So much for the state of Hockey, both the Golden Gophers Men's Hockey Team and the Minnesota Wild have eroded away towards the last weeks of their respective seasons. Perhaps I can speculate and come up with a few hypotheses for why this is such difficult reality to fathom and swallow.
Bad enough the Gopher Men's Hockey team couldn't get past the Anchorage Seawolves in the WCHA tournament, they couldn't even muster a strong enough regular season to merit consideration for the NCAAs. Simply put, they simply didn't cut it this year. Hard to see a program that is as prolific as this one be as mediocre as it has been the past couple of seasons.
There are a few arguments that explain their mediocrity. One is that, there is not enough stability with the great players that enter into this program, because there are usually one and done (pros after this season). I agree, that this can have an impact on a program's year to year consistency. But if you go out and recruit (like the U of M does) the "best of the best" you must know exactly what kind of situation that you are getting yourself into. Lucia, and his staff should be cognizant of this and try to maximize some of these great players strengths.
One more argument is that after a period of supreme greatness, the law of averages, must come to bear. Don Lucia has had a remarkable run of greatness with the years he had with Vanek and Potulny that led to multiple national championships. Such a run of greatness with recruiting and coaching can only last so long. Vanek a international recruit and Potulny from North Dakota were benchmarks for a great program. It might simply be too much to ask Lucia to get recruits this great on a consistent basis while at the same time keeping them around the program.
Hopefully Lucia can figure it out before too long.
Now on to our beloved Wild. Boy, if last night's attendance was any indication, the last few home games only characterize the disappointment this fan base has with the team.
They've struggled no question. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the Wild were solidly in contention for one of the last 3 playoff spots in the Western Conference. Now after a string of losses that culminated with a 3-0 loss last night against Toronto, this latest stretch only punctuates a disappointing culmination for the Wild this season.
So what went wrong? Certainly a lack of scoring throughout the season has been an issue. Without any real scoring threats the team has struggled to 14th in the conference in goals scored. Can't win if you don't put it in the net.
Former coach Jacques Lemaire had teams that were characterized by low scoring games and winning with defense and goaltending. That ended up not working out, where he finished no higher than 6th in the conference overall in any of his several seasons in Minnesota.
Well Todd Richards replaced the legend Lemaire and was posited to help bring the Wild out of the doldrums. Up until late, he was able to win with many of the same ways that Lemaire was. But eventually, you cannot overcome a lack of scoring. Defense does win championships, but you can't win without some viable scoring options that complement a strong defense.
So what is it? Front office? Marquee free agents not wanting to come here? Who knows? All I know is that with the revenue that the team generates from merchandising and tickets and a VERY VERY loyal fan base, the team needs to do better in the future. Or else the fans loyalty will stretch beyond this year's late season swoon.
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