>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.
The Gophers seem to have trouble in the first game of a series this
year.  I'm not sure if this has something to do with overworking in
practice during the week or what, but they are always a step quicker
and control things a lot better in the second game.  But if they can
play a weak first game and still sweep a series, that's not a bad
thing.  My only fear is that it continues into the NCAA's where there
isn't a second game.
 
>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?
 
Well, I don't know if I would go that far.  The Goph are playing a
more physical game this year and dish out their fair share of late
hits.  What I often see if the Gophs making a semi-late hit, the other
team retaliating and then the Gophers will go after someone.  I can't
criticize them for this too bad, everyone does it.  Some more than
others.  The thing I like is that the Gophers don't take a lot of
cheap shots (at least that I can see).  This weekend it seemed like
Denver was going out of their way to take a shot, any shot, at Bonin
and Crowley.  There were a number of times that I saw a DU player go
way out of their way to make a borderline hit on them.  That's ugly
hockey in my book.  Play them tight, shadow them, I don't even mind a
little holding, but taking shots that might hurt them is bad news.
But my Maroon and Gold glasses may be tinting things a little.
 
>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.
Ditto.  Moen has really stepped it up this year.  One of the people I
sit with went to school with Steve and has been telling how good he
was for the last two years after he signed with the gophers.  I didn't
really believe her until I saw him play.  Wow.  I feel pretty good
about the future of this team with Steve in nets for the next 2 years.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Zielinski                         Systems Administration
The REP Company                              Bloomington, MN
[log in to unmask]
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.