WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

[diddlypoo]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

There is, however, a certain TV network associated with a certain athletic conference that would like to have some more programming...

Then why isn't the BTN showing more than a handful of the UW games this year? I have long been a supporter of the BTN, but this is inexcusable especially given FSNs decision to show more bucks games.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Then why isn't the BTN showing more than a handful of the UW games this year? I have long been a supporter of the BTN, but this is inexcusable especially given FSNs decision to show more bucks games.

I agree. I'm not sure what blocksi is thinking there. This is the same network that took a live hockey game that they were showing and cut it off the air for a basketball press conference.

There's always another basketball game to show.

AND, no one is showing the Gophers - Michigan State hockey game. No one. How bad do they want hockey programming when they won't show it when it's sitting there for them? And there are a ton of Wisconsin games not televised right now on any station? What gives?

Let's face it, they don't want it that bad.

 

[solovsfett]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

I agree. I'm not sure what blocksi is thinking there. This is the same network that took a live hockey game that they were showing and cut it off the air for a basketball press conference.

There's always another basketball game to show.

AND, no one is showing the Gophers - Michigan State hockey game. No one. How bad do they want hockey programming when they won't show it when it's sitting there for them? And there are a ton of Wisconsin games not televised right now on any station? What gives?

Let's face it, they don't want it that bad.

Exactly. The B10 network isn't any better than the rest. If there's a women's roundball game or Coach Ryan has to tie his shoes they'll skip to that. It's just the way it is.

A B10 conference would destroy about 6-8 western schools. At least. Why would fans of Ferris State or Mich Tech want to see games all season vs. schools roughly the same size. They'd fold. "We used to play Wisconsin, Minnesota" et al, or "Michigan, MSU, Notre Dame" et al, and that brought a lot of fan emotion and energy. Now no-one cares and our stadium's are 1/5 full and the team is folding.

And why suddenly are people so concerned with "growing" the sport? This argument has been on the board for as long as I've been around here and it's never EVER been addressed seriously by the NCAA, let alone the league commisioner's so why bother?

If the NCAA wanted to make D-1 Men's and Women's Hockey a major player for tv and newspaper space there's a lot they could do but the ideas below don't make sense to me because in the end it's square pegs and round holes.

Hockey fans are an island almost to themselves like american soccer fans, or Indycar or F1 fans in the U.S.

I keep citing this example and I'll have to do it again. 2006. Wisconsin vs. Cornell in the regional for the right to go to the FF. I'm living in Milwaukee, and the FF is being hosted there in 2 weeks. No-one in the city save hockey fans even knew that. The bar I went to to watch the game, BW3, had
A. no idea the hockey tournament was on tv (perhaps no idea it even existed)
B. no idea Wisconsin was in it
C. Gonzaga was on, we're not turning the tv to hockey for you
D. the patrons were riled up that I tried to move from Gonzaga bounceball to WISCONSIN HOCKEY...IN FRIGGIN MILWAUKEE!
E. no idea, 0, that the Frozen Four was being hosted by UW IN MILWAUKEE, just 2 weeks later, and while it was sold out regardless of UW's participation, UW'S entry would make the bar even more jammed w/UW fans who couldn't get tickets....duh!

eventually they got the game on for me in a corner where there was no roundball bs fans cheering for teams that let's just say are no-where near wisconsin.

So this is what everyone who cheers for D-1 Hockey is up against, and everyone in the league offices and the NCAA office for hockey. You want to grow the sport? I think we're screaming at a wall here.

 

[Scottyp]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Some interesting comments.

I agree we have a challenge to grow the sport as solovsfett states. His examples, while painful from what could be a good hockey town as Milwaukee could be, illustrate that perfectly. But I don't think that means we shouldn't try. One of the benefits of forming bthc is that you get the conference to officially sanction and back the sport. That alone should force more coverage on BTN, both between b10 schools and b10 schools playing non-B10 teams. It also increases exposure to other B10 schools. That is a key element to convince them to invest in a hockey program. An uphill climb, yes. But lets try.

Almington exposes the weakness in a three conference alignment. I agree wholeheartedly. Everyone, just about, would have to give something up. Lets try and lay it out in three conferences. For sake of argument, lets assume Penn St and Iowa would be convinced to start programs, a key element since each conference would need its anchor schools. That would mean the seven B10 schools, Notre Dame and UND are the anchors, with three apeice in each conference. Organized geographically,

Penn St, OSU and Mich in the east;
Wisc, Notre Dame and Mich St in central
Minn, Iowa, UND in West.

Have 26 teams total so break up 8,9,9

East:
Penn St, OSU, Mich, Miami, Ferris St., Bowling Green, Western Mich, Alabama-Huntsville

Central:
Wisc, Notre Dame, Mich St., Northern Mich, Mich Tech, UMD, Mankato, St. Cloud, Lake Superior St.

West:
UND, Minn, Iowa, Denver, CC, Ala-F, Ala-A, UNO, Bemidji

Not perfect, but have Lake superior schools in one conference, west schools in one conference, Ohio schools in one conference. Have room to expand, have two or three "tier 2" schools in each. Weakest is east, but maybe that means switching Notre Dame for Western Mich.

 

[Scottyp]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

I agree. I'm not sure what blocksi is thinking there. This is the same network that took a live hockey game that they were showing and cut it off the air for a basketball press conference.

There's always another basketball game to show.

AND, no one is showing the Gophers - Michigan State hockey game. No one. How bad do they want hockey programming when they won't show it when it's sitting there for them? And there are a ton of Wisconsin games not televised right now on any station? What gives?

Let's face it, they don't want it that bad.

Since the B10 does not sanction hockey as a conference sport, other sanctioned sports get billing on B10 network.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Since the B10 does not sanction hockey as a conference sport, other sanctioned sports get billing on B10 network.

Wrong. That's not what they told me when I complained about them stealing games from FSN.

 

[uwbadgers14]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Well, Al Franken is your representative, but I don't automatically jump to the conclusion that you've got your head up your ***, too.

Owned!!!

 

[uwbadgers14]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Exactly. The B10 network isn't any better than the rest. If there's a women's roundball game or Coach Ryan has to tie his shoes they'll skip to that. It's just the way it is.

A B10 conference would destroy about 6-8 western schools. At least. Why would fans of Ferris State or Mich Tech want to see games all season vs. schools roughly the same size. They'd fold. "We used to play Wisconsin, Minnesota" et al, or "Michigan, MSU, Notre Dame" et al, and that brought a lot of fan emotion and energy. Now no-one cares and our stadium's are 1/5 full and the team is folding.

And why suddenly are people so concerned with "growing" the sport? This argument has been on the board for as long as I've been around here and it's never EVER been addressed seriously by the NCAA, let alone the league commisioner's so why bother?

If the NCAA wanted to make D-1 Men's and Women's Hockey a major player for tv and newspaper space there's a lot they could do but the ideas below don't make sense to me because in the end it's square pegs and round holes.

Hockey fans are an island almost to themselves like american soccer fans, or Indycar or F1 fans in the U.S.

I keep citing this example and I'll have to do it again. 2006. Wisconsin vs. Cornell in the regional for the right to go to the FF. I'm living in Milwaukee, and the FF is being hosted there in 2 weeks. No-one in the city save hockey fans even knew that. The bar I went to to watch the game, BW3, had
A. no idea the hockey tournament was on tv (perhaps no idea it even existed)
B. no idea Wisconsin was in it
C. Gonzaga was on, we're not turning the tv to hockey for you
D. the patrons were riled up that I tried to move from Gonzaga bounceball to WISCONSIN HOCKEY...IN FRIGGIN MILWAUKEE!
E. no idea, 0, that the Frozen Four was being hosted by UW IN MILWAUKEE, just 2 weeks later, and while it was sold out regardless of UW's participation, UW'S entry would make the bar even more jammed w/UW fans who couldn't get tickets....duh!

eventually they got the game on for me in a corner where there was no roundball bs fans cheering for teams that let's just say are no-where near wisconsin.

So this is what everyone who cheers for D-1 Hockey is up against, and everyone in the league offices and the NCAA office for hockey. You want to grow the sport? I think we're screaming at a wall here.

I couldn't agree more... you hit the nail on the head. I hated living in the milwaukee area and trying to get a badger hockey game on in basketball season, it was almost an impossible task between the bucks, marquette and Bulls knowone cared about college or pro hockey...

 

[uwbadgers14]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Weekend notes... glad to see this team get some confidence. A couple things that stood out to me this weekend.

First - If our D plays like that the rest of the year then almost anyone on this blog can play goalie for us. We joked before the season started that there are a few NHL teams that could start our Blueline and probably be successfull, well thats not far off from what i can see, I'm sure minnesota Wild fans would agree to that. UNH is not a bad offensive team and they could not get any pressure, our D just moves the play to the boards and clears the puck cleanly to a forward almost every time. It was fun to watch.

Second- Our PP still needs some work, its not clicking yet but they way this team is able to cycle and control the play on the boards, they force teams to take penalty's so UW will get plenty of chances to get the PP going. Our 3 wins are by a score of 16-2 without a clicking Power play yet scary!

Third. Can anyone explain why we are suiting up 3 goalies when we have guys that can make an impact in the game sitting out?? Podge Turnbull has been the 2nd best forechecker behind grotting this season and sits on Saturday night. I also think Schultz needs to maybe sit in favor of Craig johnson at least for a couple games, I think he could learn a lot by sitting up in the box and watching a couple games. Just a thought.

And Lastly: The crowd was pathedic all weekend. The players deserve better then what we gave them this weekend, not only was the turnout terrible but it was like being in a church service both nights. I had 4 people sitting a couple rows in front of us on friday night in section 105 row B which is the 1st row that i'm almost sure fell asleap, never clapped, NEVER stood Up, even on goals!, just sat and watched the game wearing there badger clothes, i'm sorry those people need to go sit up in the 300's, you don't deserve those seats EVER. I realize that our Attendance is slipping a bit and it was a busy weekend for madison but the turnout and the quality of hockey fan there this weekend was a little embaressing for me. the people i went with on friday hadn't ever been and I was ashamed of the experience they had. Good thing UW won or it probably would have been the worst game at the KC I had ever been too. Plus i'm sure the UNH fans were not very impressed either, 1/2 fild building full of people that treated the game like a prayer service... Everybody needs to step it up for next weekend, there will be a lot of gopher fans in town and they can't take over our arena!!! Dead SErious!!!! Take Die hards to the games next weekend and try to sell your tickets to die hards...

 

[markwojo]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Our D still has plenty of room to improve...but agree the early season results are very promising. #7 took a bad penalty and had an aweful tournover (or two). After 2 years, unfortunately I don't see his game changing radically and you'll have to take the good with the bad.

I'm not overly worried about the PP. There is not much of a preseaon to college hockey (only 2 weeks of full ice practice as a team) and we've been missing key parts of our PP for a variety of reasons (Geoffrion, Smith, Davies, & Lee all have missed games). The talent is there and as the season progresses I think you'll see things start to click a little better.

3 goalies have nothing to do with dressing an extra skater. At home, you'll throw a bone to the practice goalie and let them get dressed for the games occasionally. Schultz is an absolute stud and will not be sitting for Craig Johnson...ever. Hell, I doubt Ram(p)age ever sits for him either. Our frosh Dmen are both exceptional (they play a different game...but solid additions).

On the crowd, I'll call it an early season football game hangover. Until football season is over, and the calander flips to a new year, the hockey crowds are a little thinner and there are a few vacancies in the third level. I thought for not a packed house...there was pretty good crowd support.

Weekend notes... glad to see this team get some confidence. A couple things that stood out to me this weekend.

First - If our D plays like that the rest of the year then almost anyone on this blog can play goalie for us. We joked before the season started that there are a few NHL teams that could start our Blueline and probably be successfull, well thats not far off from what i can see, I'm sure minnesota Wild fans would agree to that. UNH is not a bad offensive team and they could not get any pressure, our D just moves the play to the boards and clears the puck cleanly to a forward almost every time. It was fun to watch.

Second- Our PP still needs some work, its not clicking yet but they way this team is able to cycle and control the play on the boards, they force teams to take penalty's so UW will get plenty of chances to get the PP going. Our 3 wins are by a score of 16-2 without a clicking Power play yet scary!

Third. Can anyone explain why we are suiting up 3 goalies when we have guys that can make an impact in the game sitting out?? Podge Turnbull has been the 2nd best forechecker behind grotting this season and sits on Saturday night. I also think Schultz needs to maybe sit in favor of Craig johnson at least for a couple games, I think he could learn a lot by sitting up in the box and watching a couple games. Just a thought.

And Lastly: The crowd was pathedic all weekend. The players deserve better then what we gave them this weekend, not only was the turnout terrible but it was like being in a church service both nights. I had 4 people sitting a couple rows in front of us on friday night in section 105 row B which is the 1st row that i'm almost sure fell asleap, never clapped, NEVER stood Up, even on goals!, just sat and watched the game wearing there badger clothes, i'm sorry those people need to go sit up in the 300's, you don't deserve those seats EVER. I realize that our Attendance is slipping a bit and it was a busy weekend for madison but the turnout and the quality of hockey fan there this weekend was a little embaressing for me. the people i went with on friday hadn't ever been and I was ashamed of the experience they had. Good thing UW won or it probably would have been the worst game at the KC I had ever been too. Plus i'm sure the UNH fans were not very impressed either, 1/2 fild building full of people that treated the game like a prayer service... Everybody needs to step it up for next weekend, there will be a lot of gopher fans in town and they can't take over our arena!!! Dead SErious!!!! Take Die hards to the games next weekend and try to sell your tickets to die hards...

 

[aktick]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

I've complained about Smith as much as anybody, but after just checking the (very early) stats, I see he has 9 points already in just 5 games - nobody else has more than 5 (Ramage happens to be one of them).

So I agree, you have to take the bad with the good in his case. Still seems like he should be a forward...

 

[uwbadgers14]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

I've complained about Smith as much as anybody, but after just checking the (very early) stats, I see he has 9 points already in just 5 games - nobody else has more than 5 (Ramage happens to be one of them).

So I agree, you have to take the bad with the good in his case. Still seems like he should be a forward...

He is the Brian Campbell of College hockey, it doesn't come up very often but Brian Campbell is a liability at times in his own end and dispite me thinking he is over payed considerably, is a great puck mover and a rare playmaker for the blue line and brendan reminds me a lot of campbell when i watch him play.

 

[markwojo]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

There is no doubt that the good from Brendan Smith is very very good. He is very dynamic offensively and a major asset on a PP. Unfortunately, his bad also ends up in the back of the net too. The scales certainly tip in his favor with the good outweighting the bad though. Hopefully Oz can have some impact on shoring up the decision making to keep the bad to a managable minimum.

 

[NMH]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

I wouldn't worry about there being a small crowd on Halloween weekend. The student section at Camp Randall was half empty during Saturday's football game, so there's no way hockey games are going to get the fan draw.

I also think UNH just isn't the draw that a conference match would have been on Halloween weekend. There isn't a rivalry there - and fans, when deciding between partying and hockey, aren't going to choose hockey when they can't even name a guy on the other team.

 

[HighToTheGloveSide]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

I also think UNH just isn't the draw that a conference match would have been on Halloween weekend. There isn't a rivalry there - and fans, when deciding between partying and hockey, aren't going to choose hockey when they can't even name a guy on the other team.

You mean like Wisconsin natives Blake Kessel, Scott Pavelski, or Mike Sislo??

 

[VarsityWisconsin]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

So who goes to the bench next week when Smith comes off suspension?

 

[Timothy A]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

So who goes to the bench next week when Smith comes off suspension?

Well, it can't be Dolan, he sure proved me wrong when I said I was sick of wasting a dressed forward position on him. Can't be Davies, he looked really good out there again. Lee didn't stand out a whole ton, but he made a few nice passes that didn't get converted on. He's too talented not to play. What about Johnson? He hasn't done a whole lot. Smith can do everything Ratty can, but better.

 

[sweatpants]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Well, it can't be Dolan, he sure proved me wrong when I said I was sick of wasting a dressed forward position on him. Can't be Davies, he looked really good out there again. Lee didn't stand out a whole ton, but he made a few nice passes that didn't get converted on. He's too talented not to play. What about Johnson? He hasn't done a whole lot. Smith can do everything Ratty can, but better.

Unfortunately I thinks it going to be Lee, but it should definitely be Pat Johnson. In the Friday CC game Johnson was demoted to "extra winger" when Geoffrin went down and didn't see him out there in the last ten minutes of the game. The following day he was demoted to the 4th line in favor of Turnbull half way through the game. And again on this Saturday he was demoted to the 4th line in favor of Grotting. Not sure why the coaches keep on putting him on the top 3 lines, he's nothing more than a decent 4th line player. With refs closely calling obstruction more and morr I think this guy lost most of his effectiveness he had when he was a freshman.

I don't want to see Brendan Smith out there anywhere late in the game with a small lead. The guy scares the crap out of me. I'm not sure what he was thinking late in the game on Saturday. With a 6-1 lead he tries to head hunt a guy in open ice, then when he misses he sticks out his leg. Luckily for the UNH guy he tripped over his stick and he didn't go knee on knee. That's how seasons are ended.

At the rate he's going now, Jake Gardiner is quickly becoming one of our top defenseman. Breaking out he gets the puck up fast, makes a foward commit, makes a move, and makes a tape to tape pass to a foward in stride nearly every time. If all of our defenseman could do that you would see less dump and chase. I would like to see him out there in place of McDonagh on the 2nd powerplay. I'm not sure McDonagh moves well enough laterally and has the soft hands necessay to be effective on the powerplay. His shot is 10x harder than Gardiner's though.

They also changed their #1 PP. They went to an overload and had Davies control the puck and set things up along the boards. They might have done this at Mankato though too.


On a side note, I'm suprised no one mentioned that Reinprecht, my favorite Badger of all-time, scored a natural hat trick on Friday. Three straight goals in less than 5 minutes!

 

[solovsfett]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

Unfortunately I thinks it going to be Lee, but it should definitely be Pat Johnson. In the Friday CC game Johnson was demoted to "extra winger" when Geoffrin went down and didn't see him out there in the last ten minutes of the game. The following day he was demoted to the 4th line in favor of Turnbull half way through the game. And again on this Saturday he was demoted to the 4th line in favor of Grotting. Not sure why the coaches keep on putting him on the top 3 lines, he's nothing more than a decent 4th line player. With refs closely calling obstruction more and morr I think this guy lost most of his effectiveness he had when he was a freshman.

I don't want to see Brendan Smith out there anywhere late in the game with a small lead. The guy scares the crap out of me. I'm not sure what he was thinking late in the game on Saturday. With a 6-1 lead he tries to head hunt a guy in open ice, then when he misses he sticks out his leg. Luckily for the UNH guy he tripped over his stick and he didn't go knee on knee. That's how seasons are ended.

At the rate he's going now, Jake Gardiner is quickly becoming one of our top defenseman. Breaking out he gets the puck up fast, makes a foward commit, makes a move, and makes a tape to tape pass to a foward in stride nearly every time. If all of our defenseman could do that you would see less dump and chase. I would like to see him out there in place of McDonagh on the 2nd powerplay. I'm not sure McDonagh moves well enough laterally and has the soft hands necessay to be effective on the powerplay. His shot is 10x harder than Gardiner's though.

They also changed their #1 PP. They went to an overload and had Davies control the puck and set things up along the boards. They might have done this at Mankato though too.


On a side note, I'm suprised no one mentioned that Reinprecht, my favorite Badger of all-time, scored a natural hat trick on Friday. Three straight goals in less than 5 minutes!

loved Rhino! what team is he on now, Florida? I don't remember, he's bounced around quiet a bit

 

[bucky15]

Re: WISCONSIN HOCKEY 09-10 - Climbing The Mountain (7th Edition?)

So who goes to the bench next week when Smith comes off suspension?

Why not Smith....he needs to work his way back into the line up.


Or Patty?

I think Lee, Podge, and Dolan should dress over him, but I am not at any of the practices.