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Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

Sean Pickett said:
Not that it really matters as the question was who was the better coach, not who won vs the other school, but Coach Hakstol was 11-11-4 in the regular season, 4-2 in the WCHA playoffs and 2-2 in the NCAAs against Minnesota.

Sean
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That was ONE of the questions. The stats are interesting, though.

To add: other factors are in play: avg age of team (players leaving early, have to re-load/re-start the strategy of the team based on younger players), age of coaches/experience of coaches, the "name brand" is about equal, IMO, during the coaches' era, etc.
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

solovsfett said:
Who was the better coach is incredibly difficult to conclude since they were both highly successful in terms of wins and losses and playoff appearances.

One post here or a carom (sp?) there and Woog or Hakstol could easily have 2 or more titles.

Both of these guys were great and any team in the country would have loved to have had either one as coach.

.02 from badger country
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I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. ;)

Personally I despise Woog way more than Hack, therefore Woog was a better coach. There was a lot of nasty in the Woog vs Sauer games played. Hack was just another coach. Gaspirini vs Woog is way better comparo, though Gino has the upper hand.
 
Timothy A said:
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. ;)

Personally I despise Woog way more than Hack, therefore Woog was a better coach. There was a lot of nasty in the Woog vs Sauer games played. Hack was just another coach. Gaspirini vs Woog is way better comparo, though Gino has the upper hand.
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I know but to be honest, while I thought Woog was arrogant (maybe i misread him) i never really hated him. Bonin, Rasmussen, Crowley, Trebil, Mchugh, and scores of others I hated! But that was misguided as well. I transferred my anger to the rat players when I really was ****ed at Sauer's inability to achieve even a .500 record against the ******** let alone win with any consistency. The 90-93 teams in particular should have been beating em at a .600 clip or better but that's way off topic now😈
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

I thought that the UW-MN rivalry was very strong when Woog was behind the bench. I hated the Goofers, but I respected the he!! out of them. Hakstol? It seemed as though numerous games against UND turned into a Goonish slugfest (usually, but not always started by UND) with Hakstol standing behind the bench looking like a cat with a canary in it's mouth - and that "I have no idea how this happened" look on his face.

Better coach? Not sure if Hakstol had any down years at UND, it's been said Woog had two poor ones to finish up at Minny.

Who was better? Not sure, I'm just glad they are both out of college coaching.....
 
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Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

BuB said:
Not sure if Hakstol had any down years at UND, it's been said Woog had two poor ones to finish up at Minny.
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Hak was behind the UND bench for 11 years and took all 11 teams to the NCAAs, so no real down years. There were also no real dominate years under Hak outside of 2010-11; watching that team being stopped in the Frozen Four by a goalie who stood on his head really hurt. Hak's 2008-09 and 2014-15 teams won WCHA regular season crowns and his 2005-06, 2009-10, and 2011-12 teams won WCHA playoff championships, but the 2010-11 team won both the WCHA regular season and playoff titles and really felt all year like they had the talent and chemistry to go all the way. As a rule Hak's teams started slow but finished very strong. There were several of those 11 years where a trip to the NCAAs wasn't secured until very late in the season, some of those teams went into the WCHA tournament needing a couple of wins to secure their ticket.
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

BuB said:
I thought that the UW-MN rivalry was very strong when Woog was behind the bench. I hated the Goofers, but I respected the he!! out of them. Hakstol? It seemed as though numerous games against UND turned into a Goonish slugfest (usually, but not always started by UND) with Hakstol standing behind the bench looking like a cat with a canary in it's mouth - and that "I have no idea how this happened" look on his face.

Better coach? Not sure if Hakstol had any down years at UND, it's been said Woog had two poor ones to finish up at Minny.

Who was better? Not sure, I'm just glad they are both out of college coaching.....
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Woogs down years was more due to recruiting changing, and not his coaching.
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

Frankly there were also a couple of 'they should have won it all, but didn't' years under both coaches.
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

For Woog his worst win total was 22 (still a .0619 WIN% and NCAA berth) until the 2 year falloff at the end. They won 4 RS and 3 LT championships (Hak was 3 and 4 so very comparable). Woog coached the Gophers to 35, 34, 34 and 34 wins from '86-'89 and 33 in '92, and they made the NCAAs for 12 straight years in an era when only 12 teams made the tournament only to be met with East Coast bias when the brackets were made. ;) He had 2 Hobey Baker winners in Bonin and Stauber and 5 of his players made the '88 Olympics team. His teams were so fun to watch every time they went to the PP I assumed they were going to score. It was pure fun and enjoyment.

I'll let others decide if they think they can pick one over the other. As much as I hated Hak's teams for various reasons an argument can be made either way imho.
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

Doug Woog: 6 Frozen Fours, 1 Championship game appearance in 14 seasons
Dave Hakstol: 7 Frozen Fours, 1 Championship game appearance in 11 seasons

Woog also had two Frozen Four appearances with 8 teams in the field, the rest with 12 teams. Also throw in the fact that Woog was forced to resign and Hakstol got a job in the NHL. Not really close for me. Hakstol.
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

That era also included a 1st round (and in some years the 2nd round) of multiple games played - either total goal series or best of 3 - so teams required just many games to advance (if not more) then as they do now. The '90 team had 5 NCAA playoff games and didn't even make the FF. Also a smaller field meant it was harder to get into the tournament. So not really close makes for a fun read.
 
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Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

Tipsy McStagger said:
Doug Woog: 6 Frozen Fours, 1 Championship game appearance in 14 seasons
Dave Hakstol: 7 Frozen Fours, 1 Championship game appearance in 11 seasons

Woog also had two Frozen Four appearances with 8 teams in the field, the rest with 12 teams. Also throw in the fact that Woog was forced to resign and Hakstol got a job in the NHL. Not really close for me. Hakstol.
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Woog played in 4 Minnesota State high school tournaments, and was the leading scorer one year. Played as an All-American for Minnesota, played on the US national team, and was the assistant coach for the US Olympic team. He coached Minnesota high school hockey, and Minnesota juniors. He is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. He also lives in Minnesota.
Hakstol was just as good a college coach, but he grew up in Canada, played a few years in North Dakota, coached a few years in North Dakota, and he moved on. One of these coaches is the heart and soul of Minnesota hockey, and the other is just someone looking for a job.
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

I find the whole topic interesting but don't see the point. The era they coached did not overlap. To me, a head to head comparison is pointless. But it is the off season, and what the hell else is there to talk about.
 
Re: Doug Woog vs. Dave Hakstol

ecbrevik said:
Wow, there's something I never thought I'd see Happy say! :D ;)
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The game isn't worth playing if you don't have great rivals. I think Hakstol had more talent to work with, and he never lost his best players to the Olympics like Woog did.
 
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