2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

[powerofyellowandblack]

A new era of Jacket hockey starts tonight. Hopefully this new era can return to the form of the old...er era and win again. What do the people in the know predict for this year? How is the team looking? How is McKenna and his new system looking? I can't wait to see them in Green Bay in November! Go Jackets...you bring it, we sting it!

 

[walktheline]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

More often than not in recent years, my optimistic attitude had been rooted in blind faith. Faith that our Yellowjacket players could pull together even with other distractions. Motivation and team togetherness does not seem to be an issue this campaign as week one is in the books. Not only did UWS handsomely score 19 goals over the weekend 2 game NC set but they did it with grace. Respect was never really a UWS issue but this group in 16'-17' has clearly been molded to think bigger than just one game. No stupid penalties, convincing physical play, and unselfish puck handling all lead me to believe the new coaching situation has thus far been a success. Moreover, hoping all of this is true, I think the team will be just fine thru the winter months, and if nothing else, fun to watch.

 

[powerofyellowandblack]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

More often than not in recent years, my optimistic attitude had been rooted in blind faith. Faith that our Yellowjacket players could pull together even with other distractions. Motivation and team togetherness does not seem to be an issue this campaign as week one is in the books. Not only did UWS handsomely score 19 goals over the weekend 2 game NC set but they did it with grace. Respect was never really a UWS issue but this group in 16'-17' has clearly been molded to think bigger than just one game. No stupid penalties, convincing physical play, and unselfish puck handling all lead me to believe the new coaching situation has thus far been a success. Moreover, hoping all of this is true, I think the team will be just fine thru the winter months, and if nothing else, fun to watch.

Excellent! This is what I wanted to hear! I saw the scores, obviously, but that really doesn't always tell how they played. I'm so very much looking forward to seeing them in Green Bay in a few weeks!

 

[ECfan]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

Reality has set in. Coach has no clue what he's doing. Ran out the best goalie they had in favor of an underperforming bench warmer (which he's been starting) and a club goalie to back the other 2 up. So early and he has lost control. UWS will be worse this year than they've been the last 5 years. First mistake was keeping the Assistant coach. A little investigation would have told him this guy is a cancer. Cut many upper classmen, just a bad situation going on here. Too bad, thought things were finally going to change.

 

[Bradz]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

Reality has set in. Coach has no clue what he's doing. Ran out the best goalie they had in favor of an underperforming bench warmer (which he's been starting) and a club goalie to back the other 2 up. So early and he has lost control. UWS will be worse this year than they've been the last 5 years. First mistake was keeping the Assistant coach. A little investigation would have told him this guy is a cancer. Cut many upper classmen, just a bad situation going on here. Too bad, thought things were finally going to change.

This is D-III hockey, it shouldn't be a surprise. McKenna will be at Superior for years to come...regardless of his record.

 

[walktheline]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

Absolute horrible weekend at the rink in Superior. The worst part is Saturday was worse than Friday. I mean seriously, the only reason I'll stop the rant there, is because the rink handed out Great Clips coupons for $5 off a haircut. Sweet...

 

[BetterInLakePlacid]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

You realize the dumpster fire he is taking over right? It can take some time before results start to happen. After Chris Brooks' first 10 games at UWSP, he was 2-6-2. The roster was garbage. The next year, the team was only average as well. Give the guy a little time before you start calling for his head.

 

[walktheline]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

No one called for heads. The dumpster fire YOU brought up started when the WIAC blew it by leaving the NCHA, thus leaving the WIAC without a NCAA AQ. I've been convinced that winning is no longer important but rather most important is a good quality education for the student athletes. Puke. WIAC needs to get Oshkosh or Platteville a DIII hockey program kick started. Easy for me to say as my local team (UW-Superior) dumped it's football program decades ago. Thoughts though.

 

[joecct]

No one called for heads. The dumpster fire YOU brought up started when the WIAC blew it by leaving the NCHA, thus leaving the WIAC without a NCAA AQ. I've been convinced that winning is no longer important but rather most important is a good quality education for the student athletes. Puke. WIAC needs to get Oshkosh or Platteville a DIII hockey program kick started. Easy for me to say as my local team (UW-Superior) dumped it's football program decades ago. Thoughts though.

The D3 ethos is student first, athlete second.

 

[walktheline]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

Alright, then please explain the necessity for DIII sports programs to spend such high amounts of time and money on recruiting. Winning still matters. Winning is easier on recruiting. Winning is a success for program funding. Winning is a success for fans. It's my understanding that WIAC disbanded from the NCHA because of unfair funding and recruiting tactics of private institutions. If that is the case, where in that decision does the ethos of student first and athlete second present itself?

 

[joecct]

Alright, then please explain the necessity for DIII sports programs to spend such high amounts of time and money on recruiting. Winning still matters. Winning is easier on recruiting. Winning is a success for program funding. Winning is a success for fans. It's my understanding that WIAC disbanded from the NCHA because of unfair funding and recruiting tactics of private institutions. If that is the case, where in that decision does the ethos of student first and athlete second present itself?

Some do, some don't. The forest is healthy. Some trees may be sick.

 

[GB Puck Fan]

Alright, then please explain the necessity for DIII sports programs to spend such high amounts of time and money on recruiting. Winning still matters. Winning is easier on recruiting. Winning is a success for program funding. Winning is a success for fans. It's my understanding that WIAC disbanded from the NCHA because of unfair funding and recruiting tactics of private institutions. If that is the case, where in that decision does the ethos of student first and athlete second present itself?

What was unfair? I recall no NCAA violations. It's called being committed to the sport. Much in the way, say UWW is to football. They have better facilities, coaches, more assistant coaches, etc than other schools. And the results show. Does that mean it is "unfair" for Lawrence to have to compete against them?

Heaven forbid that there would be one sport where the mighty WIAC didn't dominate the other schools in the region. Did they get their feelings hurt losing to, gasp, Scholastica and Norbert?

Or is winning such an important factor that one school would leave it's conference because it wasn't competitive? Who was that? Oh yeah, UMAC member UW-Superior...

And, while I too question the "taking our hockey puck and going home" approach, I think the WIAC has won two NCAA titles in the five years since leaving - which would be two more than in the ten years before that, IIRC.

I'm just not quite sure what to make of your comments..

 

[altazo]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

UW-EC's national title in 2013 was the last season of the "old" NCHA. Really, I guess that was NCHA 2.0 (1.0 era being when Mankato and Bemidji were still members.)

The current WIAC can only claim last seaon's Point title.

 

[walktheline]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

GB Puck Fan, thank you for the comments. My rant had switched from hockey based frustration to the WIAC pull out from a few years back as I still don't fully understand that decision. Let me get back on track. UWS has a new coach and it's clearly slow to start after scoring 19 goals in the first weekend. The team has since posted a 1-5 record and scored only 8 goals in that time. The goalie situation is confusing to me as coach has used both in 3 different games. Both Wood and Fink have essentially the same crappy results. Minus week one highlights, UWS is scoring 1.33 goals/g while allowing 5 per game. Power play, after week one, is not a success and is sitting at 2/32. Moreover, the games I've seen (again minus week one) have been nothing short of horrible. I specifically recall 2 power plays where the opponent had more time with the puck than UWS. My point with all of this shouldn't shock anyone, it's just not working

 

[XYZ]

The D3 ethos is student first, athlete second.

While I'm not exactly sure what the point of that bit of mythological romanticism is, I can nonetheless tell you it has nothing to do with why Superior is not what it once was. It has nothing to do with that, nothing to do with the WIAC, nothing to do with any other bit of administrative tripe anyone wants to waste time trumping up. Rather, it has to do with the simple fact they spent well over a decade employing a coach who wasn't qualified to coach a good Bantam A team. It's as simple as that. This isn't 1994.

 

[BetterInLakePlacid]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

While I'm not exactly sure what the point of that bit of mythological romanticism is, I can nonetheless tell you it has nothing to do with why Superior is not what it once was. It has nothing to do with that, nothing to do with the WIAC, nothing to do with any other bit of administrative tripe anyone wants to waste time trumping up. Rather, it has to do with the simple fact they spent well over a decade employing a coach who wasn't qualified to coach a good Bantam A team. It's as simple as that. This isn't 1994.

Agreed. 3 of the 5 teams in the WIAC have no problem competing and being ranked nationally consistently. The other two are Stout and Superior, who have been led by complete bozos over the last 10 years. It turns out having a good coach matters. What a shocker.

 

[ECfan]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

GB Puck Fan, thank you for the comments. My rant had switched from hockey based frustration to the WIAC pull out from a few years back as I still don't fully understand that decision. Let me get back on track. UWS has a new coach and it's clearly slow to start after scoring 19 goals in the first weekend. The team has since posted a 1-5 record and scored only 8 goals in that time. The goalie situation is confusing to me as coach has used both in 3 different games. Both Wood and Fink have essentially the same crappy results. Minus week one highlights, UWS is scoring 1.33 goals/g while allowing 5 per game. Power play, after week one, is not a success and is sitting at 2/32. Moreover, the games I've seen (again minus week one) have been nothing short of horrible. I specifically recall 2 power plays where the opponent had more time with the puck than UWS. My point with all of this shouldn't shock anyone, it's just not working

Exactly my point from earlier. This coach has no clue. Why would you run the returning Senior goalie out and keep Wood. The kid hasn't had a respectable season ever and the Senior appears to have had respectable numbers for 2 years, even under Stauber's old fashion game. He hasn't given Fink a chance to prove himself. And he selects a average club goalie as his third pick. Has he ever even looked at stats for a good place start? He can't coach a defensive game. It is just going to get uglier and uglier. And of course, he will blame the players and not take the ownership of his poor decisions. Just a shame!

 

[Bradz]

Re: 2016-17 UW-Superior Hockey

Exactly my point from earlier. This coach has no clue. Why would you run the returning Senior goalie out and keep Wood. The kid hasn't had a respectable season ever and the Senior appears to have had respectable numbers for 2 years, even under Stauber's old fashion game. He hasn't given Fink a chance to prove himself. And he selects a average club goalie as his third pick. Has he ever even looked at stats for a good place start? He can't coach a defensive game. It is just going to get uglier and uglier. And of course, he will blame the players and not take the ownership of his poor decisions. Just a shame!

It isn’t about what you know, it is all about who you know. After a, less than stellar 28 games playing D-III he became a Grad Assistant at Wesleyan, perhaps he can’t get rid of the bad influence.

 

[walktheline]

It isn’t about what you know, it is all about who you know. After a, less than stellar 28 games playing D-III he became a Grad Assistant at Wesleyan, perhaps he can’t get rid of the bad influence.

So the most recent responses are suggesting an unqualified head/assistant coaching staff. I reserve my judgement on those allegations. That being said, the current season situation is ugly and only getting uglier and that I will agree is up to the leaders to fix. If UWS will not be a high scoring team, will they at least put the stop to opponents scoring 6+ goals per game? No player/s have stepped up on defense, which is my worry. #10 (Colton Nelson) shows promise on defense but only on the forecheck. #25 (Jerry Miettunen) is offense minded defensive player who can skate but again, scoring is not happening. These examples, however specific, show that some new players are worth talking about even with a sick team. The Jackets are out there tonight and hopefully grab on to some sort of progress

 

[XYZ]

So the most recent responses are suggesting an unqualified head/assistant coaching staff. I reserve my judgement on those allegations. That being said, the current season situation is ugly and only getting uglier and that I will agree is up to the leaders to fix. If UWS will not be a high scoring team, will they at least put the stop to opponents scoring 6+ goals per game? No player/s have stepped up on defense, which is my worry. #10 (Colton Nelson) shows promise on defense but only on the forecheck. #25 (Jerry Miettunen) is offense minded defensive player who can skate but again, scoring is not happening. These examples, however specific, show that some new players are worth talking about even with a sick team. The Jackets are out there tonight and hopefully grab on to some sort of progress

What people aren't grasping is the depth of the pit the former regime left the program in relative to the current state of DIII. Or they just don't want to admit it due to personal agendas. I don't know. But what I do know is that it's rather amusing that people who sat silent while the program unfortunately circled the drain for a decade now have all sorts of things to say after just a month under McKenna. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know, I'm not sure what will.