Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

Like SOH hockey said, it's a good sign that your boys "took the bait."

In a lopsided game they had nothing to lose and it showed that they're willing to have each others' backs. They actually followed the code.

I bet Lucia was thrilled to see it - even if he wouldn't admit it.

However, my main thing is with WI getting dirty to begin with.

Breaking it down:

Ambroz: okay, he took a swing at a WI with his stick, they had words, a few shoves/punches. DON'T THROW THAT LAST PUNCH, AMBROZ. IDIOT.
Scrum: MN responded, fine, don't like the chokehold that Rumpel put on. Like Ambroz's late punch, it was unnecessary.
Twocox did refrain from retaliating on Soleway's hit, although he did sell the hit to ensure the penalty (penalty either way, mind you).

The parade of WI penalties at the latter half of the 3rd period tells the story, honestly.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

Sorry. Just doesn't register with me and wouldn't if roles were reversed tonight.

Game to game, things happen.

Some games get chippy, most don't .


On we go...

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

Sorry. Just doesn't register with me and wouldn't if roles were reversed tonight.

Game to game, things happen.

Some games get chippy, most don't .


On we go...

WE'RE BETTER THAN YOU! AND WE KNOW IT! /Dodgeball

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

WE'RE BETTER THAN YOU! AND WE KNOW IT! /Dodgeball

Unfortunately, I agree.

Have fun capturing 3rd place!

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

Gurt, I think you're overreacting to the reaction. I only saw on real rip on Rumpel and that has mostly been recanted and nothing about there being a scrum. But I realize that whenever a Gophers fan opens his mouth you go Pavlov on the bit.

 

[goldy_331]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

So my big question is - How the * did Besse only have 3 goals going into the series? He looked this weekend like the same fast, skilled scorer who was Mr. Hockey in Minnesota a couple seasons ago. How did Eaves's system ruin him that badly?

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

Of course Scooby's inherent superior Minnesota hockey knowledge was able to correctly predict an easy Gopher win tonight, right?

Nope. I had no clue that the players would finally listen and go to the net. If they don't go to the net last night it's 2-2 again and another disaster.

I only had an issue with Wittchow. After that (even Rumpel) was fine and justified thanks to horrible officiating.

And, Goldy. That's an awesome question. That kid has sniper written all over him.

 

[streaker]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

Michigan went to Ferris and to Tech, and came out 0-3. MSU-M went to those 2 places, and came out 4-0. Michigan is playing well now and has a lot of talent, but I think at least as concerns Michigan and the WCHA, the rankings are about right for what has happened so far this year.

If you look at all the non conference games both Minnesota and Michigan played as a whole (not just cherry picking the #1 team in the country's common games) you will see my point. MTU, BGSU and Minn State are all worthy of being in the tourney, but they did not play the same quality nc schedule. You are comparing common opponent records, if so you should note that Michigan also beat MTU at the GLI. Plus, MTU & Ferris are conference opp for Minn State. Minn State's nc schedule is solid, BG/M-tech not so much if you look at road games.

 

[WisconsinWildcard]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

So my big question is - How the * did Besse only have 3 goals going into the series? He looked this weekend like the same fast, skilled scorer who was Mr. Hockey in Minnesota a couple seasons ago. How did Eaves's system ruin him that badly?

That is a good question. I though he has been the best player on the ice for Wisconsin the most often out of any player (save maybe Rumpel). However, we are often playing from behind, we often play in our own zone for the vast majority of the game, and he does have to do a lot of it himself. There have not been many players around him to set up his shot. Those two goals on Friday were quite an anomaly in passing compared to the rest of the season. Also, our power play sucks.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

That is a good question. I though he has been the best player on the ice for Wisconsin the most often out of any player (save maybe Rumpel). However, we are often playing from behind, we often play in our own zone for the vast majority of the game, and he does have to do a lot of it himself. There have not been many players around him to set up his shot. Those two goals on Friday were quite an anomaly in passing compared to the rest of the season. Also, our power play sucks.

To piggyback this, if he's WI's only real threat, it'd be easy to concentrate on limiting his opportunities and force other less talented players to try and step up.

 

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

So my big question is - How the * did Besse only have 3 goals going into the series? He looked this weekend like the same fast, skilled scorer who was Mr. Hockey in Minnesota a couple seasons ago. How did Eaves's system ruin him that badly?

It's not "Eaves system" ruining him, it's that he's been very inconsistent in his level of play. There aren't restraints on him, he's been consistently told to shoot the puck more since he got here. When he plays well without the puck he gets opportunities to shoot it, but it's been a bit feast or famine. He has games like this weekend with 6 and 7 shots and then has four with 0 or 1. Besse having 0 shots in a game is not the system holding him back. For example this weekend he's up for playing against MN and he has two great games and could easily have had a few more tally's on the weekend. To me it shows that when he's up for a complete game he's very good. When he's not, he's not. Hopefully he takes a step forward in his overall game now as there's no reason he can't be a 20 goal scorer still this year if he plays the way he played on the weekend every time out. Badgers have lacked leadership having lost it all and even though he's just a sophomore he (and Soleway and Zulnick) need to step forward into those roles now. As Eaves has said on more than one occasion "Guys keep looking around the room for someone else to do something... There is no one else."

IMO that, more than anything else, is why the Badgers have a poor record. But it's not always an over night thing obviously and these guys are growing into those roles more slowly than we as fans would like to see.

 

[Bale]

If you look at all the non conference games both Minnesota and Michigan played as a whole (not just cherry picking the #1 team in the country's common games) you will see my point. MTU, BGSU and Minn State are all worthy of being in the tourney, but they did not play the same quality nc schedule. You are comparing common opponent records, if so you should note that Michigan also beat MTU at the GLI. Plus, MTU & Ferris are conference opp for Minn State. Minn State's nc schedule is solid, BG/M-tech not so much if you look at road games.

Uh...except the rpi and krach sos ratings disagree with you.

MSU (11,9), BG (12,10), mtu (20,15)
Meanwhile mn (10,17) and mi (21,18)

The difference is negligible. If anything the wcha's schedules are a bit more difficilt. Cherry picking non-conference schedules is just as ridiculous as what youre arguing. I know msu's has and I believe mtu's sos suffered once getting into the conference schedule.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Gurt, I think you're overreacting to the reaction. I only saw on real rip on Rumpel and that has mostly been recanted and nothing about there being a scrum. But I realize that whenever a Gophers fan opens his mouth you go Pavlov on the bit.

I knew what I was doing.

 

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

I knew what I was doing.

Most of us knew what you were doing.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

Most of us knew what you were doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUC0LCi1VRk&spfreload=10

 

[streaker]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

Uh...except the rpi and krach sos ratings disagree with you.

MSU (11,9), BG (12,10), mtu (20,15)
Meanwhile mn (10,17) and mi (21,18)

The difference is negligible. If anything the wcha's schedules are a bit more difficilt. Cherry picking non-conference schedules is just as ridiculous as what youre arguing. I know msu's has and I believe mtu's sos suffered once getting into the conference schedule.

The difference is not negligible. Minnesota State, BG and MTU all have great records, great road records and deserve their standing. But the proof is in who they played and where they played. MTU has lost 1 road game. BGSU, 2. But to compare their road nc games to Minnesota and Michigan, its easy to see a difference in the quality of opponent which does impact the PWR-especially if you win. The original question centered around that point. But, yes the overall WCHA conference is stronger.

 

[Bale]

Re: Minnesota hosts Wisconsin: 1/16 & 1/17

The difference is not negligible. Minnesota State, BG and MTU all have great records, great road records and deserve their standing. But the proof is in who they played and where they played. MTU has lost 1 road game. BGSU, 2. But to compare their road nc games to Minnesota and Michigan, its easy to see a difference in the quality of opponent which does impact the PWR-especially if you win. The original question centered around that point. But, yes the overall WCHA conference is stronger.

So, I know this is pointless and means nothing, but your comments got me thinking. What is the reality? We've heard so much from the Big Ten teams that the new conference alignment will allow them to play such better schedules, but is that really the truth? So, I did go back and look at each team's road nc game schedule. What I found is that there are a lot of "big name schools" playing a lot of other "big name schools". Unfortunately for them, many of the big name schools are having down years in the same year. This has given the appearance of a more difficult schedule, but in reality, this year it just shows that name schools are playing each other. Difficulty has nothing to do with it.

What I did was take each school and looked at their opponents. To each opponent I took how many games they have faced each other (only counting road games) and multiplied it with that opponents PWR ranking. I then averaged those totals to come up with a composite SOS for each one. Results are below:

MN- Played SCSU (1 game, 24 PWR), UMD (1,5), BC(1,19), Northeastern (1,28)- Composite SOS 19
MI- Played Ferris (1 game, 29PWR), UML (1,9), BU (1,8), MTU (2,11)- Composite SOS 15
MSU- Played UNO (2 games, 2 PWR), UMD (1,5) - Composite SOS 3
MTU- WI (2,54)- Composite SOS 54
BG- Miami (1,6), OSU (1, 29), Robert Morris (1,25)- Composite SOS 20


So, to answer the question, it depends what you consider negligible. MSU is far and away better than anyone in road nc SOS. MI, MN and BG are pretty close. WI is far behind, mostly because they've only played a single team. Just by looking at the schedules, I can't tell anything. B10 certainly isn't far and away better as suggested. The only thing that's definite is that MSU has played superior opponents and MTU has played subpar opponents.