Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Hi All

I wanted to pass on a few notes from the fan council meeting that was held this past weekend.

The administration is aware of the attendance trends. They know that the numbers are trending down. They know that it has an impact on the general atmosphere of the game. They also know that student tickets are trending up and hope to find ways to continue that trend.

With that being said, when I asked the direct question of "At what point will the administration look at making a change in the coaching staff?" it was met with an expected "That isn't something that I can discuss with you at this time.".

So to put it out there for everyone that thinks that the administration is out of touch and/or that they don't care...I can assure you that at least some of them are aware of what is going on and are looking at ways to resolve some of the problems. I cannot say if a change in the coaching structure is one of the items that they are looking at.

Also, it was shown that most other sports will be seeing a small increase in ticket prices (I believe football, basketball, volleyball, women's hockey). Those sports will see minor increases in the per ticket and per season ticket packages, but these changes will still keep UW in the middle third in terms of ticket prices compared to the rest of the BIG conference. Men's hockey will not be seeing a price change.

I will be attending one more meeting in April that will conclude my 1-year commitment. Feel free to send any items my way and I will do what I can to bring them up for open discussion or one-on-one discussion as necessary.

I would highly encourage any other fans to submit their application when the time comes. It is a unique insight into the workings of the athletic department and is a chance to have your voice heard by representatives from various parts of the athletic department (concessions, gameday environment, video production, administration).

Not hockey related, but a friend and I thought it would be nice if students could be rewarded for showing up to football games on time. Rewards systems have been in place for basketball games for years, so it should be feasible. For example, if 5 of a student's vouchers are scanned before kickoff, he or she may purchase tickets the day before (just like basketball). Something like that.

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Some idiot on Twitter is chirping me with this stat right now as well. It's hilarious to me. CC, Anchorage, Northern Michigan and Ferris St. are all under .500 and Alaska is just one game over .500 as we speak. Does it really matter what the records of these teams were when Wisconsin played them the first or second of fifth weekends of the year? Even if everyone UW played was over .500, what does that mean? Were they good wins? Or were they all games against Niagara? It's a joke. I have no problem saying Wisconsin has had a hard schedule, but this is a poor way to express it, IMO. The RPI says the Badgers have played the 22nd hardest schedule, KRACH says 10th. Let's cut it down the middle and say it's the 16th hardest. That's pretty tough. Still not even close to a worthwhile excuse.

[WiscTJK]

Hi All

I wanted to pass on a few notes from the fan council meeting that was held this past weekend.

The administration is aware of the attendance trends. They know that the numbers are trending down. They know that it has an impact on the general atmosphere of the game. They also know that student tickets are trending up and hope to find ways to continue that trend.

With that being said, when I asked the direct question of "At what point will the administration look at making a change in the coaching staff?" it was met with an expected "That isn't something that I can discuss with you at this time.".

So to put it out there for everyone that thinks that the administration is out of touch and/or that they don't care...I can assure you that at least some of them are aware of what is going on and are looking at ways to resolve some of the problems. I cannot say if a change in the coaching structure is one of the items that they are looking at.

Also, it was shown that most other sports will be seeing a small increase in ticket prices (I believe football, basketball, volleyball, women's hockey). Those sports will see minor increases in the per ticket and per season ticket packages, but these changes will still keep UW in the middle third in terms of ticket prices compared to the rest of the BIG conference. Men's hockey will not be seeing a price change.

I will be attending one more meeting in April that will conclude my 1-year commitment. Feel free to send any items my way and I will do what I can to bring them up for open discussion or one-on-one discussion as necessary.

I would highly encourage any other fans to submit their application when the time comes. It is a unique insight into the workings of the athletic department and is a chance to have your voice heard by representatives from various parts of the athletic department (concessions, gameday environment, video production, administration).

I think the 75% increase in women's hockey is excessive. I don't think I will be getting season tickets. Or they better not schedule Friday afternoon games and stuff like that.

one idea I had is if we can't use a ticket that we can turn it in for another game. Can't make the Friday 2pm game but turn in it in for another game when I am not working and can take some friends.

[WiscTJK]

This actually makes me feel a little better about the future. It's almost like Eaves could go no where put up with the assistants unless be brings Butters back. The hires were a bit curious to start with, it's nothing personal against either one, I'd rather have some assistant who have coached at this level, or at least 1. .....

This 100%. Crappy assistants is on eaves. A local rink manager and a guy running coaching seminars aren't good assistants imo. The last three assistants have been horrid in my opinion. I think the while coaching staff needs to be gone for me to continue both nights season tickets. They acknowledged my email to the athletic dept so maybe there is hope. This disaster angers me to no end.

[WiscTJK]

Someone will take the fall for this. I have little doubt.

Let's frickin hope so. The whole staff should be fired....

[srkbadger]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Let's frickin hope so. The whole staff should be fired....

Don't sugar coat it, tell us how you really feel.

I'm right there with you. I'm ready to get off the Mike Eaves roller coaster.

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Let's frickin hope so. The whole staff should be fired....

Yes.

For a few brief moments in the past 2 weeks I began to feel bad for Eaves and wondered whether Boeser, Fabbro, Jost could help save his job but now that we're tangentially aware of UW screwing up Boeser's commitment and also (in hindsight and with help from fellow posters) discovering how botched recruiting has been generally (read: Sheehy, also another player almost decommiting etc), take that along with the record this year and the diminishing returns and widening of the gaps between Zenith's and Nadir's and the entire staff must be swept away.

I'm not sure about Mike Hastings so I'll once again throw my internet forum vote to Tony and/or Don Granato, or in lieu of that, Mark Osiecki.

[oldicecoach]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Don’t think Eaves will be fired but Shuey should be dusting off his resume. I feel sorry for Eaves even though this mess is his creation, OJT assistant coaches, too many freshmen on the ice and questionable recruiting.

He needs some experienced assistants and so do Badger fans.

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

In real hockey news, Cameron Hughes is listed as 50-50 after his shoulder injury via Baggot.

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Some idiot on Twitter is chirping me with this stat right now as well. It's hilarious to me. CC, Anchorage, Northern Michigan and Ferris St. are all under .500 and Alaska is just one game over .500 as we speak. Does it really matter what the records of these teams were when Wisconsin played them the first or second of fifth weekends of the year? Even if everyone UW played was over .500, what does that mean? Were they good wins? Or were they all games against Niagara? It's a joke. I have no problem saying Wisconsin has had a hard schedule, but this is a poor way to express it, IMO. The RPI says the Badgers have played the 22nd hardest schedule, KRACH says 10th. Let's cut it down the middle and say it's the 16th hardest. That's pretty tough. Still not even close to a worthwhile excuse.

Agree that this tweet is a very bad way to try to convey any toughness to UW's schedule.

My only problem with what you say here is that RPI SOS is kind of a bad way to determine UW's actual comparative difficulty of schedule because it's influenced by UW's bad record. For a quick example compare MN's Oper # in UW's SOS calculation-- .5682 to MN's Oper in UMD's SOS calculation -- .6591. The reason for this difference is that UW's 0-2-2 record against MN is excluded in the Oper calculation for UW, but included in MN's Oper calculation for UMD. Thus RPI SOS can be skewed based on a team's own bad (or good) win percentage vs. any given opponents. If that makes sense.

As a reverse example of this is a winning team like BU being #13 RPI SOS but # 21 in KRACH SOS.

Krach is probably a more accurate measure, but even then it's important to keep in mind that UW's 10th ranking isn't the same as 10 easier than #1 or 20 harder then #30. It could be very close to #1. It's not a scale where the distance between 20 and 25 is the exact same as the distance between 5 and 10. 13 to 22 is only 8.7 pts while 23-32 is 27.6 pts. for example. It's just a method to place them in some sort of order.


Anyway, I think if there's any point to be made about UW's schedule that is legitimate it would be that the 5 losses to the teams out of the top twenty came in the first seven games. Most would expect that this year's team would not be very good at the onset because of scoring losses and the youth in key positions, but expect them to be better as the season progresses. If the order of the season were reversed to date, it's logically possible UW could have some more wins.

It's also possible they wouldn't. It's very difficult to speculate on that and it really just comes down to if one thinks they have been better or 'enough' more competitive in the last ten vs. the first ten, given the disparity in the quality of the teams played. Does that sound somewhat fair to everyone?

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Ok, I'll just say it. I don't care how tough the schedule is, real or perceived...it's not asking a lot for the Wisconsin hockey team to have at least 10-14 wins by now. 10 in a down year.

[bucky15]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Is this the actual UW athletic department men's hockey twitter account?

[icebadger]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Is this the actual UW athletic department men's hockey twitter account?

Yes, and that is their tweet (minus the picture). Just click on it.

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Is this the actual UW athletic department men's hockey twitter account?

I believe the meme was added by DC, the text is from Badger Men's Hockey. I'm only guessing but it's probably run mostly by Paul Capobianco?

[bucky15]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXXII: No Where To Go But Up!

Yes, and that is their tweet (minus the picture). Just click on it.

Ahhh thanks, I am like a 90 year old when it comes to twitter. I am glad the picture was added out of humor from an outside source.

Wisko just filled me in on what a meme is......