College Hockey - 2011/2012

[cbrooks]

Has anyone notice any freshman standing out this year so far? I have to say defensemen Nick Mattson has stood for UND.

[Bear55]

It is nice to have a solid goalie, too bad he is a Sr because I wouldn't mind having him around for a few more years.

[Bear55]

Has anyone notice any freshman standing out this year so far? I have to say defensemen Nick Mattson has stood for UND.

Rau has been great, perfect combination of skill and heart, not to mention 4 goals in 4 games. Ben Marshall has looked very good at times but also made a fair share of mistakes, but that can be expected of a freshman D.

I have been incredibly impressed by our entire Sophmore class, they have all stepped up this year, some of them in a big big way.

[scsavre]

Rau has been awesome.

Marshall has some serious tallent but a lot of learning to do.

Sam warning has been an awesome surprise.

Ambroz, where are you. You are non exsitant.........

I saw good things out of mattson for und, not surprised tho.

Another thing, wow do we take the gopher tv coverage for granted. I watched the sioux tv games this weekend cause I was in DL, ahh that is worse then the old KABL highschool coverage. I didn't realize how lucky we were here in mn.

[MUSKY18]

Great games from the Gophers and UMD. Thats why I love college hockey more than pro! Was very impressed with the Gopher Freshmen, especially Rau, for being undersized, the kid has some wheels and even a bigger heart! In a way I see it as being scary. If these freshmen keep improving and the upper classment keep it going, the Gophers could be a real force this season. If they plateau or take a downward trend, it could be another long season. I do believe that with Gentzel back on the bench, our defense will be much improved this season, which will help a lot as well. Interesting weekend set coming up. Vermont isn't a push over, but if the Gophers play as well as they did this weekend, they should sweep them as well. Then its back to the WCHA schedule and the heat gets turned up a bit. Gonna be a fun ride!!!!

[cbrooks]

I was thinking Seth Ambroz would be lighting it up. I'm gonna have to watch them this weekend. I know there's alot of good pros[ects on that team.

[Bear55]

I was thinking Seth Ambroz would be lighting it up. I'm gonna have to watch them this weekend. I know there's alot of good pros[ects on that team.

Ambroz was pretty hyped up two years ago, lots of talk of him going in the first round of the draft. The major issue was he didn't really take a step forward in his draft year and some red flags went up. He still got plenty of size, skill, and potential but probably isn't as highly regaurded as he once was. I was far more excited for Rau and Marshall to come in.

[cbrooks]

Well, its actually nice that Minnesota appears to be contenders again. I'm sure to hear from some of the fair weather Gopher fans on this site . Only kidding of course. I'm glad to have new faces on here. Last year it seem like 6 or 7 people bickering about each others team. Of course I was the lone UND fan getting gang up on but...what do you expect when your the topdog of the league for soo long. Its almost switch roles with UND being the underdog now. Let the trash talking start.

Bear hows the bowhunting been for you? Getting out to the treestand much?

[Bear55]

Getting out but things have been slow but I expect it to pick up soon. I have a few vacation days saved up for the week between halloween and the rifle opener.

Not sure I would call UND an underdog but that was a nice attempt you sandbagger!

[solbes]

Was a little sand bagging going on there. UND will be top 4 at the end of the season, we all know that. Whether they can be 1 or 2 remains to be seen.

Also are you UND guys serious about Eidness taking over later on this season for Dell? It would appear that goaltending was one area that should be rock solid for this team.

[scsavre]

I never bought into dell last year. He had such a good team in frnt of him I think it helped him. Goalies will be a issue for und this year.

Nodak, hmmm I'm thinking 4th, maybe 5th this year. At that note.

Denver

Cc

Gophs

Sioux

Dogs

Is my top 5 this year and I'm not sold on cc yet.

[cbrooks]

Was a little sand bagging going on there. UND will be top 4 at the end of the season, we all know that. Whether they can be 1 or 2 remains to be seen.

Also are you UND guys serious about Eidness taking over later on this season for Dell? It would appear that goaltending was one area that should be rock solid for this team.

No sandbagging here guys. UND lost alot of scoring from last season. AS for defense and goaltending there both are rock solid. Eids and Dell are both great goaltenders. They split last weekend and both played well. So far this season I think Eids has look better. Eids had a good season before last. I don't know why he struggle in the early part last season when he lost the job to Dell. I think Haks gonna let the goaltending duties split until one proves to be the starter. I also see Hak doing some more expirmenting with the starting lines. This team will have its moments time to time. Its all about playing your best hockey in March in Apirl if your fortunate to get that far. I have faith in this team.

I think the competition in the WCHA is better than last year. What you guys think? I think the #5 spot will be a battle for the final five tourney. I also don't think there's no clear #1 team in the league. its a level playing field. I will miss the WCHA after this year . Hope its a good one this year

[RumRiverRat]

Hey Solbes,

The Sweep by the Gophers was EPIC!

As a Gophers fan I was extremely happy with the result.

I expected a vastly different outcome.

Your Bulldogs need a goalie!

[solbes]

Meh, it's 4 games in. Bulldogs can score this year (I'm semi surprised about this), but our PK blows and we DO need a more consistent goalie. Brooks, can WE have Dell?!? I do wish we played at Mariucci so we'd get another shot. Gophers look great so far, we'll see how they hold up.

Here's something that might get you excited as a Gopher fan. Your team might actually be the best college team in Minnesota this year. You'd have to go way back to '06/07 to see the last time MN was clearly tops in the state.

Providence this weekend. Their head coach was Union last year, so he's gotta be upset we bounced them in the first regional. We need at least a split, but a sweep would get us some confidence back.

[Bear55]

Here's something that might get you excited as a Gopher fan. Your team might actually be the best college team in Minnesota this year.

Baby steps.

[cbrooks]

Brooks, can WE have Dell?!? .

No Way. Duluth with a goaltender would be trouble. Didn't Reiter get his act together at the final four last year. Look what happen. Why didn't UMD go out and get a stud freshman goaltender for this year?

[RumRiverRat]

Is Vermont really this bad?

Or are my Rodents just really good?

[scsavre]

I don't know. Gophers wow. We can't really be this good.

Nodak and miami are you really this bad.

[solbes]

Although Duluth wasn't even broadcasted on B2 last night, I was able to watch 2 other games. Anyone notice BSU and Michigan Tech were on channel 2 last night on a Lakeland Sports feed? Bemidji looked pretty good offensively, but they had their 2nd goalie in who struggled a bit. Tech couldn't even cycle the puck effectively, but still put in 5 and made it exciting at the end. I watched the NoDak game some too and was surprised with the result.

Good night for the WCHA last night. 3 non-con wins, way to chip in St Cloud, UM, and Duluth. Certainly helps squeezing in that 5th team come tourney time if we can continue to play well in non conference.

Gophers are playing really well. Patterson with 3 shutouts already, wooaaa.

[Bear55]

The gophers appear to be back, however other than duluth our schedule has been a cake walk, plenty of bumps in the road ahead but I see us as a top 10 team again.

[solbes]

All on Gophers today to make it 3 pairwise wins for 3 tries in WCHA this weekend. No pressure! Couple of ties from UMD and SCSU, but 3 points is almost as good as 4 in non-conference games.

[Bear55]

Gopher go up 3-1 early only to [PoorWordUsage] all over the ice an lose 4-5. Nice let down oh well we can't win them all.

[scsavre]

I was only able to listen to the game. sounded like lots of mistakes. Maybe back down to reality, who knows. Young team, hopefully we get these mistakes out of way now.

Also, I am pretty disapointed at all the penalty calls in college this year. Let em play a little bit, this isnt hockey east.

[solbes]

Alabama Huntsville, may they officially R.I.P. next year as a club team. Guess it was the travel for opposing teams.

I see the Dogs play them in a few weeks, and really nothing good can come from the series. Maybe it gives us a chance to switch up our lines and try out our 3rd goalie.

[solbes]

I am thoroughly bewildered by Duluth's line 2 pairings. They moved Oleksuk up to line 1 on the wing (best F/O guy), therby making line 2 inherently weak. Then moved Seidel, who has 4 or 5 goals back to line 2. Kept Brown in line 1 who clearly has not fed the puck back to tStud JCon (ever). And then promoted who should be a line 4 guy, Dan Delisle to line 2. Mix em up sure, but lets be smart about it.

Good luck to them. At least Herbert and the line 3 guys are still together. Go Dogs!

[scsavre]

We will see how everyone plays tonight. Not sure what's up with the wcha this year. Are we gonna have a down year as a league, or are the bottom teams just getting better.

I think on paper the new wcha is better then the new chha or whatever that new league is.

Miami, nodak, struggling, not sure about w mich.

Mich tech, lake state etc, all pretty decent so far.

Gophs need a sweep, It would be awesome. I gotta admit, its a little annoying down here how people are thinking the gophs are awesome again. I'm not sure who a good oponent is yet, but this team has not been up against any body real good yet. And has a ton of work to do.

[cbrooks]

Is Mich Tech for real? I believe there two loses this year came from BSU.

UND is gonna come around there have been outshotting there opponents this weekend and the last week as well. Freshman Ryan Faragher, goaltender for SCSU look solid all weekend.

[cbrooks]

UND/Gopher weekend coming up. I'm not sure how much of the games I will miss because of deer hunting and all. I predicted a UND sweep on the "college pickem site". I would have went with the split if I knew how to do it. One thing I would put money on is that there will be some gloves drop at some point of the weekend. Watch for Rocco Grimaldi to have a big weekend.

[Bear55]

Gophs will take 3-4 points this weekend, they are playing well right now and UND is in thier early season funk and not as strong of a team as last year.

[solbes]

What a strange beginning of the year. Gophers and Michigan Tech on fire! Okay maybe Gophers playing really well is not that surprising, but Tech taking 3 of 4 from Denver?

Dogs are back to a winning record now. Unfortunately we are headed to Denver to face a team that has to be super PO'd after getting a point in Houghton. Glad to see Kenny had a good weekend though.