Tonight the Gophers took it on the chin pretty good by the CC Tigers 7-1.
CC looked very poised, won the battles to the loose pucks, and capitalized
on a variety of scoring opportunities.  Though I wasn't able to watch the
first period, hockey practice, it appeared that the Gophers were fine until
CC scored two goals in less than a minute at the end of the first period.
From this point on the Gophers were pretty rattled, and it only got worse
when they couldn't finish on a couple of great opportunities in the first
half of the second when the game was still within reach.
 
What stood out in my mind while watching the game, and others this season,
is how incredibly young the bulk of the Gophers roster is.  Hauser,
Leopold, Angell, Pohl, Wendell, Meyer, and O'Leary are all freshman and
they are getting a ton of ice-time.  In addition, Mills, Westrum, Senden,
and Miskovich are sophomores.  Everyone of these players is not,
unfortunately becoming all to common, 21 year old freshman.  These guys are
18 and 19 years old.  With this kind of youth you can see why a few quick
goals can shatter the confidence and lead to a down hill spiral like
tonights effort.
 
All in all I like this team very much and am confident that when this group
gets another 10-15 games under its belt it will be able to compete with
anyone.  Gopher fans be patient.  If this group of players can be kept
together for two or three years, adding a few more solid players like Taffe
and Welsh (Hastings HS) I believe they'll be a contender.
 
 
Steven M. Bernhardt
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Golden Gopher Hockey "Minnesota's Pride on Ice"
 
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