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Wisconsin Hockey 25-26 Hastings Year 3 - Turning the Corner?

Sounds like some players got big heads after sweeping PSU, no?
Don't deserve big heads. They have done nothing but play hockey. Some of the players are immature and it shows. Takes 25 guys going the same way to win tough games in the playoffs. I think Hastings must be tougher on the players all the time behind closed doors. Once I snuck into a pratice at Cap Ice years ago with Eaves. The team was going to the NCAA's that year. He got pissed about something and went off on the players. It was tirade for the ages, bleep bleep bleep. There were 2 people in there besides the players. I was one of them. That's how its done. I dont buy this business of the kids today, soft routine. They get paid now , treated like kings with facilities, and and much more, tudors everywhere you turn. This is not new at UW.
 
I haven't had the stomach to even watch any of the postgame or even commentary. I turned the game off after it was 0-3 OhioSt. I saw the terrible sloppy play and inability to move the puck with any ability and had enough after that completely unacceptable turnover led to a goal. But of what I did watch, a couple things stood out:

1) Eberly in G for OSU. He had a terrible year, but he is 6-4 and covers a lot of the net. OSU defense seems to always force WI into poor/low risk shot selection, which makes him look like a stud. Not being able to keep McClellan still stings, who plays in the ECHL and whom has not performed well, while Michigan St is running Augustine out there for 4 full years. I just don't get it.

2) Again, WI just doesn't have the talent to get past these "system" teams like OSU. MI, Penn St, and Michigan St. all seem to have just better raw talent that can beat the clogged lanes or traps that Rholik employs. Same thing happened during the NCAA game vs. Bemidji, system team that forced WI into just passing it to Caufield and "hoping" he can be the hero while they puck watched and played awful defense. Beating system teams takes execution and a fully team approach if you don't have layers of raw talent.

3) It is a huge letdown that Hastings would allow things to creep in during a conference tourney, right before the NCAAs vs a team that has absolutely had your number the last 2 years in a row. I know it's a fine line between dropping the hammer on guys and their desire to stay in the prgoram, but this I have to put at Hastings feet fully and completely. His team had no ability to execute and looked completely lost. You can't say Hastings doesn't know what OSU wants to do vs WI.

4) At this point, it is genuinely a crap shoot what team shows up in the NCAAs. They seem to ALWAYS play down to their competition, and this isn't a strategy, but can only hang my hat on the fact that getting throttled will wake them up and they have a history playing well against a more talented team/high seeds. Will likely square off vs Western MI, Providence, Denver, or Quinnipiac. Oh Joy :/
 
I haven't had the stomach to even watch any of the postgame or even commentary. I turned the game off after it was 0-3 OhioSt. I saw the terrible sloppy play and inability to move the puck with any ability and had enough after that completely unacceptable turnover led to a goal. But of what I did watch, a couple things stood out:

1) Eberly in G for OSU. He had a terrible year, but he is 6-4 and covers a lot of the net. OSU defense seems to always force WI into poor/low risk shot selection, which makes him look like a stud. Not being able to keep McClellan still stings, who plays in the ECHL and whom has not performed well, while Michigan St is running Augustine out there for 4 full years. I just don't get it.

2) Again, WI just doesn't have the talent to get past these "system" teams like OSU. MI, Penn St, and Michigan St. all seem to have just better raw talent that can beat the clogged lanes or traps that Rholik employs. Same thing happened during the NCAA game vs. Bemidji, system team that forced WI into just passing it to Caufield and "hoping" he can be the hero while they puck watched and played awful defense. Beating system teams takes execution and a fully team approach if you don't have layers of raw talent.

3) It is a huge letdown that Hastings would allow things to creep in during a conference tourney, right before the NCAAs vs a team that has absolutely had your number the last 2 years in a row. I know it's a fine line between dropping the hammer on guys and their desire to stay in the prgoram, but this I have to put at Hastings feet fully and completely. His team had no ability to execute and looked completely lost. You can't say Hastings doesn't know what OSU wants to do vs WI.

4) At this point, it is genuinely a crap shoot what team shows up in the NCAAs. They seem to ALWAYS play down to their competition, and this isn't a strategy, but can only hang my hat on the fact that getting throttled will wake them up and they have a history playing well against a more talented team/high seeds. Will likely square off vs Western MI, Providence, Denver, or Quinnipiac. Oh Joy :/
I agree with most of this. And goalie is a huge issue right now. Something that needs to be addressed after the season (coaching and / or players). Hauser is really fast and has had some great games, but he is suspect up high as he is small and tends to play low in the net. I am not sure what the solution is, but things need to improve.

Overall, I thought we would be way further along after 3 years, to be honest. We have seen how it can work at times this year, lately against Michigan and Penn State, but way too many stinkers like OSU, losing streak etc......
 
On the one hand, this is a work in progress. On the other hand with the portal and opening of the CHL pipeline, fixes should be plentiful. It's interesting that with all this and money to boot, the top 10 this year is the top 10 of every year. PSU's .75 million man couldn't even get them a B26 regular season championship, a distant 3rd place is all they could get. If I were a PSU fan I'd be pretty unhappy. I don't think money is the answer at UW, but I'm not sure what is. Cycling through of all TG's players? Not continually missing on goalies?

I don't buy that UW does not have enough talent to beat a trap. The UW women got trapped to death in the WCHA title game. They stole their lunch and made them buy dessert. It's all about execution.

UW had nothing to play for against OSU. Against UM and PSU they were fighting for their ncaa lives and they pulled it off, that was super impressive when everyone left them for dead, except for a few of us. I expect them to do us proud.
 
On the one hand, this is a work in progress. On the other hand with the portal and opening of the CHL pipeline, fixes should be plentiful. It's interesting that with all this and money to boot, the top 10 this year is the top 10 of every year. PSU's .75 million man couldn't even get them a B26 regular season championship, a distant 3rd place is all they could get. If I were a PSU fan I'd be pretty unhappy. I don't think money is the answer at UW, but I'm not sure what is. Cycling through of all TG's players? Not continually missing on goalies?

I don't buy that UW does not have enough talent to beat a trap. The UW women got trapped to death in the WCHA title game. They stole their lunch and made them buy dessert. It's all about execution.

UW had nothing to play for against OSU. Against UM and PSU they were fighting for their ncaa lives and they pulled it off, that was super impressive when everyone left them for dead, except for a few of us. I expect them to do us proud.
Why did PSU and Mich. go to the bother of winning on Wednesday? They're easily in. Probably something called team pride.
 
On the one hand, this is a work in progress. On the other hand with the portal and opening of the CHL pipeline, fixes should be plentiful. It's interesting that with all this and money to boot, the top 10 this year is the top 10 of every year. PSU's .75 million man couldn't even get them a B26 regular season championship, a distant 3rd place is all they could get. If I were a PSU fan I'd be pretty unhappy. I don't think money is the answer at UW, but I'm not sure what is. Cycling through of all TG's players? Not continually missing on goalies?

I don't buy that UW does not have enough talent to beat a trap. The UW women got trapped to death in the WCHA title game. They stole their lunch and made them buy dessert. It's all about execution.

UW had nothing to play for against OSU. Against UM and PSU they were fighting for their ncaa lives and they pulled it off, that was super impressive when everyone left them for dead, except for a few of us. I expect them to do us proud.
I agree that WI has enough talent to beat the trap...but they don't hace the talent level of MI, MSU, or Penn St. So yes, they need to be connected and execute to beat the trap, where I feel the top three teams don't have to rely so much on their connectedness.

TG had no idea what he was doing in G. Jurusik was their best development option and they chased after Hayton who was a disaster.

I do disagree that WI had nothing to play for vs OSU. They havent gotten out of 1st rnd of BIG tourney since Caufield, OSU is an absolute thorn in their side, and they could have been in a position to jump 3 or 4 spots in the NPI. Now theu are looking at at best an 11 or 12 seed with a tough 1st rnd NCAA matchup.
 
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