The Gopher hockey team is in a sad state right now.  Last night's game was
a perfect summary of this season so far.  They came out flying and put
tremendous pressure on CC immediately.  And then CC scored on their first
rush up ice.  Mike Lyons for some reason had no idea how to play
man-on-man defense, didn't put a body on his man at all, and boom, 1-0.
 
Even though they responded, you could just see that the team has zero
confidence.  The defense has no clue how to move the puck up ice.  They
seem to be afraid to touch the puck.  The juniors and seniors on the team
aren't doing anything right now.  The power play is worthless.  The Rico
Pagel experiment with him on the point, even though he scored once, was a
joke.  Ryan Kraft on the point is better, but he still looks much better
in deep.  And Steve DeBus is not playing like he should.
 
The Gophers are a good team.  They played well enough to sweep UND at home
and Wisconsin on the road.  But for some reason they are regressing.
Eleven games into the season, this is the worst I've ever seen them play.
 
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