Wisconsin Women's Hockey 2022-2023

[Timothy A]

Colgate will not sell out for women, no problems getting a ticket, unless Wisco brings a thousand fans.

WI travels well. Millions of alumni out east. Let's go RED!

[Hockeybuckeye]

WI travels well. Millions of alumni out east. Let's go RED!

Except you don't seem to travel Timothy, at least never to Columbus but maybe it's just your fear of the Muzzinator that keeps you away? LOL!!!!

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

WI travels well. Millions of alumni out east. Let's go RED!

The reality is for certain men's sports, yes... For women's hockey? Not so much.

Hey, the Sinner men's hockey team has a head coach opening... That should make you happy.

[robertearle]

The reality is for certain men's sports, yes... For women's hockey? Not so much.

Hey, the Sinner men's hockey team has a head coach opening... That should make you happy.

No, it doesn't.

I just posted over on the men's side of the forum that I happened to bump into Tony twice over the last few years, entirely outside of any 'hockey' context, and ended up having a few minute conversation each time, also entirely unrelated to hockey, and what a nice guy he was.

Great Badger player, great Badger family. But his tenure coaching didn't work out well. Nothing at all to celebrate about that. It saddens me.

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Nothing at all to celebrate about that. It saddens me.

I think if I followed the Tunnelers men's team I would also be saddened by this news...TIC.

[ARM]

The reality is for certain men's sports, yes... For women's hockey? Not so much.

I attended the 2009 Frozen Four in Boston, and there were a lot of Badger fans there. Once you have to travel over a certain distance, like 1,000 miles, no women's hockey fanbase is going to show in too large numbers. Especially for a case like this, where even hardcore fans like Timothy will say, "If they get to the Frozen Four, maybe I'll drive to Duluth." There are too few TTTs in the world.

[robertearle]

The Wisconsin - LIU game just started showing up on the ESPN-Plus schedule for Thursday (as did the Colgate vs whoever and Yale - Northeastern game for Saturday). No indication of free vs. subscription.

[wiscolorado]

The Wisconsin - LIU game just started showing up on the ESPN-Plus schedule for Thursday (as did the Colgate vs whoever and Yale - Northeastern game for Saturday). No indication of free vs. subscription.

The implication here is that it won't be available on B1G+, correct?

[robertearle]

The implication here is that it won't be available on B1G+, correct?

This quarterfinal weekend, the TV/streaming rights stays with the host school's provider. That is, games at Ohio State and Minnesota will be on BTN-Plus (though they don't show on the schedule there yet). ESPN has the streaming rights for ECAC games, so games played at Colgate will be on ESPN-Plus, etc. (as will Yale-Northeastern).

No, the UW game(s) will not be on BTN-Plus.

[Patricio]

I admit to being pessimistic about the Badgers advancing beyond this weekend, largely due to their continuing problems with the power play and sloppy passing that gets them pinned in their zone for extended lengths of time. Improvement in their anemic PP certainly would be welcome, but the sloppy passing is of greater concern since it has contributed significantly to yielding goals late in games - especially against strong teams. In fact, I believe that had they been more efficient at clearing their zone, they very well could have swept the last 5 games against MN and OSU and not experienced a 5-game losing streak before that. But, unless MJ has an epiphany of some kind on the way to Hamilton, the season probably will end there. Getting to Hamilton is my sole source of optimism.

On another issue, I still remain puzzled by the changes in the F lines following the Quinnipiac weekend. I thought the top 2 lines had been doing well, that the 3^rd line was fine but would benefit from LEdwards getting more active/aggressive, and the 4^th line was improved over last year’s. Basically, I thought the chemistry of the lines was fine. After the change, Edwards did improve considerably, but I am not convinced moving her to the line with Compher and Kurl was required to accomplish this, wonder why it would not have been possible simply via coaching her to become more active on the existing line configuration. Moreover, I think the production of all of the other players involved (SS, Compher, Kurl, OB, Wheeler, and Eden) dropped off considerably albeit with occasional, brief spurts – not because they didn’t continue to play hard, but the new line configurations never seemed to jell well. But, that is history and the question will go unanswered.

However, next year does look promising, and the team should be fun to watch. Hell, perhaps by then MJ will have had that epiphany and the PP, passing, and zone exit will be much better. As for specific items on my watch list:

• I expect the D pairings to be settled from the first games: Harvey-Jungels, Helgesen-Kotlowski, and Potter-Murphy. In fact, I think Potter-Murphy may be a mirror image of Harvey-Jungels with Murphy in the role of Harvey. I would like to see Toft remain because I believe she did show signs of improvement this year and would prove to be a reliable respite for the other Ds or even a fulltime player in the event of another injury to one of the other Ds..
• The one F line I expect to see is Simms-Eden-Enright. Eden struggled after the line changes, but I think this threesome will be a major force before next season is very far along. Simms was the best Yr1 F in my view, and I believe she soon will prove to be a dominant F in the conference. Eden also should benefit from playing on a line with 2 others of similar style – namely speed, aggressiveness, and ability to create opportunities for linemates. Enright started to emerge with a similar style late in the season, and she should prove to be very solid as well.
• I am unsure about the makeup of the other 3 lines. I see Kurl-Laila, and OB-Wheeler, and Woz-Picard as the starting points for these lines, but lack enough info about the incoming Fs to do more than speculate how they will fit in. That said, I think Hall could be a logical choice for the line with OB and Wheeler due to her speed and offensive bent. As for LE-Kurl, Vasseur is possible since she played with LE in high school for several years and may be familiar with leveraging her style of play. That would leave Woz-Picard-Gorbatenko as the 4^th line. Gorbatenko played well in the U18s this past summer, comes from a strong program, and has great size so her presence could influence the line configs once the team is together, and the coaches can experiment with line configurations - especially if she plays with speed and a high degree of assertiveness.
• For goalie, I anticipate that Gervais will be No 1 at the start of the season. McNaughton comes in as highly regarded so she should see playing time, the amount to be influenced by how well Gervais plays. I spent a little time observing Baker during pregame warmups and view her as having good quickness and positioning. I would like to see her in some game situations – at least against weaker teams to begin with – to get a firmer idea about what she may bring to the table.

Finally, there is next year’s WCHA competition.

• OSU loses Bizal, Rosenthal, Jaques, Maltais, and Levis. Significant losses, but Muzerall recruits and develops players well so they will remain tough.
• MN loses Heise (thank god), Zumwinkle, Skaja, Ostertag, and Boreen. Losses similar to OSU’s, but they retain Vetter and also recruit well which means business as usual to an extent.
• Duluth will graduate eight players including Hughes, Bell, Flaherty, and Soderberg, so they will be in rebuilding mode. This perhaps means they will be less tough, but they still will not be a pushover.
• All 3 have excellent coaches who are capable of leveraging any weaknesses in opponents to their advantage, and the StC coach is starting to join the chorus. Ergo, it will behoove Bucky not to take anything for granted.

This may be my last hurrah until next fall unless Bucky pulls off the upset this weekend and finds itself looking at a nice end to a tough season with a return to Duluth. I have enjoyed the forum and look forward to returning. Thanks to everyone who has put up with my ramblings. And my apologies for the length of this one.

[wiscolorado]

This quarterfinal weekend, the TV/streaming rights stays with the host school's provider. That is, games at Ohio State and Minnesota will be on BTN-Plus (though they don't show on the schedule there yet). ESPN has the streaming rights for ECAC games, so games played at Colgate will be on ESPN-Plus, etc. (as will Yale-Northeastern).

No, the UW game(s) will not be on BTN-Plus.

Bummer. I suppose I will shell out ten bucks for ESPN+ so I can watch this weekend's games.

[robertearle]

Bummer. I suppose I will shell out ten bucks for ESPN+ so I can watch this weekend's games.

I double-checked my credit card statements from last year to see what I did and didn't have to pay for. Last year Wisconsin was playing at Northeastern, a Hockey East school. Hockey East is normally streamed by NESN, so I looked to see if I had a charge for NESN. No, nothing there. I think - like the BTN-Plus games - those NESN/Hockey East games were streamed for free.

But there was a charge for $8 for ESPN, dated March 18th. That was the date of the 'Frozen Four' semi-final games, not the quarterfinals week. I think that tells me that last year, even the national semis streamed on ESPN were not streamed free. So the 'good news' is you/we pay the $10 this week, we're already set for next week and the semis (whether UW is there or not).

[vicb]

I double-checked my credit card statements from last year to see what I did and didn't have to pay for. Last year Wisconsin was playing at Northeastern, a Hockey East school. Hockey East is normally streamed by NESN, so I looked to see if I had a charge for NESN. No, nothing there. I think - like the BTN-Plus games - those NESN/Hockey East games were streamed for free.

But there was a charge for $8 for ESPN, dated March 18th. That was the date of the 'Frozen Four' semi-final games, not the quarterfinals week. I think that tells me that last year, even the national semis streamed on ESPN were not streamed free. So the 'good news' is you/we pay the $10 this week, we're already set for next week and the semis (whether UW is there or not).

ECAC and Hockey East games were streamed on ESPN+ this season. Although I did not see the HE Championship game being streamed on ESPN+

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

ECAC and Hockey East games were streamed on ESPN+ this season. Although I did not see the HE Championship game being streamed on ESPN+

Had to go to ESPNU for that...

[Timothy A]

Well, sadly I want to be able to watch the game on Thursday night. I have a commitment elsewhere that night that must be met. I will be able to have my phone up and be checking twitter. I just can't scream "yes!" When they score. Hopefully the game's over after the first period. They can't let these guys hang around and then lose on a fluke goal or something like that.