Eric, I just wanted to drop you a note and let you know how I feel about the comments you made about the Gophers, and the responses you have gotten. I can understand your frustration about the Gophers. I share it. They played HORRIBLY last weekend against Northern Michigan, and if you read my post about it, you will know how upset I was. I was especially upset because the Gophers have so much talent this year. As individuals, I think this year's team is better than last year's (I was a season ticket holder both years, so i saw plenty of both teams). But as a team, I think the Gophers from last year were much better. I am not sure that this problem is one of coaching. How much can Doug Woog teach his players about feeling comfortable together? What can he do to make the lines click? It is certainly your right, as a fan, to question Doug Woog's coaching. I do it all the time. If, for example, he starts Jeff Moen in goal instead of Jeff Callinan, I can question whether or not that is the best decision. If he chooses defense as something to concentrate on instead of offense, I can question that as well. But a person can hardly question the facts. The University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey program, in 9 years under head coach Doug Woog, has finished first or second in the WCHA, a historically tough conference; has gone to the NCAA tournament all 9 years; has gone to the NCAA finals once, losing in overtime. What more can one ask for in a coach? A national championship? I submit that a national championship is something won, quite often, by luck as much as by skill. For example: Minnesota vs. Harvard in the NCAA championship in 1989. The game ended in overtime: how many pipes were hit in that game? How many times did the bounce of a puck over, or on, a skate help out one team or the other. With just a little luck, Minnesota could have had that championship. I find it difficult to believe anyone complains about the outcome in an overtime game--obviously the teams are evenly matched, or the game wouldn't have gone into overtime. Luck, at this point, plays a much bigger part. For another example, lets take last years NCAA playoffs. Lake Superior State University, the eventual champions, beat Northeastern University 6-5 in overtime. It was determined, in retrospect by video replay, that one of Northeastern's shots actually crossed the line of the goal mouth, meaning they should have had a goal, meaning they would have won in regulation. Now, discounting arguments about Lake State's play being different had the goal been scored (it certainly would have, but I am trying to keep this discussion fairly simple), let us see what happens if Lake State loses that game. Northeastern goes on to play Michigan, and we have Harvard playing a different team in the final four. The championship game, between Boston University and Harvard/Michigan/Northeastern is most likely not a blowout, and either way we have a different national champion. Should Jeff Jackson, Lake Superior's coach, get credit for the fact that the goal was not declared a goal? Clearly, he should not. Should he get credit for the championship? Yes, he should. He coached his team well enough to get into the playoffs, and he (and the Lakers) played each team that they faced very well. Doug Woog has coached his teams well enough to ALWAYS get into the tournament. Once there, many things can happen, and not all of them should fall on the shoulders of the head coach. Some people can and do claim that not much coaching goes into Woog's success: the talent of the kids is sufficient to win enough games to get the team to the tournament. I don't believe this is true. The is no debating that Woog has an easy time recruiting: the best college rink in the country; a winning team all but guaranteed to make the NCAA tournament; the rich hockey tradition (playing for the University is a dream for many Minnesota natives); the media exposure (the most televised games of any college program); the talent of other students also on the hockey team. But winning games takes a good coach. The Minnesota players enjoy playing for Woog. He teaches them things about playing hockey that they might not otherwise know. He is a friendly, amiable man who handles the press as well as he does a team practice. I think that throughout the sporting world, too much blame is being laid at the feet of the head coach for a team that fails to succeed at the highest level. Being competitive is not enough: winning a championship (for whatever sport: World Series, Stanley Cup, NBA championship, NCAA from various sports) is the only thing that matters. This is not, in my opinion, a valid belief, ESPECIALLY at the college level. The entire student athlete issue brings up new coaching challenges, and I don't just mean what lines to juggle if a player becomes academically ineligible. So bottom line: go ahead and wonder at Doug Woog's coaching decisions. It certainly isn't a crime. But be sure to take the positive side of his coaching into account, as well. Lots of schools would be THRILLED to have what Minnesota has. On another note: I agree about the goaltending this year. Greatly decreased in talent from recent years. Of the goalies I have seen this year, only one of two have truly stood out in my mind as being fabulous, despite seeing many quality performances. For example: I thought Brian Renfrew's performance in the Mariucci Classic was spectacular. He is certainly one of the best goalies I have seen this year (if not the best). Callinan, despite his numbers, still is questionable in goal, as I have said many times. He lets in too many soft goals. The goalie tandems, like Herlofsky/Noble at BU, or Mullin/Wallenheimo at Denver, or the CC pair are all pretty good. I think the Colorado College pair, though, have been the beneficiaries of a strong offense and defense in front of them. It is a very difficult thing to do; differentiating the goalies' abilities from a strong team in front of him. A good teams' goalie always looks great. But when does a goalie's skills really significantly help the team out? The best example I can think of is Dwayne Roloson from Mass Lowell last year. He was clearly an integral part of the team winning games. And finally, expressing frustration at a team's failures is understandable. But try to do it in a positive light; concentrate on what the team can do better, or in what aspects of the game the other team outperformed yours. Firing the coach, for example, is not always the quickest way onto the road of success. But if you love the game, you will stick with it, and get some reward out of the good games. There is plenty of fun to be had here. Lee-nerd [log in to unmask] "Violence is the last resort of the incompetent." --Isaac Asimov