Monday, November 12, 2007
Submit your questions
I'll try to have another installment of "You want answers?" today or tomorrow. Send in your questions about MSU, WCHA and other hockey-related topics in the comments section, and I'll try to get to as many as I can. I'll also answer and update some questions from the last week. Thanks again to everyone who's been reading and responding to the blog.
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22 comments:
What's up with Peter Lompado? I know he's supposed to be playing both hockey and baseball for MSU, but if I recall correctly, he's only appeared in one hockey game this season? I could be wrong, he may not have appeared in any, but after watching the Gophers toy with our defense this weekend, I'm thinking maybe it's time they give him a shot.
After watching both games in person this week, it seems to me that the Mavs would do themselves a big favor by sticking with one goaltender. Zacharias seems to be the obvious choice. I was surprised to see Tormey come back out for the third period Saturday against Minnesota after surrendering four second period goals.
The first Okposo goal from the point to tie the Saturday game seems like a situation where Tormey should have slid to his left to see who was taking the shot ... being aware of a team's best goal scorer (Okposo) and adjusting accordingly seems important.
At least two of the Friday goals against Zacharias seemed to be outside of his control.
So, the two questions: (1) Does Jutting need to pick a goaltender by the holidays? (2) Isn't it obvious that Zacharias should be the guy?
Gopher- why do you think we NEED a #1 guy? Many college hockey teams do a dual goalie system and it works well. I'm in favor of it. It'll keep both Zach and Tormey sharp.
I don't think that any team NEEDS one guy. I simply think that Zacharias is decent and Tormey is terrible. The only reason that I can drum up for playing Tormey at all is politics, which is ridiculous.
The Gophers have employed a two goalie system since I've been here (this is my fourth and final year as a proud member of the Gopher student section). It seemed like a good idea because each was roughly as good as the other so the change in style and the resulting adjustments that the opposition was forced to make made it worth it for the Gophers. This doesn't seem to be the case for the MSU tandem, as Zacharias seems to be far more talented and consistent.
Gopher- if you think Tormey is terrible you are CRAZY. He's had a rough go this year but he's got some amazing talent. Who was rookie goalie of the year a couple of years ago? Hmm...I believe that was Tormey. Every goalie goes through rough patches so lighten up.
Also, if you want to use the "terrible" word should we talk about Frazee at times?!?
I just don't see the stats that support Tormey as a viable option over Zacharias, and I especially don't see how mechanically Tormey looked anything but lost this weekend. I do admit that this weekend was the only time I've seen Tormey in person.
Frazee is another guy cut out of the Tormey mold. He has flashes of brilliance, but seems mentally "beat" if the opposition can get an early goal past him or score 2 or more in a period. Our freshman Kangas is the guy that people around here wouldlike to see more of, especially after his epic performance in a 2-1 victory over Ohio State three weekends ago. Frazee's play on Friday in Mankato was average at best.
One argument for Frazee is that he's battle tested. He was an integral part of the program that has won back-to-back McNaughton Cups and was between the pipes at the Xcel in the Final Five championship last year.
Step away from the maroon Kool-Aid.
How does Troy still have a job in this town? How many more years does Kevin allow him to run this program into the ground?
How does Kevin have a job? Isn't he ultimatly responsible for Troy? Where are the benefits we were told we'd see by selling out a home game to St. Paul 2 years ago? What did we gain there? Doesn't seem like much.
Shane, you need to step it up & ask some hard questions. Thanks to Troy a lot of us season ticket holders are really questioning why we spend $253 a ticket every year for the same old-same old.
Shane, how about looking into the "incentive clauses" in Jutting's new contract. I've heard rumors about incentives he has to meet during the next two years, but his contract should be a public record and I haven't seen a thing anywhere in the press about them.
Jutting keeps switching up the lines. Has he found any that he is satisfied with? Also is there any explination to the lackluster performance of Joel Hanson this year?
Great post by Fire Jutting - it's time that more is expected from him and this program. Today in the Free Press Jutting is quoted as saying he was mostly happy with the events of the weekend. That's crazy. He can not continue saying that his guys 'are learning'. One or two freshman might be learning. The rest of the squad is just not performing up to what should be bigger expectations. I also agree on the question about the entire program. $130,000 is a lot of money (from the game @ the X). Where did that money go? I don't see anything different in terms of marketing this team, etc. Also, the entire school needs to get behind the program to make it work. There is no band at most of the games. Wisconsin, Duluth, etc. they all have bands at the games getting the crowds going, etc. There are too many people who pat themselves on the back too much up and down this entire program.
I'm going to do the You Want Answers stuff later today (so keep the questions coming). But, to be fair, Jutting's comment on being happy about the series was a reference to the Huntsville series, not the Minnesota series. Maybe I wasn't quite clear on that in the column. I don't think he ever said he was happy about two losses to the Gophers.
Please our band sucks and they take up way to many good seats with all their cases.
OK, so it seems that the ones on here being "vocal" are not very supportive of Jutting. I get that. Lets also take this a different direction....MSU is a school, first and foremost. Could you get some of the academic information of the MSU Mens Hockey program. Graduation rates compared to other schools in the WCHA or the WCHA average. In the process, can removing the pro hockey variable that is obviously going to compramise a school like the U of M's stats no doubt.
Seems that wins and losses are not keeping him around, but other things potentially could be.
What is the status of Austin Lee this year? If he doesn't play can it be a redshirt season?
Looking at Wcha.com it says that the U had a sell out on Sat. Looking at the Tv it looked like a lot of empty seats. What's your take Shane?
The Band, someone brought up the band. I'll go one better. Have you noticed the drop off in talent of our beloved cheer squad over the years.
Now, on to something that really matters. Shane, ask Jutting if he has changed his philosphy on how he is trying to build his team. In the past, we would have a couple of blue chippers on the team and we would get 1 to 2 years of play from them before they would leave. Now, I see 5 players right out of high school on the squad who will most likely be around for 4 years. There has to be something to this.
Also, what happened to Kevin Huck. I believed he played in 20+ games the last 2 years and now he's not on the team.
Pugman- Huck didn't make grades.
Shane- I would like to know the thoughts/reasoning behind the rotating assistant captain thing this year.
RE: the band at the games -- how about at least getting somebody at the Alltel center that will play something other than church music and yodeling? The place needs something to get and keep the crowd sparked.
RE: Grad rates, grades - I think MSU's are up there pretty good. The program has had quite a few all-american/scholars I believe.
Point of info on the 'sellout' at Mariucci: all of the empty seats were bought up. Student section vacancies were an issue of a new policy only allowing the original purchaser of the student seat to use that seat (tickets couldn't be resold or lent to another student). The marketing department sold out the game, but not every seat was filled...
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