Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019: We can have a witty thread title when we start winnin
There seems to be some confusion, so just to be clear: --> A TIE IS NOT A LOSS. <--
A tie is not a win either, it's a tie.
The 3x3 is the same as a shootout. It's not a goal against for Jack, there's no points for Hughes, Norris and Lockwood. Who, incidentally, are two Soph 1st rounders and a Jr. 3rd rounder that IMO are probably going to win 90% of these 3x3 deals they play in this year. The conference standing point is the only thing that's at stake, and I'm really not worried about winning the B1G conference, so who cares? A tie on the road is a good result. Even if they lose tonight, if they win at home, they win the comparison and that is all that matters.
As for how the Badgers played, I thought they did several good things that heretofore they have been unable to accomplish. The game started with Michigan controlling play and having all the momentum in the first 5 minutes, which has usually meant disaster, but the Badgers held it together kept working and slowly took back control of the puck and generated some chances of their own. A great play by Zirbel and Messner in the neutral zone led to a goal. Rather than let up and give up a big chance after a goal, as we've come to expect, they played a good shift after. But just when I thought they were going to get away, they took a penalty. Oh no! Here we go again! Except the PK was excellent and instead of a collapse, they gained momentum. This is the way the game went, when things were going bad and Badgers made mistakes, rather than breakdown, they played better.
While they did not have good puck control and turned it over way, way, too many times -- on a night where they didn't have their A stuff with the puck, they stuck together, hustled, blocked shots, and played very well without the puck including a huge PK in overtime. I thought it was really encouraging.
Jack just stayed in the net and let the puck hit him. He had a couple of big stops, but nothing too miraculous. Just a solid, consistent performance all night. I thought Gorniak had his best game as a Badger. He is catching up to the speed of the game at this level, and starting to use his own considerable speed to make things happen. Zirbel gets his first point of the year. K'Andre was really good quite a bit of the game, and not so good at times. We just need more of the really good from him all the time. It wasn't pretty at all but the boys did a lot of good for themselves. Perhaps it will carry over, and they'll handle the puck a bit better and close out some of their good chances tonight. Or perhaps not, but in any case a tie is not a loss. Sheesh.
The PP was still awful. I'm not sure if it was because of personnel being tired, or just frustration at the lack of production, but I noticed the last PP Tony just went with the two regular F lines. Baker-Dhooghe-Gorniak followed by Seamus-Zimmer-Johnson.
Agree 100% that we really miss Linus and his speed. It just makes a big difference in the lines and the amount of pressure the Badgers generate throughout the night. Hopefully he gets back for next week.
