Wisconsin Women's Hockey 2022-2023

[Timothy A]

Also wanted to do a quick blurb on UW's goaltending. I have not seen anything from either goalie that give me any reason for concern. I wasn't thrilled with the goal Gervais allowed against BSU, I'm not sure how that snuck through.

[Patricio]

I didn’t mean to ignore Bucky’s D with my last post. But I am satisfied with how it has been looking. KK clearly is a player with the full range of skills – speed, agility, fluid skating, crisp shots, general ice awareness. After a relatively slow start, LaMantia has returned to form. The two add considerable offensive punch to the Badgers.

Buchbinder provides stability, and both Edwards and Kotlowski remain very reliable. The one issue is who will emerge as the 6^th D. Jungels has been slow to develop to a level consistent with the expectations form her high school career, but she has become more active recently. Helgesen did not play much last year but has played more in recent games and I think she is showing growth in the quality of her play. So, I am expecting the D soon will be able to field 3 strong lines consistently.

Goal tending is more difficult for me to judge. The level of competition simply has not been sufficient to provide an adequate test of how they may perform against opponents of high quality. But we are about to find answers to that question.

As for Timothy A’s question about the BSU goal against Gervais, it looked to me like she did not have her pads squeezed together which left the 5-hole open slightly. Otherwise, she played well, had some nice stops.

By chance, has anyone learned why Harvey goes by KK?

[Timothy A]

Goal tending is more difficult for me to judge. The level of competition simply has not been sufficient to provide an adequate test of how they may perform against opponents of high quality. But we are about to find answers to that question.

They are practicing against world class Olympic shooters, have saved breakaways and, less 1, stopped every stoppable shot and no "Mankato Meltdown". I get your point, I'm just enjoying more red Kool aide.

My bigger concern is their D zone and transition D has not been stressed virtually at all. That may lead to putting Kronish in a less than desirable spot in game 1 until they acclimate to playing a team with similar speed and creativity. Once they acclimate, I don't have any concerns. This is also where a few ppg's can make up for some oops D play.

I hope they roll the top 5 D and Helgeson gets to watch for most of the time. The last BSU game she did ok, but she likes to take it back to buy more time instead of getting the puck up ice quickly. Then they get on her and she turns it over. UMD will be at a whole new level of pressure. I'd trust Jungels with an experience partner.

[NMH]

It was ridiculous. She's retired and as an opponent, I am thinking "thank goodness we don't have to play her ever again" (naturally her personal healthy being very important to all), and then she's back like a like some dude wheedling a chainsaw at the end of a horror movie for a couple more decapitations. Looking through the lense of 2022, she has played a ton of high level hockey since then, and I do believe remained healthy, so the retirement was very premature. Naturally there's also the Kessel family being traitors to the U and state, that rub will never go away. Amanda is one of the most talented female players to be raised in WI, her and Decker and Rigsby are probably the top 3. Phil is up there too on the men's side. Why did you hate us Kessel family?

I once told Brad Frost that I blamed Phil for Amanda being a Gopher. He laughed at me.

[NMH]

I didn’t mean to ignore Bucky’s D with my last post. But I am satisfied with how it has been looking. KK clearly is a player with the full range of skills – speed, agility, fluid skating, crisp shots, general ice awareness. After a relatively slow start, LaMantia has returned to form. The two add considerable offensive punch to the Badgers.

Buchbinder provides stability, and both Edwards and Kotlowski remain very reliable. The one issue is who will emerge as the 6^th D. Jungels has been slow to develop to a level consistent with the expectations form her high school career, but she has become more active recently. Helgesen did not play much last year but has played more in recent games and I think she is showing growth in the quality of her play. So, I am expecting the D soon will be able to field 3 strong lines consistently.

Goal tending is more difficult for me to judge. The level of competition simply has not been sufficient to provide an adequate test of how they may perform against opponents of high quality. But we are about to find answers to that question.

As for Timothy A’s question about the BSU goal against Gervais, it looked to me like she did not have her pads squeezed together which left the 5-hole open slightly. Otherwise, she played well, had some nice stops.

By chance, has anyone learned why Harvey goes by KK?

As hypothesized earlier, a sibling could not say her name as a child.

[Timothy A]

I once told Brad Frost that I blamed Phil for Amanda being a Gopher. He laughed at me.

It's always the mom.

[Timothy A]

The games are on the radio 1070 this weekend and on CW 15 if you have an antenna, which I do in the travel trailer. I will be fishing but able to see the last period or a bit more.

[Gargoyle]

As hypothesized earlier, a sibling could not say her name as a child.

Thank you, NMH. (I win some kind of prize for guessing the answer but points are deducted for misspelling her name.)

[BadgerPete]

Maggie Scannell commits to Wisconsin this morning. Another big 2024 piece coming to LaBahn.

[robertearle]

Maggie Scannell commits to Wisconsin this morning. Another big 2024 piece coming to LaBahn.

Good news. She must have enjoyed her visit in June.

[Steamboat]

Seems unlikely that Wisconsin will be ranked No. 1 next week.

[ARM]

Seems unlikely that Wisconsin will be ranked No. 1 next week.

Maybe they have Mike Lindell working on it.

[Patricio]

An interesting weekend – almost 2 wins. Major negative for me was team still struggles at times clearing its zone as passing gets erratic under pressure. Maybe they can develop some options to improve this situation during their two-week break.
On the plus side:

• Both goalies played well, and we look to be in good shape in goal going forward.
• Eden definitely comes to play, and she has elevated her level from her first year. She is intense and a constant threat to score.
• Harvey continues to meet expectations.
• All 4 F lines played significant minutes which should pay dividends as the season progresses. I also like it since it makes the significance of the contributions of the 4^th line to the team clear and rewards them for their efforts.
• LE was noticeably more active and seemed to be more comfortable. I am anxious to see her finally begin to get in positions from which she can fire her slap and snap shots. Once she does, the offense should become more potent.

So, on to MN in 3 weeks. I hope the two-week hiatus does not set back the progress made so far. Practice is different from actual games.

On a different topic, I would like to hear Compher explain what she was doing to get that major penalty and game disqualification. It looked like some kind of slash, but I have never seen anything like it on a goalie before. That could have been very costly.

Finally. OSU’s field hockey season must be over because Webster is back on the ice. She scored a goal and 2 assists in yesterday’s game against MN. After leading the conference in scoring last year, Jaques is off to another great one from her D position. OSU also has Sydney Morrow and Sloane Matthews as Y1 Ds who were very prolific scorers in high school (Morrow at SSM). By the time the Badgers play them, the Buckeyes will be a major load to deal with.

Oh, before I forget, Scannell is a very nice addition to the 24-25 recruiting class. According to my list for that year, she will add to a projected logjam at F. But, given her play at SSM and on national teams, she likely will see playing time. And, the following year still has a need for a number of new additions.

[robertearle]

Finally. OSU’s field hockey season must be over because Webster is back on the ice. She scored a goal and 2 assists in yesterday’s game against MN.

No, that season is not over.

Yes, Webster played ice hockey yesterday. And she played field hockey today. (And BTW, WOW!)

This coming weekend is the Big Ten field hockey tournament. While Ohio State is the #6 team out of seven in the Big Ten, their RPI is 20th nationally. 18 teams make the NCAA field, ten conference auto bids. In 2021 six Big Ten teams made the field. So if Ohio State has even just an OK weekend, they should be at least in the conversation for an at-large bid. The NCAA tournament will last though Nov 22.

[pgb-ohio]

No, that season is not over.

Yes, Webster played ice hockey yesterday. And she played field hockey today. (And BTW, WOW!)

This coming weekend is the Big Ten field hockey tournament. While Ohio State is the #6 team out of seven in the Big Ten, their RPI is 20th nationally. 18 teams make the NCAA field, ten conference auto bids. In 2021 six Big Ten teams made the field. So if Ohio State has even just an OK weekend, they should be at least in the conversation for an at-large bid. The NCAA tournament will last though Nov 22.

You undoubtedly know this, but for the benefit of other readers: 9 B1G schools compete in Field Hockey, but only 7 qualify for the conference tournament. At least that's the case this year, with Indiana & Michigan State missing out.