OldSchoolWolverine

March 18th, 2023 at 10:32 PM ^

Our strength seems to be forechecking, as is our style of offense in that it's more dump and chase.   Minnesota moved the puck so smooth but forechecking was weak.

Portillo is good but man he scares me being out of position so often, reminds me of Mike Vernon in that regard.  I do think he needs to clean this up and play the odds with sound positioning.

Joined: 11/03/2013

MGoPoints: 27290

lhglrkwg

March 18th, 2023 at 10:11 PM ^

Lets go! If you really want to rub salt in the wound, ask your local gopher why their rink cant figure out how to install a net right. Portillo only has issues at that rink

I assume Rev King was in attendance enjoying that one!

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 87939

Terrible Ted

March 18th, 2023 at 11:45 PM ^

Amen about their inability to install a net correctly. Every time I watch a game at that rink, the net gets dislodged way too easily. Annoying as heck from a hockey fan's perspective. It was karma that it happened during a Gopher scoring chance late in the game (although Portillo made the glove save anyway). 

Joined: 12/19/2014

MGoPoints: 2174

1VaBlue1

March 19th, 2023 at 8:34 AM ^

That save was pretty nice, because you know that Portillo knew the net dislodged and the play would be blown dead.  But he kept with it and made a nice glove save on a point blank heater...  Let the rebound bounce into the slot, but his defenders were right there.

Nice officiating there in that scrum afterward, too.  No whistles - let them sort it out on the ice.  I like that.

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127097

SF Wolverine

March 18th, 2023 at 10:12 PM ^

Looked more promising as a tourney team since the Wiscy pair.  Defense improving, guys are much better formed up and blocking more shots.  Fewer and less high-quality chances for MN than we've seen most of the year.  Still like to see them squeeze opponents harder, but you've got to feel better about this team now than at the start of the tourney

Joined: 10/04/2010

MGoPoints: 24906

Sam1863

March 19th, 2023 at 3:48 PM ^

It's the eternal question: How much are you willing to pay for it?

In my experience, the sports gods never give a discount. They will get their pound of flesh, and sometimes, they'll get it on the delayed-payment plan. So when something like yesterday's collapse happens, or such things as "The spot was bad!" or "The block was clean!" or "I've never seen the punter fumble like that before!", it could very well be that we're paying for those times when we got the long end of the stick. It could be recent things like Hunter's last-second three, or past successes like Desmond's TD catch against Notre Dame, or Rumeal's two icy-calm free throws against Seton Hall. Things like that don't come for free.

Plus, we're still paying for having the best public school in the country, the most awesome colors, and the world's greatest fight song. The price for all that stuff can't be cheap.

Joined: 04/27/2014

MGoPoints: 28893

kehnonymous

March 18th, 2023 at 10:52 PM ^

Not just football and hockey, but WBB, gymnastics and who knows what else.  Obviously men's basketball is disappointing and is our second biggest sport, but to a great extent its failure this season is only magnified because of the overall excellence everywhere else.

Joined: 11/25/2011

MGoPoints: 32996

1VaBlue1

March 19th, 2023 at 8:48 AM ^

The dichotomy is that Warde's sins as an AD centered on his (perceived) treatment of Harbaugh, the Pearson thing, and the utter failure to backup his coaches are offset by the general championship vibe common across the entire department and the strong financial footing it has.  This is why he's still employed after almost losing Harbaugh and needing his boss to step in and fix it.

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127097

Rams

March 18th, 2023 at 10:24 PM ^

With Denver losing yesterday in their conference semifinals, I would hope this win moves Michigan up to at least 3 in the pairwise.

Joined: 10/31/2018

MGoPoints: 3130