Wisconsin Hockey 22-23 Empty Dreams & Empty Seats

[digitalbooya]

I know you don’t like it. And maybe don’t even appreciate it yourself.

this is like saying a new Green Bay coach doesn’t have to know the history of or respect Vince Lombardi.

it’s kind of crazy.

No, you’re putting too much emphasis on it for the coach. It’s the university’s job to know Badger Bob’s legacy and to honor that. It’s the coaches job to win.

You think Matt LaFleur is up at night trying to study Vince Lombardi? No. His job is to create a winning team now.

Do you think Fickell cares about Alvarez’s legacy or do you think Fickell cares about winning?

If you’re throwing these unnecessary requirements into the search, you’re left with no one. Only badger alumni truly know Badger Bob’s legacy nowadays.

Feel free to name your coach that fits all of the criteria I listed in my previous post. Certainly not Mike Hastings. Reinprecht played for Sauer and is from Canada. I doubt he paid much attention to UW prior.

 

[Timothy A]

Feel free to name your coach that fits all of the criteria I listed in my previous post. Certainly not Mike Hastings. Reinprecht played for Sauer and is from Canada. I doubt he paid much attention to UW prior.

Yes, legacy is meaningless to these kids. When you listen to UW women's players talk about Mark Johnson, many of them are not aware of his Olympic and NHL accomplishments prior to him sitting in their living room or after, MJ is too humble to go down that road. What are they interested in? The academics, the facilities, the current culture, building relationships, feeling comfortable, improving as a player, maybe fulfilling an Olympic dream and winning would be good. It's about the kids and their future, not UW and it's past. Legacy and pride in that legacy is for the fan, not the player.

 

[digitalbooya]

Yes, legacy is meaningless to these kids. When you listen to UW women's players talk about Mark Johnson, many of them are not aware of his Olympic and NHL accomplishments prior to him sitting in their living room or after, MJ is too humble to go down that road. What are they interested in? The academics, the facilities, the current culture, building relationships, feeling comfortable, improving as a player, maybe fulfilling an Olympic dream and winning would be good. It's about the kids and their future, not UW and it's past. Legacy and pride in that legacy is for the fan, not the player.

100% agree. I’m not opposed to the coach knowing Badger Bob’s legacy. Tradition is important. But here’s the thing, if someone like Hastings doesn’t know it, the university can always help him honor that legacy. Bring the winning first and then teach them about our Badger legends.

It’s funny you bring up Mark Johnson though. What better guy is there to honor Badger Bob’s legacy than him? He’s an excellent coach. He would need a great assistant coach to get recruits…

I doubt Mark is interested at this stage. But that would at least intrigue me and it fits all of the criteria outside of not choosing a Badger alumni.

 

[Timothy A]

FWIW, I asked Jim Polzin what the probability level was of TG getting fire....he said high to very high. This guy is widely read, I think it's a good sign he chose to publicly answered the question. He could have just ignored the question.

 

[GoBucky18]

FWIW, I asked Jim Polzin what the probability level was of TG getting fire....he said high to very high. This guy is widely read, I think it's a good sign he chose to publicly answered the question. He could have just ignored the question.

One can only hope. While I agree...after the debacle of reporters having the "inside scoop" for the Fickell hiring. I dont trust a word they say that has meaningful substance to it. Polzin was the biggest offender there too, rah rah-ing for Leonard and saying UW was hiring him.

What's frustrating is that King and Mac clearly dont care about hockey. Do we trust them to make a solid hire? They likely will hire a search committee with "criteria" then intervkew 3 candidates and throw a dart at a board.

 

[GoBucky18]

I know you guys hate talking about it, and Ive gotten some push back but I did a dive on the 83/84 through 86/87 teams. I can expound, but I think the next few weeka are more important. Lets just say crap starts and getting their rear ends handed to them by Minnesota or UMD. One of those years they went 0-8 against UMD....woof woof lol

 

[J.D.]

What's frustrating is that King and Mac clearly dont care about hockey. Do we trust them to make a solid hire? They likely will hire a search committee with "criteria" then intervkew 3 candidates and throw a dart at a board.

I know you guys aren't committed to "former Badger" at this point but I would find it difficult to overlook a guy who is a proven winner in college hockey. Granato was not that when he got the job. I can understand taking a big swing at someone like Hastings but what is the relationship with Rohlik these days? Winning in the same conference at a school that cares less about hockey than the guys you're talking about. Seems like such a slam dunk decision to me. Maybe he doesn't win a national championship but I see no reason to think Rohlik wouldn't at least turn Wisconsin into what he has at Ohio State.

 

[Timothy A]

One can only hope. While I agree...after the debacle of reporters having the "inside scoop" for the Fickell hiring. I dont trust a word they say that has meaningful substance to it. Polzin was the biggest offender there too, rah rah-ing for Leonard and saying UW was hiring him.

What's frustrating is that King and Mac clearly dont care about hockey. Do we trust them to make a solid hire? They likely will hire a search committee with "criteria" then intervkew 3 candidates and throw a dart at a board.

I thought Potrykus was the biggest offender on the FB thing. He all but said Leonard was a done deal. He sure did zip the lips after that.

I won't assume they don't care about hockey. They did restructure TG's contract to make it less costly to fire him. They probably made him fire MS, TG is too loyal to do that on this own. To me that says a lot. And King has told people who email him to hang in there, and I'm taking that as a change is on the way. We are under 2 weeks to the end of the season. March 6th is D day.

 

[GoBucky18]

Portrykus was really bad too! You're right. Hopefully they both glt a stern talking to on getting a major story so flipping wrong!

And I think it is getting really hard to ignore Rohlik. He has outperformed UW and what he has available at OSU. Plus he has the Eaves assts. He at least deserves an honest interview based on his track record.

 

[WiscTJK]

Portrykus was really bad too! You're right. Hopefully they both glt a stern talking to on getting a major story so flipping wrong!

And I think it is getting really hard to ignore Rohlik. He has outperformed UW and what he has available at OSU. Plus he has the Eaves assts. He at least deserves an honest interview based on his track record.

Does he want to move with the new stadium for hockey just announced?

A little analysis is in order:

Rohlik's record is .559 at OSU (42 games over .500, 3 losing seasons with 2 of his first 3 years, but only 1 over the last 7 years). He will have 5 NCAA tourneys in 10 years assuming they don't collapse and get in this year.

Eaves was 42 games over .500 in 14 years and finished with a .538 win %. 5 seasons below .500, and 7 NCAA tourneys in 14 years.
Jeff Sauer was .609 win% and 183 games over .500 in 20 years.

So seems like Rohlik could do better than Eaves at Wisconsin. He plays a more physical style that I like and he has gotten good recruits to a non-hockey tradition school.

 

[WiscTJK]

If you haven't read this letter by Mark Johnson, you need too: https://express.adobe.com/page/wnX7Q1bC9tedi/

 

[StateofHockey78]

If you haven't read this letter by Mark Johnson, you need too: https://express.adobe.com/page/wnX7Q1bC9tedi/

You don't even need to be a Wisco fan to appreciate that article. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Timothy A]

If you haven't read this letter by Mark Johnson, you need too: https://express.adobe.com/page/wnX7Q1bC9tedi/

Wow, TG asked MJ to be on his staff in Colorado. Talk about 1 decision altering the trajectory of 2 programs.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

If you want yet another clue as to how clueless TG is regarding how goals are scored against UW.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/02/24_Keep-It-Simple,-Stupid.php

"I wasn't happy with what happened in my sophomore season," Rowe said. "Not winning games makes life a lot harder. At the end of the season, there was a point in time when I sat down with [Wisconsin coach Tony Granato]. He told me they were bringing in another goalie, and I was going to be moved down to the third position and wasn't going to get a chance in net my junior season.

"I didn't like that. I didn't agree with that."

Rowe entered the transfer portal.

Does anyone seriously believe Rowe was the problem last year? We could’ve had CuJo in his prime backing up Elliott in his prime last year and they aren’t going to stop all those HDSC that our defense gives up.

 

[WiscTJK]

If you want yet another clue as to how clueless TG is regarding how goals are scored against UW.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/02/24_Keep-It-Simple,-Stupid.php



Does anyone seriously believe Rowe was the problem last year? We could’ve had CuJo in his prime backing up Elliott in his prime last year and they aren’t going to stop all those HDSC that our defense gives up.

LOL, yep it was Rowe's fault (eye roll). It wasn't breakdowns in the D zone, lack of back side coverage, lack of physicality, or turnovers.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

I mean… honestly…

You don’t need to know a lot about the tactics of hockey to understand how hung out to dry our goalies are when you watch a Badger game from the last seven seasons.

How on earth is it missing TG?

Because unless he wants goalies to be directing the defense in front of them (which… since when do teams do that), I’m not sure what we normal people are missing.

 

[J.D.]

If you want yet another clue as to how clueless TG is regarding how goals are scored against UW.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/02/24_Keep-It-Simple,-Stupid.php



Does anyone seriously believe Rowe was the problem last year? We could’ve had CuJo in his prime backing up Elliott in his prime last year and they aren’t going to stop all those HDSC that our defense gives up.

Now, if your administration does care about the program this is a tough look. I can't say I have seen Western Michigan at all this year but to have this kid in net for a top 10 team is another kick to the nuts. And a feature article on it to boot.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Now, if your administration does care about the program this is a tough look. I can't say I have seen Western Michigan at all this year but to have this kid in net for a top 10 team is another kick to the nuts. And a feature article on it to boot.

Comparing numbers of transfers (incoming or outgoing) from when they play at UW and wherever they came from/went and… well… it tells a very consistent story.

A goalie at a Granato-led UW is not put in a position to succeed.

 

[digitalbooya]

If you want yet another clue as to how clueless TG is regarding how goals are scored against UW.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/02/24_Keep-It-Simple,-Stupid.php



Does anyone seriously believe Rowe was the problem last year? We could’ve had CuJo in his prime backing up Elliott in his prime last year and they aren’t going to stop all those HDSC that our defense gives up.

Moe had a .917 sv% in 31GP. Rowe had a .861 sv% in 14GP, which is flat out terrible. That’s a huge disparity for two goalies playing on the same team.

With that being said, McClellan went from a .932 sv% on Mercyhurst to .870 sv % on Wisconsin. So it’s pretty clear defense and turnovers leading to odd man rushes continue to be a problem.

 

[digitalbooya]

Could someone give me a rough estimate of season tix cost for Saturdays? In anticipation of a new coach, I’d like to see the team more with 1 or 2 seats in section 128/101/102.