Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

[WHKY blogger]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

Tough loss last night.

Badgers led 2-0 until Natalie Spooner turned it up for the Hat trick.

Hopefully the season extends to Sunday tonight and I can get at least 2 more games in.

Got home from Vancouver in time to read the box score and get the 411 from some folks that were there.

Geena Prough is out for the rest of the season and Stefanie McKeough sat the bench during the first period but was in street clothes after that carrying a heat wrap with her.

Badgers played with 3 forward lines and 4 defense. Tired legs in OT after the initial Badger rush was the word I received in Spooner getting setup for the OT goal.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

Wasn't able to make the game last night and just shook my head when I heard the result.

Prough and McKeough now out with injuries? The personnel losses they've suffered (graduation/Olympics/injuries/other) over the last year is almost unprecedented.

I'll be there tonight and hope that the Badgers can avoid the indignity of having the season end on "home" ice and not advancing to the WCHA Final Four for the first time in team history.

 

[xwildfan]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

"The personnel losses they've suffered (graduation/Olympics/injuries/other) over the last year is almost unprecedented..." definitely agree. Tough to lose top scorers and top goalkeeper.

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/w-hockey/recaps/022810aaa.html

Wisconsin’s season ended Saturday night when Ohio State swept the Badgers in a best-of-three series, with a 4-3 overtime victory at the Eagle’s Nest in Verona, Wis.

With just over a minute left in regulation, UW’s Kyla Sanders (Fort Myers, Fla.) knotted the score to give the Badgers new life and send the game to overtime. However, the comeback fell short when Ohio State’s Raelyn LaRocque capitalized on a one-on-one with senior goaltender Alannah McCready (Blaine, Minn.) just 3:39 into the extra frame.

“We definitely felt that we had the momentum, especially after getting that last shot in the period,” McCready said. “We had momentum in the third period and starting overtime. We had a couple power play opportunities but we just couldn’t capitalize.”
Last year, the Badgers ended the Buckeyes season with 4-0 and 7-1 wins in the WCHA play offs last year at the Eagle’s Nest.

Since the WCHA added eight teams and required a quarterfinal series, this is the only time Wisconsin has not advanced to the WCHA Final Face-off.

Disappointing, but the past 2 games are an example of what happened all too often this season: a close game with the Badgers having a chance to win, but they just werent able to finish it off and seal the deal.

 

[JosephPSchmoe]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

It's going to be a strange post-season without the Badgers to worry about. Believe it or not coming from a Bulldogs fan, I wish they'd kept going. It's been an unusual season for every team, but things are back to normal next year. Tough luck...what else can you say?

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

It's going to be a strange post-season without the Badgers to worry about. Believe it or not coming from a Bulldogs fan, I wish they'd kept going. It's been an unusual season for every team, but things are back to normal next year. Tough luck...what else can you say?

I blame the coaching. The Badgers were very inconsistent and had an overall lack of leadership both on the ice and from the coaching staff.
I still love the Badgers and always will, but I expect better.

 

[WHKY blogger]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

I blame the coaching. The Badgers were very inconsistent and had an overall lack of leadership both on the ice and from the coaching staff.
I still love the Badgers and always will, but I expect better.

I am still torn on this. I think you could always point at the coaching when a team fails to win a championship and say it was their fault.

The fact that several UW players took the back door out to the bus as opposed to facing their waiting families tells me their is more going on their. The first few ladies out of the Locker Room were out because they didn't want to be around the others who were either ****ed off or still crying as they put it. Egos seemed to be a big problem for this team.

The coaches can only do so much, then its up to the players to get it done, and for the Badgers they just couldn't finish their chances. I think you could point at any number of things but in the end the players still have to communicate well, make solid passes, and put shots on net to score.

Big advantage for OSU IMO, you could hear their players calling out to each other going both ways. The Badgers were silent, and I think that lack of communication was part of their downfall. Their was little spark until the game was tied. All game long the Badgers struggled to control in the OSU zone. Just when it looked like a play was developing an OSU defender would step up and easily take the puck away and go up ice.

McKeough returned to the lineup last night but didn't take regular shifts for most of the game, then it seemed like she was out for the entire last 10 min of the 3rd.

Alev Kelter should have been tossed for her hit behind the net on Laura McIntosh following the first goal by Hokey. Peter and Tracey sure gave her an earful when she got back to the bench. That was totally uncalled for and led to OSU getting overly physical with her for the remainder of the game. I was shocked when no penalty was called.

Things I noticed over and over were players being out of position, sloppy passing and frustration boiling over. The crowd never really got in the game and their were long periods where it seemed as if we were sitting in a Library rather than a hockey rink. Even with a huge band (upwards of 50), they failed to energize the crowd for the majority of the game.

Despite everything the game last night was fairly even overall and OSU was perfect by no means, but when it really came down to it, OSU took better care of the puck and exploiting our tired defense when it mattered most.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

I agree with some of things observed at the game last night. Was pleasantly surprised that a relatively large band was at the game. Not sure why that can't happen more during the regular season when the games are at Kohl. From where I was sitting, I thought the crowd was fairly into it for most of the game. I can't agree with the library analogy, except after the Ohio State goals.

Kelter was definitely in the middle of quite a few scrums, though I did appreciate the fact that she was at least engaged the whole game. Badgers got beat to a lot of pucks and the fundamentals didn't look real good. With that said, they had a couple of real good looks early in OT that could have sent it to Game 3.

Not sure what to think about where to assess "blame" for the seaon. First, there was a ton of player turnover, some of which came during the season. The captain issue has been discussed prior and I'm guessing that naming the three senior forwards as captains sounded like a good idea on paper. While I certainly don't know the inner workings of this team's chemistry, I think that Deluce should have at least been an assistant captain. I'm guessing that Duggan will be the captain next year with Deluce and Knight as the assistants.

The Badgers got to three national titles on the strengths of superior depth (especially at forward) and great goaltending. Honestly, neither were on display for most of the year. However, there were glimpses when everything was clicking where I thought they could make a legitimate run to the Frozen Four. But then after games like last night I thought they were a very average team.

I'd like to think that next year this team will be re-invigorated after what happened in addition to an infusion of Olympic talent.

Good luck to Ohio State next weekend. I think it would do the WCHA some good to have someone outside the Big Three to take home a tourney title.

 

[backtoback31807]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

What was the final count for blueliners lost?

 

[WHKY blogger]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

What was the final count for blueliners lost?

Started With:
Anne Dronen
Brittany Haverstock
Olivia Jakiel - PCS, Has taken leave from team
Alev Kelter
Stefanie McKeough
Saige Pacholok
Geena Prough - Right Leg Injury
Malee Windmeier - Quit during season

Ended With:
Anne Dronen
Brittany Haverstock
Alev Kelter
Stefanie McKeough - Played last game with injury
Saige Pacholok

 

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

I think it would do the WCHA some good to have someone outside the Big Three to take home a tourney title.

That is true; increased competition is good for the league. Wisconsin's loss snaps their string of appearing in 5 straight WCHA championship games. Nice run.

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

I am still torn on this. I think you could always point at the coaching when a team fails to win a championship and say it was their fault.

The fact that several UW players took the back door out to the bus as opposed to facing their waiting families tells me their is more going on their. The first few ladies out of the Locker Room were out because they didn't want to be around the others who were either ****ed off or still crying as they put it. Egos seemed to be a big problem for this team.

The coaches can only do so much, then its up to the players to get it done, and for the Badgers they just couldn't finish their chances. I think you could point at any number of things but in the end the players still have to communicate well, make solid passes, and put shots on net to score.

Big advantage for OSU IMO, you could hear their players calling out to each other going both ways. The Badgers were silent, and I think that lack of communication was part of their downfall. Their was little spark until the game was tied. All game long the Badgers struggled to control in the OSU zone. Just when it looked like a play was developing an OSU defender would step up and easily take the puck away and go up ice.

McKeough returned to the lineup last night but didn't take regular shifts for most of the game, then it seemed like she was out for the entire last 10 min of the 3rd.

Alev Kelter should have been tossed for her hit behind the net on Laura McIntosh following the first goal by Hokey. Peter and Tracey sure gave her an earful when she got back to the bench. That was totally uncalled for and led to OSU getting overly physical with her for the remainder of the game. I was shocked when no penalty was called.

Things I noticed over and over were players being out of position, sloppy passing and frustration boiling over. The crowd never really got in the game and their were long periods where it seemed as if we were sitting in a Library rather than a hockey rink. Even with a huge band (upwards of 50), they failed to energize the crowd for the majority of the game.

Despite everything the game last night was fairly even overall and OSU was perfect by no means, but when it really came down to it, OSU took better care of the puck and exploiting our tired defense when it mattered most.

Thats why I said that I blame a lack of leadership BOTH on the ice and in the coaching staff.
IMO, the team captains and the coaches needed to do more to inspire and unite the team.
Hopefully next year the coaching and captains will be better.

 

[scoreone]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

Thats why I said that I blame a lack of leadership BOTH on the ice and in the coaching staff.
IMO, the team captains and the coaches needed to do more to inspire and unite the team.
Hopefully next year the coaching and captains will be better.

Absolutely agree it was the coaching and captains. Big egos both on the bench and the ice prevented chemistry. Althou it was going to be a battle alll year due to the talent drain, this team had plenty of talent left coming into the season to compete.

 

[dave1381]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

Clearly you don't go 4-3-1 combined against Minnesota and UMD without some talent. But the fact this team had about the same win percentage against everyone else has to be symptomatic of a lack of leadership - I can't think of any other possible explanation. You can't you explain that kind of inconsistency in performance solely by injuries. So clearly there was some failure of coordination. But I hope we can refrain from personal attacks and negative judgments of character going forward in this thread. Moving on...

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

The team has talent, no doubt about that. Perhaps the interum coach and team captain just werent the right people for the jobs.

 

[xwildfan]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

I'm not a Badger fan. But I think they deserve a little slack. I'm not sure if any team could come close to previous seasons success while losing the likes of Knight, Duggan, Vetter and Lawler, and Kesely. That is a ton of firepower not to mention the best goaltender in the US. Plus they lost their coach. It seems like a perfect storm for a season meltdown.

I think they battled OSU to the end in both games. They had great chances in the second game OT to win that game. A huge benefit that OSU had was that they only had one player in the Olympics and she was back for both games. And Spooner is as good (IMO) as any forward in the league with or without the missing Olympic forwards and Langan and Mcintosh are probably future Olympians.

Just my two cents.

 

[dave1381]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

The thing is, I would've actually bought the previous poster's argument more if Wisconsin turned out to be a sub-.500 team with a losing record vs. Minnesota/UMD and approximately .500 record against everyone else. Then it'd be reasonably to blame the results on lack of talent. Instead they were a 4-3-1 team against Minnesota/UMD and about .500 against everyone else. This shows to me they had the talent and didn't make the most of it against their weaker opponents.

Lots of traditionally powerful teams faltered a bit this year. Lots of teams lost to opponents for the first time in forever. But no one else did it on a weekly basis, while at the same time looking like a national contender whenever playing 2 of the nation's 3 best teams.

 

[just_a_fan]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

Guys, I really like Wisconsin. I'll cheer for them anytime we aren't playing them. And even then I give them their due respect with my best golf-clap.

But this whole "loosing the team to the Olympics" thing is sorta making me scratch my head. UMD had seven players in the Olympics. They are sharing the conference title with Goldy! Yes, no one anticipated that. Not even their coach. But leadership was in place and the team grew with the season. Not much different than any other season. Perhaps they had to work a little harder loosing some key players.

The Olympics have been a long time coming. Don't coaches try to do a preemptive strike and recruit good frosh as well as build the under-classmen to avoid these things?

I agree that a lot of slack is to be given to the coach being gone. He's obviously proven himself as a program builder. I can have some empathy for that. But no so much for, "we lost our key player to Olympics". Maybe I'm way off here. I'm not trying to bad mouth so please don't attack me. (There's a lot of that on here.) I'm really posing some thoughts for discussion.

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

Guys, I really like Wisconsin. I'll cheer for them anytime we aren't playing them. And even then I give them their due respect with my best golf-clap.

But this whole "loosing the team to the Olympics" thing is sorta making me scratch my head. UMD had seven players in the Olympics. They are sharing the conference title with Goldy! Yes, no one anticipated that. Not even their coach. But leadership was in place and the team grew with the season. Not much different than any other season. Perhaps they had to work a little harder loosing some key players.

The Olympics have been a long time coming. Don't coaches try to do a preemptive strike and recruit good frosh as well as build the under-classmen to avoid these things?

I agree that a lot of slack is to be given to the coach being gone. He's obviously proven himself as a program builder. I can have some empathy for that. But no so much for, "we lost our key player to Olympics". Maybe I'm way off here. I'm not trying to bad mouth so please don't attack me. (There's a lot of that on here.) I'm really posing some thoughts for discussion.

All the more reason why the Badgers' problems this year were due to poor leadership. With losing their regular coach to the olympics, it left them with inadequate leadership, IMO.
That explains why the team lacked dicipline and were so up and down from one game to the next.

 

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin 2009-2010 Season

I'm not a Badger fan. But I think they deserve a little slack. I'm not sure if any team could come close to previous seasons success while losing the likes of Knight, Duggan, Vetter and Lawler, and Kesely.

I'd add in Matthews as well, because she was the leader of the blue line. And when you subtract the national Coach of the Year in addition to all the leaders named, and I think Vetter, Lawler, and Duggan are all exceptional in that regard, it is going to leave some vacuum behind.

But leadership was in place and the team grew with the season.

I think that is a big key for UMD. A) they had their coach; B) they returned people who were already team leaders in Touminen, Blais, Finnfridson, and Rasmussen; C) they were able to supplement that with Larocque midway.

But no one else did it on a weekly basis, while at the same time looking like a national contender whenever playing 2 of the nation's 3 best teams.

I'm not sure how true the second part of that sentence is. UMD was ranked more like #6 or so when the teams met the first time and UW had success. It was only when they got Larocque back that they moved up to the top 3 and perhaps not coincidentally swept UW. Wisconsin only played against Minnesota including Räty in one game, and the Gophers played very poorly that day.

Overall, the Badgers reminded me a little of the 2005-06 Gophers, where they could look like two completely different teams on the same weekend. The big difference was that Gopher team, despite losing Darwitz/Wendell/Stephens/Wall/Horak/+, retained a few more players than this year's Badgers, particularly on D.