BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
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per USCHO:
Redemption. After 2014-15, it’s an apt concept for a league with the resources, exposure and branding of the Big Ten — a league whose single representative in the 2015 NCAA tournament, Minnesota, bowed out immediately with a first-round 4-1 loss to Minnesota-Duluth.
In a six-team league, especially, the idea that anyone can win a conference championship and advance to the NCAA tournament holds a certain romance in October, but the reality is that every league — even one as small as the Big Ten — has its haves and have-nots.
For the Big Ten’s first two seasons, Minnesota has been the team to catch and beat; in 2014-15, even when the race for the regular season championship was much tighter than it had been the year before and the league was experiencing what can only be termed a down year, the Golden Gophers were still the gold standard for Big Ten hockey.
And that got exactly one Big Ten team into postseason play last year.
Energy. Passion. Excitement. Those are great. What the Big Ten needs is scoring, defense, better goaltending and much better results in the nonconference play that fills the schedule before league games begin in earnest in December.
http://www.uscho.com/2015/10/08/aft...ig-ten-has-redemption-on-the-mind-in-2015-16/
Go Gophers!!
Redemption. After 2014-15, it’s an apt concept for a league with the resources, exposure and branding of the Big Ten — a league whose single representative in the 2015 NCAA tournament, Minnesota, bowed out immediately with a first-round 4-1 loss to Minnesota-Duluth.
In a six-team league, especially, the idea that anyone can win a conference championship and advance to the NCAA tournament holds a certain romance in October, but the reality is that every league — even one as small as the Big Ten — has its haves and have-nots.
For the Big Ten’s first two seasons, Minnesota has been the team to catch and beat; in 2014-15, even when the race for the regular season championship was much tighter than it had been the year before and the league was experiencing what can only be termed a down year, the Golden Gophers were still the gold standard for Big Ten hockey.
And that got exactly one Big Ten team into postseason play last year.
Energy. Passion. Excitement. Those are great. What the Big Ten needs is scoring, defense, better goaltending and much better results in the nonconference play that fills the schedule before league games begin in earnest in December.
http://www.uscho.com/2015/10/08/aft...ig-ten-has-redemption-on-the-mind-in-2015-16/
Go Gophers!!