#4 Gophers vs Arizona St-- Round 2 -- Jan 21 & 22

[Kelly Red]

Another tape delay night but glad I waited to find out what happened. In the words of Ron White, FU€K YEAH!!

And hey, the double digit streak is still alive!

What a great way to start the weekend!

Parked my car at home at the very start of the ASU PP in the 3rd, 4-2 MN. I walk 3 flights of stairs to my apt, immediately turn radio on. 8-2 Gophers.
I was honestly WT

My husband went downstairs to get a beer, 2 flights, then poured it in a glass, 2 flights back up. He sits down and I said “you missed 3 goals”. He laughed and then saw the score! He was pisssssed.

Pissed he missed the goals because you didn’t pause the TV?

1) he’s an adult and perfectly capable of pressing the pause button himself...he did not
2) who the hell would expect them to score 3 times in less then 2 minutes?

[frozen4champs]

A couple of Devils did not have a great +/- series--
Kopperud -10
Sandhu -9
Jansons -9

On the flip side--
LaCombe +9
Brinkman +8
Walker +8
McLaughlin +8

[JWG]

Taking advantage of your opponent when they're struggling and handling them as you should if you're differentially better is what a good team needs to do. The Gophers did that. Great weekend for them. And big props to ASU - what a tremendous hurdle they face all season and especially right now.

[Cowgirl]

Thursday’s game is on FSN right now. It’s just 1-0 so lots to go.
And looks like Fridays game will be on right after. So if you missed it or want to relive the glory...

[Rau4SkiUMah]

After playing two different series against the Sun Devils what do people think of the possibility of them joining the Big Ten? We've seen them play everyone else, correct? Regionally, academically and hockey wise would they be the right fit?

[Cowgirl]

[thinkbui]

After playing two different series against the Sun Devils what do people think of the possibility of them joining the Big Ten? We've seen them play everyone else, correct? Regionally, academically and hockey wise would they be the right fit?

Academically they'd probably be a great fit. There's still the nagging suspicion that they're trying to start a PAC-12 Hockey Conference that could put us in an awkward position if they suddenly bolt, but with the state of athletic department finances for years to come because of the pandemic, that's not going to happen anytime soon, so they could be a good affiliate member from an academic standpoint in the meantime.

Hockeywise we'll have to see what kind of team they have after Wilson and Jansons (my new favorite player to hate) graduate. If it's free of dirty players, then my criticisms of Greg Powers would be largely moot and I think I could look at him like I saw Enrico Blasi earlier in his tenure at Miami. If he recruits more Jansons-type players...you get the idea.

[The Rube]

After playing two different series against the Sun Devils what do people think of the possibility of them joining the Big Ten? We've seen them play everyone else, correct? Regionally, academically and hockey wise would they be the right fit?

Academically they'd probably be a great fit. There's still the nagging suspicion that they're trying to start a PAC-12 Hockey Conference that could put us in an awkward position if they suddenly bolt, but with the state of athletic department finances for years to come because of the pandemic, that's not going to happen anytime soon, so they could be a good affiliate member from an academic standpoint in the meantime.

Hockeywise we'll have to see what kind of team they have after Wilson and Jansons (my new favorite player to hate) graduate. If it's free of dirty players, then my criticisms of Greg Powers would be largely moot and I think I could look at him like I saw Enrico Blasi earlier in his tenure at Miami. If he recruits more Jansons-type players...you get the idea.

What you said. I know USC was thinking about it, pre-pandemic, and I thought one other school was seriously considering it. However, schools are losing money (or at least making a LOT less) in athletic departments right now.
If no PAC12, I could see B1G accepting them. I'm rather positive that the NACHOS don't want 'em.

[frozen4champs]

Wondering if both ASU and the B1G would be willing to do a temporary agreement of say 5 years. Then they can see what happens with the Pac 12 or any other B1G schools (Illinois). It would meet both sides needs for the time being. But again, I'm not sure what agreements are the norm since the new WCHA just up and split.

[Steve MN]

Our dog often gets agitated when we jump up or yell after a goal (he’s a neurotic border collie mix). So I’ve been trying to include him in the fun by asking him to come over and give me a high five after goals. He hates having his paws touched so he would halfheartedly throw his paw at me and grumble in disgust.
I decided Thursday night I’d reward him after a goal and high five with a treat. Boy did he luck out his weekend!
He knew I had a stash of treats though and pretty much spent the entirety of both games just staring at me.

He won't always get ten goal games. Maybe try teaching him to pee on badger fans?

Knowing both Cowgirl and the dog in question... there is a very notable (and fortunate) lack of BADger fans around.

[Cowgirl]

Our dog often gets agitated when we jump up or yell after a goal (he’s a neurotic border collie mix). So I’ve been trying to include him in the fun by asking him to come over and give me a high five after goals. He hates having his paws touched so he would halfheartedly throw his paw at me and grumble in disgust.
I decided Thursday night I’d reward him after a goal and high five with a treat. Boy did he luck out his weekend!
He knew I had a stash of treats though and pretty much spent the entirety of both games just staring at me.

He won't always get ten goal games. Maybe try teaching him to pee on badger fans?

Knowing both Cowgirl and the dog in question... there is a very notable (and fortunate) lack of BADger fans around.

We do know a whioux fan however....

[thinkbui]

Wondering if both ASU and the B1G would be willing to do a temporary agreement of say 5 years. Then they can see what happens with the Pac 12 or any other B1G schools (Illinois). It would meet both sides needs for the time being. But again, I'm not sure what agreements are the norm since the new WCHA just up and split.

Could do something like that. Though as much as I want there to be an even number of teams, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have nine.

The one thing I absolutely don't want is 11 or 13. Even though growth within the B1G is just as stalled as it is in the Pac-12, the talk about adding natural rivals with Illinois has me a little concerned that our conference would grow to, say, 12 before ASU suddenly bolts leaving us with 11 teams. There are a few ways around this like attaching a requirement to reassess affiliate membership every few years like you suggest, but if there still is interest in LA in happier times after the pandemic is over, the solution might be to take in USC too, so if there's a real push for Pac-12 Hockey later on, either both ASU and USC stay or they both leave.

[Magic]

I dont endorse ASU joining the B10. Playing a series in Tempe every other year is fine though

[JWG]

I'd like us to schedule them without adding them, though I know they want a conference alignment for trophy and championship opportunities (and auto-bids). If we keep adding these types of members, someday we're going to have to kick someone out. I think 2020 may have slowed it, but at some point another B1G is adding hockey.

[Thomps]

Did College Hockey Stats send their interns to Mariucci? Lately it seems like their live box scores have been having great difficulty keeping up and looked like they just gave up trying to update on the fly after McLaughlin's second goal tonight.

The stats broadcast had issues, and college hockey news app is off for some reason. Everything was in the computer. Just wasn't getting read correctly.

[The Rube]

CHN has had issues for years. They blame it on the people reporting in, take no responsibility, etc. They are horrible. Never trust live-results CHN. Ever.

[Jupiter]

CHN has issues... But their system, like many others are all linked to the main college hockey system. So if that system has problems, they have problems. If one or more schools have problems, they have problems.

It is a large chain that can break along any point to cause issues. So yes they have issues, but many times it is out of their control.

On Friday night, the Gopher stats system stopped broadcasting for about 30min. Things like this happen and when it does... All websites and apps will display the last known bit of info that it was given.

On top of all this... Staff is very limited during Covid. So getting a problem resolved quickly is just not gonna happen.

[SkiUMahLaw]

After playing two different series against the Sun Devils what do people think of the possibility of them joining the Big Ten? We've seen them play everyone else, correct? Regionally, academically and hockey wise would they be the right fit?

Academically they'd probably be a great fit. There's still the nagging suspicion that they're trying to start a PAC-12 Hockey Conference that could put us in an awkward position if they suddenly bolt, but with the state of athletic department finances for years to come because of the pandemic, that's not going to happen anytime soon, so they could be a good affiliate member from an academic standpoint in the meantime.

Hockeywise we'll have to see what kind of team they have after Wilson and Jansons (my new favorite player to hate) graduate. If it's free of dirty players, then my criticisms of Greg Powers would be largely moot and I think I could look at him like I saw Enrico Blasi earlier in his tenure at Miami. If he recruits more Jansons-type players...you get the idea.

What you said. I know USC was thinking about it, pre-pandemic, and I thought one other school was seriously considering it. However, schools are losing money (or at least making a LOT less) in athletic departments right now.
If no PAC12, I could see B1G accepting them. I'm rather positive that the NACHOS don't want 'em.

PAC 12 has not kept pace with the B1G or SEC in terms of revenue, and lags about even with the Big 12 despite having far more population centers within their footprint. Their league office made a bunch of gambles about 10-12 years ago while the B1G was gambling on BTN that have turned into real boondoggles. Meanwhile, the B1G is flush with cash and the PAC-12 is not.

The PAC-12 just jettisoned their longtime Exec Director, so they are going to go in a different direction, but I still believe they are 5-7 years away from adding hockey en masse. Maybe if the Kraken take off in Seattle will UDub, Cal-Berkeley, and USC join ASU, but even then they still need a few more, and I don't see Colorado-Boulder, Utah, Oregon or Stanford interested.

If the B1G is going all in on playing Power 5 opponents in all sports, might as well keep ASU close to the fold.