Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Turns out there's a way for UW to get to #1 even if Ohio State wins their semi, but JUST barely.

Robert Morris wins CHA (they;re leading right now), UCONN beats Northeastern (UCONN winning their semi right now), and Princeton beats Cornell (Princeton winning their semi right now).

Then a win by UW over Ohio State puts Wisconsin ahead of Cornell by 0.00002 (!). It would round to a flatout tie on the USCHO page, but Grant goes one decimal point farther.

------

(Adding, a win by Northeastern over UCONN, with all the rest the same, and Cornell beats UW by 0.00003. Would also round to a tie on USCHO.)

OK, scratch that. Mercyhurst wins CHA.

If Wisconsin wants to get to #1, it has to come with a win over Minnesota (and a Cornell loss, etc.)

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Well, a disappointing end to the regular season. Luckily UW didn't have anything at stake in the game. Gotta score more than 0 to win a hockey game. I wish the PP just moved the puck faster and shot more. Soup cleaned up a few messes in front of her, but couldn't clean up the last one. UW just didn't create enough quality offense. I just wish he'd put the big line back together and run with it. I wanted UW very badly in the 3rd period and OT to run the 4th line out there a few times and just use them to suck the life out of OSU. In the OT it was clear that UW was just about as tired as OSU.

I invite the Clarkson posters to stop by and give us a rundown of Clarkson. I think I read somewhere they had injury issues and Giguere was basically carrying the team. What is their goaltending situation like?

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Well, a disappointing end to the regular season. Luckily UW didn't have anything at stake in the game. Gotta score more than 0 to win a hockey game. I wish the PP just moved the puck faster and shot more. Soup cleaned up a few messes in front of her, but couldn't clean up the last one. UW just didn't create enough quality offense. I just wish he'd put the big line back together and run with it. I wanted UW very badly in the 3rd period and OT to run the 4th line out there a few times and just use them to suck the life out of OSU. In the OT it was clear that UW was just about as tired as OSU.

I invite the Clarkson posters to stop by and give us a rundown of Clarkson. I think I read somewhere they had injury issues and Giguere was basically carrying the team. What is their goaltending situation like?

Giguere scored fully one third of their goal total, 37 of 111. They had only two other players with as many as ten goals - 14, and 10 (and I assume from the assist totals that they were probably Giguere's linemates.)

So for this game, 'the big line' vs their 'big line' might make a lot of sense.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Giguere scored fully one third of their goal total, 37 of 111. They had only two other players with as many as ten goals - 14, and 10 (and I assume from the assist totals that they were probably Giguere's linemates.)

So for this game, 'the big line' vs their 'big line' might make a lot of sense.

Do it and smother them. Superline it is. Or do they have the Roque line smother them and have the Pettet line abuse their 2nd line?

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Do it and smother them. Superline it is. Or do they have the Roque line smother them and have the Pettet line abuse their 2nd line?

What worries me is the offense gets shut down like today, and Giguere pulls off one bit of magic.

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Or do they have the Roque line smother them and have the Pettet line abuse their 2nd line?

In past seasons, Clarkson's 2nd and 3rd lines have been decent defensively, they just haven't been scoring threats. Maybe vicb can fill us in.

[vicb]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

In past seasons, Clarkson's 2nd and 3rd lines have been decent defensively, they just haven't been scoring threats. Maybe vicb can fill us in.

If you want my run down on Clarkson here it is. Against the 2 other ECAC teams in the tournament

Cornell - Played them to 1-1 ties.
First game Nov 9 outshot 33 to 22. Cornell controlled much of the play. Coulombe played great as did the defense clearing out pucks. Clarkson was missing Shelton and Cornell missing O'Neil and Bourbonnaise due to team Canada obligations.
Giguere had the primary assist on the CCT goal.
2nd game Jan 31 outshot 34 to 23. Cornell again controlled much of the play. Coulombe played great as did the defense clearing out pucks. Giguere had the primary assist on the CCT goal.

Princeton -
Game 1 Nov 22 at Hobey Baker was a 2-1 Princeton win. Clarkson was badly outplayed, I mean they were lucky they did not lose this game by a 5 or 6 to 1 score. Outshot 47 to 21 and just chasing Princeton all over the ice all night.
Coulombe was once again solid in the nets. Giguere with the secondary assist on the Clarkson goal. Princeton was 0-6 on the PP
Game 2 Feb 15 at CCT was a 2-1 Clarkson win. Totally different game. Shots were 29-28 CCT and the game was a pretty evenly played game. Giguere had both Clarkson goals. Princeton's big line was shut down by the Clarkson defense. Coulombe was solid in the nets.
Game 3 Mar 7 a 5-1 with ENG Princeton win. While the shots were fairly even @ 33-30 Princeton, Princeton controlled much of the play. They did a good job of getting bodies in front and screening Coulombe. Have to say this game was one of her worst games all year.
Giguere with the Clarkson goal in a scramble in front that was actually tapped into the goal by a Princeton stick.

Clarkson only has 10 forwards and out of those 10 has 5 scorers, Giguere (37), David (14), Friesen (10), Pejzlova (8) and McQuigge (8) plus Shelton (9) on the blue line. If they are to get any goals, it is gonna be from these 6. I would be shocked if any other Clarkson player scores a goal and if that player does it will be because Giguere sets them up. I would expect Clarkson to play basically 2 lines: Friesen centering Pejzlova and Turnquist and David centering Giguere and McQuigge. They will spot play Stoddard centering Pidgeon and Helgeson or Sawka.
On defense they only have 5 due to injuries. 3 of those are freshmen Wisnewski, Bernard and Markowski who have played very well in their inaugural season. Shelton will see a lot of ice time.
Coulombe has played just about every game this year and will be in the nets. She is on the small side but has good lateral movement. Does have issues sometimes controlling rebounds.
An issue Clarkson will have is winning faceoffs. They have been terrible. Typical is their last 3 games. Against Colgate and Princeton they were 61-152 in FO wins.
Penalty kill has been good at 89% and in their last 10 games they have only given up 1 PP goal on 30 PK's.
Their PP is at 18% and in their last 10 games they are 5 for 30 on the PP.

What do I expect from this next game. Wisconsin will control play and probably badly outshoot Clarkson. I do expect the score to be close entering the 3rd period with Wisconsin wearing Clarkson down. Probably be a 4 or 5 to 0 or 1 final score with one ENG.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

What do I expect from this next game. Wisconsin will control play and probably badly outshoot Clarkson. I do expect the score to be close entering the 3rd period with Wisconsin wearing Clarkson down. Probably be a 4 or 5 to 0 or 1 final score with one ENG.

I see it the same way on the shots and territorial control. The score could be 1-0 Clarkson or 4-0 UW.

UW is just not generating a lot of high grade chances right now. I'd put the superline back together and then match up the Curl/Pettet/Mauermann line on Giguere's the whole game with the sole intent of smothering her like UW did Bach when BU came to town a few years ago.

Thanks for the info. It's ironic that we were battling over the PK award and now the teams are playing and I get to see them in the flesh. It's going to be fun.

[Offsides Guy]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

I see it the same way on the shots and territorial control. The score could be 1-0 Clarkson or 4-0 UW.

UW is just not generating a lot of high grade chances right now. I'd put the superline back together and then match up the Curl/Pettet/Mauermann line on Giguere's the whole game with the sole intent of smothering her like UW did Bach when BU came to town a few years ago.

I have no idea why MJ doesn't follow your advice re the superline. Clearly goals are at a premium this time of year and scoring early can also be a big difference maker so you're idea makes perfect sense to me.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

I have no idea why MJ doesn't follow your advice re the superline. Clearly goals are at a premium this time of year and scoring early can also be a big difference maker so you're idea makes perfect sense to me.

He's smarter than us 99% of the time. Is this that 1% he's wrong? Probably not.

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

He's smarter than us 99% of the time. Is this that 1% he's wrong? Probably not.

The key to this game could be third lines. Norby, Schneider and Drake vs what Clarkson's web site calls their "checking line" and what vicb describes as "spot" players who are not "scorers". The more they are on the ice against each other, the better I like it.

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

It's not like we didn't see Roque with Watts and Shirley at all this weekend. He double-shifted Roque at times, at least on Saturday, such that she'd be out with those two and then seconds later she'd be back with Curl and Mauermann.

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

It's not like we didn't see Roque with Watts and Shirley at all this weekend. He double-shifted Roque at times, at least on Saturday, such that she'd be out with those two and then seconds later she'd be back with Curl and Mauermann.

(before vicb was good enough to post his summary for us - thanks to him) I watch some 'game highlight' video of Clarkson, to get an idea about line combinations, etc. From what I could see, never mind double-shifting, I don't thing Giguere and Shelton ever leave the ice. :-)

[Tool Shed]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

The key to this game could be third lines. Norby, Schneider and Drake vs what Clarkson's web site calls their "checking line" and what vicb describes as "spot" players who are not "scorers". The more they are on the ice against each other, the better I like it.

Bottom line is Roque, Shirley, & Watts are not built for that many minutes! Wisconsin's strength is their depth...keep the lines in tact & use the third "rat" line to your advantage.

[vicb]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Call it sand bagging if you want but I think there is a better chance of Mercyhurst upsetting Cornell than Clarkson upsetting Wisconsin. I'm not saying that that will happen, I just think that the Cornell Mercyhurst matchup, based on the games they played earlier in the year, that this game will be closer than you would think of a #1 Vs #8. This game will be low scoring and could end up in OT.

Back to the Clarkson Wisconsin game. How can Clarkson win this?
1) Clarkson has to score first. Take advantage of a PP will be their best chance.
2) Even though their PK has been excellent, they need to stay out of the penalty box.
3) Coulombe and the defense have to play better than they did against Princeton. Screens from in front had her slightly out of position on a couple of the goals. See goals #1 and #4.
Back door play on Princeton's 2nd goal was a beautiful feed but Clarkson d was totally out of position.
4) Have to do a better job in winning faceoffs. With Roque this will be a tall order.

Of coarse I can hope that the Wisconsin scoring drought will continue for at least one more game .
Or maybe the curse of the BCbambino will be stronger on the team with the former BC player playing than the team with the former BC player that was injured all year.
I still think that the Clarkson Wisconsin game will be close entering the third but Wisconsin will eventually wear down the Knights and win going away.