Badger Hunting

Sadly the Gopher hockey team is back in action this weekend after mercifully getting a bye last weekend. Bucky Badger comes to Mariucci for this weekends series. This series could have less scoring than the Gophers vs Sioux series 2 weeks ago. Right now I am putting the over/under for total goals in the series at 3.5 and putting my entire pay check on the under.

The most exciting thing about this coming weekend is WWWWWWW will be taking in his first ever Gopher hockey game. I received a voicemail from WWWWW while he was in New Jersey telling me how much he was looking forward to the game. For a guy who claims to hate hockey WWWWWWW sure was excited. Keep it in your pants WWWWWW only 10 hours until the puck drops.

Wisconsin heads into this series on a bit of a hot streak. The have moved up to #10 in the polls, are in the top half of the WCHA and have worked their way into NCAA consideration. The biggest reason for Wisconsin’s resurgence is their improved play on Defense. Wisconsin is back to its old ways of playing tight D and relying on counter attacks for goals. This is the reason I am predicting a 3 to 4 goal explosion for the entire weekend. Wisconsin is still led by Freshmen Kyle Turris who now has 29 points in 28 games. Turris was drafted 3rd overall by the Coyotes in last summers NHL draft. Junior Ben Street leads Wisconsin in goals with 12 and Turris’s line mate Patrick Johnson is third on the team in scoring with 19 points.

I really have no interest in breaking down what the gophers need to do this weekend. Basically score more than 1 goal per game and continue playing good defense. It looks like Jay Barriball will not be playing this weekend because of the ankle injury he sustained in the Friday night game in Denver. There is an outside chance he could play, but all signs are he will rest another week. If you want more of a preview just read one of the previous hockey posts.

Edit 10:31 AM. Lucia just said Barriball should play this weekend. With only three goals this year I am not sure if that is good news or not? I guess anything is better than watching The Todd's guy Schack play.

How pathetic are the Gophers at scoring goals this season??? This all but sums things up. The Gophers are currently tied for last in the WCHA in scoring with Alaska F'ing Anchorage???? How is that possible??? The Gophers power play has dropped to last in the league and they are now scoring at below a 10% clip on said power play. To make things worse "if that is possible" the Gophers now sit in 9th place in the league. Maybe Garth Snow was right? "Bring back Woog!"

My prediction for the weekend is actually a Gopher sweep. They have everything to play for and if they want any chance of making the NCAA tournament they need to get two wins this weekend. Gophers win 2-1 Friday night and 1-0 Saturday and hockey Jesus (Kangas) takes 1 more step towards becoming hockey god.

P.S. WWWWWW, the question Moma W should have asked is "why do they call it the barn yard and 8 racists dress up like Gorilla’s for every game?" I now want to beat the Gorillas more than flag guy. Nice fans!

Garth Snow = Douche Bag

Below are a few of the comments Garth Snow had to say about Don Lucia, The Gophers Hockey Program and Kyle Okposo. All of the comments where taken from an article in todays Star Tribune.

New York Islanders General Manager Garth Snow on Thursday criticized Don Lucia's coaching, saying that was the reason sophomore Kyle Okposo is leaving the Gophers hockey program and negotiating a contract with the Islanders.
"Quite frankly, we weren't happy with the program there," Snow said in a telephone interview. "They have a responsibility to coach, to make Kyle a better player, and they were not doing that."

Asked for specifics, Snow said, "[Okposo] just wasn't getting better -- bottom line. And to me, that's the frustrating part. We entrusted the coach there to turn him into a better hockey player, and it wasn't happening. We feel more comfortable in him developing right under our watch."

Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi, when told of Snow's comments, was dumbfounded.
"He must feel that somebody's angry," Maturi said. "And I can understand why; you took a kid from a team in the midst of the year and he's probably trying to justify it. And that's his right.
"It's my understanding they now have a roster spot for [Okposo] and therefore our coaching is bad. It doesn't make any sense to me."

Still, Snow didn't feel the Gophers were a right fit for Okposo.
"It's well-known in hockey circles that the situation for college players is to develop and get better," Snow said. "And quite frankly, it's a big responsibility for a college coach -- a program -- to handle these kids."Whether it was Kyle or another player, until things change in that program we'd probably make the same decision. There should be a coach there that looks in the mirror."

He was asked if he thought it was OK for a player to leave midway through a college season.
"I don't think we'd be at this point if he was being coached properly," Snow said.

Snow then responded "he'll get better coaching" when asked what Okposo would get in the Islanders system.

Basically my thoughts on all of this are as follows. Garth Snow is a classless idiot. What is actually taking place is the NHL and Islanders are taking a ton of heat for plucking Okposo off his team in the middle of the season. Garth Snow is now trying to justify that move by blaming it on Lucia. How is Okposo going to receive better coaching from the coaches in New York. Name the last player that New York developed into a star??? Thats right, you can't.

Although I sometimes question Lucia you can't argue what he has done as a college coach. 2 national champions, 1 runner-up, 500+ coaching victories, 4 or 5 WCHA titles and countless all-americans. Most of those numbers where also accomplished at Colorado College and Alaska Fairbanks. Both of those programs where Ruddy Ducks (bottom feeders) before he arrived on campus. All of that sounds like a guy who can't coach. To put this in terms so WWWWWW can understand it, this is like calling Mike Krzyzewski a bad coach because Duke players aren't good pro's. Lucia is a hell of a college hockey coach and deserves better then being called out by a GM who runs a team with all the money in the world into last place.

Since when is a college hockey coaches priority to develop players for the NHL??? I thought his job was to win college games and titles??? D. Blais was 100% wrong in his previous post. A player has to be able to defend if he is going to play in todays NHL. Your arguement about Vanek was also way off. Vaneks defending was over exagerated by Sioux fans with inferiority complexes. Saying Vanek didn't defend was the only way they could justify Parise was as good of a player. Vanek is also on record as saying the hardest thing he had to learn in the NHL is playing both ends of the ice. Once he started playing with passion at both ends of the ice he lead the NHL in +/-. Okposo better not complain about having to play a defensive style because he will be skating 3rd line at best over the next couple of seasons.

Basically I think the islanders forced Okposo's hand. There are rumors floating around that they told him either leave now or don't plan oncoming for a couple years. We most likely will never now what really happened, but either way this whole things stinks like a grand forks sugar beet factory. Either way Garth Snow is a classless twat who's opinion matters as much as mine. Here's hoping Snow chokes on his christmas goose. F'ing twat!