Greenie wrote:
 
>Minnesota:
>IMHO, the most solid, deep, talented team in the WCHA, possibly in the
>country. Earlier criticisms pointed to inconsistent play, but they've gone
>12-0-1 since a November 11 loss to the Pioneers, and have played VERY
>consistently.
 
Actually, I've still been maintaining that their not playing as
consistently as they should.  I don't think either Michigan or Minnesota
played as well as they can in the Showcase.  The first games against North
Dakota and Alaska-Anchorage were not very good efforts despite the wins and
neither were the two games of the Mariucci Classic.  They've been winning
anyway, so I shouldn't complain too much and they certainly looked good
this weekend.  I still think they need to put the rest of it together
before playoff time.
 
>From what I've seen of the Gophers, they never lose their
>focus during the game (although they lose their cool and get into fights),
 
There may very well be little things going on on the ice that I can't pick
up.  Nevertheless, most of the fracases they've been in lately seem to be
started by the other guys.  Last night's at the conclusion of the first
period got going when Erik Andersson took a run at Dan Trebil after the
horn had sounded.  From there, the Gophers were certainly willing to give
as good as they got, but I didn't see them as the ones that lost their
cool.  Ditto the night before.  By the way, why didn't Jim Mullin get an
extra minor for leaving the crease, like Jeff Moen did on Friday, when he
didn't even come close to the fight?
 
>and play all 3 periods strongly. They have a large number of talented
>offensive weapons, combining ecxellent passing, skating, and playmaking
>skills, and appear to have shored up their defense in recent weeks. The
>only question mark I see here is the goaltending -- but then, this is an
>area of the Gophers that I haven't really heard or seen too much of.
 
Goaltending is absolutely not one of my concerns with this team.  Steve
DeBus has been truly outstanding.  The thread of Tom Noble being the best
sophmore goalie in the country came up just as DeBus was finding himself
after two years off, so I held my tongue then.  I still haven't seen Noble
play, but he would have to be mighty impressive to be better.  I had
expected him to force Woog to move away from an even split of the duties,
but Jeff Moen has risen to the challenge and raised his play to keep it an
even battle.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
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