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Wisconsin Women's Hockey 2022-2023

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Timothy A said:
Mankato is going to be a tough series. They shockingly swept St. Cloud. If they don't score early it will be interesting to see how it affects them in the head. You can see the frustration get taken out on the opponents and in the body language. Does MJ completely juggle the lines or does he stick with it. Sticking with it shows confidence, juggling may show panic, yet all these players understand changes are part of the game.

I like throwing lines out there.....
LE - OB - SS
Curl - Picard - Woz
Wheeler - Compher - Eden
Enright - Simms - GS

Keep the umbrella PP, just shoot more from the point. Pass Pass Shoot. Rinse and repeat.
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Just to add to your stress and paranoia: On Tuesday, the team did a 'meet and greet' in place of 'skate with the Badgers' - because the ice at whichever park was no good - and there was a team photo taken. On Wednesday they posted photos on their twitter page with the two new UW police horses outside of LaBahn - named Rettke and Vetter - and there was a team photo. And they also posted a time-lapse video of the formal team photo being taken. And somebody is missing in all three; 22 players at the meet and greet, 22 with the horses; and 23 people in uniform for the formal photo, including a guy in the back with a beard. Obviously a stand-in that will be photoshopped later on. And in the two where one can see faces, I don't see Lacey Eden in either. Probably she's just out sick - I've had a cold this week, myself. But will she be ready to go come Saturday? Full speed? That will be the first thing I'm looking at when they hit the ice...
 
Timothy A said:
Mankato is going to be a tough series. They shockingly swept St. Cloud. If they don't score early it will be interesting to see how it affects them in the head. You can see the frustration get taken out on the opponents and in the body language. Does MJ completely juggle the lines or does he stick with it. Sticking with it shows confidence, juggling may show panic, yet all these players understand changes are part of the game.

I like throwing lines out there.....
LE - OB - SS
Curl - Picard - Woz
Wheeler - Compher - Eden
Enright - Simms - GS

Keep the umbrella PP, just shoot more from the point. Pass Pass Shoot. Rinse and repeat.
Click to expand...

I agree with Timothy that MNSt may prove difficult this weekend. If they do, it will indicate Bucky still has lots of work to do before they are ready for the final two regular season series and beyond. Like him, a major item wish list is major improvement in the pp so I can return to using PP (right now it fails to merit caps). One of my friends refers to it as BB (Bathroom Breaks and pps has a nice phonetic ring to it) to go to the bathroom. He figures he is unlikely to miss anything. But should the team score a goal, a BB still is warranted since he fears the shock would cause him to piss his pants given how rarely that has happened.

As for any further line changes, I would return the configurations of the top two lines to what they were when the season began: OB-Wheeler-Eden and Compher-Kurl-SS. I thought their skill sets and experience matched well for both of those lines. And they were performing well.

The changes I would prefer would be to move Picard to the line with Simms and Woz and LailaE to the line with GS and Enright. I think Picard’s speed and aggressiveness would fit better with Simms and Woz, and I believe these 3 as a unit would put more pressure on opposing goalies since at least 1 frequently would take up space close to the net. Importantly, it would not always be the same one.

As for the reconfigured Line4, GS historically has not shied away from hanging around or crashing the net. AS I recall, Enright showed some similar inclinations in the U18 championship game, especially on the goal that she scored. LE’s passing skills would complement them well as would her slap shot as a possible source of deflection or rebounds. LE also has a wicked wrist shot that she snaps off quickly and I would like to see her get into position around the circles to use it more to score herself or provide opportunities for deflections or rebounds.

That is my wish list for going forward. But MJ is in change and hopefully has a plan that will right the ship in time to gain admission to the top 11 qualifiers for the NCAA. If the team can make the top 11 and recapture its early season form, they could pull off a surprise. But that will be a very difficult task, one they have to start addressing now.
 
Too much talent on the Sinners for them not to turn it around. It just seems like a matter of time to do so, which they currently still have.
 
Patricio said:
... gain admission to the top 11 qualifiers for the NCAA. If the team can make the top 11 and recapture its early season form, they could pull off a surprise. But that will be a very difficult task, one they have to start addressing now.[/FONT][/FONT]
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Yes, 11 teams make the tournament. But two of those 11 spots will go to automatic bids to the winners of the CHA and NEWHA; right now none of the teams in those two conferences are in the top 11 in the Pairwise, so their autobid will go to a team from outside the top 11. That means UW will have to be in the top 9. And the team sitting at #9 during the conference tournaments has to worry about an 'upset winner' in one of the tournaments. Right now Northeastern is the only HE team in the top 11; if, say, Vermont were to knock them off and win the HE autobid, then the team sitting at #9 in the Pairwise gets bumped out of the tournament. So a team needs to shoot for the top 8 to be at all 'comfortable' in getting an at-large NCAA bid. (And right now, #8 is exactly where UW is.)

(Adding: we're big Colgate fans this weekend! :-)
 
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I need to stop waiting until the day beforehand to buy tickets for home games. I knew the Gopher games would sell out, I just waited too long to get tickets. I was a little surprised when the UMD games sold out (albeit pleasantly, because I'm glad the team is drawing good crowds). And I'm surprised again now seeing that both games for this weekend are sold out, especially given the recent cold streak. With no disrespect meant towards MSU, I don't think they are exactly a marquee matchup, at least not compared to the likes of UM and OSU. But I'm glad that folks are buying tickets regardless. As for myself, StubHub is always an option of course, but man I should just really be more on the ball so I don't have to resort to that, lol.
 
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wiscolorado said:
I need to stop waiting until the day beforehand to buy tickets for home games. I knew the Gopher games would sell out, I just waited too long to get tickets. I was a little surprised when the UMD games sold out (albeit pleasantly, because I'm glad the team is drawing good crowds). And I'm surprised again now seeing that both games for this weekend are sold out, especially given the recent cold streak. With no disrespect meant towards MSU, I don't think they are exactly a marquee matchup, at least not compared to the likes of UM and OSU. But I'm glad that folks are buying tickets regardless. As for myself, StubHub is always an option of course, but man I should just really be more on the ball so I don't have to resort to that, lol.
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There are just about always tickets available for free; spares that people aren't using, so they leave them on 'the ledge' or taped to the window, etc. I go in the east entrance (nearer the Kohl Center) and there are tickets there pretty much every game. I'm less certain about the west entrance. Undoubtedly there will be tickets there tomorrow. (I don't know about 'strategy' - more likely early? late?. I usually arrive on the early end of things, when I see them there.)
 
robertearle said:
There are just about always tickets available for free; spares that people aren't using, so they leave them on 'the ledge' or taped to the window, etc. I go in the east entrance (nearer the Kohl Center) and there are tickets there pretty much every game. I'm less certain about the west entrance. Undoubtedly there will be tickets there tomorrow. (I don't know about 'strategy' - more likely early? late?. I usually arrive on the early end of things, when I see them there.)
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I have used this strategy in years past. I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but this is my first year back in Madison after being away for a few years. Mobile tickets are much more of a thing these days, so I wonder if the ledge strategy is less reliable now than it was a few years ago. Perhaps I'll take my chances tomorrow - I can show up early enough to look for a ticket and if I strike out, get one off of StubHub.
 
Nice little video about "the save" pre-game. I was there for that one. The roof just about blew off the building.
 
robertearle said:
No Buchbinder.
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She was listed on the line chart that i saw. Makes sense that I recall seeing Helgeswn play a lot. Enright ended ths game playing in Woz's spot, wonder if Woz was injured. A little sad the 4th
line seemed to have troubles dealing with Mankato.
 
wiscolorado said:
What an atrociously officiated game today. Glad we got the win, it will be interesting to see how the teams come out tomorrow.
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2 totally horrendous no calls against kato. One of those right before they scored. Koch had a long post game chat with one of them.
 
I was hoping today’s game would not be so close. There definitely is a need for more improvement if the Badgers are to secure a spot in the NCAA. But there were areas of improvement and some pleasant surprises. To wit:
  • LailaE was considerably more involved. She spent a lot less time high on the boards, instead consistently carrying the puck deep into the offensive zone with more speed and aggressiveness than she has been showing. She spent more time around the net on offense including on the only pp the Badgers had when she made a nice pass to Wheeler in front of the net and snapped off her wrist shot from the slot narrowly missing a goal. I hope this is an indication that MJ and she are committed to this as part of her role going forward. As she becomes more comfortable in this capacity, she will be a major headache for opponents,
  • The PK was much better. The only one that failed owed an assist to the refs who failed to call any penalty on a mugging of Compher to the side of the MNSt goal which converted a 5 on 4 PP to a 4 on 3 PP – a big change especially when there is no stoppage of play to adjust to the increased advantage. Had the refs done their job, the sides would have been even at 4-4. See above comments related to the quality of the officiating.
  • Helgesen filled in very well for the absent Buchbinder. She definitely has matured as a D and continues to be a reliable defender.
  • The line memberships were altered considerably. The four base lines consisted of Kurl-OB-Woz, Eden-Compher-SS; Wheeler-Simms-LailaE; and Enright-Picard-GS. However, there was considerable variability as the game progressed (e.g., Enright on a line with Eden, Picard occasionally on a line with different teammates). It seems MJ is experimenting with possible changes in the lines to see if that will help to kick-start the offense.
On a less positive note:
  • While some of the line changes showed potential, Compher and SS seemed much less involved than they were earlier in the season. I hope that these two will return to form soon.
On a mixed note:
  • Kronish made one sloppy turnover behind her net (something she has done before), but fortunately was rescued by the arrival of a teammate. Otherwise, she played extremely well and kept the Badgers in the game early until they got their skates under them.
May Sunday's game be another, bigger step forward.
 
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