Wisconsin Badgers 2020-2021

[robertearle]

Of interest to Badger fans (and others) who might not be listening or watching the BTN Plus stream, and news to me - per Brian Posick:

- WCHA tournament seedings (I assume standing and regular season championship) will be determined simply by win-loss percentage; no standings points, or points per game or any other scheme. Just win-loss percent.

- Buchbinder had hip surgery over the summer; is back and playing today (and looking a little slow to me)

- Brand new Badger Lacey Eden was listed as the 'extra' forward, got a couple shifts with the first line when Sophie Shirley was shaken up after a hard hit (she returned), and then Eden played some more in the third line sport that has been Greig and Posick and others? She looked good!

[robertearle]

Of interest to Badger fans (and others) who might not be listening or watching the BTN Plus stream, and news to me - per Brian Posick:

- WCHA tournament seedings (I assume standing and regular season championship) will be determined simply by win-loss percentage; no standings points, or points per game or any other scheme. Just win-loss percent.

- Buchbinder had hip surgery over the summer; is back and playing today (and looking a little slow to me)

- Brand new Badger Lacey Eden was listed as the 'extra' forward, got a couple shifts with the first line when Sophie Shirley was shaken up after a hard hit (she returned), and then Eden played some more in the third line sport that has been Greig and Posick and others? She looked good!

And now Brian Posick is correcting himself - standings and seeding will be "points percentage"; points won as a percent of points available.

[D2D]

Of interest to Badger fans (and others) who might not be listening or watching the BTN Plus stream, and news to me - per Brian Posick:

- WCHA tournament seedings (I assume standing and regular season championship) will be determined simply by win-loss percentage; no standings points, or points per game or any other scheme. Just win-loss percent.

Was corrected to POINTS percentage. Gophers well on top with 24 points.

[Hockeybuckeye]

Gophers well on top with 24 points.

That could change dramatically depending on who's hot down the stretch with the Gophers having 2 more besides this weekend against Wisconsin and 4 against Ohio State.

[robertearle]

Was corrected to POINTS percentage. Gophers well on top with 24 points.

But not "points". "Points percentage".

Minn has 24 points out of 27 possible. 24 divided by 27 gets you .889

Wisconsin 13 of 18, or .722

Ohio State 14 of 24, or .583

etc

[Offsides Guy]

And now Brian Posick is correcting himself - standings and seeding will be "points percentage"; points won as a percent of points available.

Has the WCHA said yet how many teams will be invited to the tournament? I believe earlier in the year there was talk of only the top four teams going this season. It'd be great if they could do it like years' past with at least 6 teams.

[robertearle]

Has the WCHA said yet how many teams will be invited to the tournament? I believe earlier in the year there was talk of only the top four teams going this season. It'd be great if they could do it like years' past with at least 6 teams.

I do not know that answer.

---------------

Now after today. Minn has 24 of 30 possible points, an .800 'percentage'; UW 16 of 21, or .762

[robertearle]

Now after today. Minn has 24 of 30 possible points, an .800 'percentage'; UW 16 of 21, or .762

And just now, the WCHA standings page at their web site has added a "points %' column to the standings.

[ARM]

If the WCHA wants it to be fair with their lopsided schedule, it would have to be "points percentage for each of the six opponents, summed." That way, if you played SCSU and won a dozen times, you could still only count 1.000 for your percentage versus the Huskies. If the Gophers go 0-fer against UW, then it would be 1.000 + 0.000 for those two. As it is, if they play "extra" games against SCSU, then that series is weighted unfairly.

[Timothy A]

I'm glad the standings has more clarity now, though the fairness seems to be a bit questionable per ARM's point.

Isn't there a baseball announcer who has a famous saying something like "I can't believe what I just saw?!"? Maybe MJ cracked the code with this year's team during the week. We will find out today as once is a fluke, twice is a pattern. UW looked nothing like they did last weekend. I was and still am quite shocked at yesterday's outcome.

Blair is outstanding. She is very ARD like in that she loves to get the puck up the ice like a 3rd D. She is quick, has great instincts and always is in the right spot.

Eden looks really good. She is strong on the puck and along the boards, being 5-8 helps a lot. That is where O'B and Web struggle being smaller players. They have not yet channeled their inner Mauermann. I wish they would have got a chance to play with her and seen her be a physically dominant small player in person. I did see improvement out of those 2 in regards to this yesterday vs the OSU series.

Edwards 7 and Lamantia 5 had 12 blocks total. That is outstanding and could very well have been the difference in the game right there. If one of those gets in the net for MN in the first 38 minutes of the game it could have been a whole different story. MN had 8 total blocks.

Great to see Buchbinder back and great to see Kotlowski getting regular ice time and be in the top pair, pretty impressive for someone who didn't play at all last year. Her redshirt year seems to be paying huge dividends. Some of our D are small as well, I like her size as well, though UW has proven over the years that in the women's game, speed and technique trump size. Size does help along the boards in the D zone though on those 5050 battles. As Buchbinder gets her sea legs I wonder if the D pairs change.

Also impressed with Posick's development as well on the speed front. She just keeps getting better every year.

MN will play a lot better today, it's going to be a battle royal.

[robertearle]

If the WCHA wants it to be fair with their lopsided schedule, it would have to be "points percentage for each of the six opponents, summed." That way, if you played SCSU and won a dozen times, you could still only count 1.000 for your percentage versus the Huskies. If the Gophers go 0-fer against UW, then it would be 1.000 + 0.000 for those two. As it is, if they play "extra" games against SCSU, then that series is weighted unfairly.

Much like the Pairwise does with the 'common opponent' part of the comparisons. Only...

What if all the opponents aren't 'common'?

What do you do if, for example, Wisconsin's one and only series against Bemidji gets wiped out by COVID? Give Wisconsin a 1.0 because they probably would have won? Give them a zero because 'too bad, so sad'? Split the baby and give them 0.5?

(we quickly head down the road of a "WCHA Pairwise ranking" to decide things. NOBODY wants that! :-) )

It's a messed up year. Likely no matter what they do, somebody - probably with some justification - is going to feel like they got screwed. Oh, well.

[Timothy A]

Well well, what an interesting turn of events. The difference in the series was that MN's transition D is terrible. I don't think UW scored a single goal off of sustained pressure. UW got leaky once and paid the price. The penalty that lead to the rodent ppg was a dumb one but at least she got her money's worth on the crosscheck. I hated seeing the wrap around get through. It was great to see UW survive 2 rodent comebacks that tied twice and then they kept true to the process and it paid off.

11 goals on the weekend was a record for UW against the rodents. I never would have dreamed getting double Culvers off UMN Twin Cities.

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Well well, what an interesting turn of events. The difference in the series was that MN's transition D is terrible.

It was there to see plain as day. That has been an issue all year.

[D2D]

It was there to see plain as day. That has been an issue all year.

"You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, know when to run."

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

"You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, know when to run."

RIP

The Gambler