The Gophers' early-season quest for the kind of end-to-end consistency a top-ranked team must exhibit on a regular basis continues to be a work-in-progress. After overcoming two Minnesota State leads and mounting a 3-2 win over the Mavericks in Minneapolis on Friday night the Gophers dropped the Saturday rematch in Mankato, 5-3 -- including an empty net goal.
What's happening here?
With loads of talent, 15 NHL draft picks and no significant injuries Minnesota has been ranked number one or two every week since the season began. But a lack of consistency -- especially early in the game -- has cost the Gophers a number of chances to do what a top-ranked team ought to do: not simply defeat but dominate its opponents.
A moving target: Granted, every team will play the best game in its arsenal against Minnesota. It has always been thus. Which makes execution and, most importantly, decision-making critical in the early going. The Gophers cannot continue to either fall behind or offer up scoring chances in the first two periods and expect to win regularly.
Are changes brewing? No. Don't look for Don Lucia and Mike Guentzel to make cataclysmic lineup changes or bench key players. That signals a lack of faith from the top down, which can seriously harm a team. They're college students, after all, which Minnesota hockey fans can sometimes forget. It is time for a number of players to look in the mirror. And in the case of one or two, stop even thinking about the national rankings and just play hockey.
The old phrase "Take care of the defense and the offense will take care of itself" is as true as ever. The Gophers have a staggering load of talent up front but they can't continue to play catch-up against lower-ranked teams. As always, the basics are what will kill you or cure you -- specifically: short, low-risk passes in the defensive zone; clearing the zone in one or two passes without trying to bust a home run out to a streaking forward in the neutral zone; and coming back quickly on the back check.
Decision-making in seemingly routine situations is the key to this team's future success.
It's not "early" anymore: Calendar-wise, it's a lengthy season from October to April. But there are only 36 games -- and eight have been played. Meaning the regular season is nearly a quarter of the way gone. A sense of urgency is needed now. Look for it to happen very quickly.
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