Wisconsin Hockey 21-22: Your Guess Is As Good As Mine

[WiscTJK]

Stats for this week. Note: being 47th of 59 in Defense and 52nd of 59 teams in Offense is pathetic.... How can you be that bad at both ends of the ice?
Updates after the Michigan Series (L 1-5 Fri, L 2-6 Sat)

Record: 8-17-3 (4-11-1-2–16 pts, 6th in Big7 (-1))
USCHO Poll: NR; (NR)
USA Today Poll: NR; (NR)
PWR: 39 of 59; (38) (-1)
RPI: 39; (38) (-1)
KRACH: 33; (33) (n/c)
Scoring: 2.04 GPG; (2.08) (T52nd of 59) (n/c)
Defense: 3.39 GAPG; (3.23) (47^th of 59) (-4)
Save %: .900; (.904) 34^th of 59 (-6)
Power Play Rate: 16.7% (17 of 102; (17.0%); T39^th of 59 (-1)
Penalty Kill Rate: 70.67% (53 of 75); (70.59%) 58th of 59 (n/c)
Penalty Min per Game: 10.79; (9.96) 33rd of 59 (1st is worst) (-10)
Penalty Min: 302; (259) 23rd of 59 (1^st is worst) (-6)
Shorthanded Goals Scored; 3; (3) T12th of 59 (-1)
Shorthanded Goals Allowed: 2; (2) T25th of 59 (1^st is worst) (+2)
Team Faceoff: 50.7%; (50.9%) T21st of 59 (+2)

This week at OSU: Friday 6pm (BTN+) and Saturday 7 pm (BTN)

[Timothy A]

Stats for this week. Note: being 47th of 59 in Defense and 52nd of 59 teams in Offense is pathetic.... How can you be that bad at both ends of the ice?

This week at OSU: Friday 6pm (BTN+) and Saturday 7 pm (BTN)

Good point. It's not like they are sacrificing O or D to excel at O or D, somehow they are sacrificing both and excelling at neither. When Eaves was in the hot seat he fundamentally changed their forecheck, I recall some great analysis by chuck schwartz on that. I'm not necessarily and X's and O's guy, but has TG tried some other systems to cater to the team's abilities?

I will be at the women's games this weekend, so I will be spared the torment of watching, though I will dvr Saturday's game.

[WiscTJK]

Good point. It's not like they are sacrificing O or D to excel at O or D, somehow they are sacrificing both and excelling at neither. When Eaves was in the hot seat he fundamentally changed their forecheck, I recall some great analysis by chuck schwartz on that. I'm not necessarily and X's and O's guy, but has TG tried some other systems to cater to the team's abilities?

I will be at the women's games this weekend, so I will be spared the torment of watching, though I will dvr Saturday's game.

All that with 10 NHL draft picks. It's comical.

[Timothy A]

all that with 10 nhl draft picks. It's comical.

LOL. So he is able to identify talent, he just can't coach it.

[Timothy A]

Well, it's a great day for hockey. The biggest question is who starts in goal and at Watts point does TG push the yank button. Does he go down to 2 goals? Moe is the better player for sure, he's got to start the rest of the season. I have high hopes for Rowe, but last weekend he was......outta control, to quote Kramer. Predictably he looked like he was trying to do way too much and made things look harder than they were, not that he was terrible, but he lucky on numerous occasions.

I'm very excited to see the women play at night today and tomorrow. I love the night games, it feels bigtime whereas the afternoon tilts feel like after-thoughts.

[WiscTJK]

Well, it's a great day for hockey. The biggest question is who starts in goal and at Watts point does TG push the yank button. Does he go down to 2 goals? Moe is the better player for sure, he's got to start the rest of the season. I have high hopes for Rowe, but last weekend he was......outta control, to quote Kramer. Predictably he looked like he was trying to do way too much and made things look harder than they were, not that he was terrible, but he lucky on numerous occasions.

I'm very excited to see the women play at night today and tomorrow. I love the night games, it feels bigtime whereas the afternoon tilts feel like after-thoughts.

Women get shut out and men collapse in the third and overtime. 10 games under .500.

[solovsfett]

Kind of amazing that not one of the coaches realizes how they’re destroying it. Not resigning (all 3 of them) is an insult to the dwindling men’s hockey fan base.

these guys are supposed to have a love for the program. They should prove it and resign for someone else to revive and rebuild.

[srkbadger]

With the remaining schedule it is entirely possible that they will not win another game this year. When I watch them it too often looks like they have no idea what to do. They all just head to the opponent with the puck leaving several guys wide open many times throughout the game. You would think that shear natural instinct from playing all these years would over rule some of the dumb things they do. Do they have some sort of system? It's very hard to discern that they do when they run around like the keystone cops.

[WiscTJK]

Tony caught reaming the team out on TV last night. It’s pretty clear he’s lost them. 11 games under .500. 6 game losing streak. There has to be a change at the head I would think. It’s going to be a pricy buyout, but necessary.

[LordofBrewtown]

Tony caught reaming the team out on TV last night. It’s pretty clear he’s lost them. 11 games under .500. 6 game losing streak. There has to be a change at the head I would think. It’s going to be a pricy buyout, but necessary.

While agree that it may be necessary, I don't think there's any way that it happens. I'm guessing that King looks at the situation somewhat like this: this was always going to be a rebuilding year, and last year we won a regular season championship for only the 4th time in our history, and got back to the tournament. Therefore, he can't be that far off the right path, and deserves 1 or 2 rebuilding years.

I don't agree that that is the right way to evaluate things: I think at a minimum we need to make the tournament every other year, and to me its a huge problem that the team looks like they've quit/given up in a lot of games this year and in games in '19. And although from a stat perspective, our total penalty minutes are OK, and I know we've had some borderline goons in the past (Zent); it seems to me like there have been more dumb/unnecessary/goonish type plays. I also don't know why any top rated goaltender in their right mind would go anywhere he is head coach.

[GoBucky18]

I've watched every single game this year and was at the Penn St. series at Happy Valley (that and OSU are the closest ones to me until this next year), and genuinely this is end of Eaves territory we are in. After last night Im just dumbfoubded. Their defensive zone exits are incoherent at best, absolutely awful at worst, and passing is so sloppy on a continual basis. Couple that with no ability to maintain offensive zone posession and zero ability to geberate shots on goal (although 2 breakaways last night just have to be potted), and it is apparent this team has completely foundered on the rocks. I dont see them winning another regular time game this year.

However, I am going to do some research here over the next cple weeks to determine their relative SoS and opponent records in the Big10 as compared to what they faced in the WCHA. I know there are some detractors out there, but I think the Big10 is deeper than anything they faced in the WCHA which was top heavy. We need to remember a cple things: 1) College hockey talent pool was much shallower than it is now (much larger gap btwn top teams and bottom teams) 2) The modern era for NHL hockey didnt even begin until 1992 and styles of play are completely different 3) High end players rarely stay more than two yrs cpled with transfer portal make recruiting and on ice success a crapshoot.

While I understand that there are still a lot of "blue blood" teams consistently at the top, their recruiting footprint and competition needs to be considered as well. All things I would like to consider when putting together some numbers.

Anywho, at this point if Granato IS let go, the only Badger worth considering is Rohlik at OSU. That guys recruits effectively and has a final four run while bringing a team not expected to do much and really bringing them together. Other than him though, time to look outside the program.

More to come.

[Timothy A]

Well, I haven't watched the 6-2 game yet. I probably will to see with my own eyes Watts went wrong, how Rowe played and see the reaming out. If it's to that point where you are going to publicly chew your team out for everyone to hear on the ice (and maybe the whole rink), it's over. He couldn't wait until between periods?

[WiscTJK]

Well, I haven't watched the 6-2 game yet. I probably will to see with my own eyes Watts went wrong, how Rowe played and see the reaming out. If it's to that point where you are going to publicly chew your team out for everyone to hear on the ice (and maybe the whole rink), it's over. He couldn't wait until between periods?

I was listening to Posick on the radio while watching, but they clearing showed Tony letting the team have it. I don't know if any of it was audible. You'll have to let me know what the TV commentators from BTN were saying.

[WiscTJK]

Updates after the OSU Series (L 3-4 OT Fri, L 2-6 Sat)

Record: 8-19-3 (4-12-1-3–17 pts, T5th in Big7 (+1))
USCHO Poll: NR; (NR)
USA Today Poll: NR; (NR)
PWR: 36 of 59; (39) (+3)
RPI: 38; (39) (+1)
KRACH: 32; (33) (+1)
Scoring: 2.07 GPG; (2.04) (52nd of 59) (n/c)
Defense: 3.50 GAPG; (3.39) (49^th of 59) (-2)
Save %: .898; (.900) T35^th of 59 (-1)
Power Play Rate: 18.4% (20 of 109; (16.7%); 31st of 59 (+8)
Penalty Kill Rate: 70.9% (56 of 79); (70.67%) 58th of 59 (n/c)
Penalty Min per Game: 10.77; (10.79) 31st of 59 (1st is worst) (-2)
Penalty Min: 323; (302) 24^th of 59 (1^st is worst) (+1)
Shorthanded Goals Scored; 3; (3) T12th of 59 (n/c)
Shorthanded Goals Allowed: 2; (2) T25th of 59 (1^st is worst) (n/c)
Team Faceoff: 50.8%; (50.7%) T21st of 59 (n/c)

This week vs Notre Dame: Thursday 7:30 (BTN) and Friday 7 pm (Bally Sports Wisconsin)

Scoring output and defense now ranked in the bottom 11 programs of all of NCAA. Eaves last two years for comparison above:

• 2014-15 4-26-5 GPG 1.69 Rank 56 of 59; GAPG 3.69 55 of 59; 55th on PP; 57th on PK
• 2015-16 8-19-8 GPG 2.66 Rank 30 of 60; GAPG 3.63 55 of 60; 23rd on PP; 29th on PK

Some more stats of interest:

• Mike Eaves 5 losing seasons in 14 total (includes last 2 years); 7 NCAA tourneys in 14 years.
• Tony Granato 4 losing seasons in 6 years; 1 NCAA tourney in 6 years.

[Timothy A]

I don't know if any of it was audible. You'll have to let me know what the TV commentators from BTN were saying.

It would have been audible to those in a mostly empty rink at least.