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Wisconsin Hockey 23-24: Hastily Making Wisconsin Hockey Great Again

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The football team is in serious trouble. In retrospect you can trace it back to the rumblings around bow prep last year. The players were VERY upset when Chryst was fired then They practically lost their minds when Fickell was hired over Leonhard.

min spring Fickell said guys were missing practices due to bumps and bruises and they needed to toughen up. It shows how country club things got under the prior staff.

i think both Mac and Fickell misunderstood just how low the program had gotten and the challenges they’d face in modernizing the offense and defense.

1/2 the roster are Chryst/Leonhard adherents and the other 1/2 with Fickell. The buy-in from PC/JL recruits is non-existent.

So It’s like Eaves’s first year but much worse because football has 85-90 players to deal with.

it’s sad it comes to Hunter Wohler calling out teammates but it had to be done and now I hope they push out every single PC and JL advocate left on the team the minute the final whistle blows in the Minnesota game.
 
I still don’t know that Fickell is what people say he is. Not having players buy in is obviously a problem if it’s getting called out by leaders on the team like that, but I still don’t see the value in what Fickell seems to want to do.
 
The Badgers are up to 3 in the pairwise with Quinnipiac and Main 1 and 2. Denver 4, BC 5.

Minnesota 12
MSU 13
Michigan 19
Notre Dame 21
Penn State 22
OSU 34
 
BadgerBadgerBadger said:
#1 in Women's Hockey, #1 in Men's Hockey. Mic drop.
Click to expand...

I know it's meaningless to be #1 now, but darn it sure feels goooood. And to think at a mere 7 months ago this team was hopelessly dead in the water.

UW gals play #2 on the road this weekend. If Harvey is still out, this may be the only week until the last week of the season the men and women will be #1 at the same time.
 
UCBadger said:
So....when was the last time Wisconsin was ranked #1 in the Men's poll?
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It depends which poll.

The short answer is the last poll of the season in 2005-06 for the USA Today poll. The USCHO poll stopped on March 20 before the tournament was over, so the last time they topped that list was January 16, 2006.
 
ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
I still don’t know that Fickell is what people say he is. Not having players buy in is obviously a problem if it’s getting called out by leaders on the team like that, but I still don’t see the value in what Fickell seems to want to do.
Click to expand...

In Football, the scheme needs to fit the players and the players need to fit the scheme. With each play being a scripted set piece, scheme is magnified and can only be modified so far to match up with the players before it loses cohesion and breaks down.

I think that this season shows the following:
Chryst and staff lost the faith of the AD administration, not the players in the locker room.
Fickell’s new system is a dramatic departure from the old system, a lot of round pegs in square holes this season.

I expect the football program to see an above average number of transfers (both departures and arrivals) and that it is going to take a season or two more to cycle in the correct personal for the system. The results trend needs to be positive, but more importantly the team needs to hit the field every game ready to play from the opening whistle. It seems that this team (or at least significant parts) has been sleepwalking through this season. Need to see more effort and urgency, win or lose.
 
Almington said:
In Football, the scheme needs to fit the players and the players need to fit the scheme. With each play being a scripted set piece, scheme is magnified and can only be modified so far to match up with the players before it loses cohesion and breaks down.

I think that this season shows the following:
Chryst and staff lost the faith of the AD administration, not the players in the locker room.
Fickell’s new system is a dramatic departure from the old system, a lot of round pegs in square holes this season.

I expect the football program to see an above average number of transfers (both departures and arrivals) and that it is going to take a season or two more to cycle in the correct personal for the system. The results trend needs to be positive, but more importantly the team needs to hit the field every game ready to play from the opening whistle. It seems that this team (or at least significant parts) has been sleepwalking through this season. Need to see more effort and urgency, win or lose.
Click to expand...

I must have missed your post a couple weeks back, but good to see some of the old posters coming back around. What do you think about the hockey team so far this season?
 
WiscTJK said:
I must have missed your post a couple weeks back, but good to see some of the old posters coming back around. What do you think about the hockey team so far this season?
Click to expand...
Short Answer: Greatly exceeded expectations. While luck has been on their side thus far, the fundamentals are in place so that the level of play should be sustained. While the team won’t likely end the regular season 30-4, they should win more than they lose and should be competitive in nearly every game.

Long answer: Given the new coaching staff and the questions surrounding the team going into the season, you could have predicted anything between a 3-7 to 7-3 start to the season and made a good case for it. Starting the season 9-1 and being ranked #1 in the polls for the first time in nearly 18 years wasn’t even dreamed about, everything had to go right from day one and it basically has.

I thought that the schedule was favorable to start the season. It progressively became harder, building to back-to-back series at MN (on a football weekend) and vs MI (on a football off weekend). Both those helped to minimize distractions.

I’ve only seen the Friday UMN game and listened to parts of other games, but it’s clear that overall, the team is playing as much more structured and cohesive unit when on the ice. It appears to be a good middle ground between Eaves’ inflexibility and Granato’s free-for-all philosophies. I’d say that the players’ on-ice decision making seems cleaner and the passing much crisper and more deliberate. Without any firsthand knowledge, I’d suspect that Hasting’s isn’t asking the players to do anything dramatically different than what the players were expected to do on their previous teams.

The major constant of the Badger program over the last 15 or so years, is that they managed to achieve less success with more talent (as objectively measured by recruiting rankings and NHL draft picks) than any other program. For all the shortcomings of the previous staff, they didn’t leave the roster devoid of talent and it’s clear that Hastings, Knott and the rest of the staff have clearly capitalized on that.

I don’t think we should ignore the value of the players that transferred over from MN State when Hastings was hired. They already had time in his system and knew what he expected out of the players. I’m sure they were a help to the existing players to understand what the staff wanted and display the culture that they were trying to instill in the locker room.

I will be interested in seeing how the team responds to some adversity and a potential losing streak that is likely to occur. For a new coach, winning early and often is the best way to overcome any resistance from the players that were recruited by the previous regime. Right now, this is a team playing with a ton of confidence, having fun, and with that little extra drive that comes from wanting to show everyone that they are better players than the results of their previous seasons as Badgers indicated. As a fan, I’m excited for both the rest of this season and the foundations for what may become sustained success over many future seasons.
 
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I’ll repeat a thought from earlier: there is a little puck luck going our way (certainly McClellan standing on his head in a few games) that has kept us from slipping into that 0.500 +/- 2 games range that Almington pointed out.

I suspect that there’s some regression to the mean happening in the coming weeks at some point. Nothing too crazy, but probably drop a winnable game here and there and maybe lose some close ones.

Because if that doesn’t happen soon, then this is going to be a /special/ season.
 
Almington said:
Short Answer: Greatly exceeded expectations. While luck has been on their side thus far, the fundamentals are in place so that the level of play should be sustained. While the team won’t likely end the regular season 30-4, they should win more than they lose and should be competitive in nearly every game.

Long answer: Given the new coaching staff and the questions surrounding the team going into the season, you could have predicted anything between a 3-7 to 7-3 start to the season and made a good case for it. Starting the season 9-1 and being ranked #1 in the polls for the first time in nearly 18 years wasn’t even dreamed about, everything had to go right from day one and it basically has.

I thought that the schedule was favorable to start the season. It progressively became harder, building to back-to-back series at MN (on a football weekend) and vs MI (on a football off weekend). Both those helped to minimize distractions.

I’ve only seen the Friday UMN game and listened to parts of other games, but it’s clear that overall, the team is playing as much more structured and cohesive unit when on the ice. It appears to be a good middle ground between Eaves’ inflexibility and Granato’s free-for-all philosophies. I’d say that the players’ on-ice decision making seems cleaner and the passing much crisper and more deliberate. Without any firsthand knowledge, I’d suspect that Hasting’s isn’t asking the players to do anything dramatically different than what the players were expected to do on their previous teams.

The major constant of the Badger program over the last 15 or so years, is that they managed to achieve less success with more talent (as objectively measured by recruiting rankings and NHL draft picks) than any other program. For all the shortcomings of the previous staff, they didn’t leave the roster devoid of talent and it’s clear that Hastings, Knott and the rest of the staff have clearly capitalized on that.

I don’t think we should ignore the value of the players that transferred over from MN State when Hastings was hired. They already had time in his system and knew what he expected out of the players. I’m sure they were a help to the existing players to understand what the staff wanted and display the culture that they were trying to instill in the locker room.

I will be interested in seeing how the team responds to some adversity and a potential losing streak that is likely to occur. For a new coach, winning early and often is the best way to overcome any resistance from the players that were recruited by the previous regime. Right now, this is a team playing with a ton of confidence, having fun, and with that little extra drive that comes from wanting to show everyone that they are better players than the results of their previous seasons as Badgers indicated. As a fan, I’m excited for both the rest of this season and the foundations for what may become sustained success over many future seasons.
Click to expand...

Nailed it!
 
ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
I’ll repeat a thought from earlier: there is a little puck luck going our way (certainly McClellan standing on his head in a few games) that has kept us from slipping into that 0.500 +/- 2 games range that Almington pointed out.

I suspect that there’s some regression to the mean happening in the coming weeks at some point. Nothing too crazy, but probably drop a winnable game here and there and maybe lose some close ones.

Because if that doesn’t happen soon, then this is going to be a /special/ season.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't know, with a little puck luck they would have beat the sue too.
 
Jam packed sports night tomorrow.

I recall that some in here are not multi-sport fans but we are and tomorrow features hockey women at tOSU (BIG series and Natty rematch), hockey men at MSU (going into a hornet's nest?), volleyball at Purdue (in need of a win to keep home court through playoffs possible?) and then Badger hoops (meh coz current circumstances and opponent) and Bucks basketball.

The last two aren't as important as the first three but I'll have the second TV going and will have to surf a bit. Saturday will be nice with the hockey games staggered.

--------

Regarding Badger football... figured there would be growing pains and we weren't going undefeated this season but things have gone worse than I expected.

I'm not a fan of the new offensive scheme nor Fick's seemingly blind following of analytics over taking filed goals (attempts) in certain situations.

That said, seems there is a divide in the locker room and the ones who aren't on board need to find the door. Fickell's gonna get a good chance to succeed so the sooner the malcontents are gone, the better. They aren't gonna outlast him.

---------

Back to Badger hockey.

Finally broke down and got B1G+ this year (coz no hockey on TV and volleyball) and excited to get to see all 4 Badger hockey games this weekend.

Big tests for both squads.

Feel like MSU has gotta be laying in the weeds for us. Wonder if they'll get a crowd.

Grabbed a few more games' tickets. Have a feeling that the days (years) of being able to get row A of the 200s for any (Friday) game we want will be coming to a close. We used to have both nights' tix but won't go back to that - was fun at the time but been there, done that.
 
Gurth 2.0 said:
Back to Badger hockey.

Finally broke down and got B1G+ this year (coz no hockey on TV and volleyball) and excited to get to see all 4 Badger hockey games this weekend.

Big tests for both squads.

Feel like MSU has gotta be laying in the weeds for us. Wonder if they'll get a crowd.

Grabbed a few more games' tickets. Have a feeling that the days (years) of being able to get row A of the 200s for any (Friday) game we want will be coming to a close. We used to have both nights' tix but won't go back to that - was fun at the time but been there, done that.
Click to expand...

There's no question MSU will be fired up to take us on this weekend. Even though Munn only holds a bit over 6100, it will be full and loud and they will attempt to make the atmosphere intimidating if the Badgers don't take the crowd out by gaining a lead and minimizing the Spartan scoring. Interested in seeing if Wisconsin can reignite the scoring machine after the week off.
 
jwilli said:
There's no question MSU will be fired up to take us on this weekend. Even though Munn only holds a bit over 6100, it will be full and loud and they will attempt to make the atmosphere intimidating if the Badgers don't take the crowd out by gaining a lead and minimizing the Spartan scoring. Interested in seeing if Wisconsin can reignite the scoring machine after the week off.
Click to expand...

There's men's basketball going on concurrently across the street at Breslin tonight and the holiday parade is also in the same time window in downtown Lansing, so there's some question about how full Munn will be for the first game. Saturday night should be the better attended, of course depending on how Friday ends up.
 
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