Disturbed

Ignatius L Hoops

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That's what Bob Motzco said he was following tonight's OT loss to St. Lawrence. It pretty much summed up my thoughts.
 

http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...-with-overtime-loss-to-st-lawrence/500733742/

Bob Motzko wishes his team had an attitude problem.

Not that he would expose that fact to the public if the Gophers did, but at least he would know how to give that negativity an adjustment. Instead, he was just left "blindsided" after his team's 4-3 overtime loss Friday to St. Lawrence. Michael Ederer scored 3 minutes, 19 seconds into the extra period for the Saints.

"They are really struggling to find that chemistry of how you have to dig in, how you have to work. And the coach can't go in with the whip every day," Motzko said. "I did not think I would come in here tonight and have this kind of feeling. We were much better [this] week preparing. Good vibe. But what we saw [Friday], we've seen before. So it's nothing new."
 

He inherited a team full of prima donnas. This roster can't turn over soon enough.
 

He inherited a team full of prima donnas. This roster can't turn over soon enough.

And it's all Lucia's fault. If he recruited too good, the roster ends up full of prima donnas that either leave too early for the NHL or act like prima donnas while still here, and if he tried recruiting less "prima donna" like players, critics jumped on his supposed inability to recruit the best players.

And his results? Well, he didn't end up the best coach EVER so he was a horrible failure. Nothing but the absolute best is good enough here at Minnesota.
 

I guess the upside is that Motzko's previous team (St. Cloud State) is now ranked #1 in the nation. I'm assuming the stars of that team are mostly his recruits. That can give us hope for the future of our beloved Gophers, right? I gotta think he will right this ship.
 


I guess the upside is that Motzko's previous team (St. Cloud State) is now ranked #1 in the nation. I'm assuming the stars of that team are mostly his recruits. That can give us hope for the future of our beloved Gophers, right? I gotta think he will right this ship.

That is the hope. It may not be relevant, but SCSU hasn't played much of any competition. Yes, they swept Denver, but they lost to Northeastern and couldn't get a win in their series vs Miami was it? Outside of those 5 games, they haven't played anyone really. And they went 2-1-2 vs those 3 teams.

If all we did was look at one series to judge a team, the Gopher's 1-0-1 weekend against UMD would indicate that they are doing great. Throw in their 2 ties vs highly rated OSU and their 1-0-1 weekend vs #15 ranked Michigan and they are 2-0-4 vs those 3 opponents.

So, 2-0-4 is better than 2-1-2 and our 3 opponents were tougher overall.


So the big difference between our two teams this year, is that the remainder of each team's opponents. SCSU basically won all the rest of their games vs unranked teams. Minnesota meanwhile got swept by a very highly rated Mn St-Mankato team, they lost to a ranked UND team, they split on the road vs Wisconsin who was ranked recently or is now? They beat Top 10 ranked Notre Dame last weekend, so they might have moved back up? And then we unfortunately split with Mich St and a very bad St Lawrence team. Those 2 losses hurt us more than anything else. Later season wins vs better teams can make up for those early season losses, while SCSU playing tougher competition coming up might bring them down a notch, so their might not be as big of a difference between the teams as the rankings would suggest, but there is a difference for sure. Not sure how much of that has to do with Motzko's supposedly stellar recruiting and coaching vs Lucia's supposedly horrible recruiting and coaching and how much has to do with simple timing and circumstances, AND, like I like to point out, SOS issues. SCSU has yet to do anything to impress me in March, while Lucia made a couple Frozen Four runs. Had UMn slipped in last year instead of UMD, who knows, he could have snagged one more?

My point is, a lot of non-blue blood programs seem to have good periods of play, where circumstances all seem to line up for them and they make a post season run. All Motzko/SCSU has proven in recent years, is that they have figured out how to do well in the regular season, against easier competition than Minnesota has had to contend with.


But at SCSU, he was forced to go after a different kind of player than UMn went after. Not saying lesser players, maybe lesser but at the same time less of prima-donnas maybe? I don't know for sure? Things here in Minnesota sure have changed, last couple of weeks 3 of the Top 4-5 ranked teams in the nation are from the state of Minnesota, but do not include the University of Minnesota? Minnesota boys, some of them at least, may still dream of playing for the Gophers, but unlike the past, now some of them could honestly see it as just as much of a dream to play for UMD or SCSU or Mn St-Mankato. UMD has as many titles as the Gophers do in the 21st Century, and how cool would it be to help lead SCSU or Mn St to their first titles ever?

So Motzko BETTER be as good as many thought he was when he was at SCSU. I sure hope it was HIS skills at recruiting and coaching that got SCSU to be as competitive as they have shown they are, at least in the regular season. Otherwise Gopher fans are in for a very long hard road ahead.


Maybe Motzko will need to start all over basically? Bring in a couple classes of his kind of players, before we'll be able to start competing on a consistent basis again? Maybe we need to transform the program into something other than the NHL factory is has been recently? Or maybe Motzko has it within him to be both successful on the NCAA ice and in the playoffs and at producing top NHL talent?

All I know is it seems apparent it will be at least another year or two before we'll know enough to know what the future holds.
 




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