Wisconsin Badgers 2020-2021

[sunprairie]

Along with the news from all conferences today that hockey will at the very least be delayed, I received an email from the Women's team saying that along with the announcement that all college hockey seasons will be delayed, when/if they announce a season they will not be honoring any season tickets. Basically if they have fans, it will be a significantly limited crowd (if any), and if they do allow any fans, they will only be sold on a single game status. I personally don't think they'll have any fans beyond family, if that.

Of course the email helpfully suggested that we donate our season ticket payment (that they had no problem collecting last month) to The Badger Legacy fund.

 

[Timothy A]

Along with the news from all conferences today that hockey will at the very least be delayed, I received an email from the Women's team saying that along with the announcement that all college hockey seasons will be delayed, when/if they announce a season they will not be honoring any season tickets. Basically if they have fans, it will be a significantly limited crowd (if any), and if they do allow any fans, they will only be sold on a single game status. I personally don't think they'll have any fans beyond family, if that.

Of course the email helpfully suggested that we donate our season ticket payment (that they had no problem collecting last month) to The Badger Legacy fund.

Yeah, we got the email too. Screw the Badger Legacy Fund. We're going to roll over the money into next season's season tickets.

 

[robertearle]

At this point, aren't most of the mask mandates voluntary...

In Dane County, there are 'mandatory' mask orders and limits on gatherings, etc. But there are significant questions as to whether county officials have any legal authority to issue such mandates - I think there is a lawsuit filed, but it hasn't gone much of anywhere. Mostly, people are just allowing the order to stand, even if the authority is questionable.

Beyond that, I am not at all sure how or even if an order from Dane County applies to the University. I know for certain that city of Madison ordinances do not apply 'on campus', and it is state law that governs (even though there are parts of town where it is not at all clear whether one is 'on campus' or 'in town'). Whether county orders apply 'on campus' is anybody's guess.

 

[Timothy A]

At this point, aren't most of the mask mandates voluntary, especially when it comes to private property?

I live outside Dane County and many stores are making it mandatory to wear them. I just do it as a common sense thing. I don't want to get it and I don't want to spread it. I will never understand how wearing a mask alter's one's life to such an extent that you won't wear one.

 

[Sieve1]

Agree with that on wearing a mask. What’s the big deal? Not a hard thing to do.
I have a college student and the overwhelming feeling among the ones I know (including at UW) is they’re going to be sent home or put on lockdown soon so might as well have a few good parties until that happens. Also the vast majority of them who get it are asymptomatic or very mild symptoms so most of them think it’s not a big deal and maybe they’ll have some immunity afterwards. No, I don’t agree with this take but this is what’s going on in the minds of many 18-22 year olds.

 

[Lurky McLurkface]

...most of them think it’s not a big deal and maybe they’ll have some immunity afterwards.

They might want to consider (as hard as it might be for them) the long-term and potentially permanent effects from exposure, regardless if their symptoms are mild or not. You don't get a do-over when you permanently injure your heart and/or lungs.

Myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, has been found in at least five Big Ten Conference athletes and among several other athletes in other conferences, according to two sources with knowledge of athletes' medical care.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...vid-19-fuels-power-5-concern-season-viability

Me? I hate wearing a mask. I don't breathe well with a mask, it fogs up my glasses and I just don't like my airway being restricted in any way. But I wear a mask anyway. If these kids don't care about getting the virus, I can live with that. But I don't want it myself and would rather not unknowingly pass it on to someone else.

 

[Timothy A]

Me? I hate wearing a mask. I don't breathe well with a mask, it fogs up my glasses and I just don't like my airway being restricted in any way. But I wear a mask anyway. If these kids don't care about getting the virus, I can live with that. But I don't want it myself and would rather not unknowingly pass it on to someone else.

Taking one for the team, stick tap. My wife found some plastic insert that goes inside the mask to push it out a bit from your face. I have figured out the distance my glasses have to be from my face to avoid the fogging.

I saw a tweet, the ladies are working out right now, riveting news I know. Now that the Cup has been decided, with a former BADger getting is name on the cup, hockey, oh hockey where are you? If the season does ever start, and it's on the Flow hockey site, I'm all in. Unless I find a way to get into LaBahn to see all the games like usual. I just hope this big C19 spike finally flushes this thing out of the system with people following rules.

 

[Timothy A]

Well, the B16+1 men have a kinda hockey schedule, a very reduced 24 game plan. I assume the worst case is OSU, UM and UW only play eachother since they are all on the same page on the testing front. There's no way the little MN schools will be able to get on that ship. This is a depressing deal for women's hockey.

I was twittering with Chris Dilks about the NHL draft last night and he mentioned to me Dara Greig is "very skilled with the puck". I'm drooling over a Webster/O'Brien/Greig line, if they ever play.

 

[Sieve1]

It’s widely known that Princeton, Harvard & Yale have told their players to defer this year and they’ll play next year with no loss of eligibility. (Really screws up recruiting for the next few grades)
If WCHA teams can get a reduced schedule in then good for them. Youth Hockey is being played in MN, WI and other states so I don’t see why colleges shouldn’t give it a shot.

 

[whoop87]

Per an article that I saw on USCHO's rival College Hockey News website, the ECAC plans to start league play in January with 2 divisions. One division would be for the NY schools and the other division would be made up of all the non-NY schools. The article was written 2 weeks ago on 9/24 and it's obviously not official yet - as was noted in the first sentence of the article. There is no mention of it at all on the ECAC hockey website. Just thought I'd post it here since there was some chatter here about Ivy League teams. Here's the link: https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2020/09/24_ECAC-Planning-2-Division-.php

 

[Timothy A]

It’s widely known that Princeton, Harvard & Yale have told their players to defer this year and they’ll play next year with no loss of eligibility. (Really screws up recruiting for the next few grades)
If WCHA teams can get a reduced schedule in then good for them. Youth Hockey is being played in MN, WI and other states so I don’t see why colleges shouldn’t give it a shot.

I think the rub is the B16 schools can better afford to do lots of testing and the little MN schools can't, so developing a testing protocol that works for all from a cost and thoroughness aspect will be/is difficult. The little MN schools could just play each other and maybe the B16 teams could just play each other, meaning PSU could play with UW MN and OSU since surely they are in the same boat as I have described above.

 

[Timothy A]

Of course WI just doesn't qualify for hosting a women's FF, but MN has 2 locations that do.

 

[Timothy A]

USWNT camp invitees:

Current players: Bowlby, LaMantia, Curl, O'Brien. No Webster?!?!?!!? She's maybe the best forward on the team! (maybe a little over-hyped yeah yeah, the downer comments are coming from me below). Her and O'Brien were always 1a and 1a if you get my drift. Awesome to see an incoming Fr going, very impressive. Great to see LaMantia get a look.

Past players: Rigsby, Decker, Knight, Roque. No Pankowski, SAD. She has always been on the edge of the team, so not a huge surprise, but sad. Duggan has retired from the team. Makes me sad too.

Future players: Harvey. SUPER STOKED! UW hasn't had a dominant, game changing D since.......?

The way Pankowski just willed UW to that title sure makes me think Roque was in line to do the same last year. I'll never fully recover from that team being denied the chance to repeat the title win with that group of Seniors. Sad. Sad. Sad.

Will I even get to see O'Brien and Webster this year? Sad.

Wisconsin Hockey: The Battle Between sadness and gladness.

 

[Sieve1]

Harvey was probably the best player on the ice in Wednesday nights NAHA game vs Shattuck u19. That is saying something for a D

 

[Timothy A]

Harvey was probably the best player on the ice in Wednesday nights NAHA game vs Shattuck u19. That is saying something for a D

Love the insight! Could you expound on what you saw?

TDM did tweet out that Webster and Pankowski were in the pool for the USNT, but could not attend for some reason. I'm glad I didn't jump off the bridge last week, though the sedatives are slow to wear off.

 

[Timothy A]

Dear wWCHA,

You are not trying to put a person on the moon, you are trying to figure out how to play a sport during a pandemic. This can't be this tough to figure out.

Sincerely,

Marvin tMartian & Wile Coyote

 

[Offsides Guy]

Dear wWCHA,

You are not trying to put a person on the moon, you are trying to figure out how to play a sport during a pandemic. This can't be this tough to figure out.

Sincerely,

Marvin tMartian & Wile Coyote

The sticking point is testing and I do not see how they'll overcome it to have a WCHA season that has all 7 teams playing each other. The three BIG10 teams have testing requirements that are financially impossible for the 4 non-BIG10 teams to match and the BIG10 is not about to let WH lower their testing requirements as every BIG10 sport would like to do that I'm sure. If I had to guess - and I'm not the first to suggest some of this - there may be a split WCHA season with the 4 non-BIG10 teams playing each other and the 3 BIG10 teams + 1 (Penn St if the CHA cancels?) playing each other. I also won't be surprised if the 4 non-BIG10 schools play more single game series with no overnight travel rather than fewer weekend series of 2 games each. This will (1) further reduce the chances of a COVID outbreak on a team as they're not staying in a hotel, etc. and (2) save the schools big money in a year where money is a huge issue (two bus trips to Duluth is still cheaper than hotel rooms for the players for one weekend).

I am not advocating for this but, I guess if it lets them play at least some hockey, than it's better than nothing - especially given this year basically now does not count in terms of eligibility.

 

[Timothy A]

The sticking point is testing and I do not see how they'll overcome it to have a WCHA season that has all 7 teams playing each other. The three BIG10 teams have testing requirements that are financially impossible for the 4 non-BIG10 teams to match and the BIG10 is not about to let WH lower their testing requirements as every BIG10 sport would like to do that I'm sure. If I had to guess - and I'm not the first to suggest some of this - there may be a split WCHA season with the 4 non-BIG10 teams playing each other and the 3 BIG10 teams + 1 (Penn St if the CHA cancels?) playing each other. I also won't be surprised if the 4 non-BIG10 schools play more single game series with no overnight travel rather than fewer weekend series of 2 games each. This will (1) further reduce the chances of a COVID outbreak on a team as they're not staying in a hotel, etc. and (2) save the schools big money in a year where money is a huge issue (two bus trips to Duluth is still cheaper than hotel rooms for the players for one weekend).

I am not advocating for this but, I guess if it lets them play at least some hockey, than it's better than nothing - especially given this year basically now does not count in terms of eligibility.

Great summary. This has been a known issue for weeks and weeks. Make a decision and move forward!

 

[Timothy A]

Great summary. This has been a known issue for weeks and weeks. Make a decision and move forward!

TDM reports there was a meeting last week Friday that the wwcha Commish says there will be more than likely wwcha hockey in November, though it would probably be towards the end of the month. They will play 20-24 games in a pinned down yet unrevealed to us format and have an end of the season tournament. Apparently testing hasn't been the only hang-up in the discussions.

 

[Lurky McLurkface]

I'd settle for pond hockey at this point.