Wisconsin Hockey 20-21 Give Us A Reason To Believe

[burd]

Watching Mankato last night dismantle the Goofers, its clear that team hockey using a defensive system wins games. He is the guy I wanted after Eaves and I was made fun of by WiskoMcBadgerton. That was a thing of beauty last night. He is the winningest coach since 2017 to present and hasn't had one season under .500 since he took over 9 years ago.....(they were under .500 nine of ten years before with Jutting)....

They have done very well, but be careful making historical comparisons without considering the conferences they play in. The new WCHA is fine, but it ain't the old one. He sure gets his kids to play hard, though.

[gwhinwi]

In January of 2000 I was at the Herb to see Hukalo sink the Sioux on successive nights with almost identical overtime goals. My team lost both nights, but it was one of the most exciting weekends of regular season hockey I've seen. The atmosphere was electric. A lot of talent on the Badger team, most obviously Heatley, but I found myself coveting Reinprecht the most. He just knew the ice and made everyone around him better.

That team was unbelievable. The Kohl Center was absolutely rocking those years. Man, I miss that.

That 2000 team loss is the one that still bothers me to this day.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Nope. I don't see it. I doubt we will see the solid defensive play and great goaltending..... "Opportunistic" is a good way of saying they will struggle to score goals and they will..... I want to be positive, but I am not seeing it.

Here’s what has to happen for them to succeed next year:

• No more relapsing into a Granato defense. Or like… IDK replace Granato with someone who cares about something other than top line scoring and being angry at his goalies?
• Secondary scoring needs to step up in a big way. We need marked improvement (like at least 30% on aggregate) from the entire non-first line crew, specifically:
  • Ahcan (9G 13A 26GP)
  • Gorniak (6-7, 31)
  • Mersch (3-4, 27)
  • Lindmark (4-13, 27)
  • dSP (2-6, 31)
  • Stagne (6-1, 29)
• Ceulemans and Laatsch need to live up to hype. Quickly.
• Uh… TPB comes back on his COVID bonus year of eligibility? Failing this, Granato needs to take advantage of the surplus of players in the transfer portal and get some good, experienced players to fill in on defense and our 2-4 lines. Need physicality, scoring depth, and defensive responsibility (aka work ethic).

[burd]

That team was unbelievable. The Kohl Center was absolutely rocking those years. Man, I miss that.

I miss them being in the same conference along with the rodents.

But we move on . . . .

[Timothy A]

Yes, Kato and BSU prove a D first team can do very well. MSU tries to be that, though they are not very good. It would have been interesting to see how UM would have done in relation to the other conferences in the tourney. I'd like to go back and watch a few BSU games to see how their opponents dealt with the trap. MN and UW proved that the B16 style is easily defeated by great N zone D.

I think Stange, dSPh and Gorniac are going to have great years next year. Lindmark needs to emerge as a scorer. Urdahl, Morrison and Malmquist are intriguing, they all bring plenty of experience to the table.

It would be interesting if TBP came back, but he kinda disappeared at the end of the year. I don't know Watts to make of it.

The play of the D can improve since Peltonen and Kehrer were rookies on D and played big minutes and played well for the most part. These guys being able to consistently clamp down the opposing F is critical. Ceulemans being > Inamoto will also be important. Hopefully Laatsch is > than Volicky also. Emberson is solid.

Rowe will be fine in goal. Will Grannan be able to push him? Not that he needs to be pushed to improve.

[solovsfett]

Watching Mankato last night dismantle the Goofers, its clear that team hockey using a defensive system wins games. He is the guy I wanted after Eaves and I was made fun of by WiskoMcBadgerton. That was a thing of beauty last night. He is the winningest coach since 2017 to present and hasn't had one season under .500 since he took over 9 years ago.....(they were under .500 nine of ten years before with Jutting)....

Given his track record in the last few years I can’t disagree with you. I don’t think Wisko appreciated my posts either

[solovsfett]

In January of 2000 I was at the Herb to see Hukalo sink the Sioux on successive nights with almost identical overtime goals. My team lost both nights, but it was one of the most exciting weekends of regular season hockey I've seen. The atmosphere was electric. A lot of talent on the Badger team, most obviously Heatley, but I found myself coveting Reinprecht the most. He just knew the ice and made everyone around him better.

I was there for the Saturday night game. It was electric. 2 powerhouse programs with a ton of talent going at it like it was playoff hockey.

reinprecht is the best stick handler I’ve seen on the badgers going back to 85. There were games where the gophers or st could d were pylons you him.

[digitalbooya]

Nope. I don't see it. I doubt we will see the solid defensive play and great goaltending..... "Opportunistic" is a good way of saying they will struggle to score goals and they will..... I want to be positive, but I am not seeing it.

Why?

[burd]

I was there for the Saturday night game. It was electric. 2 powerhouse programs with a ton of talent going at it like it was playoff hockey.

reinprecht is the best stick handler I’ve seen on the badgers going back to 85. There were games where the gophers or st could d were pylons you him.

I would not have seen him play as much as you or other Badger fans, but he could destabilize defenses like few others I've seen. One thing I remember him being especially good at was entering the zone with the puck and one or two others, and instead of shooting, trying to get a pass to a covered player or breaking to the net, he'd put on the brakes and hold the puck or turn back up along the blue line and dish it from there. Other players do this but he just had the timing and vision to do it better. Must have driven Dmen crazy. Even as a Sioux fan, it was hard not to like him. Winchester? Different story.

[WiscTJK]

Why?

Because other than a nice streak in the middle of this season, in 5 years of Granato we haven’t seen it.

[solovsfett]

Scott Sandelin? He made the NCAAs once in his first eight years and four times in his first 14 years. As a reference, Granato is right along that track record to start his college coaching career. It took Sandelin 15 years to build his dynasty. Do you have that kind of patience?

As for building blocks, I think that Granato learned this year that defense is hella important. Listen to the bench every time they blocked a shot. Such a simple thing and this was the first year where it felt like defense was a main focus. This year they were 16th for defense as opposed to 58th the prior year. PK was 8th instead of 53rd the year prior. There were improvements made to things other than MORE GOALZZZ.

Hot take: This team will make the NCAAs next year with their solid defensive play, great goaltending, and their opportunistic goal scoring.

Sandelin has 3 NCAA titles in the last 10 years including the LAST 2 and is in the FF again. Wisconsin has but 1 title in 30 years. Trust me, we’ve gone over this argument ad Infinitum with gopher fans. I don’t care about the playoff appearances, league or league playoff titles. The only thing that matters is the NCAA title.

[solovsfett]

I would not have seen him play as much as you or other Badger fans, but he could destabilize defenses like few others I've seen. One thing I remember him being especially good at was entering the zone with the puck and one or two others, and instead of shooting, trying to get a pass to a covered player or breaking to the net, he'd put on the brakes and hold the puck or turn back up along the blue line and dish it from there. Other players do this but he just had the timing and vision to do it better. Must have driven Dmen crazy. Even as a Sioux fan, it was hard not to like him. Winchester? Different story.

Yep. Rhino had a high hockey IQ. He was noticeable from his first game as a great player.

winchester...I just never saw it. He was a legacy guy and I’m glad he came but he was fairly average and took a lot of dumb penalties.

[digitalbooya]

Sandelin has 3 NCAA titles in the last 10 years including the LAST 2 and is in the FF again. Wisconsin has but 1 title in 30 years. Trust me, we’ve gone over this argument ad Infinitum with gopher fans. I don’t care about the playoff appearances, league or league playoff titles. The only thing that matters is the NCAA title.

Try winning one without sound defensive hockey. Oh wait, you believe sound defense is a "pansy way to play":

Trap hockey is a pansy way to play. Open up the jets or get out.

[gwhinwi]

It just needs to be said that the real victim of this season is me trying to find any clue as to how to get the recruiting spreadsheets right with all of the players coming in and going out.

"Won't someone please think of gwhinwi?!?"

[Timothy A]

It just needs to be said that the real victim of this season is me trying to find any clue as to how to get the recruiting spreadsheets right with all of the players coming in and going out.

"Won't someone please think of gwhinwi?!?"

No She-it! I made my copy of yours a few months ago, but I am not changing anything until things settle down. This is just nuts. And on the women's side it's a train-wreck of no info/some info too.

I find it very puzzling that Holloway has not signed with the Oilers yet. Could his injury be such that he's out of action until the summer when the pros are not playing? Would that open the door for his return to WI? One thing that cannot be over-looked is his faceoff w/l single handedly turned UW's numbers from awful to good.