

2010-02-16T05:43:00.000-06:00

The Gophers completed their series with North Dakota on January 16 with a 5-1 victory at Mariucci Arena. The victory gave them three of four points against the Sioux and put the Gophers back on the map for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. The balance of the season featured some tough series, but the Gophers appeared to be hitting their stride.

Instead, the Gophers were swept in a home-and-home series against St. Cloud State, and then split up at Alaska-Anchorage. After a bye week, Minny was throttled at Denver and appears buried in the second division of the WCHA standings. With six games remaining in the season and the team finding itself seven points out of home ice for the first round of the WCHA playoffs, it's safe to say they're done this season.

When the Gophers had a chance to make a run on a season already marked by inconsistency, the team responded with a 1-5 mark in three crucial series and is now fighting to stay out of ninth place. They had opportunities over the past two weeks to move past North Dakota (another disappointing team) into sixth place, but failed to accomplish this task. UND's thrashing of St. Cloud State on Saturday put the Sioux three points ahead of the Gophers in the standings, making it unlikely they can be passed.

Of course, that the Gophers find themselves in seventh place at all is disappointing in and among itself. At the start of the season, it was clear with the returning roster that the Gophers would be one of the teams to beat in the WCHA. The season started out on a rough note against North Dakota and Denver (three shutouts in two weekends) and has never really gotten on track. An 8-2-1 run from November 28 to January 16 gave the season some promise, but ended in spectacular fashion with the team's current 1-5 predicament.

The Gophers have netted the third-fewest goals among WCHA teams and rank 44th of 58 Division I teams in goals per game. With the talent on this roster, this is unacceptable. The goaltending of Alex Kangas and Kent Patterson has been decent most of the season and is a big reason why the season hasn't been an even bigger disaster. Team defense has been suspect all season long and turnovers have been epidemic. The issues have not corrected themselves as the season progresses.

Wild Assistant GM Tom Thompson remarked last weekend that the Gophers lack passion. I jumped to the team's defense by basically attacking the messenger, whose team has its own passion problems. However, Thompson may be onto something is suggesting that effort may be an issue for the team this season. I simply refuse to accept the notion that Minnesota lacks the talent to compete with the big boys of the WCHA. They get all-star recruiting classes each season and will add another good class for the upcoming season, so talent is never an issue. However, they are clearly not a good TEAM, which is something beyond talent.

The season has seemingly slipped away with the current 1-5 run, and the Gophers will need a miracle to extend their season beyond the WCHA first round playoffs. It has been a monumentally disappointing season for the maroon and gold and few - if any - expected things to be this way.

On Johnsson/Leddy/Barker.....

2010-02-15T05:00:00.001-06:00

On Friday, the Wild addressed a few needs in their trade for defenseman Cam Barker from the Chicago Blackhawks. Barker is 23 years-old and is a quick, puck-moving defenseman the Wild covet as they continue their evolution under GM Chuck Fletcher and head coach Todd Richards into a more vertical, speed-conscious team. Yes, Barker will be expensive ($6.25M over the next two seasons, which is why he was sent out of Chicago), but he is a young and experienced defenseman who should thrive in Richards's system.

The Wild sent away defenseman Kim Johnsson and the rights to Gopher defenseman Nick Leddy. Johnsson is similar in many ways to Barker, but he is expensive ($5.3M this year on the final year of his four-year contract) and 10 years older. Getting him out of the picture also frees the Wild to make efforts to sign defense Marek Zidlicky. Leddy was the Wild's first round draft pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, and trading his is a bit of a surprise, but not totally unexpected, given the Wild's organizational depth of young defenseman and the fact that the Hawks were certain to ask for another talented player when they sent Barker packing. It was a good move for the Wild - hockey-wise and cap-wise.

The trade is the easy part; the aftermath of the trade deserves further exploration.

Before I start the rest of my post, I need to make some disclosures. First off, I cannot stand the Wild - haven't from day one - even if the team is far more watchable under Fletcher and Richards than they ever were under former GM Doug Risebrough and ex-coach Jacques Lemaire. I rarely miss an opportunity to take a shot at a franchise which has enjoyed a puzzling tenure of good graces from a public which turns on its other franchises - pro or college - on a whim. Despite years of mediocrity, the Wild has received a pass from the public, and it bothers me. Secondly, I am a fan of the New York Islanders, for reasons which are far too complicated to explain here. This will become relevant later in the post.

In the aftermath of the Friday trade, the StarTribune's Roman Augustoviz posted items in his blog quoting Wild Assistant GM Tom Thompson as taking a few swipes at the Gopher program under coach Don Lucia. Here is what Augustoviz said about his conversation with Thompson:

Wild assistant general manager Tom Thompson was in St. Cloud for the Gophers' 4-3 loss to St. Cloud State on Jan. 22. He said he was disappointed the way coach Lucia's team played. Without passion, he said.

Thompson was asked about his impressions about Leddy. He said the freshman from Eden Prairie was one of the best Gophers, if not the best that night. Thompson said he did not trade Leddy out of concern for his development at Minnesota.

In Michael Russo and Brian Stensaas's article in Saturday's StarTribune, here is a comment attributed to Thompson:

"It's just the general situation there," Thompson said of the struggling Gophers. "They've had a poor year with their team, and the whole team. Every guy on that team just looks, there doesn't look like there's a passion to them.

"It's nothing particular against Nick. He was one of their best guys, maybe their best guy the night I saw him in St. Cloud. But it seems collectively, it was a disappointment to watch them."

Since we're in the business of ripping the Gopher program, here's a bit about Thompson:

Wild Assistant GM since 2002
Head scout since team's inception
Oversees all operations of amateur scouting

Clearly, Thompson has some credibility when it comes to scouting. However, his analysis of the Gophers' plan on the game he witnessed is sheer fantasy. I attended the January 22 game in St. Cloud and can concur that Leddy was one of the team's better players that night. To say the Gophers played with no emotion suggests Thompson was watching another game. Minnesota dominated play for most of the game and lost a one-goal game after a spirited comeback. They fired 42 shots on the St. Cloud net, but ultimately could not overcome a 3-0 hole they dug themselves in the opening stanza, mostly because St. Cloud cashed in 100% of Minnesota's miscues that game. Effort was clearly not a problem that night. Effort has been an issue at times during this very disappointing season, but it wasn't on January 22.

By Thompson specifically stating that the Wild did not trade Leddy because of his lack of development, to me, seems like code for saying that they did. This is not the first time criticism of Lucia and player development has been lobbed his way. New York Islanders' GM Garth Snow uttered those same concerns when the team pulled Kyle Okposo out of the Gopher program mid-season in December 2007. At the time, Snow was in his second season as Isles' GM, after taking over for the fired Neil Smith in the summer of 2006. Smith oversaw the draft which saw the Islanders take Okposo, but was fired less than a month later and replaced by Snow. The Islanders took incoming Gopher freshman defenseman Aaron Ness in the 2008 Draft, and seems fine with Ness's development at the 'U.'

And, it's not as if Leddy isn't developing as scheduled. On many nights, he is the team's best all-around defenseman as a true freshman. He skates in the top pairing and gets a ton of ice time. He missed seven games after breaking his jaw in late October, but has adjusted to the college game quite well. In 19 games, Leddy has recorded 1-4-5.

Back to Thompson, it's not like he has the track record of a Lou Lamoriello when it comes to drafting players. Let's examine his first round draftees since 2004:

2004 - A.J. Thelen (complete bust)
2005 - Benoit Pouliot (bust; traded to Montreal)
2006 - James Sheppard (bust)
2007 - Colton Gillies (headed toward bust status; currently in Houston)
2008 - Tyler Cuma (injured last season; developing)
2009 - Leddy (traded)

So, it's not like Thompson has much of a track record to complain about the "passion" of the local team and then make suggestions that the team was concerned about Leddy's development. The question is, why trade him if you were concerned? Why not just pluck him out of the program like the Islanders did with Okposo? Sure there may have been a numbers game in the organization with young, puck-moving defensemen, but why Leddy? It's never a bad thing to have too many good defensemen in the organization as one never knows how they will develop. It's likely Chicago coveted Leddy and the Wild had to acquiesce. If that's the case, then fine. However, Thompson needn't make comments about the Gophers' lack of passion when he has plenty of issues of which to worry with his own club.

I did not intend this post to be a defense of Don Lucia's handling of the Gopher program. There will be plenty of time for criticism as the season progresses and the Gophers are seemingly locked for a second-division WCHA finish despite a roster full of top NHL draftees. As soon as the post-mortem is written on this season, there will be plenty of criticism of Lucia in this blog, and there certainly was some this week. However, Tom Thompson and the Wild are in no position to criticize the effort of the Gopher program. Thompson's childish comments are representative of the old guard of a historically-sophomoric organization crying sour grapes.

Gophers Waxed in Denver Finale

2010-02-14T07:23:00.000-06:00

Denver made it four wins in as many opportunities against the Gophers in 2009-10 with a 5-1 domination on Saturday night, burying the Gophers in a crucial series in the fight for home ice in the WCHA first round playoffs and virtually dashing Minny's NCAA Tournament hopes.

Joe Colborne had a hat trick for the Pioneers and Marc Cheverie made 32 saves to pick up his fourth victory over Minnesota this season. Only Tony Lucia's goal with 39 seconds remaining in the game prevented Chevy from recording his third shutout against the Gophers this season.

Colborne lit the lamp with just over a minute remaining in the opening frame on the power play to give the Pios a 1-0 lead at the break. Anthony Maiani scored a minute into the second to put Denver on its way, and Colborne's second goal midway through the second salted things away. He completed the hat trick - short-handed - 2:16 into the third period to make it 4-0. Brian Gifford's power play tally made it 5-0. In all, DU was 3-9 on the power play Saturday night.

However, the story of the game was Cheverie, who notched his fourth win of the season against Minny. In four games, Chevy recorded two shutouts and stopped an incredible 136 of 138 shots for an amazing .986 save percentage.

So, the Gophers are now 13-15-2 overall and 8-12-2 in conference play. With a sub-.500 record, they are ineligible for a PairWise ranking and have but six games remaining in the regular season. If they run the table - highly unlikely against Colorado College, at UMD, and Wisconsin - they'll still be in a tough spot with 15 losses of gaining an at-large tournament bid. So, their best hope at this point is to tread water and somehow make a run in the WCHA playoffs. The only shot is to win the Final Five, and they'll have to do so from the play-in spot like UMD did last season, and UMD's win marked the first time that had ever been accomplished.

As I have written before, it has been a monumentally disappointing season for the Gophers. Lofty pre-season expectations have been dashed in inconsistency. It is clear that this team just isn't as good as the top teams in the league, and Denver looks many times better than the Gophs. Yes, Denver is the class of the league this season, but the Gophers seem like they're completely out of their league. This is hard to fathom when one looks at a talented Minnesota roster, but it's true.

The time for complaining is near as the season slips away. I think it's safe to begin writing the epitaph on an unacceptable season.

Elsewhere in the WCHA:

North Dakota 8, St. Cloud State 1 - Series Split = Chris Vande Velde (1-3-4), Matt Frattin (2-0-2) for UND, who notched six second period goals - four on the power play.
Wisconsin 8, Minnesota State 4 - UW Sweep = Blake Geoffrion (2-1-3), Andy Bombach (1-2-3) for UW
WCHA Standings
Updated PairWise (Gophers nowhere to be found)

Gophers Still Cannot Solve Denver

2010-02-13T07:18:00.000-06:00

In three games this season against the Denver Pioneers, the Gophers have allowed a grand total of nine goals and have managed to score but once on certain All-American Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie. On Friday night, Chevy was outstanding again, making 44 saves in DU's 3-1 victory over the desperate Gophers.

In a game which was scoreless through the first two periods, Denver's Tyler Ruegsegger scored less than a minute into the third on a goal which caught Minny goaltender Alex Kangas severely out of position. The Gophers were sloppy over the next few minutes and were seemingly out of the game when Joe Colborne lit the lamp to give the Pios a seeming insurmountable 2-0 lead. However, the Gophers' Patrick White make it interesting with his tally with 1:38 remaining, marking the Gophers' first goal on Cheverie in almost nine periods of hockey. However, Denver's senior captain Rhett Rakhashani salted things away with an unassisted goal 17 seconds later to clinch the victory.

Kangas played ok, stopping 28 of 31, but he needed to stand on his head Friday night to match Cheverie, and he didn't. The team overall played very well, save for most of the third period's initial ten minutes, but could not solve Cheverie.

Once again, the Gophers missed an opportunity to pass North Dakota and move into sixth place in the WCHA. The Sioux lost at St. Cloud on Friday night and remain one point ahead of the Gophers in the league standings. Minnesota remains tied with idle Alaska-Anchorage for seventh place. The Gophers also missed an opportunity to make up ground on fifth place Colorado College, who holds the final home ice spot for the WCHA first round playoffs. The Tigers are Minnesota's opponent next weekend and are seven points ahead of the Gophers. However, Minnesota has games in hand over CC and the Tigers do not play this weekend, providing the Gophers with two weekends of opportunities to dig into the lead. So much for that.

Saturday is another must-win for the Gophers' very slim NCAA Tournament chances. If this team has a run in it, a road win at Denver would be a good place to start. Time's a wastin'.

Elsewhere in the WCHA:

St. Cloud State 4, North Dakota 3 - Dan Dunn (43 saves) for SCSU; UND 1-5-0 in its last six games
Wisconsin 4, Minnesota State 3 - Michael Davies (2-1-3), Blake Geoffrion (1-3-4) for UW; Phil Cook (40 saves) for MSU
WCHA Standings
Updated PairWise - Gophers out of the rankings - sub-.500 record

Wild Trades Leddy to Hawks

2010-02-12T20:06:00.000-06:00

The Wild traded defenseman Kim Johnsson and the rights to Gopher defenseman Nick Leddy to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday for defenseman Cam Barker in a mid-major trade. Leddy was the Wild's first round draft pick in the 2009 NHL Draft and is midway through his freshman season at the 'U'.

I'll have a show-stopper piece analyzing this trade on Monday (lots of Gopher pucks and hoops game coverage this weekend), so be sure to check here for recaps of the pucksters series at Denver and the hoops squad's contest at Northwestern. I don't think you'll be disappointed with Monday's entry!

Gopher Hoops Lose; Hey, Watch the Olympics Instead!

2010-02-12T05:00:00.000-06:00

The Gopher basketball team watched its NCAA Tournament hopes go down the drain against lowly Michigan at Williams Arena on Thursday, losing 71-63. The Gophers are now 14-9 on the season and a disappointing 5-6 in Big Ten play. Given the schedule the rest of the way, it's highly unlikely the squad will get it together and receive an invitation to the Big Dance. I've written ad nauseum about the disappointment of this season and don't feel it necessary to re-hash the obvious. Given that I really don't feel like ripping a bunch of college kids today, I'll just leave it and say that the next game for the Gophers is this Sunday at Northwestern.

On a happier note, the Winter Olympics start Friday in Vancouver, and Olympic fans can catch all the USA Olympic squad action at http://teamusanews.org. Check it out for some cool stuff.

As for my plans during the Olympics, I cannot stand the games in general (I'll watch hockey and the women's figure skating finals, and that's about it), but will "cover" the US men's hockey action on Donny Puck. Stay tuned here for recaps from next week's games from our very young US squad in Vancouver.

Winter of Discontent Falls on Coaching

2010-02-11T05:00:00.000-06:00

Tuesday, I ranted about how disappointing this winter has been for Gopher sports fans, given the mediocrity of University of Minnesota men's hockey and basketball thus far despite some lofty pre-season expectations. In the past few days, the two coaches of the teams have found themselves in the crosshairs of the public's and the media's discontent over seasons heading in the wrong directions.

Basketball coach Tubby Smith was heavily criticized by StarTribune curmedgeon Patrick Reusse late last week. Reusse cited a lack of progress of some of Smith's recruits, namely Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson. Predictably, Sampson had a huge game for the Gophers in their win over hapless Penn State Saturday, pouring in 13 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and blocking two Talor Battle shots in the game's final minute. The Reusse article stated that the Gophers are being led this season with a couple of Dan Monson recruits (Damian Johnson and Lawrence Westbrook), and that the heralded Smith recruits are either struggling (Iverson, Sampson, Devron Bostick, Paul Carter), flunked out (Al Nolen, Royce White), or suspended (Trevor Mbakwe). Reusse points out correctly that one member of Smith's first recruiting class, guard Devoe Joseph, is showing signs of promise.

Critics of Tubby point out that recruiting was his downfall at Kentucky, and that what Gopher fans are seeing right now is what frustrated UK for so many years. This is largely hogwash, but I am willing to put some of the recruiting blame on Smith. First of all, Royce White's off-the-court issues were very well documented over the years. White's talent has never been in question, but his commitment and attitude have definitely been questioned. The recruiting of White carried plenty of risk for Smith and his staff. Since White was the state's top recruit after last season, making it necessary for the U to pursue him. Gopher fans have grown tired of the state's top talent leaving for other schools, and Smith was committed to not have that happen with White. Similarly, the Mbakwe situation carried the same amount of risk. He transferred schools in his prep career, left Marquette, and played at a JuCo in Miami last season. Nobody saw the assault charges coming, but Mbakwe was somewhat of a risky recruit as well.

Blaming Smith for the Nolen situation is a bit much, since every program finds itself in an academic situation with its players. Colleges simply cannot graduate 100% of their players. To think this is possible is euphorian at best.

This season is disappointing largely because Tubby Smith recruited a team which is simply not on the court right now. He thought Nolen, White, and Mbakwe would be in a rotation with Westbrook, Joseph, Johnson, Sampson, Paul Carter, Blake Hoffarber, and Iverson. Off-the-court issues prevented this rotation from becoming reality in 2009-10, and Smith deserves some blame for that. However, this program is progressing, and to mention otherwise is simply foolish.

On the ice, cries for coach Don Lucia's dismissal are growing louder, so much so that Athletics Director Joel Maturi took the rare step of backing the coach in a story on the Inside College Hockey site last week. However, there was a key point in the story which needs exploration:

“I can tell you that Don Lucia will be coaching Gopher hockey next year unless he chooses not to,”

That sounds like an out, no?

It's probably nothing, but if the season ended today, Minnesota would finish seventh in the WCHA on the heels of disappointing finishes the past two seasons. The Gophers are 22nd in the PairWise rankings, six spots behind where they need to be to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Despite a roster littered with high draft picks, the Gophers seem destined to finish in the WCHA's second division again this year.

The claims that Lucia cannot develop players have been uttered in years past, and many are uttering the same again this season, citing the slow development of defenseman Aaron Ness as a prime example. It's funny that these claims were not made when Lucia was winning back-to-back NCAA titles in 2002-2003, but with the program struggling now, many old wounds are re-surfacing.

One issue with the current Gopher roster is lack of offensive firepower, and that falls on the coach to some extent. Given the Gophers' position as a premier hockey program, Lucia and his staff have the presumed pick of the litter for hockey talent, especially in the state of Minnesota. Talented players come to the U with reputations as star players but often find the adjustment to the college game difficult. One reason for this may be convincing a prep superstar that he must become a checker in college. Of course, other schools have this same problem every year.

Coach Lucia has another heralded recruiting class on the horizon in 2010-11, and all accounts suggest this group will be as highly-touted as last year's group highlighted by Nick Leddy and Zach Budish. The challenge will be for Lucia to get some scoring punch out of next year's group. Of course, Minnesota hockey fans are growing tired of reading about strong recruiting classes and fighting for home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

The challenge for Lucia and Smith will be to right the ship for the rest of the season. Although Smith will be safe regardless of what happens during the remainder of this season. the pressure on Lucia is a bit more intense. He'll likely need the team to make a run in order to silence his critics who are growing louder as the team's struggles continue.

Winter of Discontent for Gopher Sports

2010-02-09T07:12:00.000-06:00

I have to admit that I've been a bit down in the dumps this week, sports-wise, that is. The Gopher hockey team had a chance to get its season back on track with a sweep of an inferior Alaska-Anchorage team and lost a 2-1 game Saturday, one night after throttling UAA with a seven-goal effort. The next day, the Gopher basketball team put up its worst defensive performance in three seasons in a nationally-televised loss at Ohio State to drop their league mark to 4-5. A last-second victory over winless Penn State over the weekend evened the mark at 5-5.

Thank goodness I am no longer a Viking fan, or the discontent would be only that much deeper.

I'd like to think that I am a bit measured when it comes to my local teams. However, I have to admit that I had sky-high expectations for both the Gopher basketball and hockey teams this season, and that my expectations have been completely crushed thus far. There are still two months for both programs to turn things around, but both appear unable to do so. Never can I remember being so thoroughly disappointed with the performance of my winter sports teams than in the winter of 2009-10.

Let's start on the hardwood. Coach Tubby Smith brought the Gophers to the NCAA Tournament in 2009 in his second season on the bench. Although the Gophers lost in the first round of the Big Dance last season, there were plenty of reasons to be optimistic about this season. The Gophers lost just four players off last season's 22-11 team, and neither was a major contributor. Solid players Lawrence Westbrook, Damian Johnson, Paul Carter, and Al Nolen all returned. Freshman contributors Ralph Sampson III, Devoe Joseph, and Colton Iverson were all coming back more experienced and polished, and each had shown signs in 2008-09 of being very good players. Add to the mix, a recruiting class which was nationally-ranked, and many thought the Gophers had an opportunity to finish top-three in the competitive Big Ten with a shot at making a run in the NCAA Tournament. A preseason #18 ranking was thought by many to be a conservative estimate.

Trouble started early for the M&G basketball team. Before the first game, Coach Smith suspended senior Devron Bostick and incoming freshman Royce White for undisclosed violations of team rules. White was the centerpiece of a strong recruiting class who was expected to be a major part of the rotation this season. Also, incoming transfer Trevor Mbakwe was also suspended due to pending legal issues stemming from an assault charge the previous spring in Miami, FL. Mbakwe was the big man of the incoming class who was counted upon to be the bruiser and banger to compliment the athleticism of White, Westbrook, incoming freshman Rodney Williams, and others. Instead, he has yet to suit up for the Gophers. Bostick returned after his suspension, but White's troubles were just beginning.

He was charged and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from an alleged theft incident at Macy's at the Mall of America, in which White was charged with getting into a physical altercation with a security guard. As this process was playing out, he was suspected in an apparent theft of a laptop computer in a U of M dorm room. White quit college basketball via a YouTube video, only to be allowed to practice with the team after family members and other advisers intervened on his behalf with Smith. White was charged with misdemeanor trespassing in the laptop theft incident, and just Monday announced he was withdrawing from the U - this time permanently - but has yet to speak with Smith. The roller-coaster involving White has proven to be a distraction for the team all season long.

Despite all the off-the-court shenanigans, the Gophers started the season with some promise. They beat three cupcakes at home before picking up a nice victory against #10 Butler in the 76 Classic holiday tournament. They lost to a red-hot Portland squad one night later in the tourney, and lost a tough consolation game to Texas A&M two nights later. In the ACC/Big Ten Challenge three nights later, the Gophers blew a lead and lost to Miami on the road, making it three consecutive losses for the team in games they should have probably have won. The team righted the ship after that and won its next seven games, including the first two Big Ten outings against Penn State and Iowa to move to 11-3. After a competitive first half, the Gophers were blown out at #4 Purdue, but rebounded with perhaps their best performance of the season against Ohio State a few days later, winning 73-62 and completely shutting down OSU's all-Big Ten player Evan Turner.

At 12-4, the Gophers faced a brutal task of having to play at Michigan State and Ohio State in a two-plus week span, sandwiching games at Indiana, at home vs. Michigan State and Northwestern. The Gophers played MSU tough in East Lansing for parts of the game only to fade at the end to drop to 12-5, and then lost an inexcusable game at Indiana in OT, while neglecting to close out an under-manned Hoosier team. The Gophers then came home to play Michigan State without their starting point guard in the most recent off-the-court issue, as Al Nolen was ruled academically ineligible for spring semester. Still, the Gophers played inspired ball against the Spartans, taking a 13-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the game. The Spartans mounted a furious rally and the Gophers' last-second chance to win went up in smoke with a tough loss. After rebounding from a sluggish start to beat Northwestern, the Gophers failed to show up at Ohio State and were blown out of the gym, thanks to 63% Ohio State shooting and plenty of alley-oops and dunks. Again, a last-second Westbrook shot at Penn State saved the team from further embarrassment.

At 14-8 (5-5 in the conference), the Gophers are faced with having to make a serious run to qualify for the NCAA Tournament; something which looks very unlikely.

On the ice, the problems have been different, but the results have been no less disappointing. The Gophers finished sixth in the competitive WCHA last season, but returned virtually everyone. Talent-wise, many thought this year's Gopher team was better than Coach Don Lucia's NCAA Championship teams of 2002 and 2003. The 2009-10 team featured three NHL first round draft picks (David Fischer, Nick Leddy, Jordan Schroeder), along with two high second round picks (Aaron Ness and Zach Budish). All in all, the Gophers have 20 NHL draftees on their current roster. With an incoming class featuring Leddy and Budish, the Gophers were thought to be adding to an already supremely-talented team which already had holdovers Schroeder, Ness, Cade Fairchild, Jay Barriball, and Alex Kangas in goal.

The problems started early for the Gophers. The team was shut out by North Dakota in its first game 4-0 up in Grand Forks, only to rally for a tie the next night. Returning home to face nationally-ranked Denver, the Gophers were shut out 3-0 on consecutive nights to start the season 0-3-1 in the league, scoring a total of three goals and losing all three games via shutout. The consecutive shutouts at home marked the first time that had occurred in over 60 years.

With pressure intense, the Gophers throttled Alaska-Anchorage at home on October 30, only to lose Leddy in the game to a broken jaw. They swept the Seawolves to move to 2-3-1, but were playing short on the blueline. The week which followed was not good, as Barriball went down with a season-ending knee injury suffered practice. Then, sophomore defenseman San Lofquist quit the team to join the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, leaving the Gophers with five regular defenseman and forcing walk-on Brian Schack into the lineup. The Gophers split that weekend at Wisconsin, and then split the following weekend at home against Bemidji State. The Sunday night loss to Bemidji started a four-game losing streak which culminated in the Gophers losing in their worst performance in recent history - a 6-0 loss to Michigan. They rebounded to beat Michigan State the next night, but then lost a home game to Minnesota State the following weekend.

Starting with Saturday, December 5's victory at Minnesota State, the Gophers appeared to have righted the ship, launching into a 7-1-2 run which ended with a three-out-of-four point weekend against North Dakota. The following weekend, the Gophers were swept against St. Cloud State, and split last weekend's set at Alaska-Anchorage. In Saturday night's game, the Gophers lost a chance to pass North Dakota in the standings and pretty much relegated themselves to second-division status in the WCHA.

The pucksters are 13-13-2 overall, and just 8-10-2 in the WCHA. The are currently in seventh place in the league, seven points out of fifth place - and the final home ice spot for the WCHA's first round playoffs. They are 36th nationally in goals per game (2.79) and are hanging by a thread in the vaunted PairWise rankings. Despite hosting a regional for the second year in a row, the Gophers appear to be a long-shot to get an NCAA Tournament bid this season.

Which performance is more disappointing is tough to say. Both teams had reasonable lofty expectations going into the season and neither squad has delivered. Both teams have significantly underachieved. Both squads have battled issued beyond their control, with the cagers battling off-the-court academic and legal issues while the pucksters have fought injuries and defections, but good teams move beyond issues.

As indicated earlier, there is still time to prove me wrong, but it looks like we'll have no dogs in the hunt come NCAA Tournament time for both basketball and hockey.

Gopher Hoops Bailed Out in the End

2010-02-06T16:25:00.000-06:00

Lawrence Westbrook's deep jumper as time expired allowed the Gophers to escape snowy State College, PA. The senior's 19-foot jumper came just seconds after the Gophers allowed Penn State to tie the score with ten seconds remaining in the game, and the 66-64 win evened Minnesota's Big Ten mark at 5-5.

With Minnesota leading 64-62 with less than 40 seconds remaining in the game, the Gophers inbounded to Westbrook - one of the team's best foul shooters - and the senior stood almost motionless, expecting to be fouled. Instead, Penn State tied-up the basketball, forcing a jump ball and giving the Nittany Lions possession. In Penn State's subsequent possession, a loose ball eventually found its way to Talor Battle, who laid the ball in for a 64-64 tie. Electing not to call time out, the Gophers ran the length of the floor, and Westbrook's shot sealed the win.

Ralph Sampson III and Damian Johnson led the Gophers with 13 points apiece, and Sampson's two blocks in the game's final minute were crucial. He also added 10 boards in another solid effort. Westbrook and Blake Hoffarber each scored 12, with Hoffarber's points all coming courtesy of the three-point basket. The starters (the four listed above plus Devoe Joseph) accounted for 54 of Minnesota's 66 points on the afternoon.

For Penn State, Battle had another solid game, pouring in 20 points. Forward David Jackson added 18. Penn State is now 0-11 in Big Ten play, the worst start since joining the league in 1993.

Minnesota shot 47% from the floor and held Penn State to just 40% shooting.

14-8 Minnesota's next contest is this Thursday at home against Michigan. The Wolverines are struggling again this season at 11-12 and just 4-7 in Big Ten play. This is a game which the Gophers can and must win.

This is a game Minnesota had to win to keep its slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive, but it's unrealistic to believe tournament teams have to go to the buzzer to defeat an 0-11 team - home or road. The Gophers proved once again that closing games out is a huge struggle and are lucky to escape with a victory. Of course, after last Sunday's embarrassment at Ohio State, this team will take a win.

Gopher Football Signing Day Misses Top Target, Yet Yields Talent

2010-02-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

Look, I absolutely hate college football signing day.

The whole recruiting process sucks to begin with. Coaches fly around the country in pursuit of high school players, woo these kids with smooth talk and prospective exposure, and then talk about how he will be the missing cog in the building of something special or in keeping tradition. Keep in mind, these are 16-18 year-old kids who are still developing and nobody knows how they will end up as students and football players. And, of course, we always hear about how these kids are students first and athletes second.

Despite my hatred of signing day, it is a big deal for many, and sites like scout.com, rivals.com, and Tom Lemming's site have made recruiting serious and sophisticated business. I admit that I had the Gophers live blog of signing day going when I got into my office at 6:30 Wednesday morning.

As expected, the Gophers missed out on their top target, Cretin Derham-Hall behemoth offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson, who committed to USC - but did not sign his letter, waiting until the fallout of the Trojans' potential NCAA violation process. Coach Tim Brewster pursued Henderson aggressively and by all accounts did a good job selling the program to him. However, the Gophers were always a long-shot for a guy who was ranked by Lemming as the top recruit before his sophomore year. That the Gophers were even close at the end is a miracle and should not be used as another strike against Brewster - there are plenty of legitimate ones to cite and this is not one of them.

There were no surprises in the Gophers' class of 2010, which has been viewed by many as Brewster's most critical to date. The Rivals site ranks the Gophers' haul at #50, while Scouts has them checking in at #68. There is little science here; for example, Rivals has Wisconsin at #86 while Scouts has them way up at #33. I guess that's just proof that nobody really knows what the hell they have.

Either way, the Gophers' class is middle-of-the-road in the Big Ten. The big guys (Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, et. al.) are at the top as usual, but Michigan State scored a big coup by getting the conference's only five-star recruit (DE William Gholston) to break into the top division of the Big Ten.

The Gophers' class is solid, if not spectacular, and definitely addresses some acute team needs. Four-star recruits Lamonte Edwards (Woodbury LB) and Jimmy Gjere (Irondale OL) head the class and it's nice to see two of the state's top recruits behind Henderson stay home. Both should have solid careers in the maroon and gold, and one may see Gjere getting some looks come fall. The Gophers signed five offensive linemen, which was a huge disappointment in 2009 and needs immediate improvement this fall. Solid three-star Florida running backs Donnell Kirkwood and Devon Wright also come in highly-touted and should help an experienced core which features juniors DeLeon Eskridge, Duane Bennett, and Shady Salomon.

Perhaps the most intriguing recruit signing Wednesday is 6-7, 342 lb. offensive lineman Johnathan Ragoo of Opalocka, FL. The three-star recruit comes in with a solid reputation and definitely has the size to play at this level.

It was a decent recruiting class for Brewster at first glance. However, the 2003 class which included Brandon Owens, Laurence Maroney, Amir Pinnix, Ernie Wheelright, Tony Brinkhaus, Logan Payne, Desi Steib, and John Shevlin didn't generate a lot of buzz right away, either. Also, WR Paris Hamilton was rated as a four-star recruit that year, and he didn't do much.

Brewster's role will be to coach this group. The sheer measure of this class will be how well they perform at Minnesota, and that part is on Brewster and his staff.

Gopher Nation Needs to Accept Brewster Extension

2010-02-02T05:00:00.000-06:00

With the announcement of the two-year extension for head coach Tim Brewster last Friday, many Gopher fans seemed upset and surprised that a coach with a career mark of 14-24 at the U warranted an extension. To a point, they are correct. It's highly unlikely Brewster was going to be a flight risk - even though there were several rumors of his name being bandied-about for such high-profile jobs as Tennessee during the 2008 season when the Gophers started 7-1 after their 1-11 season the year before.

Still, the way college football does business these days suggests that coaches cannot operate under lame-duck status, mostly because of recruiting. It's exceedingly difficult for a coach to recruit athletes with one season remaining on his contract. Recruits are looking at the coach and his staff alone when selecting a school, and not at the big picture which suggests that a coach could be fired at-will. With four seasons now remaining on his contract, Brewster is able to look his current recruiting class in the eye and say that he has four seasons remaining on his current deal and that he's not going anywhere.

This is significant, given that the 2010 class is a big one for Brewster and his staff. After his hiring in early 2007, he had to scramble to lock up those which predecessor Glen Mason had recruited, and he lost some (Wisconsin WR David Gilreath is one which comes to mind). After the 1-11 season of 2007, Brewster desperately dipped into the junior college ranks to fill immediate needs on the roster, and the success was measurable. His 2009 class was nationally-ranked, highlighted by QB Mar'Queis Gray. However, this class needs to be a deep and talented one if the program has any realistic shot at achieving success under Brewster. According to Kent Youngblood in the Strib, 23 players have already committed in advance of Wednesday's signing day, and Cretin-Derham Hall's OL Seantrel Henderson (the nation's #8 overall recruit) still has Minnesota on his short list. If Henderson picks the U (and that is doubtful, from my perspective), the 2010 class immediately becomes top-five in the Big Ten and the team has a chance to improve immediately, given the porous offensive line play last season.

Yes, the detractors have their points:

14-24 overall mark
6-18 in the Big Ten
0-6 against Iowa and Wisconsin
Second-tier bowl losses in consecutive years

However, the extension was economically-modest (by today's college football standards) and makes sense from a recruiting standpoint. Now, Brewster and his staff need to deliver a top-notch recruiting class to silence critics and give the team a chance to compete in 2010. At least, they need to field a squad which can beat Iowa or Wisconsin once in a while.

Gopher Hoops Embarrassed in Columbus

2010-02-01T05:00:00.000-06:00

Ohio State honored its 1960 NCAA Championship team at halftime of Sunday's game with the Gopher basketball team and played inspired basketball throughout, defeating the Gophers 85-63 and dropping the maroon and gold to 4-5 in Big Ten play.

The Gophers shot a respectable 51% from the floor, but Ohio State's torrid 63% shooting carried the day. After being relatively ineffective the first time the two teams met earlier this month at Williams Arena, all-Big Ten guard Evan Turner paced Ohio State with 19 points and 8 assists in this game. William Buford scored a season-high 26 points for OSU, highlighted by a 4-5 performance from three-point territory. Jon Diebler also had 19 points for the Buckeyes.

Rodney Williams had 13 points off the bench for the Gophers to lead the team in scoring. Ralph Sampson III had 11, and Damian Johnson and Blake Hoffarber each had 10. The Gophers turned the ball over 17 times and allowed OSU to shoot lights-out the entire game. The Gophers had been the Big Ten's leading defensive team going into the game, limiting opponents to 36% shooting.

The month of January ends with the Gophers sitting at 13-8 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten. They are clearly going to have to go on a serious run to have any shot at an NCAA Tournament berth this season. A winnable road game lies ahead next Saturday at Penn State, followed by Michigan at home; two games the Gophers should win. A 10-8 record will not likely assure a tournament bid this season, so that means the Gophers will have to win at least seven of the remaining nine games to have a realistic shot at the big dance. That is highly unlikely, even though the Gophers are done with both Ohio State and Michigan State. Therein lies a problem: the team has no "signature win," making a seven-of-nine streak may indeed be necessary to get in. Purdue and Wisconsin are remaining home games, and certainly would qualify for solid victories. However, wins against either of those squads seem like long-shots at this point.

It's a bit too early to think about a serious run for the Gophers, who have seen off-the-court issues derail a promising season. The experienced core of this team has the potential to make a solid run, but it seems unlikely for yet another game-to-game University of Minnesota winter sport.

Predictable Split Puts Pucksters in Deeper Hole

2010-01-31T07:37:00.000-06:00

Alaska-Anchorage's Friday night woes are well-documented. The Seawolves are 0-6-0 in Friday night games on home ice this season, including Friday night's 7-4 loss to the Gophers. So, it should come as no surprise that the Seawolves turned things around and beat the Gophers 2-1 on Saturday night at the Sullivan Arena.

After Zach Budish's first period goal gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead, UAA's Josh Lunden scored less than a minute into the second period to tie the game. Kevin Clark's goal 14 minutes later - short-handed, nonetheless - gave the Seawolves a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish. After a listless third period in which UAA goaltender Jon Olthuis turned aside all seven shots, the Gophers left town with a split when anything other than a sweep would have been unacceptable.

Alex Kangas played much better in goal on Saturday night, stopping 22 of 24 UAA shots. Budish completed a four-point weekend with his goal, set up by Jordan Schroeder, who had a solid three-point weekend.

So, the Gophers are in a much bigger hole after Saturday's loss. The remain mired in seventh place, a full seven points out of the final first round home ice spot, and just one point ahead of eighth-place Alaska-Anchorage. The Gophers missed an opportunity to bury the Seawolves on Saturday night with the loss, given that the Gophers have two games in hand over UAA, and also missed an opportunity to pass North Dakota (in the process of being swept at home by Denver) for sixth place.

The Gophers are idle next weekend but face four very difficult series to close out the WCHA regular season. Out of the break, the Gophers head to Denver to take on the Pioneers (#2 in the PairWise), followed by a home series against Colorado College (#12 in the PairWise). A road series at UMD (#6 in the PairWise) is followed by a home matchup against Wisconsin (#3 in the PairWise) to close the regular season. Obviously, there are opportunities there for the Gophers to improve their #22 PairWise ranking. However, there are also plenty of opportunities for the Gophers to drop out of the rankings altogether.

There is no shame in losing on the road at Alaska-Anchorage. However, the loss Saturday night was a microcosm of the Gophers' inconsistency this season, which has seen them seemingly incapable of putting together solid efforts on consecutive nights. With the season on the line every game the rest of the way, one would have expected more from the squad Saturday night.

Elsewhere in the League:

Minnesota State 3, Michigan Tech 2 = Split - Rylan Galiardi (1-1-2) for MSU; Kevin Genoe (42 saves) for MTU
Colorado College 6, St. Cloud State 4 = Split - Mike Testwuide (1-2-3), Andrew Hamburg (2-0-2) for CC; Garrett Roe (2-1-3), Tony Mosey (1-1-2), Drew LeBlanc (0-2-2) for SCSU; 9-game winning streak snapped for SCSU
Denver 4, North Dakota 2 = DU Sweep - Rhett Rakhshani, Joe Colborne, Drew Shore (1-1-2) for DU; Chris VandeVelde (2-0-2) for UND
UMD 4, Wisconsin 0 = Split - Kenny Reiter (28 saves), Mike Connolly (1-1-2), Jack Connolly (0-2-2) for UMD
WCHA Standings
Updated PairWise
RPI Rankings
Strength of Schedule Rankings

Gopher Pucks Win a Wild One

2010-01-30T07:42:00.000-06:00

After dropping both games last weekend against St. Cloud State, the Gopher hockey team desperately needed a win Friday night to keep their flickering NCAA Tournament hopes alive. They did so, defeating Alaska-Anchorage 7-4 in a shootout at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

Jordan Schroeder and Mike Carman each scored twice for Minnesota. Freshman Zach Budish picked up a goal and three assists for a career-high four points. Jacob Cepis notched three assists in the game, and freshman defenseman Nick Leddy set up two Minnesota goals. Patrick White and David Fischer were the other goal-scorers. The Gophers' anemic power play went 3-5 in the game, and Minny threw 36 shots on the UAA goal.

The key portions of this game when Schroeder scored a power play goal with one second remaining in the opening period, giving the Gophers a 2-2 tie into the intermission. In the second period, Fischer's goal just 32 seconds in gave Minnesota a lead it would not relinquish.

Not all was cream cheese for the Gophers in this one. Goaltender Alex Kangas was shaky in the nets, notching just 17 saves in 21 attempts. He saved just two of four UAA shots in the first period, marking the third-consecutive game where he has been less-than-stellar in the first period. The Gophers need to get him going.

On the plus side, it's obviously good to get a win, but it's especially encouraging to see the team find the back of the net. Carman had been in quite a funk lately, and it's nice to see him get two goals. Budish has really emerged of late and Cepis continues to impress, stretching his points streak to eight consecutive games and has notched 5-6-11 in his nine games in the maroon and gold.

For the Gophers, they aim to do what only St. Cloud State has been able to accomplish this season: sweep UAA on home ice. The Seawolves are now 0-6-0 in Friday night home games, but have only been swept once. In last weekend's series, UAA was hammered by Colorado College 6-1 on Friday night and then defeated CC 2-1 on Saturday. Given the close proximity UAA has to the Gophers in the WCHA standings - three points separate the two teams - the Gophers really cannot afford to have anything other than a victory in Saturday night's game.

A win on Friday night is a good place to start.

Elsewhere in the league:

Denver 2, North Dakota 0 - Marc Cheverie with the shutout with 33 saves for DU
St. Cloud State 5, Colorado College 4 - David Eddy (2-0-2), Ryan Lasch (1-2-3), Aaron Marvin (0-3-3), Tony Mosey (0-2-2) for SCSU; Bill Sweatt (2-1-3) for CC; nine straight wins for SCSU
Michigan Tech 4, Minnesota State 1 - Malcolm Gwilliam (2-1-3), Kevin Genoe (30 saves) for MTU; Huskies break an 0-14-1 skid with the win
Wisconsin 5, UMD 2 - Aaron Bendickson (1-2-3), Blake Geoffrion (1-1-2), Jake Gardiner (1-1-2) for UW; Kenny Reiter (47 saves) for UMD; UW held UMD to 0-7 on power play chances
WCHA Standings
Updated PairWise

Hoops Team Puzzled As Season May Be Heading Off The Rails

2010-01-28T05:00:00.000-06:00

The Gopher basketball's 2009-10 season started out with such promise. With preseason rankings in the top 25 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, Minnesota added a top recruiting class to its already experienced rotation of players and looked poised to challenge for a Big Ten championship.

Instead, incoming recruit Trevor Mbakwe was charged in an assault case in Miami and has not participated in any basketball activities this season as he awaits a trial date on the charges. Then, just before the season began, senior Devron Bostick and freshman Royce White were suspended indefinitely by coach Tubby Smith. Bostick's suspension was for unspecified reasons and he eventually returned. White faced legal issues stemming from an assault charge (and later a guilty plea) in November. He had begun practicing with the team before he was charged with three counts of trespassing in a incident which culminated with the theft of a laptop from a U of M dorm.

White was the cornerstone of a strong recruiting class and was expected to be a major contributor to the Gophers this season. His return is obviously questionable.

Despite the off-court distractions, Minny started 4-0 and defeated highly-ranked Butler in the 76 Classic holiday tournament. However, the team lost to Portland the next night, and then to Texas A&M and Miami later in the week. The team righted the ship with five consecutive non-conference wins before starting Big Ten play with a win over Penn State. After losing to Purdue on the road, the Gophers won at Iowa and at home against Ohio State to move to 3-1 in the Big Ten. Facing a 10-day stretch in which they played road games against Michigan State and Indiana, followed by a home game against MSU, the Gophers knew their season faced a crossroads. The Gophers lost all three games, dropping to 3-4 in the Big Ten and facing the reality of a NIT berth unless they get things together.

Now, the Gophers will have to play for a while without their starting point guard, Al Nolen, who was ruled academically ineligible last week by the NCAA. Although the Gophers are appealing the ruling, citing a medical family emergency, they played Saturday's loss against Michigan State without him and missed his defense down the stretch in the 65-64 loss.

The Gophers' schedule this week began with a game at home against Northwestern (also 3-4 in the Big Ten going into Tuesday's matchup), followed by a road game at Ohio State. The Gophers faced an improving Northwestern club on Tuesday and survived some sloppy play to win the game and move to an even 4-4 in the Big Ten.

After OSU, the remaining road games come at Penn State, Northwestern, Illinois, and Michigan, and none of those seems impossible. Of course, the Gophers still have home games remaining with leading teams like Wisconsin and Purdue in order to improve their RPI ranking for NCAA Tournament purposes.

However, with the questionable lineup going forward, the chances of the Gophers making a run this season are lessened. Shooting inconsistency has plagued this team all season long. The Gophers were in all seven games they lost and could easily be in a much better position had they closed games out. Saturday's loss to Michigan State, in which they kicked away a 13-point second half lead, will haunt the team for a while. It was a game they desperately needed to win and should have won. It was a game which would have looked nice to NCAA Tournament evaluators over a league-leading program, but it wasn't meant to be.

The Gophers need to make a run, and a good time to start would be right now.

Gophers End Skid With Win Over Northwestern

2010-01-27T05:42:00.000-06:00

The Gopher basketball team absolutely needed a victory over Northwestern Tuesday night if they wanted to keep their diminishing NCAA Tournament hopes alive. For a good chunk of the game, they seemed disinterested in winning the game. Ultimately, the shooting of Blake Hoffarber saved the day, and the Gophers picked up the win, evening their Big Ten mark at 4-4 on the season, and breaking their three-game losing string.

Hoffarber finished with 20 points on the night, including hitting four shots from behind the arc in the game's critical final seven minutes. Lawrence Westbrook added 18 of his own to pace Minnesota.

The first half was a sluggish affair as both teams struggled from the floor. Northwestern shot 40% to the Gophers' 42%, yet Minnesota took an eight-point lead into the dressing room. NU's poor shooting continued into the second half (12-31, but 7-16 from three point territory) while Minny shot a torrid 11-19 from the floor, including 5-9 from three-point land, courtesy of Mr. Hoffarber. The game was in doubt largely because of the Gophers' inability to take care of the basketball. Minnesota kicked it away nine times in the second half and notched 15 for the game, a total which is not totally unexpected against Northwestern's "Princeton-Style" pressure defense, but far too high for a good team.

A telling statistic about the Gophers' fate of late concerns Hoffarber. It is clear that when the junior gets good looks at the basket, the Gophers have a good chance to win. He was lights-out in the win over Ohio State two weeks ago, in which he hit seven three-pointers. During the previous three games before Tuesday night - all losses - Hoffarber was a combined 2-11 from downtown.

On a positive note, the Gophers dominated the glass, out-rebounding Northwestern 35-26 for the game and managed to block 11 Wildcat shots.

A matchup against Ohio State looms for the Gophers this weekend in Columbus. It is the game which the Gophers need to impress the Tournament Selection Committee. Think of it as an "RPI game," similar to several the Gophers need to pick up the rest of the way to avoid an NIT berth.

A pedestrian win over Northwestern is a good way to start the drive to the March Madness.

A New Year, Another OC For Gopher Football

2010-01-26T05:00:00.000-06:00

As expected, the Gophers lost offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch to the NFL last week. Unexpectedly, the team moved quickly to fill the position and will continue the offensive schemes put forward by Fisch last season which led to much pain and consternation among the Gopher faithful.

Fisch took off to be the QBs coach for the Seattle Seahawks last week, joining Pete Carroll's all-star staff in the Pacific Northwest. Gopher coach Tim Brewster moved quickly and hired Detroit Lions' QBs coach Jeff Horton to fill Fisch's position in Minnesota. Horton had a wealth of experience in the pro and collegiate ranks, serving in the NFL the last four seasons with the St. Louis Rams (2006-2008) and last season in Detroit. He spent six seasons as a Division I head coach at Nevada (1993) and UNLV (1994-1998), compiling a 20-48 mark over that span. Joining Barry Alvarez's staff at Wisconsin, Horton spent seven seasons as a QB coach in Madison, enjoying much success, and gaining familiarity with several current Gopher assistants.

In the StarTribune piece linked above, Brewster is quoted as saying that Horton will be expected to learn Fisch's complicated multi-formation pro-style offense instead of installing his own for the sake of continuity. Of course, continuity is a strange phrase for a program which has hired its fourth offensive coordinator in five seasons. Fisch's schemes were extremely complicated and the team clearly struggled with the system, having been shut out twice and went without an offensive touchdown during the season's final two games - one of which was against BCS subdivision team South Dakota State. Then, there was the business of changing QB Adam Weber's release point. The three-year starter severely regressed last season. Many blamed the coordinator for the struggles. Few Gopher supporters believe that Fisch's system deserves any continuity whatsoever.

Brewster is obviously trying to prevent a situation where everything is changed overnight, creating more chaos in a program which is used to it but starving for continuity. The spotty offensive line play last season prevents Brewster from instituting a power running attack many are clamoring for in Gopher Nation; a system which proved successful for Brewster's predecessor, Glen Mason. However, the O-Line play was absolutely brutal last season and the lack of protection was one of the main reasons for Weber's struggles.

For now, expect more of the same from the Gophers on offense, with some play action schemes sprinkled in among the cutesy formations instituted by Fisch's charges last season. It will also be very interesting to see how Horton views the team's QB situation and if he and Brewster will truly create an open competition for the spot next spring between senior Weber and sophomore Mar'Queis Gray. If the offensive line does not improve next season, any new wrinkles will be moot and the team will struggle. Of course, if those situations manifest themselves, Brewster will be gone, and the program will hire yet another offensive coordinator.

Gopher Hockey: The Hard Facts

2010-01-25T05:55:00.000-06:00

After this past weekend's sweep by St. Cloud State - the Huskies first over the 'U' since 2000, the Gopher hockey team finds itself in quite a predicament as it faces the WCHA's stretch run. With five series remaining in the regular season, this is the Gophers' reality:

With 16 points, the Gophers find themselves mired in seventh place in the WCHA
The team is much closer to ninth place (+5 points) than fifth (-7 points), which would qualify them for home ice advantage in the WCHA's first round playoffs
The weekend sweep dropped the Gophers to 24th in the PairWise rankings
Any wins this coming weekend at Alaska-Anchorage will not help the team's PairWise much, given UAA is not in the top 25
The UAA series is crucial, given the Seawolves are one point behind the Gophers in the standings

Now, for some positives:

Minnesota has played 18 conference games this season and has two games in hand over Colorado College and UAA, who have each played 20
After UAA, the Gophers have a week off, which gives banged-up players (aka Mike Hoeffel) an opportunity to rest up and heal before the stretch drive
After the week off, the season's final four weekends feature matchups against teams not only ahead of the Gophers in the standings, but ahead of them in the PairWise rankings

Cognizant of the fact that I am reaching a bit for my silver linings after last weekend's reality, it's too early to write off the Gophers' season because of the third bullet point above. Not to look past Anchorage, but the Gophers still have a schedule which is favorable in that it provides opportunities to improve their position in the PairWise rankings by beating teams ahead of them in the standings. The strength of schedule rankings show that the Gophers have played the nation's 18th-toughest schedule to date, but with matchups against Denver (1st), Colorado College (14th), UMD (7th), and Wisconsin (3rd) ahead, the Gophers have opportunities to defeat teams ranked very high in the PairWise. The strength of schedule ranking will improve once the Gophers hit the ice against the highly-ranked opponents, and the PairWise will improve with every win.

Of course, the Gophers need to win these games in order to move up in the rankings, and with last weekend's sweep, have put plenty of pressure on themselves to do just that.

Tem games remain in the regular season. A sweep at Anchorage is almost vital at this point, and three out of four points is a bare minimum haul for the long trek north. UAA is no pushover, however, with victories in three out of their last four outings. After getting throttled by Colorado College 6-1 last Friday night, the Seawolves came back to beat the Tigers 2-1 the next night. To give the Gophers further motivation to take care of business this weekend, UAA is one point behind the Gophers in the league standings.

With 20 points still up for grabs in the league, the Gophers have put themselves into a position where they realistically need at least 14 to put them in position to qualify for the tournament. The schedule helps them in that they have opportunities to make up some ground in the league and nationally.

However, they need to win games in order to move up, and not many Gopher fans are willing to bet on that happening, especially after last weekend.

Terrible Weekend for Gopher Fans

2010-01-23T19:44:00.000-06:00

If you're a Gopher sports' fan, Friday and Saturday were about as bad as things could get. The Gopher hockey team outplayed St. Cloud Friday night in St. Cloud and lost, and then played Saturday like they were punched in the gut all night long. The weekend sweep - SCSU's first over Minnesota since 2000 - puts the Gophers in a serious hole as the stretch run now has only five series remaining and the team is mired in seventh place.

The Gopher basketball team was poised to break its seven-game losing streak against Michigan State at home on Saturday and carried a 13-point lead in the second half. MSU led for the first time in the game's final two minutes and held on to win 65-64. The Gophers look poised for an NIT bid absent an unexpected run.

I'm calling a "snow day" for Sunday. DP will be back with some analysis and scenarios for both teams early next week.

Red-Hot Huskies Offer Gophers Formidable Challenge

2010-01-22T05:00:00.025-06:00

It has been well-documented that the Gopher hockey team was 6-0-0 against St. Cloud State during the 2008-09 season. Two of those victories came at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud; two more came in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs. For a Gopher team which won 17 games all season, the Huskies accounted for a very significant amount of Minnesota's victories last season. Simply put, the Gophers ruined St. Cloud's season.

Fast forward one year, and the stakes couldn't be much higher for the Gophers coming into this weekend's home-and-home matchup against the Huskies. Minny is a disappointing 7-7-2 in WCHA play this season, good for seventh place in the league, but playing much better as of late and coming off a three-points-out-of-four weekend against North Dakota. The Gophers have six regular season series remaining this season, and all but one of those matchups pits them against teams ahead of them in the standings. Although in seventh place, Minnesota is five points out of third place with two games in hand over three teams ahead of them. It's crunch time for the maroon and gold.

St. Cloud, on the other hand, has played very well in what many believed to be a transition year. The team's only experienced goaltender, Jase Weslosky, was booted from the squad because of academic issues over the summer, leaving the inexperienced junior Dan Dunn and incoming freshman Mike Lee to handle the action between the pipes. Both Dunn and Lee have responded well to the rigors of WCHA play. Dunn leads the league in save percentage (.929) and is third in goals against average (2.17). Lee is seventh in save percentage (.908), eighth in goals against average (2.67), and recently led the US Junior Team to gold in the World Junior Championships.

Goal-scoring was not thought to be an issue for St. Cloud going into the season, with returnees Ryan Lasch and Garrett Roe leading the way. Roe (6-16-22) and Lasch (11-9-20) have delivered this season as promised, and have been joined atop the scoring leaders by junior Tony Mosey (9-9-18) and freshman forward Ben Hanowski (6-7-13).

St. Cloud is hot right now, winning six consecutive games, including a road sweep over a ranked Quinnipiac team last weekend. At 14-7-3 overall and 9-5-2 (tied for fourth place, one back of Colorado College for third), the Huskies find themselves ranked #12 in the USCHO.com poll and are sixth in the all-important PairWise rankings. Coach Bob Motzko has done a wonderful job of retooling this squad, and a healthy Gopher/SCSU rivalry is good for the league. Remember, this rivalry was as good as it got in the late-90s and early 2000s.

The Gophers also come into the weekend series hot, with a 7-1-1 mark in their last nine games. They have inched their way back into the PairWise rankings and are definitely in the hunt in the WCHA thanks to their solid play of late. They absolutely need things to continue in a positive direction this weekend. The Gophers are in a position of having to take at least three of four points a weekend for the foreseeable future, and need things to start properly this weekend.

It'll be hostile in the old barn in the Granite City Friday night, and one hopes Mariucci will be hopping again on Saturday. The rush for the NCAA Tournament continues this weekend.

Rivalry Gets Short-Changed: Why the hell are the Gophers and St. Cloud playing only one series this season? They are 50 miles apart for crying out loud! This is a great rivalry which needs to feature four games each season - and I'm not just saying this because the Gophers went 6-0 against them last season!

I understand the "natural rival" concept and the unbalanced schedule, but exceptions need to be made. It's ludicrous that the Gophers face off for two series against Alaska-Anchorage this season and only play St. Cloud ~~(and North Dakota, for that matter)~~ for one series.

The Gophers' traditional rival for purposes of scheduling is Wisconsin, meaning the two teams are guaranteed to play two series in the regular season each year. Geographically, this makes sense, as the Minneapolis campus is closest to Madison. St. Cloud's rivals are Minnesota State, which make sense geographically as well (although the Minnesota campus is closest to each of those schools). With Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha coming into the fold next season, scheduling will have to be re-visited, and one hopes Minnesota and St. Cloud will come out playing twice each season.

Of course, that would make sense, making it less likely that the WCHA will adopt this sensible position.

WCHA Red Hot Right Now

2010-01-21T05:00:00.000-06:00

The calendar has turned to 2010 and the race for the MacNaughton Cup in the WCHA is very tight right now. Surging UMD leads the pack, but Denver trails by only two points, and the Pioneers have two games in hand. Five points separate third and seventh places, and we still have seven weeks remaining in the regular season.

Looking at the latest USCHO.com weekly poll, four of the top five teams play in the WCHA. Denver leads the way at #1. The CCHA's Miami follows at #2, but then Wisconsin, UMD, and North Dakota appear to round out the top five. Colorado College checks in at #7, and St. Cloud State is #12. With six teams in this week's top 20, the WCHA as a conference has managed to place the most teams.

Of course, we're at the point of the season where the polls are meaningless and all attention is paid to the PairWise rankings. The latest here shows Miami and Denver in a virtual tie for the top spot. UMD is third, Wisconsin fourth, St. Cloud State checks in at #6, Colorado College tenth, and North Dakota at #12. Looking outside the top 16, you'll find Minnesota at #23. So, if the NCAA Tournament began today, the WCHA would be represented by six teams.

As far as streaks go, the league's top teams are hitting on all cylinders right now. Take the following into consideration:

UMD: Four-game winning streak; 7-2-0 since December 5
Denver: 5-1-2 record since December 4
Wisconsin: 6-1-2 mark since December 4; eight-game unbeaten string was snapped in their last game
St. Cloud State: Six-game winning streak; 9-1-1 record since November 28
Minnesota: 8-2-1 mark since November 28 to get back into the race
North Dakota: 3-1-2 record in 2010; the Sioux are notorious for their second-half runs, so keep an eye on them

Of the league's top seven teams, only Colorado College is truly scuffling right now. The Tigers had lost four games in a row before beating Wisconsin last Saturday to snap the string. The streak saw the Tigers drop a few spots in the league standings and erased a fine start - at least temporarily.

We've often point out here and in other sites that the WCHA is the most competitive league outside the NHL. I still believe this to be true. The talent on the rosters of the league's top seven teams is unmatched and the competitiveness of each weekend's series is tremendous. With so much on the line each weekend, the intensity levels are unbelievable. With seven weeks remaining in the regular season, the intensity level will be dialed-up even further as teams are jockeying for first round home ice.

Kiffin Departed For Better Job; Get Over It

2010-01-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

When Lane Kiffin resigned as coach of the Tennessee Volunteers' football team for the head coaching position at USC, reaction from the normal media channels has been electric. Never mind that Kiffin left Knoxville for unquestionably a better job. The sin was that he left Tennessee after just one season. For that, he's a traitor.

When Brian Kelly left Cincinnati for Notre Dame, there was some initial negative reaction of a coach leaving his team on the eve of a big bowl game, but most media elites agreed that he left for a better job. Never mind that Cincy had a BCS date ahead of them and a chance to finish the season with a perfect record. Instead, Kelly departed after the team's emotional come-from-behind victory over Pittsburgh to reach the BCS, leaving an interim coach to lead the team in the Sugar Bowl against Florida. Predictably, Cincy lost 51-24 in the biggest game of their season, while their coach rolled around in his new money in South Bend.

ESPN college football analyst and UT grad Gene Wojciechowski issued a classis slash-and-burn essay about betrayal, BS, and egotism which, he would lead us to believe, was unique to Kiffin. Newsflash - ALL COLLEGE COACHES ARE THE SAME! They are snake oil salesmen. They have loyalties to themselves and only themselves. Guys like Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno may be the exception to the rule, although both are likely to have egos the size of Mall of America Field. Most coaches are always on the lookout for the next job; the next challenge. Look at Nick Saban. He bailed out on Michigan State, LSU, and the Miami Dolphins all within an eight-year span. The exits were abrupt and almost legendary:

Michigan State - After leading the Spartans to a 9-2 mark, Saban resigned after the final regular season game and left for LSU after six seasons in East Lansing, leading interim coach Bobby Williams to coach the bowl game.
LSU - Saban spent five largely successful seasons in Baton Rouge, culminating in splitting the 2003 NCAA National Championship. After the 2004 season, he resigned to take over as the head coach of the NFL's Miami Dolphins.

Miami Dolphins - The Dolphins were searching for stability after Don Shula's tenure ended in 1995, and thought they had found it with Saban's hiring. He had an NFL pedigree and said all the right things. His tenure in Miami lasted a whopping two seasons, and Saban bolted for Alabama with an NFL coaching record of 15-17. Despite saying he wouldn't take the job, he did it anyway, leaving years on his contract and stunned players.

The Saban situation is but one example of coaches jumping around like a fart in a bottle. Of course, you could list many others, such as Rich Rodriguez, who bolted West Virginia for Michigan after the 2007 season and left his Mountaineers to play in a BCS game under an interim coach. It's not unique to college football, either. Bobby Petrino bolted the NFL's Atlanta Falcons for the University of Arkansas after only 13 games, after leaving Louisville the season prior. He had signed a 10-year extension at Louisville one season before leaving for the Falcons. College basketball coaches are beginning to be recycled as frequently as NBA and NHL bosses. There is no such thing as loyalty in sports; college or pro.

Of course, the big issue here is Kiffin himself. He was highly-successful at a very young age under Pete Carroll at USC. He coached the receivers and was later offensive coordinator, spending seven seasons under Carroll. In the final few years on the SC staff, Kiffin was recruiting coordinator and helped attract top-five recruiting classes. He left SC for the Oakland Raiders and spent one season-plus laboring under Al Davis. He was 5-15 there and was fired "with cause." He ended up at Tennessee in a big hire for the Volunteers, a program which had had only two coaches in 30 years prior to Kiffin. He said all the right things in Knoxville, attracted a strong recruiting class for 2009 and had another good one in the works for 2010, and played Alabama and Florida tough on the road. Still, the Vols finished a mediocre 7-6 and was crushed in its bowl game. There were plenty of off-the-field issues in Knoxville, involving Kiffin (accusing Florida coach Urban Meyer of cheating) and his players (robbery charges, guns, etc.). Still, it is undeniable that Kiffin had roots with SC and is leaving Knoxville for a much better job.

Nobody knows whether or not Kiffin can coach. He is 12-21 in his two seasons-plus as a head coach and is only 34 years old. He was handed the keys to college football's marquee program with somewhat suspect credentials, but you cannot fault him for taking the job.

He preached loyalty to his players, recruits, and fans in Tennessee and bailed out after one season amid allegations of recruiting violations by "hostesses." The program is in no better shape than the one he inherited, and Tennessee will now have to find itself a new coach 14 months after it thought it had hired a good young one for a long time. One can understand the Volunteers' frustration to a point, but Kiffin saved the school from a lot of problems by walking away after just one season. It is one of the nation's premier football universities with a great stadium, active booster club, and almost unlimited resources. They'll find a good coach soon, hopefully one who is able to save the 2010 recruiting class and get the program on the right track. There aren't many Gopher football fans who wouldn't trade their program's current state for Tennessee's, despite the uncertainty.

Remember, Gopher fans, he was apparently in the mix for the vacancy here after Glen Mason's firing after the 2006 season, but ultimately lost out to Tim Brewster. If Kiffin had taken the Gopher job, they likely would not have finished 1-11 in 2007, but would still be looking for a new coach today. See, it could always be worse.

Entertaining Affair Goes The Other Way For Gopher Hoops

2010-01-17T20:53:00.001-06:00

Despite Devoe Joseph's Herculean efforts in regulation's final minute and the first two minutes of overtime, the Gopher basketball team allowed Indiana to escape Assembly Hall with an 81-78 victory on Sunday afternoon. Even though the Gophers looked positively atrocious in the first half, they had plenty of chances to win, but let an undermanned Indiana team win.

Joseph scored 19 points on the day - 17 in the second half and overtime, including two huge field goals in regulation's final minute. The sophomore also scored the team's first six points of the overtime session, where the Gophers quickly took a five point lead before going ice cold. The Hoosiers scored OT's final eight points and had their second Big Ten victory in the bag.

Things started very slowly for Minny in this one. They managed just one point in the game's first four minutes and were in single-digits nine minutes in. The Hoosiers led by as many as 15 in the game and the Gophers clawed their way back into contention. Shooting 58% in the second half, Minnesota rode Joseph's hot shooting and got back into the game. The Gophers shut Indiana down in regulation's final minutes, holding Indiana without a field goal for the final 6:37, while Minnesota closed with field goals on their last four possessions to force OT.

Despite Joseph's hot early shooting, Indiana would not quit and eventually stopped Joseph cold on Minnesota's final two possessions to seal the victory.

The Gophers were simply out-played on the glass 43-31 by the Hoosiers, but forced 14 Indiana turnovers while limiting their turnovers to just 11. The Gophers shot nearly 50% from the floor after recovering from their horrendous start.

Ralph Sampson III added 17 points in this game, including 11-15 from the free throw line. Paul Carter scored 9 points but grabbed 10 rebounds as well off the bench.

The two-game road trip came to a disappointing end in Bloomington after the Gophers had lost earlier in the week at Michigan State. They have the balance of the week off until Michigan State comes to Williams Arena for a rematch. The 5-0 Spartans sit atop the Big Ten standings, and it's a must-have for the 3-3 Gophers.

If Minnesota wants to have any shot at contending for the Big Ten title, Saturday's game is a must-win. The schedule gets no easier, with one more home game against Northwestern and a trip to Ohio State looming after the home game against the highly-ranked Spartans.

Note: How about that broadcast on the Big Ten Network? Gus Johnson and Greg Kelser were outstanding. These guys are two of the most exciting in the business and combine solid analysis with genuine enthusiasm. Part of the "new school" of broadcasters, Johnson is one of the few whose excitement does not come across as contrived. He's not a yeller and a screamer for the sake of being and does not offer kitschy phrases to cheapen things. He (and Kelser) simply loves basketball.

Although Johnson's labeling of the game as "an instant classic" may be somewhat hyperbolic, the duo's broadcast captured the sheer intensity and excitement of the game, and made it fun to watch - despite the result. Kudos.

Best Performance of Season Gives Gopher Pucks Hope for Stretch

2010-01-17T08:52:00.000-06:00

The Gopher hockey team passed its first test this weekend with flying colors.

Beginning a stretch run which sees the seventh-place Gophers matching up against all six teams in front of them in the WCHA standings - along with a series at Alaska-Anchorage - in the regular season's final seven weeks, the Gophers followed up a competitive Friday night tie with an emphatic 5-1 victory over #6 North Dakota on Saturday night.

Five different Gophers found the back of the net in Saturday's affair, but the story of the night was Alex Kangas. The junior stopped 34 North Dakota shots in route to the victory. He was especially impressive in the second period, in which he turned aside all 12 UND shots, many of which from shallow range, and was able to propel the Gophers into an offensive explosion in the second period.

Things started out well for Minny. Nico Sacchetti's shot off the crossbar was knocked home by Josh Birkholz to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead, which they carried into the intermission. Kangas's strong play kept things constant in the second, and the Gophers launched into an offensive powerhouse in late in the second, scoring three times in just over three minutes to take a 4-0 lead. Zach Budish got things going with the eventual game-winner with 5:09 remaining in the frame. Tony Lucia scored on a nice breakaway, and Jacob Cepis added his own tally just seven seconds later. Mike Hoeffel's power play goal 55 seconds into the third period capped the scoring for Minnesota, and marked the eighth straight game the Gophers have tallied on the power play. The Gophers dominated the game Saturday and also managed to kill off all ten UND power plays this weekend.

Minnesota is now 7-1-1 in their last nine games and has evened its conference record at 7-7-2 on the season. They have gone over the .500 mark at home (7-6-1) and are also 12-10-2 on the season.

Not all was cream cheese in Saturday's game. Freshman defenseman Nick Leddy banged his head against the end wall in a collision with a UND player, but later returned. Cepis also took a high hit in the second period and did not return as a precaution.

A home-and-home series against St. Cloud State awaits the Gophers next weekend. The Friday night tilt will be in the Granite City, while the series shifts to Mariucci Arena for Saturday. Remember, the Gophers defeated the Huskies all six times the two teams met last season, and SCSU will be up for this series. Cloud is currently riding a six-game winning streak and swept a non-conference series against Quinnipiac on the road this weekend. The Huskies are four points ahead of the Gophers in the standings, so you do the math.

One thing is certain: the Gophers are playing well right now and one has to believe this weekend is a series upon which to build. Three out of four against the Sioux definitely helped the PairWise this weekend. Six series await the Gophers to prove they belong in the NCAA Tournament in 2009-10.

Elsewhere in the League:

Alaska-Anchorage 5, Michigan Tech 4 - UAA Sweep; Kevin Clark (3-1-4), Tommy Grant (1-2-3) for UAA; Jordan Baker (2-1-3) for MTU
Colorado College 6, Wisconsin 5 - Series Split; Brian McMillin, Andrew Hamburg with two goals apiece for CC; Michael Davies (1-2-3), five others with two points apiece for UW
UMD 4, Minnesota State 3 (OT) - UMD Sweep; Mike Connolly (GWG), Justin Fontaine (1-1-2), Jack Connolly (0-2-2) for UMD; Michael Dorr (1-1-2), Kurt Davis (0-2-2) for MSU
St. Cloud State 3, Quinnipiac 2 - SCSU Sweep; David Eddy (2-0-2), Mike Lee (35 saves) for SCSU
WCHA Standings
Latest PairWise

"March to Xcel" Begins With Tie

2010-01-16T11:19:00.001-06:00

The Gopher hockey team began its stretch drive Friday night with a competitive 3-3 tie at home against North Dakota. Jacob Cepis's goal with 2:04 remaining in the third period gave Minny one point.

The Gophers came out with good energy against the Sioux and the pace of the first period was very fast. Freshman Danny Kristo's goal nearly 16 minutes into the contest gave the Siouxies a 1-0 lead, and UND held this margin through the first intermission.

In the second period, Jordan Schroeder fired a missile past goaltender Brad Eidsness to give the Gophers a share of the lead. The power play tally kept the Gophers' streak of goals with the man advantage alive at seven. Patrick White knocked home a rebound less than two minutes later and Minnesota had a 2-1 lead, some momentum, and had the Sioux back on their heels a bit. However, UND settled the game down and really controlled play for the rest of the second period. Kristo's second goal of the night gave UND a 2-2 tie into the second intermission.

Brad Malone gave the Sioux the lead with a goal in traffic six-and-a-half minutes into the third, and it looked like North Dakota would escape with two points. Cepis's goal prevented this and the two teams earned a well-deserved tie.

Alex Kangas stopped 30 shots for the Gophers while Eidsness turned aside 24 for UND.

The same two teams meet Saturday night at Mariucci. A victory would give the Gophers a split of the series' eight points.

All and all, it was a positive game for Minnesota. They came out with plenty of energy and sustained the pressure for most of the game. UND controlled the play for large stretches of the second and third periods, but Kangas kept them in the game. It was exactly the kind of effort the Gophers needed as the team's brutal stretch drive began. Before one gets too positive about the tie, keep in mind that UND was missing three key components of their lineup Friday night due to injury: reigning WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Chay Genoway, solid sophomore forward Brett Hextall, and fine freshman forward Corban Knight. The Gophers need a victory Saturday night to take three of four points and get things moving in the right direction.

Hat Tips: Zach Budish (two assists); Cade Fairchild (two assists); Jacob Cepis (goal and assist)
Thumbs Down: David Fischer (too many defensive lapses); Aaron Ness, Fairchild, Mike Hoeffel (each -2 on the night); Mike Carman, Tony Lucia (largely invisible)

Note: I have posted a "March to Xcel" game tracker on the left panel to document the Gophers' final 14 regular season games. As indicated several times, Minnesota needs to make a run through all six teams ahead of them in the WCHA standings to have a shot of hosting an NCAA Tournament Regional at ~~Mariucci Arena~~ the Xcel Energy Center (HT, Mathemetician) in March. The panel will mark the progress.

Elsewhere Around the League:

Wisconsin 4, Colorado College 0 - Scott Gudmandson with 35 saves in shutout victory; Derek Stepan (1-2-3) and Michael Davies (0-2-2) for Wisconsin
Alaska-Anchorage 6, Michigan Tech 2 - Jade Portwood with two goals for UAA
UMD 2, Minnesota State 1 - Kenny Reiter with 23 saves in the UMD win
St. Cloud State 3, Quinnipiac 1 - Ryan Lasch (1-1-2) for SCSU
Updated WCHA Standings
Latest PairWise (Gophers moving up!)

Three Up, Four Down For Gopher Puck

2010-01-15T05:00:00.000-06:00

The Gopher hockey squad begins a stretch Friday night in which they will play seven conference series over the following eight weeks. Six of those series are against teams ahead of them not only in the league standings but in the all-important PairWise rankings. The seventh series is a road trip to Anchorage, Alaska - hardly a gimme.

To say it is crunch time for the Gophers is an understatement. Minnesota made its initial appearance in the PairWise this week at #25. Since the PairWise mirrors the NCAA Tournament, the Gophers' appearance is encouraging, although the team needed a 6-1-0 stretch just to break into the top 25. However, the team realistically needs to finish in the 10-12 range in order to receive an NCAA Tournament bid. Therefore, the Gophers' two options are to either win the WCHA Final Five tournament or go on a serious second half run.

If a run is in the cards, it must start this weekend at home against North Dakota. UND will likely be without three key players due to injuries: Senior defenseman Chay Genoway (concussion), sophomore forward Brett Hextall (lower body), and freshman forward Corban Knight (lower body). Still, the Siouxies are notorious for second half runs, and started 2010 with a home sweep against Minnesota State last weekend. Plus, the Sioux pounded Minnesota up in Grand Forks earlier in the season, which should give the Gophers all the motivation they need.

So, to set the stage for this weekend, let's look at three positives and three negatives of the Gopher team at the season's midpoint.

Positives:

Jacob Cepis; The junior transfer (pictured right) from Bowling Green joined the Gophers for the Dodge Holiday Classic and has provided a much-needed shot in the arm. In four games, Cepis has managed 2-1-3 and has provided tremendous energy. Best yet, the Gophers are 3-1-0 since his arrival. Coach Don Lucia plans to have Cepis playing on Jordan Schroeder's line for the time being, but his initial line in the DHC with Mike Hoeffel and Mike Carman seemed to really create a buzz. For a team lacking in scoring right now, Cepis's arrival came at the right time.
Goaltending: Junior Alex Kangas has been solid the majority of the season. Despite posting some scary numbers early on, mostly due to defensive mishaps, Kangas has righted the ship. In 17 games, he has posted a 2.59 goals against average to go with a save percentage of .910. Sophomore Kent Patterson has won his last two starts and his numbers are also good (2.57 GAA.918 Sv%). Coach Lucia's mantra is to have his goaltenders play to a 90% save percentage in order to give his team a chance to win on a given night. The goalies have done their part.
Momentum?: The Gophers have won seven of their past nine games and six of their last seven. Here's hoping that momentum carries forward in the toughest part of their schedule.

Negatives:

Goal-Scoring: This has been perhaps the biggest disappointment in a lackluster start to the 2009-10 season. The Gophers are averaging 2.64 goals per game, good for 40th in the nation. There are 58 teams playing Division I hockey, and only Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan Tech rank behind Minnesota among WCHA teams. With a solid and experienced senior class, goal-scoring was not expected to be a problem with this team. However, the Gophers started out slowly and then lost Jay Barriball to season-ending knee surgery early on, and it seems like the team has never recovered. Only Mike Hoeffel has managed double-digits in goals through 22 games and the next-closest teammates have managed just five (Tony Lucia, Patrick White, and Jake Hansen). Scoring from the blueline has been virtually non-existent, which leads us into our second point.....
Defensive Point Production: With such puck-moving defensemen as Cade Fairchild, Aaron Ness, and Nick Leddy, it was expected that the Gophers would be able to generate a ton of points from the blueline. However, Fairchild has started relatively slow (1-9-10 in 22 games), Ness has struggled (1-5-6), and Leddy missed several weeks with a broken jaw. Junior Kevin Wehrs is the only defenseman who has notched more than one goal on the season, and the team's struggles on the power play (15.7% overall; 11.5% in WCHA play) suggest that the lack of defensive production leads directly to unacceptable power play figures.
Home Record: This is just puzzling. The Gophers have won three of their last four at home, but still have only a 6-7-0 mark at Mariucci Arena this season. In conference play, Minnesota's home record is just 2-5-0. This is an area which must improve.
Power Play: The 15.7% overall mark is maddening, but the 11.5% success rate in WCHA play is simply unacceptable. The WCHA mark ranks ahead of only Alaska-Anchorage among WCHA teams. With the scoring talent Minnesota has on its roster, these figures should be much, much higher.

So there you have it. The Gophers have a lot of ground to make up over the regular season's final eight weekends. I'm not sure this team has a run in it, but I've been wrong before, and hopefully am wrong about this team. One thing is certain; few have figured out the 2009-10 Gophers, who have battled inconsistency all season long.

Spartans Outlast Gopher Hoopsters

2010-01-14T05:42:00.001-06:00

The Gopher basketball team simply ran out of time on Wednesday, losing on the road to #7 Michigan State 60-53 in East Lansing.

Senior guard Lawrence Westbrook did all he could to keep the Gophers in the game in the second half, scoring ten straight Minnesota points and helping the Gophs bite into an 11-point MSU lead. However, the Spartans closed things out and picked up the victory.

Westbrook led all scorers with 15 points, including 12 in the second half. Fellow senior Damian Johnson added 14 and four key blocks. No other Minnesota player reached double-figures. Kalin Lucas had 14 points for Sparty, and Durrell Summers added 13 points off the bench.

It was a half-court defensive struggle between the two teams who much preferred to run the floor. Both teams took relatively good care of the basketball, with the Spartans turning the ball over just eight times against Minny's 14. Michigan State out-rebounded the Gophers just 33-32, which was an area which MSU held a significant advantage going into the game. However, the difference was shooting, with the Gophers hitting just 41% from the floor and just 4-12 from three-point territory. Long-range sharpshooter Blake Hoffarber was 0-3 from long range in this game.

Minnesota drops to 12-5 on the season and 3-2 in the Big Ten. Another road contest looms this Saturday in Bloomington, IN against the Indiana Hoosiers, which is obviously a game the Gophers should win. However, Indiana played the Gophs tough in Bloomington last season and is much improved over last season's squad which won only once in Big Ten play. Second-year coach Tom Crean has the ball rolling in the right direction for the Hoosiers and they will be no pushover. Still, the Gophers have the edge in talent and should win.

One interesting stat on the season for the Gophers: Minnesota has scored 70 points or more 12 times in the season's first 17 games. They are 12-0 in those contests. In the occasions in which the Gophers have failed to reach 70 points, the team is 0-5. That pretty much says it all.

Friday Rant (Special Tuesday Edition): "Rooney Rule" Offensive to All

2010-01-12T05:00:00.000-06:00

The Seattle Seahawks fired head coach Jim Mora last week. One day later, they agreed as an organization that they wanted to hire Pete Carroll away from USC to take over for Mora. There was just one problem: the Seahawks hadn't interviewed a minority candidate to comply with the "Rooney Rule," and set themselves off into scramble mode to find a minority candidate to interview.

The organization reached out to Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, apparently before even settling on Carroll, and Frazier apparently initially said no. However, after receiving assurances from the Seahawks that Carroll had not yet been guaranteed full control of the Seahawks, Frazier changed his mind and agreed to meet with Seattle officials last Saturday. It was also reported that the Seahawks had already promised full control to Carroll before the Frazier interview, and the Seahawks hired Carroll anyway.

The "Rooney Rule" is the namesake of Pittsburgh Steelers' owner Dan Rooney, who realized that minorities were under-represented in the NFL coaching ranks. The rule was instituted league-wide in 2003 and requires NFL teams to interview at least one minority candidate for all head coaching and senior football operations positions.

While there are exceptions (i.e. assistants with successor language in their contracts to take over for a head coach; minority assistants elevated to head coaching positions), the rule is often times no more than a "dog-and-pony-show" to parade in a minority candidate just to make things look good.

In the Seahawks' case, it's offensive to Frazier to have him come in for an interview and, despite assurances that a candidate has not already been hired, go through the motions with him. Frazier is an up-and-coming assistant who is currently running a successful defense for a playoff team. He will get plenty of head coaching consideration on his own merits - as he rightly should. There is little doubt in many football evaluators' minds that Frazier will be a head coach very soon. However, it won't be in Seattle in 2010, and everyone knows it.

On the other hand, the Seahawks made a coaching change because they clearly wanted to go another direction. They wanted to hire Carroll from the outset. They pursued him, negotiated with him, and ultimately hired him - outside the "Rooney Rule" standards. It's not like Carroll is devoid of qualifications for the job. He was an NFL head coach for four seasons in the 1990s before launching on a supremely-successful tenure with the USC Trojans in 2001. While at USC, Carroll won 97 of 116 games, captured two national championships, and won seven of nine bowl games. The Seahawks determined Carroll was the best man for their job, as it was their prerogative.

I don't want this to turn into an anti-affirmative action rant. The Rooney Rule was adopted to give more opportunities to minority coaching candidates, and the spirit of this is fine. However, bringing in someone to comply with the rule when an organization has absolutely no intention of hiring the minority candidate undermines the spirit of the rule and is nothing but offensive to all. It's another example of an initiative with good intentions which ends up being nothing more than window-dressing.

Frazier certainly deserved better, and the Seahawks deserved to hire whomever they wanted without going into an act.

Sweep for Gopher Six Sets Up Conference Play

2010-01-10T08:15:00.000-06:00

The Gopher hockey team defeated Harvard 3-1 on Saturday night, sweeping the weekend set and putting themselves over the .500 mark for the first time all season.

Sophomore forward Nick Larson scored his first two goals of the season to give the Gophers the victory. After spotting Harvard the game's first goal, Cade Fairchild scored his first of the season on the power play to tie the score. After the first intermission, Larson notched his first of the game midway through the second, and added his second tally just eleven seconds into the third period. That was all the offensive production Minnesota would need on the night.

Kent Patterson stopped 21 Harvard shots and picked up his second-consecutive victory in as many starts. The goaltending duo of Alex Kangas and Patterson each picked up wins this weekend over struggling Harvard.

Next up for Minny is North Dakota. The Sioux come into Mariucci Arena fresh off a home sweep of Minnesota State, and have opened up a five-point margin over the Gophers in the WCHA standings. Beginning with the Nodak series, the Gophers will play seven series within the WCHA, all but one of which comes against teams ahead of the Gophers in the league standings. With the Gophers buried in the PairWise rankings, any run toward the NCAA Tournament must begin and end with strong league play. With the non-conference portion of the schedule now complete, the Gophers have no choice but to make a run within the WCHA.

As winners of six of seven, the Gophers have some momentum going into the North Dakota series. They'll need all the luck and effort they can muster the rest of the way. Consider it tournament hockey the rest of the way for the maroon and gold.

Around the WCHA:

UMD 4, Colorado College 1 - UMD Sweep
North Dakota 3, Minnesota State 2 - UND Sweep
Denver 3, Alaska-Anchorage 2 - Denver Win and a Tie (check out the shenanigans at the 20:00 mark of the third period; some suspensions may be looming from that fracas)
St. Cloud State 5, Michigan Tech 1 - SCSU Sweep
Wisconsin 7, US Under-18 Team 1
WCHA Standings
Updated PairWise - Gophers finally make an appearance

Second Half Shooting Propels U to Hoops Win

2010-01-09T17:19:00.000-06:00

The Gophers shot a paltry 39% from the floor in the first half, yet trailed Ohio State by only one point, due primarily to points off turnovers and fine foul shooting. In the second half, the Gophers heated up from the floor, led by Blake Hoffarber's three-point shooting, to lead the Gophers to a 73-62 win over visiting Ohio State.
Minnesota shot 52% from the floor in the second half, including 7-12 from three-point territory. The Gophers used a 23-4, seven-minute run in the second half to pull away from Ohio State, which had kept the game close for the entire game up until the run.

Hoffarber led all scorers with 27 points, including 7-9 shooting from beyond the arc. He was 6 of 7 in the second half from three-point territory, which paced Minnesota. Lawrence Westbrook added 15 points, and Al Nolen had a great all-around game with 11 points, 7 assists, and 4 steals.

Overall, Minnesota shot 45% from the floor, forced 19 Ohio State turnovers, stole the ball 12 times, and out-rebounded OSU 31-30. On the negative side, the Gophers kicked the ball away 17 times of their own and lacked consistency in shooting outside of Hoffarber.

Minnesota is now 3-1 in Big Ten play and moves to 12-4 overall. They are also a perfect 10-0 at Williams Arena this season.

Things do not get easier for the Gophers, as they travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State on Wednesday night. After a trip to Indiana next weekend, the Gophers will host Michigan State the following weekend. With two games against the Spartans in ten days, fans will get a good opportunity to see what this team is made of. If nothing else, the Gophers will play to avenge last season's 76-47 loss at Michigan State last season.

Good Start to Weekend for Gopher Hockey

2010-01-09T10:17:00.000-06:00

The Gophers started quickly and finally picked up a Friday home victory in the team's 5-2 non-conference victory over Harvard. The win was the Gophers' first home win on a Friday night since they defeated Alaska-Anchorage on October 30.

The Gophers fired 45 shots on the Harvard net and have now notched 95 shots in their last two games. They applied constant pressure on Crimson goaltender Kyle Richter all night long.

Jake Hansen scored 2:05 into the game, his fifth goal of the season. His emergence has been a positive for a Gopher team searching for scoring talent. Hansen had scored two goals in part-time duty last season as a freshman. After Harvard's Chad Morin tied the score late in the second period, the Gophers found themselves in a familiar spot: dominating play, but not leading after two periods.

In the third, it was all Minnesota. Jacob Cepis scored his second goal in as many games to break the tie. Nico Sacchetti and Zach Budish - two guys desperately in need of goals - scored consecutive goals midway through the third to put the Gophers into an insurmountable position. Morin picked up his second goal from a nearly impossible angle late in the period, but Tony Lucia found the back of an empty net with one tick left to give the Gophers a three-goal margin in their victory.

Alex Kangas made 20 saves in the game to pick up his ninth win of the season. Richter made 40 saves on a busy night for the Crimson.

Lucia and Sacchetti each picked up a goal and an assist on the night, and Jordan Schroeder added two assists in his first game back since winning the gold at the World Junior Championships.

The Gophers go for the sweep against Harvard Saturday night at 7pm. The team is playing better of late, winning five of their last six, but hasn't recorded a home sweep since the Alaska-Anchorage series in late October. A win Saturday sets the table nicely for the North Dakota home series next weekend.

Notes: Defenseman Seth Helgeson returned to the lineup after missing a few games with an injury, and Brian Schack returned to the press box; Schroeder replaced Joe Miller in the lineup at the forward position; Taylor Matson will miss a few weeks with a high ankle sprain. He just cannot seem to catch a break. Last year, his knee injury cost him the season's final four months.

Elsewhere in the WCHA:

Denver 1, Alaska-Anchorage 1
UMD 5, Colorado College 2 - Mike Connolly (1-2-3); Jack Connolly (0-2-2); Justin Fontaine (2-0-2); Rob Bordson (0-2-2). Not a bad night for the WCHA's leading scorers, no?
North Dakota 4, Minnesota State 1 - Jason Gregoire with two goals
St. Cloud State 4, Michigan Tech 2
WCHA Standings
Updated PairWise - Look who's #3

Friday Rant: Shanahan Latest of Recycled Coaches to Re-Surface

2010-01-08T05:44:00.000-06:00

The Washington Redskins', um, eccentric, owner Daniel Snyder has made a big splash with his seventh head coaching hire in 11 seasons as owner. Of course, he made splashes with his third (Marty Schottenheimer), fourth (Steve Spurrier), and fifth (Joe Gibbs) coaches as well, so hiring Mike Shanahan is really nothing new for Mr. Snyder, as I like to call him.

Just days after firing his sixth head coach in 11 seasons (Jim Zorn), Snyder brought in Shanahan to run things on the field and also gave him the title of VP of Football Operations. This is interesting because Snyder had previously brought in former Raiders and Buccaneers' football guru, Bruce Allen, to be the Redskins' GM. Now, Shanahan has ultimate say over personnel matters. Yeah, THAT'S going to work!

You have three strong personalities running football operations here: Shanahan, Allen, and Snyder. There is a decent chance that Allen and Shanahan will work well together. There is a 100% chance that Snyder will mettle, undermine one or both of them, and that things will end badly. However, that's a topic for another day.

The issue here is that Shanahan was hired at all. Yes, he is a two-time Super Bowl champion, winning his last title the season before Snyder bought the Redskins (the 1998 season). Shanahan's Denver Broncos also won the title the year prior, and his team qualified for the playoffs seven times in 14 seasons )I won't even mention Shanahan's one season-plus coaching the Los Angeles Raiders for the crazy Al Davis back in the late 80's). He has a reputation for success, built on his two Super Bowl titles in Denver, but his teams were a combined 24-24 in his final three seasons as head coach, missing the playoffs all three times, and he was fired by Broncos' owner Pat Bowlen after the 2008 season.

Shanahan also has a reputation for being the smartest man he knows. He has clashed with players over the years and his run-first style seems to be out of favor with today's NFL. Still, Snyder handed him a five-year, $35M contract to coach his Redskins.

Of course, the last time Snyder brought in a control freak as his coach was in 2001, when Marty Schottenheimer was brought in, and that ended after one season. Few expect Shanahan to last much longer.

Just why Shanahan was hired is debatable, but should be no surprise. Teams are always searching for the "secret sauce" and bring in retreads who have had previous success in the hopes they can turn franchises around quickly. Take Bill Parcells. He is also a two-time Super Bowl champion, last winning in 1990 with the Giants. He has also coached in New England (1993-1996), New York Jets (1997-1999), and Dallas (2003-2006). After retiring in Dallas, he sat idle for one season and then went to the Miami Dolphins as EVP of Football Operations after the team's disastrous 1-15 2007 campaign, and helped orchestrate a turnaround to 11-5 the next season. Despite being 67 and in poor health, the Dolphins gave him a four-year deal to hopefully provide a quick fix. For now, it has worked well, and there are no rumors of him returning to the sidelines, but stay tuned.

Cleveland recently brought in Mike Holmgren to run their football operations. Since being re-established in 1999, the Browns have employed four coaches, have made the playoffs once, and are a complete mess. The hope is that Holmgren, despite having rather limited success in Seattle (where he had ultimate authority) will be able to capitalize on his three Super Bowl appearances (and one title - 1996) and give the Brownies a quick fix. Good luck there.

It doesn't stop with the NFL. In the NBA, the recycling of coaches - both successful and less - is almost legendary. Two coaches have been fired this season (Byron Scott by New Orleans and Lawrence Frank in New Jersey), and one is hanging by a thread (Vinny Del Negro in Chicago). Once Del Negro gets axed in Chicago, look for Scott and Frank to get a look.

The NHL has become just as "green" when it comes to coaching recycling. St. Louis fired Andy Murray last weekend after a disappointing start to the season, and the coach is expected to take a few months off. Of course, Anaheim is struggling as well, and coach Randy Carlyle is on a bit of a hot seat (despite winning the Stanley Cup in 2007). It is rumored that Murray would be a good fit with the Ducks, and he has experience in Southern California, coaching the Kings for a number of years last decade - of course.

None of the NBA and NHL coaches described in the examples above have the track record of Shanahan, Parcells, or Holmgren, but the examples display the coaching carousel in action.

We'll have to take the long view (defied in Snyder terms as one season) to evaluate whether or not Shanahan will work with the Redskins. At first blush, it seems like the Skins have managed to muck things up again and crowd themselves with strong personalities, the strongest of which is Snyder himself. If Snyder chooses not to intervene often, maybe it will work. Shanahan's monstrous ego is matched only by Snyder's narcissism, and it likely spells impending doom for one of the NFL's most storied franchises. It will certainly be fun to watch - unless you're a Redskins' fan. In that case, you're probably used to front office drama. Previous owner Jack Kent Cooke was one of sports' most colorful and eccentric characters, and Snyder's actions make him look almost milquetoast.

Of course, why Shanahan was hired in the first place, given his poor record during the final three years of his tenure, is debatable.

Gopher Football Post-Mortem

2010-01-07T05:00:00.002-06:00

When the 2009 football season got underway, a quick look at the schedule showed the following breakdown:

Non-Conference Games: at Syracuse, Air Force, California, South Dakota State
Conference Home Games: Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State, Illinois
Conference Road Games: Northwestern, Penn State, Ohio State, Iowa

Compare that to the 2008 schedule, in which the Gophers started 7-1, only to finish 7-6, including a loss to Kansas in the Insight Bowl:

Non-Conference Games: Northern Illinois, at Bowling Green, Montana State, Florida Atlantic
Conference Home Games: Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan, Iowa
Conference Road Games: Ohio State, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin

At first blush, 6-6 with a much tougher schedule than 2008's 7-5 is a sheer sign of progress for a program in its third year under coach Tim Brewster. Of course, a deeper dive shows that progress is debatable.

In 2008, the Gophers were 7-1 heading into a winnable home game against Northwestern, and lost on an interception return, setting in a downward spiral which culminated in a bowl loss for the team's fifth-straight defeat. Breaking down the 2008 schedule shows the record was more smoke and mirrors than anything:

"Good" Wins (1): Illinois (and this is debatable, since Illinois was 3-2 going into the game. However, they were in the Rose Bowl a season prior).
Games they had to win (6): Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Montana State, Florida Atlantic, Indiana, Purdue
Games they were expected to lose (4): Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas
"Bad" Losses (2): Northwestern (only because of the nature of the loss), Michigan

Now, contrast that with 2009:

"Good" Wins (2): Northwestern, Michigan State
Games they had to win (4): Syracuse, Air Force, Purdue, South Dakota State
Games they were expected to lose (5): California, Wisconsin, Penn State, Ohio State, Iowa
"Bad" Losses (2): Illinois, Iowa State

Progress? Maybe. The quality wins in 2009 were better than those in 2008 by a long-shot. The win at Northwestern in September looks even better today than it did three months ago, given that the Wildcats finished 8-4 (5-3 in the Big Ten) and lost a heart-breaker in OT to Auburn in the Outback Bowl. The Michigan State victory on Halloween night was the Gophers' finest performance of the season, and was a wonderfully-exciting game. Sparty finished 6-6 like the Gophers, but the Minnesota win gets extra points because it was the team's best overall performance against a talented, yet underachieving team.

The bad losses in 2009 are worse than 2008 as well, simply because of how the season turned because of them. The Gophers lost to Northwestern on a last-minute interception return in 2008, but the Wildcats did finish 9-4 last season (including a bowl loss). It gets placed in the "bad" category because the Gophers were 7-1 heading into the game, were playing at home, and lost it in such dramatic fashion. Although Michigan was awful in 2008, the Wolverines never lost at the Metrodome during the Gophers' 28 inside, so that loss was almost expected.

In 2009, the loss to Illinois was simply awful. The Gophers were coming off the Michigan State win, were 5-4 (3-3 Big Ten), and had a chance to close out their first season at TCF Bank Stadium with a couple of wins. When Illini QB Juice Williams left with an injury in the first quarter, things were looking up for the team. Instead, the Gophers fell behind 28-7 at the half and fell short despite a late comeback. The Illini finished 3-9 and 2-6 in the Big Ten for the season. The loss to Iowa State wasn't exactly horrible, but the Gophers had more talent on both sides of the ball than the Cyclones and scored just 13 points against an ISU defense which came into the game ranked 99th nationally.

The non-conference schedule was much tougher in 2009 and the Gophers had a good chance to win the game they lost in 2009 against Cal (if they had been able to stop Jahvid Best). Everyone knew that road contests against Penn State and Ohio State on consecutive weeks was going to be tough going into the season, and the late-season game at Iowa was also going to be problematic. The Gophers lost all three of those games, despite getting solid defensive efforts for parts of (Penn State/Ohio State first halves) or all of (Iowa) those contests.

The biggest reason why 2009 cannot be declared one of progress lies on the offensive side of the ball. The Gophers fired spread guru / offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar late last season and installed a power running attack with the hiring of offensive line guru Tim Davis. The power running style lasted all of one game, and Brewster installed young Jedd Fisch as the new offensive mastermind for 2009. Fisch's schemes were very complicated, and at many times the offense looked completely out of sorts.

For those waxing nostalgic for Dunbar's offense, keep in mind that the Gopher attack wasn't exactly humming along in 2008. The spread took a long time to catch on with the Gophers, which was one of the reasons why Brewster decided to go back to the basics for last season's Insight Bowl. Still, the offense looked legendary compared to the Fisch schemes this season. As the StarTribune's Darren "Doogie" Wolfson points out in his fine article, the Gophers' offense scored one TD for the entire game three times and went TD-less in three others. Overall, the Gopher offense ranked last in the Big Ten and 109th out of 120 Division I teams in yards per game with 306 as well as last in the league and 111th in the nation in rushing yards per game (99..5). All in all, it was a putrid performance on the offensive side of the ball.

Junior QB Adam Weber looked lost much of the time. Despite starting 38 consecutive games, Weber's numbers took a huge dive from his fine freshman season of 2007 to this year. As a freshman, he threw for nearly 2,900 yards, completed 57.5% of his passes, and threw 24 TDs against 19 interceptions. In 2009, he threw for 300 fewer yards, completed 52% of his passes, and tossed only 13 TDs against 15 interceptions. The most telling stat is that Weber rushed for 617 yards as a freshman and was sacked only 13 times. In 2009, he "rushed" for -133 yards and was sacked a staggering 38 times.

A lot of that is on the poor play of the offensive line, which was a mess this season. Center Jeff Tow-Arnett was injured and missed a good chunk of the season, and the Gophers had to plug holes there often. JC transfer Jeff Wills was very, very, erratic in his first season at the D-1 level. Notre Dame transfer Matt Carufel played well, but was often the last line of defense up front. The offensive line must play better for the team to improve in 2010, and that is imperative. Another area of improvement for next season will be to not lead the Big Ten in penalties, which the Gophers have managed to do for three consecutive seasons.

When star receiver Eric Decker went down with an ankle injury in the 2008 Northwestern game, nobody stepped up to take his place and the Gophers lost out. When Decker went down in the Ohio State game in 2009, the Gophers showed there are some players who will be able to step in as playmakers in 2010. Sophomore Da'Jon McKnight caught 17 balls for 311 yards, an average of 18.3 a catch, and is the leading returning receiver. Fellow sophomores Troy Stoudermire (26 for 306, 2 TD) and Brandon Green (21 for 293, TD) also showed some big play ability, but need to be more consistent next season to have an impact.

The running game didn't show much in 2009, mostly because the team showed little commitment. Sophomore Duane Bennett was the team's leading rusher with 376 yards, and freshman Kevin Whaley was next with 367. Another sophomore, DeLeon Eskridge, was next with 294, followed by freshman QB Mar'Queis Gray (265). The team has talented tailbacks but Brewster often played the hot hand and did not allow any one back to seize the position. However, a lot of the problems running stemmed from the poor offensive line play.

On the defensive side, there was progress from a year ago. The defense showed play-making ability. Defensive backs Kim Royston and Kyle Theret will return in 2010 and showed big-play ability this season. Freshman Michael Carter is probably the team's best corner man, but he had some scrapes with the law in his first season on campus. The Gophers will miss Marcus Sherels, Eric Small, Lee Campbell, and Cedric McKinley, but will be able to give returnees like Gary Tinsley more reps. The defense is much more athletic than it has been for many years, and this is seemingly an area of strength for next season. One thing defensive coordinators Kevin Cosgrove and Ronnie Lee can definitely improve next season, however, is the team's third down defense, which was maddeningly weak in 2009. Even though one ranking shows the Gophers with the 53rd-ranked defense in 2009, it's far better than the weak offense in terms of measuring progress.

The kicking game was solid in 2009, with junior Eric Ellestad handling the kicking (31-31 on PATs; 13-17 on FGs) and senior Blake Haudan (41.9 average) doing the punting. Haudan will be replaced by Dan Orseske (44.6 average in 9 punts in 2009) next season

All in all, 2009 was a mixed bag of progress (defense, for the most part) status quo (running attack), and regression (offensive line play, QB play). Coach Brewster has promised to improve the O-Line play before next season and have open competition between Weber and Gray for the QB position, but next year is crucial for this program. Brewster will almost certainly be fired if the team posts another 6-6 effort, and then it's back to square-one for a program which has been stuck in neutral for nearly 50 years.