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Wisconsin Hockey 25-26 Hastings Year 3 - Turning the Corner?

Absolutely atrocious goaltending. Bad D but even worse goaltending. If they lose tonight it will end their NCAA hopes. tOSU will kick their asses next week. They crushed the rats last night.
 
I think we know for sure at this point that this team is not very good and will not earn a tournament bid without winning the conference tournament, and that is not gonna happen.
 
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Is 91 injured?

I really don’t like splitting up
Montgomery and Zelenov, they have great chemistry on the ice.

Brink and Botterill are fantastic pedal to the floor all-game players.
 
It would have been nice if the men's team had attended the women's game today. After a lackluster effort yesterday, the women pulled on the sweater today and gave it their all. Lacy Eden and Cassie Hall willed them to that win. Stewart was fantastic. They may not win it all, but it won't be from a lack of heart, will, and effort.
 
The answer is......Yes!

Pulver seemed like he didn't see any of the shots coming that got past him. Wierd.
The first goal for Notre Dame last night was awful. Really a weak shot and he had no one in the way to few it. Have to stop that one. That was a sign and every time they shot I figured it was going in. I was shocked Pulver came out in the second.
 
I think we know for sure at this point that this team is not very good and will not earn a tournament bid without winning the conference tournament, and that is not gonna happen.
Definitely agree. House of horrors in Columbus next weekend, home to Michigan and then at Ped State. 2 -3 wins would be more than I think they can get at this point and that certainly won't get it done. I suspect OSU will pass us in the standings. They have 2 games in hand and those are against Notre Dame. Add 6 points to their total now and then if they take 4 of 6 next week, they likely finish in fourth, and then Badgers would need to go back to Columbus for a Wednesday game that we have close to 0 chance of winning and year 3 of Hastings will be over and will they have improved over 3 years? I am not so sure. I am dumbfounded that he has struggled so much in this league with the resources he has at Wisconsin. I never thought it would be like this.
 
My Assessment: Must sweep OSU, then split the next 4, and win a game or 2 in the tourney to get in. Sad that we are at this point, but this is the prison we built for ourselves. It absolutely must be full gas, no periods off, no weak goals, smart defense and SCORING.

I am dumbfounded that he has struggled so much in this league with the resources he has at Wisconsin. I never thought it would be like this.

I think I've mentioned this before, for as much as the Big10 has been ragged, it is absolutely a high-end offensive league. If you don't have true goal scorers, on multiple lines, you are not going to win the league. Ever. MSU/UM have built in recruiting pipelines bc of the USNDT prgm in their back yard, the rodents have the best of the best in Minnesota going their way with no need to really compete with Denver or the Sioux anymore, and Ped St. has a ton of cash flowing into their program where they can just open the checkbook. That's a lot of headwinds, and Bucky better have an honest conversation with itself on how it is going to compete moving forward.
 
My Assessment: Must sweep OSU, then split the next 4, and win a game or 2 in the tourney to get in. Sad that we are at this point, but this is the prison we built for ourselves. It absolutely must be full gas, no periods off, no weak goals, smart defense and SCORING.



I think I've mentioned this before, for as much as the Big10 has been ragged, it is absolutely a high-end offensive league. If you don't have true goal scorers, on multiple lines, you are not going to win the league. Ever. MSU/UM have built in recruiting pipelines bc of the USNDT prgm in their back yard, the rodents have the best of the best in Minnesota going their way with no need to really compete with Denver or the Sioux anymore, and Ped St. has a ton of cash flowing into their program where they can just open the checkbook. That's a lot of headwinds, and Bucky better have an honest conversation with itself on how it is going to compete moving forward.
I just saw a NIL report on Penn State and it showed $95k. How did they pay McKenna $750K?


There is zero chance of NIL for hockey unless it comes specifically assigned to the hockey program from donors and there doesn't seem to be anyone currently doing that.
 
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I just saw a NIL report on Penn State and it showed $95k. How did they pay McKenna $750K?


There is zero chance of NIL for hockey unless it comes specifically assigned to the hockey program from donors and there doesn't see to be anyone currently doing that.
That's the NIL revenue cap that they are talking about that each of the power 4, or maybe it's just the Big10 (I can't remember specifically), has to distribute across their varsity sports how they see fit. Ped St. has some major individual hockey donors and they can send it directly to the program for use as NIL money. They certainly don't need cash for their facilities. It also doesn't hurt that the entire prgm is propped up by Pegula, who owns the Sabers in the NHL...in fact his name is on the arena.

What blows my mind, is WI had the Mullet family in their back yard just east of Madison, and they took their millions to Arizona St to start that program and whose name is on their new arena. Them's the breaks.
 
Definitely agree. House of horrors in Columbus next weekend, home to Michigan and then at Ped State. 2 -3 wins would be more than I think they can get at this point and that certainly won't get it done. I suspect OSU will pass us in the standings. They have 2 games in hand and those are against Notre Dame. Add 6 points to their total now and then if they take 4 of 6 next week, they likely finish in fourth, and then Badgers would need to go back to Columbus for a Wednesday game that we have close to 0 chance of winning and year 3 of Hastings will be over and will they have improved over 3 years? I am not so sure. I am dumbfounded that he has struggled so much in this league with the resources he has at Wisconsin. I never thought it would be like this.
Agree on all points.

It’s astounding to me that Michigan, MSU and Ped State are all miles above UW right now. Miles. With Wisconsin’s resources that should not be the case. Down years here and there, sure. But not what we’ve seen over 50% of the time since 1996.

3 years into the Hastings era I have to say I’m very disappointed in the direction of the team. The defense is not frozen four material. The goalies aren’t even winning b10 tourney games material.

I’m sorry but the results speak for themselves. Scratching and clawing to win 2 games at home against a team that has just 1 b10 win this year?

Got completely dismantled by Minnesota last weekend then tOSU goes up and sweeps the rats.

I find it difficult to believe UW can even go 3-3 the rest of the way.

I don’t know where they go from here. Not just in this season but going forward next year and beyond.
 
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I find it difficult to believe UW can even go 3-3 the rest of the way.

I don’t know where they go from here. Not just in this season but going forward next year and beyond.

If they play EXTREMELY well, 3-3 with a Big 10 Tourney win is probably the top of the ceiling. I think that gets them a 10-15 seed the NCAAs. But don't know, speculation has gotten us nowhere. But, who knows really. I'm going to watch and hopefully they understand the cage they are in now.

I think it's though is night and day that they are MUCH better than under Granato from the fundamentals perspective (esp defense). But this might be the wall for Hastings in terms of you HAVE to have high end scorers and legit talent. Those are two things he never had really at Mankato, mostly because it wasn't even a possibility to attract those type of players. He had to do it with development and goalie play, and to be blunt, they weren't playing top 15 teams each weekend in conference play. Bigger fish in a little pond type situation in Mankato.

The further we get, the more it stings to have lost Stramel and Whitelaw, purely from a talent POV.
 
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