Gopher's recruiting the wrong kids???

[saintpaulhockey]

I honestly am worried about the Gophers. They seem to be losing some of the best recruits in the state, and some of their recruits are not very impressive. What do you think?

[bardown012]

I honestly am worried about the Gophers. They seem to be losing some of the best recruits in the state, and some of their recruits are not very impressive. What do you think?

Not very impressive??

Nick Leddy
Ryan Walters
Jake Youso
Aaron Ness
Mike Dorr
Jake Hansen
Jordan Schroeder
Taylor Mattson

I'd say those are some very impressive players.

[bubulater]

I would be willing to bet they are wasting their time with mattson, walters and schroeder, they'll go pro the first chance they get. Just like Okposo.
I am happy there isn't any Shattucks players in that list, but the same goes for helgelson, Condon, Birkholz, and Scott.

[packerboy]

So, what do you do?

Let Wisconsn have them for the first 1 or 2 years?

Somebody will take them for as long as they are there and beat the U with them.

[goldy313]

Lucia needs to start getting these kids as 18 year old freshmen, screw the USHL. NHL teams aren't going to wait until these kids are 24 to take them. Lucia's lost a number of good players that want to go to school right away but he wants them in the Juniors first.

You just can't keep turning over your roster every year and win. This is a team that has a recent history of extreme flops in the NCAA tournament, anyone else think that Don's stars are already looking forwards to the NHL?

[breakout]

Lucia needs to start getting these kids as 18 year old freshmen, screw the USHL. NHL teams aren't going to wait until these kids are 24 to take them. Lucia's lost a number of good players that want to go to school right away but he wants them in the Juniors first.

You just can't keep turning over your roster every year and win. This is a team that has a recent history of extreme flops in the NCAA tournament, anyone else think that Don's stars are already looking forwards to the NHL?

Unfortunately, all quality college teams are losing young stars to the NHL. It is the nature of the business these days. You can bet Sandelin would love to have Niskenen running his point this year. However, Matt is manning the point for the Dallas Stars.

You also notice the trend that colleges are recruiting players at younger ages.

[wisconsinprephockey]

Unfortunately, all quality college teams are losing young stars to the NHL. It is the nature of the business these days. You can bet Sandelin would love to have Niskenen running his point this year. However, Matt is manning the point for the Dallas Stars.

You also notice the trend that colleges are recruiting players at younger ages.

Would be nice to see Hockey copy Football and require three years removed from high school before eligibility. Granted its not quite feasable since hockey is such in global sport, but it would still be nice to see...

[breakout]

Unfortunately, all quality college teams are losing young stars to the NHL. It is the nature of the business these days. You can bet Sandelin would love to have Niskenen running his point this year. However, Matt is manning the point for the Dallas Stars.

You also notice the trend that colleges are recruiting players at younger ages.

Would be nice to see Hockey copy Football and require three years removed from high school before eligibility. Granted its not quite feasable since hockey is such in global sport, but it would still be nice to see...

I agree

Unfortunately, if that were the case we would probably see our supposed young superstars heading for Major Junior in Canada.

[breakout]

I would be willing to bet they are wasting their time with mattson, walters and schroeder, they'll go pro the first chance they get. Just like Okposo.
I am happy there isn't any Shattucks players in that list, but the same goes for helgelson, Condon, Birkholz, and Scott.

Schroeder maybe

Mattson and Walters will more than likely be 3 to 4 year players before their game could be Pro ready.

[LetsPlayHockey22]

What Lucia needs to do is get rid of these identicle goal scorers and mix it up. Recruit a goal scorer here and there but with a mixture of talented grinders and playmakers, and a better than average goalie.

[Gopher Blog]

When you see a kid like Oshie get in trouble with the law this past weekend for the second time in a year or so, you have to wonder if maybe some of these pro prospects that play college hockey just don't have the right mentality about what they should be doing the closer they are to going pro.

It seems to be an issue that plagues teams all over. Unfortunately...

[theref]

When you see a kid like Oshie get in trouble with the law this past weekend for the second time in a year or so, you have to wonder if maybe some of these pro prospects that play college hockey just don't have the right mentality about what they should be doing the closer they are to going pro.

It seems to be an issue that plagues teams all over. Unfortunately...

Gopher Blog, I'm interested to hear more about this. Can you please send me a link or fill me in on the story?

[Gopher Blog]

Gopher Blog, I'm interested to hear more about this. Can you please send me a link or fill me in on the story?

Here you go Theref:

Sioux Suspend Oshie

[theref]

Gopher Blog, I'm interested to hear more about this. Can you please send me a link or fill me in on the story?

Here you go Theref:

Sioux Suspend Oshie

Thanks! Very interesting.

[jackstraw]

What is so interesting? 2 hockey players, both of age, at one of their own homes at 2:00 in the morning with no game the next day. Is their more to this story?

[theref]

What is so interesting? 2 hockey players, both of age, at one of their own homes at 2:00 in the morning with no game the next day. Is their more to this story?

Just interesting because we don't hear about too many problems with WCHA players and I hadn't heard about Oshie getting arrested before. I guess it was interesting to me.

[goldy313]

I'm more and more inclined to believe that, yes the Gophers are recruiting the wrong players. Too many prima donnas, not enough workers. The Gophers are young but that doesn't excuse lousy play let alone lazy play. They can't pass the puck in the neutral zone, they break out, the puck bounces off the kids stick because they can't catch a pass (Troy Williamson would be a great winger), he regains control of it until he either gets knocked off the puck, dumps it in, or carries it in. There are no neutral zone passes. It's almost comical, they all get the puck and put their head down and head for the opposing blueline like a fullback trying to pick up a fouth and 1. Once they gain the zone they seem alright but getting there is an adventure.

Too much individual play, not enough team play.

[Gopher Blog]

I'm more and more inclined to believe that, yes the Gophers are recruiting the wrong players. Too many prima donnas, not enough workers. The Gophers are young but that doesn't excuse lousy play let alone lazy play. They can't pass the puck in the neutral zone, they break out, the puck bounces off the kids stick because they can't catch a pass (Troy Williamson would be a great winger), he regains control of it until he either gets knocked off the puck, dumps it in, or carries it in. There are no neutral zone passes. It's almost comical, they all get the puck and put their head down and head for the opposing blueline like a fullback trying to pick up a fouth and 1. Once they gain the zone they seem alright but getting there is an adventure.

You say they don't have enough workers yet the things you mentioned have more to do with natural skills than hard work. Catching a pass in a game is not about work/effort. That is more about skills like hand/eye coordination and stick skills. For the most part, I see guys giving an honest effort.

The main issue I see is depth issues (mostly because of heavy departures the last two years). This has drained the depth of talent for this year and it has put some players in spots they either wouldn't:

A) normally be in this early in their college career

or

B) wouldn't be in at all on a typical Gopher team from the last seven or eight years.

It also doesn't help that the defensive unit is not quite what it usually is in terms of the transition game or PP work. Other than Fairchild, the defensive group has not been as good with the puck this year. Fischer shows some glimpses but is inconsistent at this point (there is hope though since Vannelli was similar at that point). But Peltier, Anderson, Wehrs, etc.... well, they have been average at best with the puck.

I guess a Gopher follower can be thankful that the transition game issues from a defensive perspective look like a one year problem since they have recruited guys like Ness and Lofquist for next year and they are good at handling/dsitributing the puck (as are Leddy, Helgeson, and Schmidt in the recruiting classes after that).

[goldy313]

If you can't catch a pass, if you can't pass the puck, if you can't skate with the puck with your head up then at the very least you ought to work hard. That's the only real fault I've had with Lucia, his kids get out worked by lesser teams, now they don't have the talent to make up for being out worked. These kids are supposed to be talented but they're not in basic skills, they can skate but the skill set seems to be far less than in the past.

The defense aren't very good at skating with the puck, what concerns me more is the forwards can't pass the puck unless they're running a set play like a breakout or a power play. So you get the puck to the redline and dump it in and forecheck the bejesus out of them. They just don't seem to have the effort to do that. It's getting worse as the year wears on, like the Gophers opponents have them figured out. (like bouncing the puck at Frazee from the far end of the rink )

All I get to see are Gopher games and by listening to the broadcasts it sounds like offense is a problem throughout the WCHA. However when Minnesota can't beat RIT or Air Force at home and have had some embarrasments in the NCAA tournament the past couple of seasons against Holy Cross and Air Force maybe they do need to look at the kids being recruited.

[breakout]

Many players struggle with the ultra light high tech sticks. If a college player can't catch a pass, get that one piece out of his hands and hand him a two piece stick.

[topperhockey]

I would be willing to bet they are wasting their time with mattson, walters and schroeder, they'll go pro the first chance they get. Just like Okposo.
I am happy there isn't any Shattucks players in that list, but the same goes for helgelson, Condon, Birkholz, and Scott.

Saintpaulhockey doesn't know what hes talking about, they have great recruits, but i totally agree with bubulater. They're going to leave just like Okposo, even though it wasn't all his choice.

[Lopresti]

I would be willing to bet they are wasting their time with mattson, walters and schroeder, they'll go pro the first chance they get. Just like Okposo.
I am happy there isn't any Shattucks players in that list, but the same goes for helgelson, Condon, Birkholz, and Scott.

Saintpaulhockey doesn't know what hes talking about, they have great recruits, but i totally agree with bubulater. They're going to leave just like Okposo, even though it wasn't all his choice.

People shouldn't rush to judgement that it wasn't Okposo's choice to leave. Let's just say "for example", a player doesn't give any effort in his or her schoolwork and possibly enjoyed extracarricular activites a little too much to a point they might not be eligible to continue, and a company sees this and gets you out, was it their choice to leave? (I know that was a long sentence, but I just couldn't stop.)

What I am saying is that, if Kyle Okposo put a full and honest effort into hockey and schoolwork, instead of taking the big time for granted, he'd be wearing an "M" for the rest of this season. Just my opinion.

[nd mn hockey fan]

I would be willing to bet they are wasting their time with mattson, walters and schroeder, they'll go pro the first chance they get. Just like Okposo.
I am happy there isn't any Shattucks players in that list, but the same goes for helgelson, Condon, Birkholz, and Scott.

Saintpaulhockey doesn't know what hes talking about, they have great recruits, but i totally agree with bubulater. They're going to leave just like Okposo, even though it wasn't all his choice.

People shouldn't rush to judgement that it wasn't Okposo's choice to leave. Let's just say "for example", a player doesn't give any effort in his or her schoolwork and possibly enjoyed extracarricular activites a little too much to a point they might not be eligible to continue, and a company sees this and gets you out, was it their choice to leave? (I know that was a long sentence, but I just couldn't stop.)

What I am saying is that, if Kyle Okposo put a full and honest effort into hockey and schoolwork, instead of taking the big time for granted, he'd be wearing an "M" for the rest of this season. Just my opinion.

I think any player out there wants to go to the pro and if they get that option. Good for them its there dream.

[Gopher Blog]

What I am saying is that, if Kyle Okposo put a full and honest effort into hockey and schoolwork, instead of taking the big time for granted, he'd be wearing an "M" for the rest of this season. Just my opinion.

Academics wasn't the problem. Lucia said his academics were fine. The problem is he just didn't want to return to the college game after last year and it obviously affected his motivation during the season. He wanted to go pro last summer but the Islanders weren't interested in signing him at that point. The only suggestion that was made to him was that if he didn't want to go back to college hockey, he could go to the WHL.

So he came back to school with the wrong mentality from the beginning. He said the right things in the media about wanting to return but he did not want to be there. Especially when two of his best friends (Toews and Erik Johnson) were seeing a regular shift on an NHL team at the very same time.

Needless to say, all of that clearly showed in his quality of play in the first half of the college season as he often floundered.

[RLStars]

I say let them go. Better yet, I'd like to see the NHL's top round draft picks go striaght into the WHL and leave the scholarship money to the REAL student-athletes who want the spot on a D1 team and will appreciate what they have been offered. These guys would play their hearts out for the colors they wear and should have no lack of motivation athletically or academically. Remember what Mr. Brooks said, "When you pull on that jersey, the name on the front is a hell of alot more important than the one on the back".

These guys have proven over and over that the have no interest in getting an education while at college.