2021 NCAA Championship: No. 1 Northeastern Huskies vs. No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers

[FredsDeadFriend]

And maybe if Minnesota and Wisconsin (and their 8 Canadians) can win it all without relying on 5 star Foreign (Non-Canadian) and Canadian players that would ALSO be even better. (wink wink)
WATT IS THAT I SAY??? SHIRLEY I JEST!!! AM I THE POTOMAK CALLING THE KETTLE YOU KNOW WHAT?? I OBVIOUSLY KNOWLES NOT WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.

Well, Wisconsin has mostly, if not always had to depend heavily on foreigners and Minnesotans to find any success in college hockey. They have 4 times as many Minnesotans on their roster right now than they do Wisconsin natives. And sure, the Gophers have 3 Canadians out of over 20 players, so less than 15%. But over 80% of the team are native Minnesotans, and that is a trend the program has followed, not strictly, it fluctuates up and down some, but it helps the local high school programs as they know that supporting their high school girls hockey teams can lead to their daughters getting a chance at a free high quality college degree. And what started with the Gophers fighting against all ECAC teams for NCAA tourney glory, expanded into UMn and UMD fighting for that glory, then Wisconsin joined in, and for a time UND was making a go at it, but now it's OSU, and someday hopefully it will be SCSU and Mankato and BSU as well. All of those schools have women's hockey now because of what the Gophers did to promote high school girls hockey in the state of Minnesota. And I know their doing that also helped out Clarkson as well, as when they can't find enough Canadians to fill up their roster, seems they fill in some or most of those gaps with Minnesota girls. Your welcome Clarkson fans, lol.

 

[Timothy A]

Well, Wisconsin has mostly, if not always had to depend heavily on foreigners and Minnesotans to find any success in college hockey. They have 4 times as many Minnesotans on their roster right now than they do Wisconsin natives.

No Shiit Sherlock. Have you ever watched WI HS girl's hockey? Not good. That's why the great WI players go to HS out of state to play HS hockey, and even then the competition is brutal to earn a prominent role at that school. It really doesn't matter where they come from.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Almost 30% of OSU’s roster is Canadian. Does that irritate you as well?

It doesn't irritate me. If Ohio had great in state players and they got snubbed it would bother me but we don't. We also have a good Finnish connection that has served us well!

 

[Lindsay]

It doesn't irritate me. If Ohio had great in state players and they got snubbed it would bother me but we don't.

I think we do have great talent leaving the state. Ani Fitzgerald from Shaker Heights on NU and Chayla Edwards from Cleveland Heights on Wisconsin are 2 examples. Maybe they were recruited by OSU, don’t know.

We don’t have the depth of talent like Minnesota or southern Ontario, but there’s some and there’s
definitely been a successful push to get girls hockey in Cleveland reinvigorated after the death of the Ohio Flames a few years back. I heard Handrahan took the in state talent for granted and kind of turned the girls off. I hope Muzerall doesn’t do the same. I guarantee there are girls in Ohio that want to play at OSU. No free passes but if the talent is there recruit it!

edit: OSU did an AWESOME job hyping their 3 Cleveland women, I think it was last year. So it’s promising and those Canadian girls may need to look out, ;-)

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

I think we do have great talent leaving the state. Ani Fitzgerald from Shaker Heights on NU and Chayla Edwards from Cleveland Heights on Wisconsin are 2 examples. Maybe they were recruited by OSU, don’t know.

We don’t have the depth of talent like Minnesota or southern Ontario, but there’s some and there’s
definitely been a successful push to get girls hockey in Cleveland reinvigorated after the death of the Ohio Flames a few years back. I heard Handrahan took the in state talent for granted and kind of turned the girls off. I hope Muzerall doesn’t do the same. I guarantee there are girls in Ohio that want to play at OSU. No free passes but if the talent is there recruit it!

edit: OSU did an AWESOME job hyping their 3 Cleveland women, I think it was last year. So it’s promising and those Canadian girls may need to look out, ;-)

I'm thinking this topic should be bounced over to the OSU thread.

 

[FredsDeadFriend]

No Shiit Sherlock. Have you ever watched WI HS girl's hockey? Not good. That's why the great WI players go to HS out of state to play HS hockey, and even then the competition is brutal to earn a prominent role at that school. It really doesn't matter where they come from.

Well, when the state funded education institution that's primary function(hence the reason for the state funding) is to serve the residents of the state, in this case the state of Wisconsin, then it's sad when only one girl on the hockey teams comes out of the state. I guess what I am saying is that, just like with the men's program, continually looking elsewhere for players does not help out the team's prospects for the future nor the state itself. Minnesota made a commitment way back in the day that led to other teams outperforming them come NCAA tournament time as those teams brought in older Canadian players and/or stole some Minnesotans and found sort term success. But what are those teams situations now? Do they now have local recruits they can go after or do they still have to look elsewhere for players? If you look only at Michigan's last 50 years, only 2 Natl Titles, and the state as a whole produces fewer Div 1 quality hockey players and have to compete with several other instate teams with Titles, unlike UMn whose state produces more players and only 1 other instate team has any titles.

Probably much harder to make a principled decision now, like Minnesota made back in the 40's & 50's, but it paid of big time for both the state of Minnesota and the Gophers more specifically, and the way things are trending, all the Minnesota based teams could thrive and continue improving going forward? Hopefully UMD doesn't improve much more, lol. But the growth of AMERICAN college hockey would benefit if other schools did anything close to what Minnesota did back in the day. Or we could continue helping to train up our US Hockey team's future competition?! I'm just saying.

 

[FredsDeadFriend]

I think we do have great talent leaving the state. Ani Fitzgerald from Shaker Heights on NU and Chayla Edwards from Cleveland Heights on Wisconsin are 2 examples. Maybe they were recruited by OSU, don’t know.

We don’t have the depth of talent like Minnesota or southern Ontario, but there’s some and there’s
definitely been a successful push to get girls hockey in Cleveland reinvigorated after the death of the Ohio Flames a few years back. I heard Handrahan took the in state talent for granted and kind of turned the girls off. I hope Muzerall doesn’t do the same. I guarantee there are girls in Ohio that want to play at OSU. No free passes but if the talent is there recruit it!

edit: OSU did an AWESOME job hyping their 3 Cleveland women, I think it was last year. So it’s promising and those Canadian girls may need to look out, ;-)

YEAH!!! See this is what I am talking about! Cherish your local talent and take the steps to support the game locally and good things will come. Good things for women's college hockey as a whole, and for the WCHA and OSU more specifically, or maybe for a future B1G conference and OSU?

 

[EMPTYNETTER]

Once more, why would she lie?

She's says in the interview five minutes after that it's kind of a blur, etc. Would you be happy if instead of 'the goalie', she had said "I tried to bank it off that white jersey in front of me"?

She says she was going for a bank shot. She got a bank shot. Why would she lie? Why do you insist on disbelieving her?

WHY WOULD SHE LIE?!?

Come on...really? For the same reason some players will lead the fist bump line to their bench after a net front scramble goal or a near tip on a shot from the point when that player knows FULL WELL they didn’t score the goal. Anyone who has watched hockey knows there are many players who have no problem taking unwarranted credit.

 

[robertearle]

Come on...really? For the same reason some players will lead the fist bump line to their bench after a net front scramble goal or a near tip on a shot from the point when that player knows FULL WELL they didn’t score the goal. Anyone who has watched hockey knows there are many players who have no problem taking unwarranted credit.

You guys are ridiculous. Yes, really!

She has won a Patty Kazmaier. She might well win another. She doesn't need to aggrandize or 'embellish' on that. There is NO reason for her to lie. NONE!

She tried a bank shot. She hit it. Why is it SO hard for you guys to believe that? Instead of trying to diminish her, maybe think about why you have such trouble accepting that.

JE-SUS!

 

[Timothy A]

Do you know Watts is more ridiculous than the Watts discussion? That Blair was not on the all tourney team. She had more wins, a better save percentage and beat Frankel head to head in the title game, but somehow Frankel is more deserving that Blair? If you look at the goals that were scored in the game, Frankel made mistakes on both UW goals. Blair did not on the goal she allowed.

 

[Lindsay]

Yes there was a moment in the providence game where it was 2-0. Blair had to be ice cold and for about 5 minutes Providence woke up, got some sustained zone time, and Blair carried Wisconsin through whatever that was. Goalies get put in a tough spot in games when their team is struggling to score for whatever reason and she really came through for them there. Played great against OSU when when OSU outshot them. I don’t care too much about tourney teams, but even considering the goaltending remarks related to Minnesota the last couple years, bottom line is no matter how strong your team is you need a good goalie and Blair did a great job.

 

[EMPTYNETTER]

You guys are ridiculous. Yes, really!

She has won a Patty Kazmaier. She might well win another. She doesn't need to aggrandize or 'embellish' on that. There is NO reason for her to lie. NONE!

She tried a bank shot. She hit it. Why is it SO hard for you guys to believe that? Instead of trying to diminish her, maybe think about why you have such trouble accepting that.

JE-SUS!

Ok, now I'm beginning to think you are a relative or something. Nobody said anything about Watts not being a really good player and natural goal scorer. That has nothing to do with your question. The fact is that if you watch the video it doesn't align with what was stated in the interview. Furthermore, there are MANY players out there who will gladly accept undeserving credit. OK...I'm done on this topic.

 

[robertearle]

Nobody said anything about Watts not being a really good player and natural goal scorer.

No, just a liar.

Based on absolutely nothing other than what you imagine was in her head that second.

Just a liar.

Shame on you.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Do you know Watts is more ridiculous than the Watts discussion? That Blair was not on the all tourney team. She had more wins, a better save percentage and beat Frankel head to head in the title game, but somehow Frankel is more deserving that Blair? If you look at the goals that were scored in the game, Frankel made mistakes on both UW goals. Blair did not on the goal she allowed.

Don't be trying to deflect from the highly charged discussion...

 

[ARM]

If you look at the goals that were scored in the game, Frankel made mistakes on both UW goals. Blair did not on the goal she allowed.

I'm not sure what you want Frankel to do on the winning goal. Watts has the puck behind the net and can come out or pass the puck on either side. She has to be ready for a wraparound attempt to either post, and be aware of where the potential shooters are out front. All game, Watts has been trying to pick the top corner over her shoulder from just in front of the goal line. So you think that she should also be defending against the puck bouncing off her teammate on one post, when the pass could easily go to the opposite post? You guys take your silly, "It's all your fault" chant too seriously.

With all of the prime scoring chances that Frankel stopped in that game, I'd say that she was the biggest reason that the Badgers weren't already taking selfies all over the ice arena long before the game eventually ended.

 

[Offsides Guy]

Do you know Watts is more ridiculous than the Watts discussion? That Blair was not on the all tourney team. She had more wins, a better save percentage and beat Frankel head to head in the title game, but somehow Frankel is more deserving that Blair? If you look at the goals that were scored in the game, Frankel made mistakes on both UW goals. Blair did not on the goal she allowed.

Sorry but Frankel was clearly the better goalie just based on the eye test. As I said in a previous post somewhere, if the goalies had been switched Wisconsin might’ve win 4-0 as Frankel kept NU in the game. Also, even the announcers were pointing out that Blair was not doing a very good job of controlling rebounds in that game. She was just fortunate the NU players weren’t in the right place at the right time to take advantage of those rebounds. Not at all saying Blair did not do a nice job, just saying Frankel was definitely better.

 

[Lindsay]

Not at all saying Blair did not do a nice job, just saying Frankel was definitely better.

Yea this absolutely fair. Its just weird to me how the Blair storyline got zero play whatsoever, and it was missed that she did a year at UND, so I was happy to see Timothy A mention her a couple times. In Blair’s 3 years at Hurst she helped them win 2 CHA tourney championships and one reg season championship, in a very parity driven league. She played great in her 1 previous NCAA appearance. She’s had a nice career so far (big understatement) and some adversity (program cut) and is worthy of at least some commentary. I get there are only so many stories that get told in a short tourney and the goalie focus was on Frankel, and briefly Kirk amd Providence’s goalie. Anyway, great job by her.

Anyone think we’ll see Watts vs Frankel at Worlds?

 

[Timothy A]

I'm not sure what you want Frankel to do on the winning goal. Watts has the puck behind the net and can come out or pass the puck on either side. She has to be ready for a wraparound attempt to either post, and be aware of where the potential shooters are out front. All game, Watts has been trying to pick the top corner over her shoulder from just in front of the goal line. So you think that she should also be defending against the puck bouncing off her teammate on one post, when the pass could easily go to the opposite post? You guys take your silly, "It's all your fault" chant too seriously.

With all of the prime scoring chances that Frankel stopped in that game, I'd say that she was the biggest reason that the Badgers weren't already taking selfies all over the ice arena long before the game eventually ended.

The puck was on the nearside and Watts was on the forehand, I think that she should have been up on her skates and hugging that post. If Watts gets a pass to Eden, the shot is still coming from that side of the ice. I do agree that she had to be aware of a wrap around attempt on the other post. Everyone seems to conveniently not mention that on goal 1, Frankel weakly deflected a rebound off a very weak low angle shot right into the backside slot in the most prime of scoring areas and Webster buried it. And everyone wants to criticize Blair for HER bad redound control. I say Watts bad rebound control?

 

[ARM]

The puck was on the nearside and Watts was on the forehand, I think that she should have been up on her skates and hugging that post.

I don't think she could even get there, because she started closer to the right post, because that is where Watts was heading. She's still sliding across when the puck arrives. O'Brien is wide open in the low slot, so she has to be aware that a shot could come from in front at any moment.

I agree that mistakes were made on the play. Fontaine, instead of taking away time and space from Watts, decides to stop on the near post, and skate around the crease to the far side. And I don't know what Carter's thought process was, but judging from her reaction, she doesn't need me to fault her in addition. Five Husky skaters, all puck watching, nobody is covering anyone, but you want to put it on the goaltender. Dude.

Not the first goal I've seen scored from behind the net in a women's championship, but the previous one was much more clearly on the goaltender.

 

[TitleIXHockey]

I think the mistake on the final goal was Carter getting a bit too close to Fontaine on the other side and being just a touch slow to cover the wraparound possibility. She gets there a bit faster she deflects the puck back behind the net instead of into it.

MORE IMPORTANTLY to the discussion above I am starting to debate whether it was Watts who scored the game winning goal at all. I think the jersey is wrinkled and it LOOKS like #19 but is actually #15, Caitlin Schneider.