Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

And as I said, those three got a lot of ice time.

Other than UND, I'm not sure that anyone else in the WCHA will be up, especially early on.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

WI probably needs 110 regular season goals or more to be in the mix in the WCHA and NCAA tourney. WI had 158 regular season goals last year, 134 if you ignore Lindenwood. WI's three seniors had 92 goals.

I doubt WI is going to squeeze an additional 30 or 40 goals out of the existing line up. An entire line up just doesn't double up their scoring in a random year. Without the seniors, I would expect WI to be in the 90 to 95 goal range which was good for the 5 or 6 spot last year.

While I'm not saying they will be as offensively prolific as last year, I don't think there will be a major drop off. If the top returning forwards doubled their goals, it would look like this:

Ammerman 26 goals
Turnbull 14
Josephs 10
Packer 8
Sylvester 8
Unser 4

None of those projections look unreasonable. Again, not saying it's going to happen, but it is certainly possible.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

So back to the seating at the LaBahn, what is the seating type for the rodentettes and dawgettes at their home rinks?

As previously mentioned, UMD plays at Amsoil which also houses the men's team so that's not an apt comparison. However, I will be very interested to see how it stacks up to Ridder straight-up. I wish I had printed them out when they were floating around online, but the original plans had the arena being the absolute jewel of women's arena in the country. Capacity of around 4,400 and huge glass atriums with a lot of amenities that I've forgotten about.

I realize that money was the restricting factor (as it is with most things), but I would have done everything possible to make sure it measures up equally with Ridder if not even marginally better.

 

[ARM]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

While I'm not saying they will be as offensively prolific as last year, I don't think there will be a major drop off. If the top returning forwards doubled their goals, it would look like this:

Ammerman 26 goals
Turnbull 14
Josephs 10
Packer 8
Sylvester 8
Unser 4

None of those projections look unreasonable. Again, not saying it's going to happen, but it is certainly possible.

I don't think that Ammerman scores 26 goals, but I could easily see Josephs having more than 10. It might come down to who plays with Decker.

I wish I had printed them out when they were floating around online, but the original plans had the arena being the absolute jewel of women's arena in the country. Capacity of around 4,400 and huge glass atriums with a lot of amenities that I've forgotten about.

Do you mean of the women-only rinks? Otherwise, the Ralph is going to be hard to top in a secondary rink.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

I don't think that Ammerman scores 26 goals, but I could easily see Josephs having more than 10. It might come down to who plays with Decker.

Do you mean of the women-only rinks? Otherwise, the Ralph is going to be hard to top in a secondary rink.

Wasn't even meant to be predictions, just that doubling goals for returning forwards isn't an impossibility.

Yes, only referring to women's-only arenas. No point comparing them to the top arenas overall.

 

[granddaddyscout]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

While I'm not saying they will be as offensively prolific as last year, I don't think there will be a major drop off. If the top returning forwards doubled their goals, it would look like this:

Ammerman 26 goals
Turnbull 14
Josephs 10
Packer 8
Sylvester 8
Unser 4

None of those projections look unreasonable. Again, not saying it's going to happen, but it is certainly possible.

Turnbull and Packer were pretty banged up for a good part of last season, the Badgers will need both to play to their capability to find success. Packer had 13 goals as a rookie coming of major knee surgery and Turnbull was hot early on before missing a bunch of games and most of the playoffs if I remember correctly.

 

[EastFan1]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

Wasn't even meant to be predictions, just that doubling goals for returning forwards isn't an impossibility.

Everyone doubles up. Decker doesn't revert back to 15 goals but actually doubles up to 70 goals. It isn't an impossibility.

 

[WCHFan]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

Decker 70 goals?? WCHA schedule... Impossible. Teams will key on her and will be tough to score 40.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

I realize that money was the restricting factor (as it is with most things), but I would have done everything possible to make sure it measures up equally with Ridder if not even marginally better.

That's exactly where I was going with this. I'll never get to Ridder, so I'll never be able to compare them myself, but it sounds like BA cheaped out the public areas in the LaBahn to a certain extent. Hopefully he didn't cheap out the player amenities, that is what is most important. It's an arms race so why build new and be inferior?

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

Everyone doubles up. Decker doesn't revert back to 15 goals but actually doubles up to 70 goals. It isn't an impossibility.

Ok, I know this wasn't a serious post, but I didn't include Decker in the concept of returning forwards doubling up. The thought was Decker gets her "normal" goar total (30-ish) and the others are able to step up their offensive numbers.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

That's exactly where I was going with this. I'll never get to Ridder, so I'll never be able to compare them myself, but it sounds like BA cheaped out the public areas in the LaBahn to a certain extent. Hopefully he didn't cheap out the player amenities, that is what is most important. It's an arms race so why build new and be inferior?

I don't want to make any final judgements until I see the finished product. Ridder is a nice set-up with a combo of bench seating (with backs) and individual seats that go all the around in a full bowl, plus rails for standing room which a lot of people like to use. I also know they put in a new four-sided scoreboard with video within the last year. I don't know about any of the behind the scenes amenities, but I assume it's pretty nice.

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/082112aaa.html

August is usually thought of as a big time of the year for the sport of hockey, but it has been a busy month for a select group of Wisconsin women’s hockey players, as ten players were called up to skate with their respective national teams. USA Hockey selected eight Badgers to participate at its women’s national team camp in Blaine, Minn., including Alex Rigsby (Delafield, Wis.), Courtney Burke (Albany, N.Y.), Alev Kelter (Eagle River, Alaska) and Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.), along with former Badgers Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.), Molly Engstrom (Siren, Wis.), Brooke Ammerman (River Vale, N.J.) and Erika Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.).

Hockey Canada held a separate camp for its women’s under-22 team and invited two Badger defenders, Saige Pacholok (Edmonton, Alberta) and Katarina Zgraja (Waterloo, Ontario). Assistant coach Jackie Friesen was also asked to attend to help coach the camp.

After both camps ended in mid-August, the U.S. and Canadian U-22 teams faced-off in a three-game series (Aug. 16-19) at the WinSport Canada Athletic & Ice Complex in Calgary, Alberta. Of the players eligible for the series, Decker, Kelter and Rigsby, were the only UW players selected to participate in the slate of games.

Decker was named captain of the U.S. squad for the event, her first time donning the ‘C’ for a U.S. national team.

Decker, Kelter and Rigsby helped the U.S. claim its first-ever sweep over Canada in the five-year history of the series. The U.S. outscored Canada 12-7 in the three-game event. Decker recorded one assist in the opening game, before scoring two goals and tallying one assist in the second period of the third game. Kelter assisted on the game-winning goal in game three as team USA rallied from an early deficit to win. Rigsby played all 60 minutes in both the first and third games, making a total of 46 saves on 50 shots in the two games.

With national team training done for the summer, the Badgers now turn their focus on preparing for the upcoming season. The start of the season is just a little more than a month away, as the women’s hockey team opens the 2012-13 slate on Sept. 28 with a trip to Minnesota State.

All around the world, everyone knows when you say Wisconsin, you said it all.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

http://twitter.com/BadgerWHockey/status/241225922697641985/photo/1

Not sure this link will work or not, but a nice shot of the continued work inside LaBahn Arena. Looks like there will be railings for standing-room which is nice.

 

[Gandalf the Red]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

WI probably needs 110 regular season goals or more to be in the mix in the WCHA and NCAA tourney. WI had 158 regular season goals last year, 134 if you ignore Lindenwood. WI's three seniors had 92 goals.

I doubt WI is going to squeeze an additional 30 or 40 goals out of the existing line up. An entire line up just doesn't double up their scoring in a random year. Without the seniors, I would expect WI to be in the 90 to 95 goal range which was good for the 5 or 6 spot last year.

You are only looking at one side of the equation. I don't think anyone who follows the Women's team thinks they will score like they have for most of the past 6 seasons, but even if they score 90 to 95 goals, I don't think they are going to let up a significant amount more than they did last season. While the games might be closer, they are still going to win and be at the top of the WCHA once again.

In conference last year they only allowed 44 goals. Only minnesota was better at 43 and Duluth was a distant 3rd at 61. Rigsby is back, and the blue line is among the best in the country w/ a ton of experience.

Also, I think there are some players ready to step up and fill the void. That was tough last season playing in the shadow of three dominant seniors and Decker at forward. I think a healthy Madison Packer makes a big impact on the ice all around.

Bought season tickets again, hope to make more than 5 games. Life was much simplier when I plan everything around Badger Hockey.

 

[CrazyDave]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

The Minnesota Women's Hockey team just put out this announcement on Facebook about their series in Madtown in January:

For any of you GWH fans who were thinking about traveling to Madison for our games at the new LaBahn Arena, we have a schedule change! The games will now be on Friday, Jan. 25 and Sunday, Jan. 27. There will be not be a game on Saturday, Jan. 26 anymore.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/090612aaa.html

Just following up the above post with the official UW press release. Honestly, this is kind of a joke. While I might understand why you can't play hockey games at Kohl and LaBahn at the same time (not enough zambonis?), I don't see any real reason why women's hockey can't play during a basketball game, which is the reason for the re-scheduling.

Now one of the biggest home games of the year (against Minnesota) is on a Friday early afternoon and another game is now 11:00 on a Sunday morning. Still being scheduled as a second or third tier sport at the UW. I would love a further explanation from someone in the administration.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/w-hockey/spec-rel/090612aaa.html

Just following up the above post with the official UW press release. Honestly, this is kind of a joke. While I might understand why you can't play hockey games at Kohl and LaBahn at the same time (not enough zambonis?), I don't see any real reason why women's hockey can't play during a basketball game, which is the reason for the re-scheduling.

Now one of the biggest home games of the year (against Minnesota) is on a Friday early afternoon and another game is now 11:00 on a Sunday morning. Still being scheduled as a second or third tier sport at the UW. I would love a further explanation from someone in the administration.

I agree 100%. The only thought I had is maybe 100 people might want to go to both games, and if they are at the same time, that can't happen, seems pretty silly to me. 11:00 on a Sunday morning is a total joke. No rodentettes at prime time is a travesty.

 

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

I agree 100%. The only thought I had is maybe 100 people might want to go to both games, and if they areat the same time, that can't happen, seems pretty silly to me. 11:00 on a Sunday morning is a total joke. No rodentettes at prime time is a travesty.

UW doesn't make those considerations when scheduling women's hockey & volleyball head-to-head and there would be more crossover in fan bases than men's basketball. The only possible reasons would be staff and/or parking issues, but not really sure. It's frustrating whatever the case.

 

[ManBehindTheCurtain]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

If the University with the best record in the history of NCAA era women's hockey cannot be bothered to give respect to its hockey team then it is hard to imagine where and when women's hockey will ever get any respect.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2012-2013 - The LaBahn Era Begins

If the University with the best record in the history of NCAA era women's hockey cannot be bothered to give respect to its hockey team then it is hard to imagine where and when women's hockey will ever get any respect.

Probably Minnesota.

When your AD is an ex-football coach, everything else but football to him is just an annoyance. Would the Labahn ever have got off the ground if the UW women's program was just a .500 program? I doubt BA would have built a new facility just to have the men practice in it.