Ohio State Buckeyes 2023-24 The Muzzinator Gonna Muzzinate!!

[Lindsay]

Well that hasn't hurt Coaches efforts in the last 8 years. Athletes come to play for her and the system that she put in place. Joy Dunne didn't come for a rink. Amos didn't come for a rink. Baxter didn't come for a rink. Next years class isn't coming for a rink and all the girls that came before didn't come for a rink. If thats what you want as an athlete then good luck. ELITE athletes want to become elite. I love our rink and all the great Buckeye fans that show up. All these beautiful rinks in college hockey and look at their programs ... it just shows what Muzerall has been able to build since arriving in 2017 way before covid.

I can’t believe you are defending that rink. Still shows an active project online so hopefully change is coming.

By the way the school told Muzerall they were building a new rink when they recruited her. How does it make you feel that 8 years later a shovel hasn’t gone in the ground?

 

[pgb-ohio]

Do you have an opinion on if the whistle was on the quick side?

No; not really. Now the last thing I want to do is to spoil things for someone else. But second guessing judgement calls isn't my thing.

My original comment was based on an actual interest in the audio. Back in ancient times, the Met Sports Center (North Stars) had microphones dangling over the slot at each end of the ice. Hanging by a single wire from the roof. In addition to Al Shaver's very professional call of the game, you'd get phenomenal audio of pipe shots and ref whistles. Fond childhood memory.

I have no idea how LaBahn is miked up. But that one play brought back the childhood memory.

Sadly the Met Center is now an IKEA store. Given the X, things came out OK for Minnesota. But that's a whole 'nuther story!

 

[robertearle]

No; not really. Now the last thing I want to do is to spoil things for someone else. But second guessing judgement calls isn't my thing.

My original comment was based on an actual interest in the audio. Back in ancient times, the Met Sports Center (North Stars) had microphones dangling over the slot at each end of the ice. Hanging by a single wire from the roof. In addition to Al Shaver's very professional call of the game, you'd get phenomenal audio of pipe shots and ref whistles. Fond childhood memory.

I have no idea how LaBahn is miked up. But that one play brought back the childhood memory.

Sadly the Met Center is now an IKEA store. Given the X, things came out OK for Minnesota. But that's a whole 'nuther story!

Just this past weekend, a friend of mine commented on something attached to the top of the glass just inside the blue lines on the near-to-camera side of LaBahn. We decided that they were maybe blue line cameras, but more likely microphones.

If you pause this video in the first second you can see one, and then about four seconds the other one. You can't really see it, but there's also a wire that runs from them down the seam in the glass and off to who-knows-where.

tinyurl.com/mrx6ufvy

 

[BadgerPete]

Just this past weekend, a friend of mine commented on something attached to the top of the glass just inside the blue lines on the near-to-camera side of LaBahn. We decided that they were maybe blue line cameras, but more likely microphones.

If you pause this video in the first second you can see one, and then about four seconds the other one. You can't really see it, but there's also a wire that runs from them down the seam in the glass and off to who-knows-where.

tinyurl.com/mrx6ufvy

They're microphones, and they are sometimes on the far side from camera glass where the net begins as well. (They're right above where we sit.)

 

[pgb-ohio]

I can’t believe you are defending that rink.

I love Sierra's post, and I love her loyalty. She's all in for the players and coaches, regardless of the facility.

At the same time, I fully understand your reaction. The new rink is definitely needed, and is insanely overdue.

Still shows an active project online so hopefully change is coming.

I sure hope that's a correct reading of the situation. As Buckeye Posters based in Columbus, all of us feel close to this program. And although our individual networks vary, we are close to it. Yet recently we've been experiencing radio silence on the matter of the new rink. The silence is disconcerting.

By the way the school told Muzerall they were building a new rink when they recruited her. How does it make you feel that 8 years later a shovel hasn’t gone in the ground?

This question answers itself. It's horrifying to think the project might once again go off the rails.

We are currently transitioning to a new AD. Maybe this is just a short delay while the new AD settles into place. But that's just tea leaf reading. And reading the leaves is pretty tough when they're are on the other side of an opaque wall. Feelings? This would be another example of something that feels bad.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Just this past weekend, a friend of mine commented on something attached to the top of the glass just inside the blue lines on the near-to-camera side of LaBahn. We decided that they were maybe blue line cameras, but more likely microphones.

If you pause this video in the first second you can see one, and then about four seconds the other one. You can't really see it, but there's also a wire that runs from them down the seam in the glass and off to who-knows-where.

tinyurl.com/mrx6ufvy

So I presume you're referring to the small black rectangles at the top of the glass. You're right; I can't see the wires. But hey, you certainly succeeded in sharing a most unpleasant memory!

 

[pgb-ohio]

They're microphones, and they are sometimes on the far side from camera glass where the net begins as well. (They're right above where we sit.)

Great seats! And thanks for confirming the microphones.

 

[Sierra]

I can’t believe you are defending that rink. Still shows an active project online so hopefully change is coming.

By the way the school told Muzerall they were building a new rink when they recruited her. How does it make you feel that 8 years later a shovel hasn’t gone in the ground?

If you hear today's podcast on USCHO, you'll hear it from someone that lives it everyday ... I think Jen Gardner makes the point very clear. Rinks don't matter if you're trying to be elite and win championships. OSU is a football school that's playing for a national championship every year. No other school that has womens hockey has to deal with that. Careful what you wish for. I heard during covid 10 plus sports were on the chopping block and womena hockey would be one of them. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Now with NIL tOSU needs every dollar to compete with the others who don't have womens hockey. Again, Jen Gardner states it very clearly on where she and the Buckeye womens hockey team stands.

I do understand you frustration. Hopefully this article will cheer everyone up.

https://www.therinklive.com/pro/pwh...ickname-as-she-settles-in-with-team-minnesota

 

[robertearle]

If you hear today's podcast on USCHO, you'll hear it from someone that lives it everyday ... I think Jen Gardner makes the point very clear. Rinks don't matter if you're trying to be elite and win championships. OSU is a football school that's playing for a national championship every year. No other school that has womens hockey has to deal with that. Careful what you wish for. I heard during covid 10 plus sports were on the chopping block and womena hockey would be one of them. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Now with NIL tOSU needs every dollar to compete with the others who don't have womens hockey. Again, Jen Gardner states it very clearly on where she and the Buckeye womens hockey team stands.

I do understand you frustration. Hopefully this article will cheer everyone up.

https://www.therinklive.com/pro/pwh...ickname-as-she-settles-in-with-team-minnesota

You make a pretty good argument why a player with choices who doesn't want to be so much an 'afterthought' to the football team might choose somewhere else.

 

[Sierra]

You make a pretty good argument why a player with choices who doesn't want to be so much an 'afterthought' to the football team might choose somewhere else.

Players choose the coach and the TEAM

Congratulations to our womens basketball team for winning the BIG TEN.

 

[ARM]

Rinks don't matter if you're trying to be elite and win championships. OSU is a football school that's playing for a national championship every year. ... Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Then why isn't the same message given to the football players? "We're not going to invest in better practice facilities for football, because it's about being elite, not where you practice, play, etc."

If you are ready to cut your program when times get tough, then is that program truly elite? When the program is built on a foundation of the coach, and the coach gets the message that the hockey team isn't going to be supported, how long do you think that coach will stay when more attractive jobs become available? All humans want to be told that they matter. I didn't like the message sent when North Dakota, which prides itself on being a hockey school, dropped its women's program so easily. I also don't like the message sent when tOSU, which takes a lot of pride in its position in the world, requires the nation's best NCAA women's hockey team to play in facilities that it would never dream of dumping on its men's programs.

 

[Timothy A]

If you hear today's podcast on USCHO, you'll hear it from someone that lives it everyday ... I think Jen Gardner makes the point very clear. Rinks don't matter if you're trying to be elite and win championships. OSU is a football school that's playing for a national championship every year. No other school that has womens hockey has to deal with that. a[/url]

WI spends TONS of money on football as they try and compete with the likes of OSU and MI. It's not unrealistic that WI can compete for the Natty in FB some day. It's basically a facility nuclear arms race in football. How much is the new rink? How big is the football budget? It is very unfair that the women's hockey team is so under-supported by Tosu.

 

[pgb-ohio]

... If you are ready to cut your program when times get tough, then is that program truly elite? When the program is built on a foundation of the coach, and the coach gets the message that the hockey team isn't going to be supported, how long do you think that coach will stay when more attractive jobs become available?

Speaking only for myself, as an individual:

With all due respect, a contingency plan prepared during covid times, then never adopted, isn't a fair way to assess a school's intentions. As the pandemic began to spiral out of control, both Athletics and society in general faced an existential threat. I'm not going fault anyone for preparing for a worst case scenario. There's nothing wrong with getting prepared, while at the same time fervently hoping the plan will never be needed.

IMHO, one of Ohio State's core missions is to provide a comprehensive program -- in both academics and athletics. There's nothing wrong with a smaller school that specializes in some endeavors, and doesn't even offer certain other disciplines. But here at OSU, it's in our DNA to serve constituencies from all sectors of the state. If we were to start meat axing programs 10 at a time, we wouldn't be Ohio State anymore.

All humans want to be told that they matter. I didn't like the message sent when North Dakota, which prides itself on being a hockey school, dropped its women's program so easily.

I'm certainly with you on UND. But the situations are quite different. As I understand it, North Dakota found itself in a budget crunch because energy prices plummeted. Obviously energy prices are volatile. I don't envy any institution that's heavily dependent on energy $$ for its funding. But in the long term, energy prices are highly likely to rebound. I wish UND could have found a way to weather the storm, rather than pulling the plug on the program. And of course the fact that Women's Hockey was singled out will always be a sore point for both of us.

I also don't like the message sent when tOSU, which takes a lot of pride in its position in the world, requires the nation's best NCAA women's hockey team to play in facilities that it would never dream of dumping on its men's programs.

Except that OSU Men's Hockey played in the same humble facility for 30+ years. Their situation was far worse than it is now, post-renovations.

Don't get me wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right. I still strongly believe that Women's Hockey needs and deserves the new building.

 

[Sierra]

WI spends TONS of money on football as they try and compete with the likes of OSU and MI. It's not unrealistic that WI can compete for the Natty in FB some day. It's basically a facility nuclear arms race in football. How much is the new rink? How big is the football budget? It is very unfair that the women's hockey team is so under-supported by Tosu.

Did you just try to compare WI football to OSU? That's comical. WI will never ever win the BIG TEN and now with the new BIG TEN they might want to consider dropping their program and start a cricket program and save that money. LOL Coach Muzerall has to deal with the politics of a institution and the system within. Maybe they build the rink and maybe they don't but at the end of the day it sounds like this forum cares more about it that the players. Again, listen to Jen Gardner as she states it better than anyone of us fans. Look at the University of Minnesota and those beautiful facilities and all their athletic programs are underwater and compete at a bottom tier level.

 

[Lindsay]

If “don’t ask for a rink or we’ll cut your program” is really the message that gets sent to players and coaches then why would anyone want to send their kid there? Should that be the price of an OSU experience?

they tick the box for best resources in every category probably except rink. Better to push that and acknowledge the inequity on the rink than act like your women don’t deserve a better rink.

you are right the players are choosing the coach and the many other resources but that doesn’t make it right.

I think a big problem is both the mens and women’s rinks are not quite right and the administration would never pick supporting the women and getting them situated while the mens hockey is still imperfect. Can’t wait for the audacious AD or pres that has the guts to do it.

as for winning big ten basketball. Huge congrats. Your women will play in a sold out big ten tourney, over 109,000 will watch over the tourney in person. PWHL is playing in NHL rinks , NWSL is building a women’s only stadium in KC. Times are changing. Women and girls have different expectations. So do fans. To keep them in that rink is to gate keep the progress of the game. Not their problem, they don’t care but hockey fans are allowed to call it out.

OSU administration is putting the future success of their program at risk by having no plans for their rink and especially if “quit asking for stuff” is the culture . As for the football guys that are bringing in the money they all played in tax payer funded high school stadiums and tax payer funded coaches before college. Meanwhile girls hockey isn’t even an OHSAA sport, the girls have inequitable opportunities to play as girls in this state and many others.

I don’t drink the koolaid that women should play in that rink. Every NCAA season when they host 2 NCAA games in that rink it should be talked about. Not the fault of any player or coach, not a criticism of any them, but women’s sports have moved past that rink. Maybe another poor school could somehow explain it away. It’s below what OSU should have. It is the truth. Alums get a weird look on their face when they hear that’s where the #1 team in the country plays. Truth. Even little girls in 2024 know something is not right about that being the home rink.

I am sorry that this comes off as OSU bashing. I respect the OSU fandom and passion. But I get so frustrated trying to see the girls game grow and experiencing some of these realities. I will definitely listens to Jen on the podcast, the interviews on there are great. Other than against the CHA I wish OSU the best in the post season and even though it should not take a natty maybe another one will wake up the sleeping somebodies in administration.

 

[Lindsay]

Coach Muzerall has to deal with the politics of an institution and the system within.

This is true and maybe a reason why outsiders make noise instead. She’s in a tough spot on the issue.

 

[ARM]

With all due respect, a contingency plan prepared during covid times, then never adopted, isn't a fair way to assess a school's intentions.

I agree, and I don't see your position and mine being too far apart, based on past discussions. The current poster's view seemed to be more along the lines of women's hockey players shouldn't expect anything more than this.

Except that OSU Men's Hockey played in the same humble facility for 30+ years. Their situation was far worse than it is now, post-renovations.

I can't speak to what kind of buildings other CCHA teams were playing in during that era, but I know that most of the teams that were in the WCHA when I first realized that tOSU played men's hockey didn't have the caliber of arena that they do now. In the current women's WCHA, the Buckeyes' home is at the bottom. The St. Thomas rink isn't big, but it isn't ancient, and a replacement is in the works.

Your point that some of the Minnesota programs promote hockey disproportionately is valid. If tOSU was still in its prior position of trying to compete for home ice in the WCHA quarters without realistic dreams of the NCAA tourney, then what you have for a building might be acceptable. Once you join the conversation for, "Who has the top program?" then a subpar facility becomes a drag on the sport as a whole. The Buckeyes fans have done a good job of embracing the charm of what they have, but we aren't exactly talking about Fenway Park in terms of tradition.

 

[robertearle]

As a point of reference, Wisconsin's LaBahn Arena was built for $34 million 12 years ago. Right now, the UW Athletic Dept is getting final approval to spend $285 million, most of which is for a new football PRACTICE facility.

Cue up Allen Iverson: we talkin' 'bout *practice*.

(The project tears down the old, old indoor track building, retrofits the current football practice building into a replacement track, and builds an entirely new football facility in the "footprint" of the track. You want disrespect of a program? As best I can figure, it will leave the current two-time B1G champ track team without any practice facility at all for the 2024-25 season.)

Yeah, LOTS of money goes to football. But you find enough to do both, if it matters to you.

 

[pgb-ohio]

This is true and maybe a reason why outsiders make noise instead. She’s in a tough spot on the issue.

Insightful and correct. To expand on this just a little: Coach has three distinct tasks in this regard.

1. Motivating The Team Of course this includes Jenn Gardiner, whose podcast comments have been referenced. Crafting a narrative that rallies the team is more than just OK. It's good coaching.

2. Presenting The Program in the Best Possible Light to the Outside World Some will deride this as spin; but everyone does it on some level. And it is an appropriate part of recruiting, among other things. Of course you can't overreach. If you present a case that isn't credible, your efforts will backfire. But if you state your case well, it will pay dividends.

3. Communicating Privately With High Level Decision-Makers Leaving PR partially behind, I'm now referring to Lobbying & Negotiating Skills.


Nadine is doing a great job with #1 & #2. And although it's outside of my view, I suspect she's excelling at #3 as well. She's quite brilliant, you know.

 

[bodyup88]

That stinks for the track team next season. Maybe Suzy Favor can lead an effort to alleviate the situation.