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Wisconsin Hockey 22-23 Empty Dreams & Empty Seats

digitalbooya said:
There is definitely some "glory years" badger fans that come here to hammer home their negativity. Timothy A is not one of them. In fact, Timothy A has been one of the most enjoyable posters to interact with.
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Thanks for the kind words. I hung onto positivity for a lot of last season, then it died.
 
digitalbooya said:
As a UWSP alum, I strongly dislike St Norbert. Hard to argue against their success though...
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My sister went there and I saw many games while she was there when they had 3 titles in a row and 4 titles in 5 years. So I also have a soft spot for them. Tim Coghlin is literally the Bo Ryan of college hockey. I am sure Andy Brandt learned a ton there in 5 years.
 
WiscTJK said:
My sister went there and I saw many games while she was there when they had 3 titles in a row and 4 titles in 5 years. So I also have a soft spot for them. Tim Coghlin is literally the Bo Ryan of college hockey. I am sure Andy Brandt learned a ton there in 5 years.
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So if the hope meter was at 1 prior to the hire (0 being none and 10 being winning the ncaa next season), Watts is it now? If he was the head coach? 7. As the lowest assistant? 2.5?

He's gotta have a a lot of confidence hooking his raft to the SS Granatotic
 
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Timothy A said:
So if the hope meter was at 1 prior to the hire (0 being none and 10 being winning the ncaa next season), Watts is it now? If he was the head coach? 7. As the lowest assistant? 2.5?

He's gotta have a a lot of confidence hooking his raft to the SS Granatotic
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Some of the quotes from Todd M article and his video interview, he thinks they can win with the guys they have. I hope he is given some free reign to make some changes. I like what I heard / read, but the proof will be this season. Coghlin says he is ready for the challenge and he grinds as coach, just like he did in college on my favorite line from the NCAA title year.
 
WiscTJK said:
Some of the quotes from Todd M article and his video interview, he thinks they can win with the guys they have.
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If a guy with NHL coaching experience can't figure out how win with these guys (and a former D1 H/C on the staff), I'm not sure how Brandt can. TG needs to give him full reign and just stay out of the way. Maybe since he's younger he can relate/communicate better and find the right way to push the button. Watts is your hope meter number?
 
Timothy A said:
If a guy with NHL coaching experience can't figure out how win with these guys (and a former D1 H/C on the staff), I'm not sure how Brandt can. TG needs to give him full reign and just stay out of the way. Maybe since he's younger he can relate/communicate better and find the right way to push the button. Watts is your hope meter number?
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Low side 2, high side 5. That's where I'm at today.

Andy is coming from D3 where player development, chemistry and system are so so important. It will be interesting to see if those things improve with Andy coming in. Also, he will likely handle the powerplay as MS did that and look for changes there as well. Like I said before, I hope he is given a lot of leash and can be in TG and Oz ears with things that can improve.
 
Timothy A said:
If a guy with NHL coaching experience can't figure out how win with these guys (and a former D1 H/C on the staff), I'm not sure how Brandt can.
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Let’s ask ourselves how important it actually is for a coach to have NHL or D-I HC experience.

All other things being equal, I’ve no doubt that it matters a lot.

But Granato clearly has some deficiencies in player development^. Oz has clearly lost a lot when it comes to what his strengths were under Eaves (developing high end defensemen).

Brandt doesn’t necessarily fix those deficiencies but his experience (such that it is) does address three key shortcomings of the team:
  1. Special Teams - he was the special teams guy at SNC, where they had a 24.8% PP last year
  2. Grit, hard work, and responsibility - UW has been softer than some teddy bears on this front, and those are qualities he had IN SPADES at UW. By all accounts he’s approached coaching the same way.
  3. Player development. We haven’t seen a lot of year-over-year improvement on this team under Granato. As WiscTJK noted: that’s kind of how you get a good team at the D-III level.
No guarantees, of course. But if we had to grab an alum for this role, there really wasn’t a better choice out there. Young, Lots of potential for growth, fills some key areas of deficiency in the current coaches… my socks aren’t blown off but it feels like an otherwise solid hire.

^ I’d also argue that he’s garbage when it comes to calling people out to the media, which I think is a very strange thing that he’s done, but I suppose I also don’t know how he handles those moments behind closed doors.
 
Timothy A said:
I do believe so.

Watching a lot of NHL playoffs and the one thing that stands out to me is the quality of the passing.
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UW's passing was one of the things I complained about a lot last season. Either it was horrific or there was no pass when there was an easy outlet that lead to a turnover and chance/goal against (looking at you Ceulemans).

I just watched the Oilers-Flames game. That was a crazy one.
 
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digitalbooya said:
UW's passing was one of the things I complained about a lot last season. Either it was horrific or there was no pass when there was an easy outlet that lead to a turnover and chance/goal against (looking at you Ceulemans).

I just watched the Oilers-Flames game. That was a crazy one.
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The poor passing really stood out to me watching in person from up high going to a few games in person last year (before I shut my purchasing down in protest). Watts is fascinating is how easily/quickly these NHLer's get through the N zone. It actually makes me more bitter about last year for UW.

Sucks the Ranga's lost, they are my NHL team. Oilers-Flames game was just too late to stay up and watch though I would have liked to see what hockey looked like again in the 80's. Shocked the Oilers got all the way back to take the lead after being down 5-1....and then lose! Wow.
 
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It’s perfectly fine to view Wisconsin hockey as a has-been program. I’m not going to be a Pollyanna in this thread. The records speak for themselves.

remember where the fan base was in 2002? We’re going past that now because we’re going on a second consecutive 16-year run without a title. 2 titles in 32 years. The difference between that first collapse and now is we don’t have a coaching staff capable of winning an NCAA title. What’s the plan? What’s the trajectory here?
 
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