Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

This is an interesting question. Johnson is generally recognized as either the best coach in women's college hockey, or at a minimum, the equal of anyone else. Eventually, he will likely tire of some aspect of the job ... and retire or decide to do something else.

In the fall of 2018, BC men's team was in Madison, right around the time MJ was breaking the total wins record (I think), and somebody asked him about trying to catch Jerry York's win total. His response:

"We visited a long time. He's 74 and he still enjoys it.... I'm not going to be coaching at 74. I can't see myself doing it at that age. I think there's more in life to do. You pick that right time — whenever that right time is — to move on and let the next group come in and take over. One thing that [York] mentioned, one thing I still have, I still have a passion every day to go to the rink. I still enjoy it. We get treated very well here within our athletic department. We have a great relationship with our fans. So, as in any business, as long as you keep enjoying going to the rink on a daily basis and you think you're having an impact on the people you're working with, then you're going to continue to do it,"

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

The Muzzinator might be the best choice, however.

No offense to our friends out east or west (who still may have warm and fuzzy feelings about her), but not in a million years.

(a very tricky question haha)

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

This is an interesting question. Johnson is generally recognized as either the best coach in women's college hockey, or at a minimum, the equal of anyone else. Eventually, he will likely tire of some aspect of the job -- the travel, the stupid questions from the media, listening to incessant "sieve" chants -- and retire or decide to do something else. When that day comes, who would Badgers fans like to see succeed him? Dan Koch, who has been heir apparent for the job for quite some time now, or the coach of some other team?

I'm sure that Koch would continue much of what Johnson does, but he'll never have the recruiting advantage of being "a 1980 gold medalist and a former NHL player." If Matt Desrosiers can win three NCAA titles for the fighting nurses, what could he do in Madison? Jim Scanlan has managed an almost .500 record with the kind of recruits one can attract to Bemidji while playing a WCHA schedule, but I'm not sure he would be able to recruit at the level to which the Badgers are accustomed. Who would be your pick?

Koch certainly has earned the right to give it a go. The thing we don't know is how the recruiting dynamic works between Koch, Crum and MJ. Maybe Koch is the brains behind it and MJ is the closer. Some of the Canadian recruits have admitted they really didn't know much about MJ's history before he knocked on their door. I think more important than his playing history is the fact that he produces championship teams, PK winners and Olympians. Koch and Crum both can say that same thing.

[Connaught Point]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Well, there like 2 regular posters and maybe 2 irregular posters, so the demand isn't huge or anything. I follow @whockeycommits on Twitter to get the latest info. There's also www.collegecommitments.com but that site seems to be behind on info. How did you come across Gervais if I may ask?

She hasn't been on any team Canada teams from what I can tell which may indicate she's not highly regarded, but I don't know if ARD or Soup were on team Canada's radar pre UW either, so it's not like she's not a quality player. Team Canada can't have 8 goalies on the roster. She theoretically won't have to play until her Jr year if Blesi and Kronish are healthy and UW has a great goalie coach. Obviously there are more spots to fill in net and I ponder if Blesi or Kronish or even Cece will burn a redshirt on this season.

Sorry Tim, I have been away a few days because of work, I was just going through some of our commits and looking up what kind of season they are having. I looked up Picard and came to the Stanstead sight, and just going through a few links and came across Jane Gervais as committed to UW.

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

but not in a million years.

Disrepect the Muzzinator?

How dare you

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Disrepect the Muzzinator?

How dare you

She's too good for us. We'll settle for Frosty.

An interesting tidbit from listening to MJ Saturday pregame talk with Magnum was that they broke up the superline the weekend in Bemidji, at the beginning of the 2nd period Saturday. No one disclosed that ahead of time, how disappointing.

[NMH]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Koch certainly has earned the right to give it a go. The thing we don't know is how the recruiting dynamic works between Koch, Crum and MJ. Maybe Koch is the brains behind it and MJ is the closer. Some of the Canadian recruits have admitted they really didn't know much about MJ's history before he knocked on their door. I think more important than his playing history is the fact that he produces championship teams, PK winners and Olympians. Koch and Crum both can say that same thing.

Jackie is definitely the Canadian recruiting guru.

[NMH]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

She's to good for us. We'll settle for Frosty.

An interesting tidbit from listening to MJ Saturday pregame talk with Magnum was that they broke up the superline the weekend in Bemidji, at the beginning of the 2nd period Saturday. No one disclosed that ahead of time, how disappointing.

Without sounding like he doesn't care or is flippant, I've always gotten the impression that Mark isn't very tied to lines. He certainly doesn't number or rank them. He's pretty free with in-game switch ups, so even though I didn't get to pay much attention to lines in Bemidji, it doesn't surprise me at all that he made a change in that game where they were struggling from the get go. He's pretty keen on shaking things up and trying different approaches when somethings not working.

It also wasn't exactly ground-breaking to put Abby with Britta not long after they'd played so well together with Team USA. There was chatter in the press box about breaking up the top line but I have to say I was a big fan of the grittiness Roque/Curl/Mauermann have together. That's a line that will dig and fight along the boards and not lose possession and it was a perfect choice against Minnesota, IMO.

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Without sounding like he doesn't care or is flippant, I've always gotten the impression that Mark isn't very tied to lines. He certainly doesn't number or rank them. He's pretty free with in-game switch ups, so even though I didn't get to pay much attention to lines in Bemidji, it doesn't surprise me at all that he made a change in that game where they were struggling from the get go. He's pretty keen on shaking things up and trying different approaches when somethings not working.

It also wasn't exactly ground-breaking to put Abby with Britta not long after they'd played so well together with Team USA. There was chatter in the press box about breaking up the top line but I have to say I was a big fan of the grittiness Roque/Curl/Mauermann have together. That's a line that will dig and fight along the boards and not lose possession and it was a perfect choice against Minnesota, IMO.

The one thing it means that could be a drawback is that when it is really down-to-crunch-time, Roque is going to be the one on the ice taking the faceoff, and (unless MJ changes back mid-game, mid-period) that means Watts is on the bench at down-to-crunch-time.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Without sounding like he doesn't care or is flippant, I've always gotten the impression that Mark isn't very tied to lines. He certainly doesn't number or rank them. He's pretty free with in-game switch ups, so even though I didn't get to pay much attention to lines in Bemidji, it doesn't surprise me at all that he made a change in that game where they were struggling from the get go. He's pretty keen on shaking things up and trying different approaches when somethings not working.

It also wasn't exactly ground-breaking to put Abby with Britta not long after they'd played so well together with Team USA. There was chatter in the press box about breaking up the top line but I have to say I was a big fan of the grittiness Roque/Curl/Mauermann have together. That's a line that will dig and fight along the boards and not lose possession and it was a perfect choice against Minnesota, IMO.

I agree he doesn't necessarily have a hard core line 1 2 or 3 setup, we see that when sometimes the starting 3 are the "3rd " line. I think it is all about match-ups.

Roque and Curl also played together last year, so yes it wasn't shocking by any means to see them back together. It was a total shock to the system to see the lines come out onto the ice and it wasn't not the combo one would expect and interestingly enough I had not checked the lines before the game.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Jackie is definitely the Canadian recruiting guru.

It would be great to read a long form article about the inter-workings of the dynamics of the WI coaching staff.

[Lindsay]

It would be great to read a long form article about the inter-workings of the dynamics of the WI coaching staff.

I’d be interested in a Jackie Crum article, full stop.

While we’re talking coaches, as great as the men That coach UMinn and Wisc are, when there’s turnover they should be intentional about getting qualified women in the roles of Head Coach or Associate Head Coach. Same goes for any program.

[robertearle]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

Jackie is definitely the Canadian recruiting guru.

According to articles on Campbell and how she got from North Dakota to Wisconsin, Crum was instrumental and crucial to that happening.

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2019-2020 Season Thread

While we’re talking coaches, as great as the men That coach UMinn and Wisc are, when there’s turnover they should be intentional about getting qualified women in the roles of Head Coach or Associate Head Coach. Same goes for any program.

While on a certain level I agree with you, I'm not sure how legal that type of an approach is. It also depends on the feeder system. Results over the years haven't been great when a program decides to hire a female head coach who lacks the experience for the job.

Through Shannon Miller's last championship in 2010, Mark Johnson was the only male to coach his team to a national title. Excepting 2014 when the Desrosiers were co-head coaches, no female coach has won NCAAs since then. Too often when female coaches are given chances, it is at programs that are struggling and the results are predictable. Nadine Muzerall and Cara Morey have done very well, and Maura Crowell and Cassandra Turner have at least kept their teams relevant, but for quite a while now it has mostly just been Katey Stone and Katie Crowley in terms of female coaches of contending teams.

Maybe the trend will change. I think that Morey can do great things. Former Harvard player Sam Reber has had great success at Edina HS, winning MN state titles in all three of her seasons. But IMO, the objective of hiring a female head coach only proves successful when she is also a great candidate, not just the best of the female coaches currently available.

[Lindsay]

While on a certain level I agree with you, I'm not sure how legal that type of an approach is. It also depends on the feeder system. Results over the years haven't been great when a program decides to hire a female head coach who lacks the experience for the job.

Through Shannon Miller's last championship in 2010, Mark Johnson was the only male to coach his team to a national title. Excepting 2014 when the Desrosiers were co-head coaches, no female coach has won NCAAs since then. Too often when female coaches are given chances, it is at programs that are struggling and the results are predictable. Nadine Muzerall and Cara Morey have done very well, and Maura Crowell and Cassandra Turner have at least kept their teams relevant, but for quite a while now it has mostly just been Katey Stone and Katie Crowley in terms of female coaches of contending teams.

Maybe the trend will change. I think that Morey can do great things. Former Harvard player Sam Reber has had great success at Edina HS, winning MN state titles in all three of her seasons. But IMO, the objective of hiring a female head coach only proves successful when she is also a great candidate, not just the best of the female coaches currently available.

ARM there are a ton of women who have the qualifications to coach a women’s college hockey team. IBrianna Deckers qualifications right now are probably similar to what Johnson had when he got the women’s job.

But beyond that, I don’t know why you assume I am suggesting unqualified women be given jobs. In this day, probably all coaches are qualified but I hardly think undeserving women receive coaching jobs at a higher rate than undeserving men.

For the purposes of a convo about coaching staffs at the best resourced women’s programs in the country, it is appropriate to point out that they should strive to progress from the top two paid positions being men. I’ll let it go, don’t want to high Jack a thread but I think it’s a fair point.