Wisconsin Women's Hockey 2024-2025

[BadgerPete]

Enright moving up to the second line alongside Hall and Simms today.

[Claygr]

What I posted on facebook (with a link to the story on the Badger's webpage): The Wisconsin State Journal apparently didn't think that the #1 ranked Badger Women's hockey team merited any ink today for defeating #7/8 St. Cloud State. It covered the #7 volleyball team that lost to #1 Nebraska, it covered the unranked men's team that lost (again). But not the #1 ranked team in the country playing the #7 team. Go figure. It's hard to grow the audience for women's hockey without coverage.
Great game yesterday, especially the first four minutes! It is concerning that SCSU had so many shots on goal. Ava made some outstanding saves. I am sure coach will make some defensive adjustments for today's game. I imagine that other adjustments will be made to address SCSU's pesky defense. Coach played all four lines so it seemed like everyone had fresh legs throughout.

I asked Todd Milewski about this on Twitter after the win yesterday and his reply was, "There hasn't been very much web traffic to women's hockey stories, unfortunately. That's what things are based on now. I do have a story coming in the next few days but we've cut back on game coverage." So, anything we all can do online to amplify the few stories we get (retweeting, liking, commenting) would help generate additional coverage. This great team deserves coverage by their home town newspaper.

[BadgerPete]

I asked Todd Milewski about this on Twitter after the win yesterday and his reply was, "There hasn't been very much web traffic to women's hockey stories, unfortunately. That's what things are based on now. I do have a story coming in the next few days but we've cut back on game coverage." So, anything we all can do online to amplify the few stories we get (retweeting, liking, commenting) would help generate additional coverage. This great team deserves coverage by their home town newspaper.

Sigh. It's literally the argument that has been made against women's sports in media the entire time. Nobody watches/reads it > we don't cover it > nobody watches it over and over again that has been massively disproven over the last few years.

Cover it and people will come. They can't read what you don't cover. Yeah, your clicks might be down for a spell, but it's time to make the investment you never made in the first place.

[robertearle]

Sigh. It's literally the argument that has been made against women's sports in media the entire time. Nobody watches/reads it > we don't cover it > nobody watches it over and over again that has been massively disproven over the last few years.

Cover it and people will come. They can't read what you don't cover. Yeah, your clicks might be down for a spell, but it's time to make the investment you never made in the first place.

It's also as tough and crowded a time as there is in the 'sports calendar': UW football, pro football, local high school playoff football, World Series just ended, NBA starting, NHL starting, UW women VB. They did manage a story on the UW men's cross county winning yet another B1G championship. A LOT of competition for eyes and clicks, and reporters to cover it all.

[Claygr]

It's also as tough and crowded a time as there is in the 'sports calendar': UW football, pro football, local high school playoff football, World Series just ended, NBA starting, NHL starting, UW women VB. They did manage a story on the UW men's cross county winning yet another B1G championship. A LOT of competition for eyes and clicks, and reporters to cover it all.

That's all true but I would argue that women's hockey is one of the few really positive Badger sports stories right now. 12-0 with four straight shut-outs is pretty unusual and newsworthy, not to mention the five current Badgers going to play for Team USA in the Rivalry Series this coming week.

[Gargoyle]

Sigh. It's literally the argument that has been made against women's sports in media the entire time. Nobody watches/reads it > we don't cover it > nobody watches it over and over again that has been massively disproven over the last few years.

Cover it and people will come. They can't read what you don't cover. Yeah, your clicks might be down for a spell, but it's time to make the investment you never made in the first place.

Yes, absolutely, BadgerPete. I just wrote a letter the editor. I doubt it will move the needle even if it gets published, but it seems so ridiculous to give inches and inches of ink to the rather bad men's hockey team and ignore the women's team altogether. Not even a blurb! I'm disgusted.

[Timothy A]

Sigh. It's literally the argument that has been made against women's sports in media the entire time. Nobody watches/reads it > we don't cover it > nobody watches it over and over again that has been massively disproven over the last few years.

Cover it and people will come. They can't read what you don't cover. Yeah, your clicks might be down for a spell, but it's time to make the investment you never made in the first place.

Yeah, how can we click/read if they don't write anything! A note to all of us, like and retweet everything TDM does covering the women's team.

A rather surprising outcome this weekend. I did not like the zero shot differential and 5 penalties on Friday. A slight differential on Saturday for SOG but another 5 penalties. Luckily the PK and Ava were awesome. And they survived multiple goalie pulled PK's as well. That was crazy. Score 10 goals and none for OB. That's saying something.

[Timothy A]

Enright moving up to the second line alongside Hall and Simms today.

I was wondering if Gorbotenko might get slid down. Ideally they get the line combo's working so Simms and OB can score on a more regular basis.

[Timothy A]

TDM has an article up on the website that I recommend all the UW posters give some love to to encourage the newspaper to cover the team more. It's about Edwards playing D. Apparently it's her idea. As Todd points out, she has great range, making her an ideal defender. In my opinion that would be a waste of her talents. She has such a unique skill set as a F that has not completely developed yet. Her ability as a defender would not be anything more than just being another quality D. If she had Harvey like abilities sure, give it a legit push, but I don't see that. She has the potential to be an extraordinary F.

From UW's standpoint, she needs to stay a F. Bumping Kotlowski off the D pairs (assuming she's the 6th D) for Edwards and inserting Vassuer into the F line-up is a net loss for UW. If team USA wants to pursue the D thing, I don't think it will hurt her play as F for UW. Whether she's a D or F in the pwhl, I really don't care other than what I said above, but my focus is what happens at UW. That's what I really care about in the end.

[Gargoyle]

If you have a social media presence, please share the article (even though it is probably behind a firewall). The more shares, the better.

[Windchill22]

Link:

[Gargoyle]

Does anyone know how to contact an administrator about all the commercial sites that are being added to the Women's Hockey Forum?

[Windchill22]

In the past, I've Flagged posts to get them removed, and someone did it - Don't really want to go into every one of these and flag them though - Maybe I'll do one and and see if they figure it out that there are lots.

[Gargoyle]

In the past, I've Flagged posts to get them removed, and someone did it - Don't really want to go into every one of these and flag them though - Maybe I'll do one and and see if they figure it out that there are lots.

I just went to the pages of the two posters and flagged all the entries, one by one, as advertising/spam, but I believe the original posts are automatically generated and will just keep coming back unless an administrator blocks them. Jeesh.

[Patricio]

Well, here we are 9 days before the Badgers visit Columbus for their initial encounter of the season – another matchup of the two best teams in women’s hockey that will help define their relative standing. And, in this instance, it will help to clarify how well the Badgers are progressing with a substantially restructured roster which includes 4 frosh, a sophomore F who played on an “ad hoc” basis last season but now is a member of a solid line, and another solid F who missed last season due to injury but has returned with gusto. The changes definitely show promise, including against the other quality conference teams. But will the signs of progress continue against OSU which also is highly talented and has become Bucky’s nemesis in recent years.

However, before I go on to post my comments about how the Badger roster is developing, there have been a number of major penalties in recent games, several of which were accompanied by minor penalties that resulted in the Badgers playing 3 on 5. Major penalties themselves are to be avoided against OSU. They apply a lot of intense pressure that wears opponents down over 5 minutes. Making it 3 on 5 for any length of time is a recipe for a disaster. So hopefully the Badger coaches are reviewing penalty avoidance with the team. Now on to my other comments.

For me, the D has gone about business calmly and has been pretty solid. I did not think it was possible, but Harvey has taken her play to a new level, worthy of a PK Award nomination. Jungels simply tends to business, and Potter has become more active on offense - skating with speed and confidence and demonstrating a nice hard shot. But I would like to see Murphy and Venusio become more active on offense too. Vesuvio in particular as she was seen as being more aggressive with lots of speed and a very hard shot coming out of the Canadian U18 ranks. But the season is not over.

The top 2 lines of the offense also look pretty solid to me. Edwards is positioning herself low around the net and her snapshot from there is yielding nice dividends in goals and assists. O’Brien is having another vintage year as well, and she and Edwards also should end up on the PK award list if they continue on their current paces. Eden is a force on that line as well. So, I would leave this line as is for now.

The second line also has been very productive. Like Edwards, Gorbatenko likes to position herself low around the net where she uses a quick release primarily to generate assists but also for the occasional goal. Hall quietly has stepped up her scoring this season, and soon may equal her point total of last season. She also has become more active in attacking the goal. Simms is struggling to regain her form of last season, but she remains aggressive, and I anticipate she will right the ship soon.

However, the last two lines might benefit from a slight realignment. In my opinion, Scannell and Halvorsen have shown more growth than McCarthy who still appears to be a bit tentative. I think McCarthy might benefit by playing with Woz and Picard - two experienced, confident, aggressive players who might help her to “relax” and enable her to settle in more. Scannell strikes me as a smooth skater with subtle hands, great ice vision, and a quick release. Halvorson is increasing in confidence and starting to play more aggressively. Enright also plays aggressively with speed and playing her with these two might yield some synergy. But I defer to MJ on these lines.

In any event, we soon will learn how well the Badgers match up with the Buckeyes. The matchup is certain to be a brawl. Will the Badgers succeed in handling the intense pressure that is the modus operandi of the Buckeyes? And as a corollary, will the results provide definitive, positive answers about Bucky’s lines, or will they substantiate the need to rework them?