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

[pgb-ohio]

I don't know if this "tradition" goes back to 2011, but I know they did this n 2019: here is the welcome the UW team received when they arrived home at the airport last night

https://madison.com/wsj/sports/coll...deo_ee79620f-d278-5a2e-b21d-261987bfad6c.html

Well, why not? The Badgers were on fire this week!

Sincere congratulations to both you & Tim. And to the "occasional" Badger Posters as well. Based on a quick scan of your team thread: I'm guessing Bonzo, sunprairie, Fritz & Terry Switzer also woke up pretty happy this morning. Congrats all around.

 

[Offsides Guy]

First things first from this Northeastern fan: A tip of the Husky helmet to Wisconsin. They are the National Champions. Period.

And other than labeling that fluky OT GW goal "The Immaculate Deflection," there will be no recriminations from these quarters. The hangover and other after-effects of the uneasy night have finally cleared. The sun did, in fact, come up this morning. So all of us who wear red and black, including our players, have picked ourselves up and are moving on without filling a goodly part of 10 pages of this thread with "my team got screwed" butthurt. Life goes on.

I don’t think it’s crazy to say there’s definitely a real chance you’ll get a rematch against the Badgers in next year‘s championship game

 

[Timothy A]

: cool Was that Timothy on the street doing fist pumps?)

I wish. I live too far away and the previous 2 nights I had a sleep deficit to deal with. I actually just got up from a nap LOL.

 

[Timothy A]

Sincere congratulations to both you & Tim. And to the "occasional" Badger Posters as well. Based on a quick scan of your team thread: I'm guessing Bonzo, sunprairie, Fritz & Terry Switzer also woke up pretty happy this morning. Congrats all around.

A sincere thanks back at you and yours. After so many bad endings from 2012 to 2019 it feels really awesome to get back to back titles. I woke up this am thinking about last year's Sr's who did not get the chance to defend the title, but at least they did get a title the year before.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

I didn't have a horse in the race for the championship game other than Wisconsin represented my conference so I just want to give my final thought on the win.
We all know a goal's a goal and the game winner was no exception but on my meter it pointed more towards the garbage side of my scale.
Personally I would have liked a blazing shot beating the goalie high glove side for my taste. I felt for NU to go down on that goal.

 

[Offsides Guy]

I didn't have a horse in the race for the championship game other than Wisconsin represented my conference so I just want to give my final thought on the win.
We all know a goal's a goal and the game winner was no exception but on my meter it pointed more towards the garbage side of my scale.
Personally I would have liked a blazing shot beating the goalie high glove side for my taste. I felt for NU to go down on that goal.

If Watts did it on purpose as she stated, then it’s a masterful goal. As smart a hockey play as you’ll ever see.

 

[ARM]

Personally I would have liked a blazing shot beating the goalie high glove side for my taste. I felt for NU to go down on that goal.

I agree that something more similar to Northeastern's goal would have been ideal. While the first UW goal wasn't quite as pretty, it was a prime example of what coaches preach: get the puck to the net and crash for rebounds. I felt for Frankel, with as well as she had played, it was a hard to lose on the final play where she basically had no chance.

Northeastern's Frozen Four reminded me of the last HEA team to make the final, BC in 2016. After a season of dominating the conference, neither ever held a lead in the last two rounds. The semis followed almost the same script: down by two, tie it in the third, win in OT. Even though Northeastern only trailed in the final for less than a minute, it felt like it was behind much of the time. I think that can wear on a team.

By comparison, it felt like UW had more shifts over the course of the season with the game in the balance before the FF. Perhaps the Badgers were a bit more comfortable in the circumstances.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

You know that your numbers are wrong when the left side and right side aren't equal. HEA had three losses, so 2-3. Also, only the last two rounds were officially the FF.

Thanks for the corrections. The post has been adjusted.

 

[Timothy A]

Personally I would have liked a blazing shot beating the goalie high glove side for my taste. I felt for NU to go down on that goal.

It's hockey, a goal is a goal is a goal. We've all seen the triple deflections go in, crazy bounces off boards go in, goalies flubbing a play. It's hockey. The player there should have attacked Watts and made her move the puck before she wanted to. Successful defense is taking away time and space. In that case Watts got both and she made a play. Just the thought of a deflection shot is brilliant. And both teams had the whole game make plays to avoid OT and both failed to do it.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

In the tournament, WCHA was 5-2, and 4-1 vs other conferences.
In the FF, WCHA was 2-2, and 1-1 vs other conferences ("other conferences" being Northeastern).

HE was 2-3 overall, 1-1 in FF.
ECAC and CHA both 0-1.

(I think I have that right... it took me a LONG time to get to sleep last night.)

This is right...with the proper differentiation between the Tournament and FF.

In a year where inter-conference play was virtually non-existent, this tournament was the opportunity to see teams from different conferences go up against each other. Small sample size admittedly, but it at least gives us something concrete to work when talking about the quality of play within the conferences and how they actually matched up with other conferences.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

If Watts did it on purpose as she stated, then it’s a masterful goal. As smart a hockey play as you’ll ever see.

It was just my two cents worth on how I felt about it. For others who see it differently I have no objections.
To me it just has a different feel than beating the goalie on a shot or perfectly executing a play to the open side of the net. Like ARM, I felt for Frankel too.

 

[robertearle]

It's hockey, a goal is a goal is a goal. We've all seen the triple deflections go in, crazy bounces off boards go in, goalies flubbing a play. It's hockey. The player there should have attacked Watts and made her move the puck before she wanted to. Successful defense is taking away time and space. In that case Watts got both and she made a play. Just the thought of a deflection shot is brilliant. And both teams had the whole game make plays to avoid OT and both failed to do it.

Unless I'm mistaken, the goal that won the semi for Northeastern over Duluth hit a defender's stick and that caused it to 'flutter' up and over Soderberg. Is that somehow 'better' or 'cleaner', etc?

People here are always looking for, hoping for more attention and public awareness of NCAA women's hockey. Well, Sunday morning, I saw a story on my Yahoo News feed with the headline "Wisconsin women's hockey wins national title with preposterous bank shot in OT"

https://sports.yahoo.com/wisconsin-w...030202374.html

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"And both teams had the whole game make plays to avoid OT and both failed to do it."

I re-watched the OT last night - ESPN full replay available - and a half-minute before, Northeastern has a 3-on-1 break going when LaMantia (I think) manages to get back and make a sliding kick to block the centering pass. If that pass gets through.... Hockeybuckeye might have gotten the 'pretty' goal he was looking for. Gulp!

 

[Offsides Guy]

It was just my two cents worth on how I felt about it. For others who see it differently I have no objections.
To me it just has a different feel than beating the goalie on a shot or perfectly executing a play to the open side of the net. Like ARM, I felt for Frankel too.

Didn’t mean to come off like I was discounting your opinion. A bomb of a slap shot from one of the dots would certainly have been more dramatic and have had a more “game over” feel. I was just impressed with Watts’ quick thinking and creativity.

 

[Lindsay]

I loved the ending. It was storybook. Who else but Daryl Watts, in some absurd fashion. We’ve been spoiled with reporting on her since her she joined NCAA competition. She’s been scoring crazy goals since day 1, goals that Connor McDavid scores and ends up on sports centre. Some behind the net craziness evoking memories of Wayne Gretzky in his office is fitting. When she scored the broadcast rightfully let the celebration breathe and didn’t show replay for a bit. I just kept saying what did she do???? All I knew was it was from behind the net. I thought it was a great ending.

 

[robertearle]

I loved the ending. It was storybook. Who else but Daryl Watts, in some absurd fashion.

I keep smiling and muttering to myself "she scored from *behind* the goal?!?"

 

[ARM]

I keep smiling and muttering to myself "she scored from *behind* the goal?!?"

"Thanks" to Mike Legg, I don't smile at such a thought.

 

[Timothy A]

I re-watched the OT last night - ESPN full replay available - and a half-minute before, Northeastern has a 3-on-1 break going when LaMantia (I think) manages to get back and make a sliding kick to block the centering pass. If that pass gets through.... Hockeybuckeye might have gotten the 'pretty' goal he was looking for. Gulp!

I had to pause the game and change my undies after that. UW was DEAD MEAT. The D that made that play deserves their own trophy.

 

[EMPTYNETTER]

It was just my two cents worth on how I felt about it. For others who see it differently I have no objections.
To me it just has a different feel than beating the goalie on a shot or perfectly executing a play to the open side of the net. Like ARM, I felt for Frankel too.

There is no way that was intentional, she was trying to sauce the puck to Eden who was calling for it at the top of the right circle. A goal is a goal, but surprised she stated she intended to bank the puck off the defender who was 3' off the post.

 

[robertearle]

There is no way that was intentional, she was trying to sauce the puck to Eden who was calling for it at the top of the right circle. A goal is a goal, but surprised she stated she intended to bank the puck off the defender who was 3' off the post.

She told the play-by-play guy she intended it within about five minutes of making the shot, so she really didn't have much time to cook up "the lie". You can still see that interview on the ESPN web site:

https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/729ca8c8-ff63-4385-94e2-4674f0d7b979

 

[Offsides Guy]

There is no way that was intentional, she was trying to sauce the puck to Eden who was calling for it at the top of the right circle. A goal is a goal, but surprised she stated she intended to bank the puck off the defender who was 3' off the post.

One college hockey player I spoke with said she thinks it was intentional. She says you can tell by how high up the puck hits the defenseman before deflecting in. She wouldn’t hit the puck that high in the air to saucer pass to somebody.