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Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

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  • Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

    I think this weekend's series rates its own thread.

    I haven't seen the Badgers play (other than a few highlights), so I will try a quick statistical comparison.

    Advantage Wisconsin:
    1. Goaltending: there are a lot of factors that go into a low GAA, but clearly ARD is mopping up everything that gets through to her. UM goaltending has not exactly been a weakness, but it seems like there are a lot of rebounds ending up in the slot.
    2. Scoring balance: I was surprised to see how much more evenly-balanced the scoring is for the Badger forward lines 1-3 (I am making some assumptions on who is on each of the lines: 1) 19-21-26 2) 11-12-16 3) 7-25-27 ). Using +/- as an indicator of effectiveness, the three lines are +62/+44/+40.
    3. Penalty Killing: against more or less the same competition as the Gophers, the Badgers have allowed 1 goal in 47 chances. That is an unreal statistic.
    4. Gophers' penalty killing: UW is a middling 25% on the power play, but the Gophers' penalty killers are college hockey's Funhouse Mirrors: they make you look better than you really are.

    Advantage Minnesota:
    1. Power Play: I have never seen 50% for a full season, but the Gophers are on track. It will be fun to watch UM power play against UW penalty killers.
    2. First line: using my same metric (+/-) as a stand-in for line's effectiveness, the Gopher's first line (21-22-26) are combined +91, 50% better than UW's top line.

    My call: a series split. If they played 100 times, they would each win 50.

  • #2
    Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

    I would add to your Advantage Wisconsin list:
    5. Home ice

    I would feel much better about the Gophers' chances within the friendly confines of Ridder Arena.
    Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey

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    • #3
      Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

      One almost can't give enough accolades to UW, except...this will be no better than a split. Too many maroon and gold horses.
      Go Gophers!

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      • #4
        Originally posted by D2D View Post
        I would add to your Advantage Wisconsin list:
        5. Home ice

        I would feel much better about the Gophers' chances within the friendly confines of Ridder Arena.
        Plus the Gophers will undoubtedly be extremely intimidated by the band.
        Minnesota Hockey

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        • #5
          Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

          Adding to Advantage Minnesota:

          3. Recent History. The fact is that the Gophers have absolutely dominated this rivalry of late. They haven't lost to the Badgers in more than 4 years, They have won every game they've ever played at LaBahn, and not a single current Badger has ever beaten the Gophers. Minnesota is 16-0-2 in the past 18 matchups.

          This is the best Wisconsin team in years, but the talent level has been close in other years and the Badgers just haven't been able to break through.

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          • #6
            Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

            Originally posted by brookyone View Post
            Plus the Gophers will undoubtedly be extremely intimidated by the band.
            Yeah but we counter that with #13 (plus CrazyDave if he makes the trip!)
            Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey

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            • #7
              Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

              Additional advantage Gophers: #SpinYourHead
              Grant Salzano, Boston College '10
              Writer Emeritus, BC Interruption
              Twitter: @Salzano14


              Click here for the BC Interruption Pairwise, KRACH, and GRaNT Calculators

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              • #8
                Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

                Originally posted by TonyTheTiger20 View Post
                Additional advantage Gophers: #SpinYourHead
                No Goldy on the road, so no "Spin your body" or "Spin your tail" either. Just a crabby-looking Bucky whose one trick seems to be a handstand. If that gets his goalie standing on her head as well, then advantage dubya.
                "... And lose, and start again at your beginnings
                And never breathe a word about your loss;" -- Rudyard Kipling

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                • #9
                  Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

                  Originally posted by ARM View Post
                  No Goldy on the road, so no "Spin your body" or "Spin your tail" either. Just a crabby-looking Bucky whose one trick seems to be a handstand. If that gets his goalie standing on her head as well, then advantage dubya.
                  Handstand? Kindergarten-level anatomy may be hard for gophers, so I'll help you out. The head is the big thing at the top of Bucky's body that he stands on for fun. The hands are at the end of each arm. Arms are the things protruding from the upper part of Bucky's midsection, just below the head, assuming Bucky is standing up normally. There are two of them. When Bucky does his headstand, he begins with his head and both hands on the ground. You will then see him stick his hands out, with his head supporting his whole body. That's why it's a headstand, not a handstand.

                  I know that's a lot to digest at once, so don't worry about it too much for now. I realize you guys are more focused on Hooked on Phonics right now.

                  I'm not going to joke about the head-spinning stuff, because it's not fair to take cheap shots at Goldy's struggles with his dual gopher/owl identity. That has to be tough.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

                    Originally posted by WiscDC View Post
                    I'm not going to joke about the head-spinning stuff, because it's not fair to take cheap shots at Goldy's struggles with his dual gopher/owl identity. That has to be tough.
                    The fact that you could mistake that creature for a badger says pretty much all we need to know about your credibility.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

                      The Ford Keys to the Game: Special Teams

                      The game will be determined by who can stay out of the penalty box. Not only do the Gophers have an outrageous PP%, but I have never watched a team at any level that gets so many PP goals from their set plays. When a team moves the puck as well as the Gophers, even good penalty killers can't cover the extra player. If the Badgers take 47 penalties, I guarantee more than one PP goal by the Gophers.

                      On the other hand, if the Gophers' Penalty Annoyers spend a lot of time on the ice, look for lots of 'On Wisconsin' and 'Sieve'.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

                        Originally posted by Nowheresville View Post
                        Adding to Advantage Minnesota:

                        3. Recent History. The fact is that the Gophers have absolutely dominated this rivalry of late. They haven't lost to the Badgers in more than 4 years, They have won every game they've ever played at LaBahn, and not a single current Badger has ever beaten the Gophers. Minnesota is 16-0-2 in the past 18 matchups.

                        This is the best Wisconsin team in years, but the talent level has been close in other years and the Badgers just haven't been able to break through.
                        OTOH - there was a stretch before that where the badgers couldn't lose despite the Gophers having the talent. It has been an odd decade with these two. Some of the very best hockey games I can remember seeing, two really well matched clubs and really weird lopsided runs.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

                          Certainly, from 06-10, the Badgers certainly had the edge on the Gophers - although it was never quite the level of dominance that Minnesota has shown over the past 4 years.

                          My prediction, the Gophers give Wisconsin their first loss of the year on Friday. Saturday feels like a tie. However, the only thing I feel confident in is that these will be the best two hockey games I will attend this season, men or women.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

                            I'm certain of a sweep. I just don't know who will bring their brooms...
                            Grant Salzano, Boston College '10
                            Writer Emeritus, BC Interruption
                            Twitter: @Salzano14


                            Click here for the BC Interruption Pairwise, KRACH, and GRaNT Calculators

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Wisconsin-Minnesota Border Battle

                              no prediction other than I'm fairly certain I will see a couple of good games. Can't believe they only charge 3 bucks, you can't even get popcorn for that at a pro game.

                              As luck would have it, I am in Milwaukee this week working and it is working out perfectly to attend both games, I get a free night in Madison because it is on the way home. I am hoping these games are as good as the previous between these two teams, every time I think I have seen the greatest game, one better comes along. It’s like watching Liston vs. Clay or Ali vs. Frazier.
                              The first game in 2013 the Badgers were handing the Gophers their rear ends on a platter the first period, except that Leveille kept all but one out, otherwise it probably would have been 3 or 4 to nothing. But Marryanne Menefee did score a PP goal, making it 1-1 but the Gophers could barely get out of their zone. When the buzzer finally went off for the first period, I have never seen a Gopher team more happy to get off the ice. The second period was a little more even although you’d never know it looking at the shots. Advantage Badgers. But the third period the Gophers showed who was the returning championship team, the tide had slowly turned throughout the second & third periods until finally a wicked Milicia McMillen slap shot got past Alex Rigsby.
                              Last year in the NCAA semifinals the Badgers came out flying but were kept in check by the Gophers. IMO this game exceeded every other one, I can’t believe Harvard or BC could have kept pace with either team, as far as I’m concerned, this was the championship game. I hope this weekend’s games are as good.

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