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Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

digitalbooya said:
So I was super bored this morning and went back and looked at all the losses on the year:

Clarkson - tied 2-2 in 3rd, lost 2-4, 2/4 PK, shots 28-25 UW
Michigan Tech - had 1-0 lead in 1st, lost 6-2, 3/8 PK, shots 34-27 MTU
North Dakota - lost 0-5, 3/3 PK, shots 24-23 UW
North Dakota - tied at the end of regulation, lost 3-2 in OT, 8/9 PK, shots 35-23 UND
Minnesota - up 2-0, gave up 3 goals in 1 minute 14 seconds, lost 3-2, 2/3 PK, shots 32-27 UW
Ohio State - lost 0-4, 3/5 PK, shots 32-27 UW
Ohio State - lost 1-3, 5/7 PK, shots 38-28 OSU
Denver - tied 2-2 in 3rd, lost 3-6, 3/4 PK, shots 33-28 Denver
Denver - tied 3-3 end of regulation, lost 3-4 in OT, 4/4 PK, shots 40-16 Denver
Notre Dame - tied 4-4 halfway through 3rd, lost 6-4, 0/2 PK, shots 37-24 UW
Minnesota - lost 4-9, 1/4 PK, shots 46-28 UW
Michigan State - lost 1-4, 3/4 PK, shots 32-28 MSU
Ohio State - tied 1-1 end of regulation, lost 1-2 in OT, 4/5 PK, shots 26-21 OSU
Ohio State - lost 1-4, 7/7 PK, shots 30-23 UW


Bolded are the winnable games and with a more experienced squad likely would result in a win. 3 of the 5 ties UW had a lead in the third period.

There's some optimism for the future.
Click to expand...

If you flip all 7 of those games, we would jump from 33 to 7 in the pairwise rankings.
OSU would go up from 7 to 4, Denver would go down from 4 to 9

If you take the games where we were tied and keep those as a tie through OT, we would be up to 18 from 33.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

digitalbooya said:
It really does speak to coaching when a guy has the puck for a few seconds at the point and our guy still doesn't have his stick in the right lane. Also, what is our PK strategy? It feels like we've got one forward chasing the three guys at the point, left and right walls. Then there's an awkward small triangle down low. Is that an actual strategy? What happened to the typical box that every team runs? With the current setup you've got one forward caught in no-man's land and the other is just standing there looking really out of position (especially with his stick in the wrong lane). People wonder why the opposing team's power play gets the puck so in close to our net. The answer is literally right there.
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As a strategy, the pk plan is fairly sound on paper. The idea is to make shots come from the more easily defended wings, rather than the point, and deny the high percentage shots from the slot that a 2-2 configuration is more vulnerable to. And then to outnumber the offense 3-2 in front of the net when the puck does get in. A lot of things look good on paper but the players still have to execute. I think Saturday is the only game I missed watching this year, but I did see the highlights, and the second pp goal where Messner loses his guy in the slot for the deflection in is exactly what the strategy is trying to avoid. Thing is, you can position a guy in the right spot, but that guy still has to make a play when the time comes. The first one where the pass gets past Messner to the back door, is a little more of a hockey play that can happen, but Messner is still in the right position to deny the pass, he just doesn't execute and the ND guy does.

So I guess I'm saying that I don't think the plan is really a bad one, it may theoretically even be a very good one, but the players have to do their jobs no matter what the plan is, or it's not going to work. The key to the pk they are playing to me is the point man getting pressure and disrupting the puck movement out top early on. This is a hard and energy consuming job that requires good, aggressive, decision making and strong skating. Mostly it's played pretty tentatively though, and eventually the pk'ers wear down and breakdown. Contrast that with how, say, Frederic or Wagner played the point and forced the play or jumped the puck carrier as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Just not getting that kind of confident decision making out of these players.
 
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Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

Wisko McBadgerton said:
So I guess I'm saying that I don't think the plan is really a bad one, it may theoretically even be a very good one, but the players have to do their jobs no matter what the plan is, or it's not going to work.
Click to expand...

I disagree. We have the 59th ranked penalty kill. Obviously, this group of players shouldn't be 59th of 60 at anything. At this point in the year, you use the strengths of the guys you have and make adjustments. Great coaches adjust their plan for the players they have. This isn't being done. Throw the "desired" plan out the window and adjust.

A second, even better option, is you take less penalties.....
 
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Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

WiscTJK said:
I disagree. We have the 59th ranked penalty kill. Obviously, this group of players shouldn't be 59th of 60 at anything. At this point in the year, you use the strengths of the guys you have and make adjustments. Great coaches adjust their plan for the players they have. This isn't being done. Throw the "desired" plan out the window and adjust.

A second, even better option, is you take less penalties.....
Click to expand...

Agree with your points, but it has seemed to me, which I have said multiple times before, that the staff isn't and hasn't been in a "win now" mode of operation all year. When questioned in just the last few weeks Tony has said they are going to continue to play Freshman in big roles no matter what. Reminds me a lot of how Eaves operated in the Burish class freshman year. Played Freshman a lot of games and minutes even though there were probably upperclassmen that were "better" at the time. They lost 23 games that year and then those guys, (Gilbert, MacMurchy, Burish, Licari Degenhardt, Leavitt, Sawatske, Gibson) went on to be the backbone of a three very good teams. Though they obviously replaced a few of those guys.

It just has seemed to me all year that the staff is all about developing the younger guys for the future (even if it means just throwing them into the deep end, or to the wolves) and not making moves to to try and squeeze a few more wins out of a team that doesn't have the horses to really go anywhere anyway. Right or wrong, they are just sticking with their long term plan to try and build a #1 type team. That has been my impression and I think Tony has confirmed it in several ways more recently, although perhaps without just blatantly stating it outright.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

The Saturday game really killed me. The PK had been better, it was trending in the right direction, then it blew up Saturday. The trend is flat with a horrible base line, the numbers don't lie. The Fr are practically So's now. His So class are practically Jr's. Faceoffs and special teams should be on the upswing. They are not. It's not good and usually I'm a rah rah guy. I'm very excited to see fantastic 4 next year, but will what they produce be sustainable once they are all gone in 2-3 years? The systems have to work as they plug new guys in every year. At this point the systems suck.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
It’s embarrassing how badly he is left out to dry by the defense.

They leave his backside exposed with a target on the regular.
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And he's not the type of player whose just going to quietly suck it up, he's an emotional goalie. It was probably a good idea to have Berry finish out the last game.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

The Finnish Hammer is fun to watch in net. Can't help but love his fire and the way he lifts his teammates up emotionally with a big play. Thought he was good at Janesville and feel like he will only get better here as the team in front of him improves and he matures. He plays with passion and confidence and when he's rolling he can be really good.

Feel like we are going to really miss Miller vs. PSU as he excels in open ice and has the skates to get back and cover the speed that they charge into the zone with. Of course the games will probably turn on special teams play, and the young Badgers have almost zero confidence they can win that battle. PSU is a sieve though, so you never know. We could possibly get enough pucks in to overcome the deficiency if we can stay out of the box most of the weekend. Last gasp at getting home ice. Have to win tonight.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

Another Friday stinker. At least thru two.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

And they get fiesty at the end of the period. How about play good hockey and quit talking smack.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

Embarrassing, ugly, terrible...... I'm out
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

Does Osiecki still coach or teach defense?

Where is the player development? Jesus Christ Edina plays better D
 
solovsfett said:
Does Osiecki still coach or teach defense?

Where is the player development? Jesus Christ Edina plays better D
Click to expand...

solo, tell me what's happening. I can't watch the game with what Im doing. I tuned in when it was 2-0, then heard our 2 goals. I tuned in a bit later and it was 5-2. The spousal unit texted me that Lebedeff got the hook after the 7th goal by pedophile state.

WHAT THE **** IS GOING ON? <- Those four stars aren't hell.
 
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Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

Rich- got outshot 56 - 31. Lost faceoffs 2-1. No help for Lebby and he let in a couple softies and another on a juicy rebound. Achan passed one right to a Penn State guy who scored. All around ugly.
 
Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

I’ve been quietly patient so far this year, but I have to admit that this team is still making the same mistakes seen in game 1. There does not seem to be much improvement. I was excited when Granato came in, but they don’t seem to be improving: face offs, pp, pk, defensive zone coverage. It all seems to be going backwards. Did you see the perfect pass Ahcan made back into our defensive zone right onto the Penn State player’s stick for a goal? If that doesn’t deserve some time on the bench I’m not sure what does. I’d like to think this is all just growing pains, but it’s hard to find a glimmer of hope in the pile of **** just dropped on the Pegula ice sheet by the Badgers. I’ve given Tony a lot of leeway; he lived on my floor in the dorms his freshman year and I got to know him reasonably well. That being said, it’s hard to ignore what’s happening to this program under his leadership right now.
 
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Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019 Part 2: Still not time for the witty thread title.

11 goals scored in last 7 games according to Brian Posick. Didn't have over 2 goals in any of those games.
 
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