WCHA 2017-18 Season

[pgb-ohio]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

Final Score From Saturday, February 24th
Ohio State 5
Minnesota State 2
(Buckeyes Win Best of Three Series 2-0)

Mavericks Stubborn; But Buckeyes Sweep​

Clearly the Mavericks didn't have the series or the season they wanted. Dejection was detectable at various points of the weekend. And yet Mankato channeled the frustration into a strong compete level on Saturday.

In the end, things played out about the way you'd expect in a #2 vs. #7 match-up: A sweep, with one close game. It's fair to say that MSU is a few recruits away from making a serious run at a WCHA title. But's that's not to criticize the current Mavericks. They already have many gifted players in place. I'm pleased to honor a couple of them in this installment of the 3 Stars.

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes ended their opponent's season. Always a tough thing to do. And sometimes after a giant win, a team can experience a letdown. Stating the obvious, that's happened to Ohio State a couple of times this season. After Friday's offensive tour-de-force, that had to be a bit of a concern in the Buckeye camp. But there was no letdown this time.

The 3 Stars of the Game: Decidedly Unofficial & Just For Fun​

Honorable Mention: Megan Hinze, Minnesota State
Great effort by the Maverick Defense, and Megan led the way. Despite the final three goal margin, Hinze was a +1 for the day.


#3 Star: Lauren Boyle, Ohio State
Lauren gave us a great two-way performance, as she always does. On offense, she finished with a three point night, collecting assists by passing, shooting and holding the zone. On defense she was constantly disrupting the Maverick attack with great anticipation and quick steals. Overall, she was a +4 to lead all players. Another fine game for Boyle.

#2 Star: Jordan McLaughlin, Minnesota State
Quite honestly Jordan made the play of the game. Maverick Goalie Chloe Crosby made a difficult save, and steered the rebound to her left, out of harm's way. McLaughlin collected the loose puck and made an end-to-end rush that Bobby Orr would have been proud of. Along the way, she made multiple Buckeyes miss. Not a good thing from a Buckeye perspective. But for a fan of the Women's WCHA, Jordan's skill and determination were thrilling to see. This will be my lasting image of the 2017-18 Minnesota State team, and I'm glad that's the case.

#1 Star: Maddy Field, Ohio State
Maddy has the Midas Touch right now, and we certainly hope she can keep that going. Or is that the Maddy Touch? Two more tallies gave her a robust total of 5 goals for the weekend. Field's first goal opened the scoring, getting the Buckeyes off on the right foot. The second was a vital response to the McLaughlin goal you just read about. True, Maddy's Saturday didn't end with a second hat trick. But these goals were actually more crucial than their Friday counterparts. A well-earned #1 Star.


Up Next: The Beat Goes On With The WCHA Final Face-Off In Minneapolis. Go Bucks!

 

[ne7minder]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

Who all plans on being in Mpls for the finals? Maybe a meet up?

 

[shelfit]

WCHA needs to redo their playoff format and get rid of the last place team from the regular season. That makes a nice tidy format of 1v6, 2v5, 3v4. Will they be looking at that possible change for the future?

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

WCHA needs to redo their playoff format and get rid of the last place team from the regular season. That makes a nice tidy format of 1v6, 2v5, 3v4. Will they be looking at that possible change for the future?

Which would basically ruin the Final Face-Off. With 3 surviving teams, you'd almost have to give the top seed a semi-final bye. Meaning a free win in the middle of the tourney, and a major rest advantage in title game.

If you're going to stack the deck that heavily in favor of the regular season champ, why have the conference tournament at all? Better to just give the auto-bid to the regular season champ.

I'm not automatically opposed to new formats. I do sincerely commend you for brainstorming. But I have to give a thumbs down to this particular idea.

 

[shelfit]

Which would basically ruin the Final Face-Off. With 3 surviving teams, you'd almost have to give the top seed a semi-final bye. Meaning a free win in the middle of the tourney, and a major rest advantage in title game.

If you're going to stack the deck that heavily in favor of the regular season champ, why have the conference tournament at all? Better to just give the auto-bid to the regular season champ.

I'm not automatically opposed to new formats. I do sincerely commend you for brainstorming. But I have to give a thumbs down to this particular idea.

Ya my bad. I've been looking over a lot of conferences and what they all do and how many teams advance and simply had a brain fart. Here's my do-over:

Still get rid of 7. Top 2 get a "rest weekend" while 3 hosts 6 and 4 hosts 5 (best of 3 format). Final Faceoff: Lowest remaining seed then plays 1 while highest remaining seed plays 2. Winners advance to play each other for conference title.

 

[osualum86]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

Ya my bad. I've been looking over a lot of conferences and what they all do and how many teams advance and simply had a brain fart. Here's my do-over:

Still get rid of 7. Top 2 get a "rest weekend" while 3 hosts 6 and 4 hosts 5 (best of 3 format). Final Faceoff: Lowest remaining seed then plays 1 while highest remaining seed plays 2. Winners advance to play each other for conference title.

Being a fan of the second place team, I could live with this. Ideally, it would be nice to have eight teams, but I don't see anyone in this part of the country adding women's hockey anytime soon, so we have to make it work with 7 teams, or 6, as you suggest. I would add that I would like to see the tournament games held at the higher seed's home ice, just like the WCHA men and the BIG Ten men are doing.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

WCHA needs to redo their playoff format and get rid of the last place team from the regular season. That makes a nice tidy format of 1v6, 2v5, 3v4. Will they be looking at that possible change for the future?

YES! They penalize the one seed fans of 2 less homes games and the financial reward from that so the last place team can get to travel one more week. It's ok if not all the teams make the playoffs, they can still get a participation trophy.

 

[Puckdrop14]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

YES! They penalize the one seed fans of 2 less homes games and the financial reward from that so the last place team can get to travel one more week. It's ok if not all the teams make the playoffs, they can still get a participation trophy.

Exactly, should a team with 3 wins make the playoffs? It takes some of the seriousness out of season play doesn't it?

 

[EPIC97]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

How does the WCHA handle the host team not being the home team? Does the home team get choice of bench and do the visitng host teams have to change in a visitors locker room away from the comfort of their normal confines. I personally would not want to add any fuel to the fire and take the visitor bench and go with last change, others might feel differently. How have the Badgers handled this situation at Ridder in the past?

 

[robertearle]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

How does the WCHA handle the host team not being the home team? Does the home team get choice of bench and do the visitng host teams have to change in a visitors locker room away from the comfort of their normal confines. I personally would not want to add any fuel to the fire and take the visitor bench and go with last change, others might feel differently. How have the Badgers handled this situation at Ridder in the past?

I pulled up the video of the game-winning goal of the 2011 WCHA tournament (because who doesn't welcome a chance to watch Kelly Nash's goal and "bat flip" one more time?); Wisconsin was the #1 seed, game played at Ridder. Unless I'm mistaken, the Gophers are defending the same goal they would be defending in a regular season home game overtime. That means teams are using the usual benches. Wisconsin is wearing white jerseys, meaning they are the 'home team' and certainly had 'last change'.

Kelly Nash 2011 OT goal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8YpSElHxJk

 

[vicb]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

....... I would add that I would like to see the tournament games held at the higher seed's home ice, just like the WCHA men and the BIG Ten men are doing.

and this is the way the ECAC operates for their Women's Championship weekend.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

Ya my bad. I've been looking over a lot of conferences and what they all do and how many teams advance and simply had a brain fart. Here's my do-over:

Still get rid of 7. Top 2 get a "rest weekend" while 3 hosts 6 and 4 hosts 5 (best of 3 format). Final Faceoff: Lowest remaining seed then plays 1 while highest remaining seed plays 2. Winners advance to play each other for conference title.

Still not my first choice, but much better!

Exactly, should a team with 3 wins make the playoffs? It takes some of the seriousness out of season play doesn't it?

Well, that's true. And yet it seems equally absurd to play for 5 months simply to eliminate 1 team!

Just one person's opinion. But to me, there are two choices. Either everybody should make the conference playoffs, meaning a second chance for everyone; or the field should be limited to teams at roughly .500 or above.

In operational terms, for a 7 or 8 team league, you'd have a 4 team playoff. In that way you'd limit the field to teams that enjoyed real success during the regular season. You'd also eliminate the bye(s) with a field of 4.

Maybe this example will help explain my take: Back when the NHL had 21 teams, they still took 16 teams into the post-season. People would get genuinely excited over the race for 16th Place. The team that grabbed the 16th spot would claim they had a great regular season, even though they likely had lost two thirds of their games, or more! In contrast, the team that wound up in 17th would feel they failed. But for all intents & purposes -- other than the playoffs themselves -- the two seasons were same. In other words, equally unsuccessful. Maybe it's just me, but that dynamic used to drive me crazy.

Perhaps ironically, expansion greatly improved the NHL's situation. Since there are now 31 teams, finishing 16th actually means something. In a normal year, it fits my definition of needing to win roughly half your games to get into the post-season.

FWIW.

 

[shelfit]

Still not my first choice, but much better!

Well, that's true. And yet it seems equally absurd to play for 5 months simply to eliminate 1 team!

Just one person's opinion. But to me, there are two choices. Either everybody should make the conference playoffs, meaning a second chance for everyone; or the field should be limited to teams at roughly .500 or above.

In operational terms, for a 7 or 8 team league, you'd have a 4 team playoff. In that way you'd limit the field to teams that enjoyed real success during the regular season. You'd also eliminate the bye(s) with a field of 4.

Maybe this example will help explain my take: Back when the NHL had 21 teams, they still took 16 teams into the post-season. People would get genuinely excited over the race for 16th Place. The team that grabbed the 16th spot would claim they had a great regular season, even though they likely had lost two thirds of their games, or more! In contrast, the team that wound up in 17th would feel they failed. But for all intents & purposes -- other than the playoffs themselves -- the two seasons were same. In other words, equally unsuccessful. Maybe it's just me, but that dynamic used to drive me crazy.

Perhaps ironically, expansion greatly improved the NHL's situation. Since there are now 31 teams, finishing 16th actually means something. In a normal year, it fits my definition of needing to win roughly half your games to get into the post-season.

FWIW.

The MIAC format is nice. Top 5 teams make it. 4 and 5 playoff to advance to the semis, and so on.

 

[play-by-play guy]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

How does the WCHA handle the host team not being the home team? Does the home team get choice of bench and do the visitng host teams have to change in a visitors locker room away from the comfort of their normal confines. I personally would not want to add any fuel to the fire and take the visitor bench and go with last change, others might feel differently. How have the Badgers handled this situation at Ridder in the past?

Gophers being the host get their locker room and bench, because, after all, does the bench make a difference? Duluth put up a stink back in the Shannon Miller days and got the Gopher bench during one playoffs which made for a cluster ******* in the hallway because the teams had to pass one another there to get to their locker rooms. Then on top it off, Duluth players used their sticks to mark up and damage the murals in the hall leading to the Gopher bench. That put an end to that nonsense.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

The MIAC format is nice. Top 5 teams make it. 4 and 5 playoff to advance to the semis, and so on.

That one does a reasonable job of rewarding regular season performance. #6 & #7 eliminated; #4 & #5 have to play an extra game; #1, #2 & #3 get an easier path to the title.

But when do you play the #4 vs. #5 game? The weekend before the main tournament? That creates 3 potentially unwanted byes. The Thursday before the main tournament? That creates a nice option for fans, but it makes it awfully tough for #4 or #5 to win on Saturday. (to say nothing of Friday) In other words, it may convey too large an advantage to the Top 3.

A 7 team league just isn't ideal. Almost any format you adopt is going to require some trade-offs. The "lesser of the evils" option may already be in place.

 

[shelfit]

That one does a reasonable job of rewarding regular season performance. #6 & #7 eliminated; #4 & #5 have to play an extra game; #1, #2 & #3 get an easier path to the title.

But when do you play the #4 vs. #5 game? The weekend before the main tournament? That creates 3 potentially unwanted byes. The Thursday before the main tournament? That creates a nice option for fans, but it makes it awfully tough for #4 or #5 to win on Saturday. (to say nothing of Friday) In other words, it may convey too large an advantage to the Top 3.

A 7 team league just isn't ideal. Almost any format you adopt is going to require some trade-offs. The "lesser of the evils" option may already be in place.

I think we all agree that not everybody in any League should make the playoffs. The conference is that do that are just stupid and I'm including these D3 in this. Who cares if the road to the championship is harder for the fourth and fifth place teams. That's kind of the point. Reward the top two or three teams. Make four and five play on Wednesday or Thursday. If you don't like it that's your motivation to try to finish in the top three. Pretty simple.

 

[robertearle]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

That one does a reasonable job of rewarding regular season performance. #6 & #7 eliminated; #4 & #5 have to play an extra game; #1, #2 & #3 get an easier path to the title.

But when do you play the #4 vs. #5 game? The weekend before the main tournament? That creates 3 potentially unwanted byes. The Thursday before the main tournament? That creates a nice option for fans, but it makes it awfully tough for #4 or #5 to win on Saturday. (to say nothing of Friday) In other words, it may convey too large an advantage to the Top 3.

A 7 team league just isn't ideal. Almost any format you adopt is going to require some trade-offs. The "lesser of the evils" option may already be in place.

For many years, the mens WCHA had ten teams, and would play a first weekend with all ten teams playing (either a best-of-three, or two game, total goals series), and then a "Final Five", with the two bottom-most remaining seeds playing Thursday night, and then normal Friday and Saturday single elimination.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

I think we all agree that not everybody in any League should make the playoffs. The conference is that do that are just stupid and I'm including these D3 in this.

Completely disagree with this first comment. A "Universal Playoff" is a perfectly acceptable option. I thought we were trying to address the problem of unwanted byes.

Who cares if the road to the championship is harder for the fourth and fifth place teams. That's kind of the point. Reward the top two or three teams. Make four and five play on Wednesday or Thursday. If you don't like it that's your motivation to try to finish in the top three. Pretty simple.

A "Winner's Tournament" is also a good option. And if we go that route, then I'm OK with your second set of comments. It should be noted, though, that if you brought all 5 teams to a central site, you'd almost certainly play Thursday through Saturday. I suppose Friday through Sunday could be a viable alternative.

Another possibility: Playing the #4 vs. #5 game on Tuesday might be more fair in terms of the rest factor. Most likely you'd treat this as a Play-In Game, hosted by the #4 seed. IIRC, the Men's CCHA playoffs used a play-in round for a few seasons.

For many years, the mens WCHA had ten teams, and would play a first weekend with all ten teams playing (either a best-of-three, or two game, total goals series), and then a "Final Five", with the two bottom-most remaining seeds playing Thursday night, and then normal Friday and Saturday single elimination.

The Women's WCHA also had a Final Five for a short while. At the beginning, in 2000 & 2001, the Original 7 teams all went to a neutral site. But in 2002, 2003 & 2004, the league went with a 5 team format -- very similar to what shelfit describes. North Dakota joined in time for the 2005 tourney. That year all 8 teams went to a central site, which happened to be Ridder. Starting in 2006, the first round match-ups went to campus sites, followed by the four team Final Face-Off. Not sure if the term Final Face-Off was used immediately. But IIRC it's been that way ever since.

With North Dakota now gone, you can certainly make a case for a return to the Final Five format.

 

[Ciscokid]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

Do we know if both games of the Final Faceoff will be streamed?

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: WCHA 2017-18 Season

YES! They penalize the one seed fans of 2 less homes games and the financial reward from that so the last place team can get to travel one more week. It's ok if not all the teams make the playoffs, they can still get a participation trophy.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe there is a financial reward for hosting in the conference playoffs. All profits, if any, go back to the league. Sure you would get the concessions and parking fees, but any gate revenue goes to paying the expenses of the league.