Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

I'm actually feeling an itch to get tickets again...

for sure the back end will be shored up if Oz is back. One of the things I didn't like about Strand and Bittner was neither played defense and obviously Eaves either....

and yes that combo would knock my socks off.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

Think of the recruiting too.

Didn't Eaves make a living off his NTDP connection in his first few years at UW? Am I remembering that right?

Don't know if Oz still has his western Canada connections, but if he does...

 

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

Think of the recruiting too.

Didn't Eaves make a living off his NTDP connection in his first few years at UW? Am I remembering that right?

Don't know if Oz still has his western Canada connections, but if he does...

I have to keep calm, but this would be unbelievable if it happens. I can't get my hopes up.

 

[solovsfett]

Though Granato hasn't coached D-1 hockey he has been successful at pretty much every level there is. NHL assistant coach, ECHL Champion as a head coach,, AHL Head Coach of the Year, NHL scout, USHL Champion as a head coach, USA NTDP Coach for the last 4-5 years and a D-1 National Champion as a player on the 1990 Badger team.. He has a knowing of every top recruit in the country by being with USA Hockey as well as his coaching past in the USHL..And his name carries immediate respect.. I think he would be a great hire by Wisconsin!

Yes, great resume and I hope he's the next coach.

I'm not sure I like Osiecki as a choice. Let go at tosu after middling performances and a few have mentioned some baggage with him.

Conversely no-one that I've read has made such comments or insinuations regarding Donny G

 

[RedStripes]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

Yes, great resume and I hope he's the next coach.

I'm not sure I like Osiecki as a choice. Let go at tosu after middling performances and a few have mentioned some baggage with him.

Conversely no-one that I've read has made such comments or insinuations regarding Donny G

I probably don't know enough to have a real strong opinion. But a quick glance at Oz' head coaching records looks like a lot of .500 hockey. I know he did great things as a Badger Asst. But is anyone concerned about that head coaching record?

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

I'm not sure I like Osiecki as a choice. Let go at tosu after middling performances and a few have mentioned some baggage with him.

What I heard about that was that he was a squeaky wheel wanting to get more facilities for his team, etc. So much so that he was a bit of a pain in the AD's arse.

Also heard that Rohlik may have played a role with a knife to the back.


Can't remember the deets anymore, but came from a very close source although I understand that the source was sympathetic to Oz's side of the situation.

 

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

I probably don't know enough to have a real strong opinion. But a quick glance at Oz' head coaching records looks like a lot of .500 hockey. I know he did great things as a Badger Asst. But is anyone concerned about that head coaching record?

3 years isn't enough time to determine NCAA record, but was very successful at USHL level. Obviously the only 3 years at OSU before getting fired, are a concern. But he had great recruits coming in the door at OSU.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

I probably don't know enough to have a real strong opinion. But a quick glance at Oz' head coaching records looks like a lot of .500 hockey. I know he did great things as a Badger Asst. But is anyone concerned about that head coaching record?

Not much coz coaching at tOSU is not the same as UW.

Totally different car that you're getting the keys to.

 

[oldtyme25]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

One of the things I didn't like about Strand and Bittner was neither played defense and obviously Eaves either....

Teaching defense has nothing to do with the position you played. The thing with OZ is the reputation he has with the NHL teams and Family Advisor's when it comes to recruiting. When you have a 16-18 year old kid who is looking at the NCAA route and is a d-man, the kid and his family is looking for a school that has a staff that has a history of getting their d-men into the NHL. History has shown that NHL team are happy to have their players under the tutelage of OZ and let the kids develop through their junior season. If you look at the quality level of the d-men during the OZ era (McBain, McDonagh, Smith, Schultz, Goloubef and Gardiner) versus today it is pretty easy to see that Oz was the lynch-pin to the recruiting process.

Oz has shown that he can recruit and I think he would be the natural choice.

 

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

What I heard about that was that he was a squeaky wheel wanting to get more facilities for his team, etc. So much so that he was a bit of a pain in the AD's arse.

...

I have also heard this from someone in the know, wanted more resources....

 

[BuB]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

I have a hard time believing that both Oz and Don G would fit together on the same staff at this point in their careers. Both I think would want to be the head guy. Maybe Gwoz would come back to UW as an assistant at this point, but not the others, IMO.

All signs (posters here) seem to be pointing towards a decision from BA that would keep it within the "Wisconsin Family" with Oz, Don G and Johnson being "our" frontrunners, seemingly. Not sure that any of these guys would make it a "knock your socks off" hire though. I wouldn't consider them to be bad hires at all - they all seem qualified, but my socks would still be on my feet.

Tough to interpret what that phrase means to other people in this context. To me it either means "awesome" or "surprising", and maybe both, but in my opinion in no way does it help us decipher who the next coach will be. It only helps fuel our speculation.

Is there a viable candidate that anyone here feels will truly be considered by BA that they feel strongly against? Curious to hear some names people do NOT want to see get the position.

 

[markwojo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

I have also heard this from someone in the know, wanted more resources....

Yeap yeap...practice facility at OSU is garbage. Dane County Coliseum practice arrangement would make the OSU Ice Rink built in 1961 that OSU practices out of look like the Taj Mahal. For Oz to push for building a decent practice facility (that could also house the Womens program) was far from unreasonable.

Just in kids lost after Oz was fired that were committed to OSU you had Dougherty (that ended up at UW), Sheehy (at Minnesota with a 30 point frosh campaign), Zach Stepan (drafted), Cliff Watson (drafted), and Nolan Valleau (who has already made it to getting paid to play hockey in the AHL). By OSU standards, that class Oz had assembled would have been phenomenal.

Oz track record is pretty extensive and goes way beyond a .500 record trying to build a non hockey school into a decent program. He won National titles as an assistant under Blais at North Dakota in addition to his better know work at UW. He was GM/coach at Green Bay in the USHL and won a championship there. He has been head coach of the US WJC team in 2015 and assistant multiple times. He was instrumental in building the D core from the last 2 UW national championship game appearance teams (the 2010 team is hard to argue against being the best d group ever assembled in college and the 2006 group that included sophs Drewiske/Engel/Piskula none of which were highly regarded).

As someone else already said....car keys at Wisconsin are for a car that is considerably different then in Columbus. You actually have a significant history of success, facilities (not having to beg for a practice rink), and many advantages in place if you get the right guy here.

 

[RedStripes]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

Not much coz coaching at tOSU is not the same as UW.

Totally different car that you're getting the keys to.

fair enough

 

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

for sure the back end will be shored up if Oz is back.

If nobody bails the D is obviously going to be the weak link in what could otherwise be a pretty good team. Of course when Oz was here he coached the 1-3-1 for Eaves, which Eaves mostly abandoned this year for a 1-2-2 which kept forwards higher in the zone for a quick turnaround and clearly resulted in a more up and down type of hockey. (Which is something everyone demanded) Oddly in hindsight, given the D-corp weakness, he likely would have been better served sticking to the 1-3-1 and getting much better backchecking help from the offside forward. If Oz is the guy I'd think he might feel the need to protect a young inexperienced D-corp and deploy a defensive style again. I wonder how that would go over...

The other question I have is that while Oz was a great recruiter when he was the recruiting coordinator, as HC his responsibilities would be somewhat different, (especially at Wisconsin) and how would his ability as a direct recruiter translate to overseeing someone else doing the heavy lifting? Would he be as good? Does he have the ability to multiply himself and it would even be better? I don't know. It's a question.

 

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

I have a hard time believing that both Oz and Don G would fit together on the same staff at this point in their careers. Both I think would want to be the head guy. Maybe Gwoz would come back to UW as an assistant at this point, but not the others, IMO.

All signs (posters here) seem to be pointing towards a decision from BA that would keep it within the "Wisconsin Family" with Oz, Don G and Johnson being "our" frontrunners, seemingly. Not sure that any of these guys would make it a "knock your socks off" hire though. I wouldn't consider them to be bad hires at all - they all seem qualified, but my socks would still be on my feet.

Tough to interpret what that phrase means to other people in this context. To me it either means "awesome" or "surprising", and maybe both, but in my opinion in no way does it help us decipher who the next coach will be. It only helps fuel our speculation.

Is there a viable candidate that anyone here feels will truly be considered by BA that they feel strongly against? Curious to hear some names people do NOT want to see get the position.

I agree with you on the sock knocking. On the other hand fueled, wild speculation is really all we have to do while we wait.


Also, unlike the Republican's problems, I will pledge support to whoever the eventual nominee is.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

If Oz is the guy I'd think he might feel the need to protect a young inexperienced D-corp and deploy a defensive style again. I wonder how that would go over...

Regardless of who the next coach is, it will take a year or 3 before they can get their players in and implement whatever system they want to run.

If they have to run a defensive system at the outset, so be it.

I'm happy to give them that time.

 

[KaMiGo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

Wow, it is great to see so much positivity in a UW thread.

A quick question to those of you who had stopped getting tickets; how does this impact you?

Are you already planning on coming back to what you had before? Coming back for one night to start? Getting some single game tickets to take a look?

One of the common assumptions in previous threads was that a new coach would invigorate the masses and bring people back to the KC in swarms. I'm curious to see how many of you are willing to walk the walk now.

Or is everyone now switching to BA as the reason they can't support UW Athletics in general?

 

[solovsfett]

What I heard about that was that he was a squeaky wheel wanting to get more facilities for his team, etc. So much so that he was a bit of a pain in the AD's arse.

Also heard that Rohlik may have played a role with a knife to the back.


Can't remember the deets anymore, but came from a very close source although I understand that the source was sympathetic to Oz's side of the situation.

Gotcha, thanks for the insight.

I hope Rohlik wasn't underhanded in that situation....amongst other things it would lower my respect for him. Team 1990 needs to stay together. They provided so many amazing memories

 

[solovsfett]

Wow, it is great to see so much positivity in a UW thread.

A quick question to those of you who had stopped getting tickets; how does this impact you?

Are you already planning on coming back to what you had before? Coming back for one night to start? Getting some single game tickets to take a look?

One of the common assumptions in previous threads was that a new coach would invigorate the masses and bring people back to the KC in swarms. I'm curious to see how many of you are willing to walk the walk now.

Or is everyone now switching to BA as the reason they can't support UW Athletics in general?

How can this be answered until all of the information is in?

If it's MJ that doesn't move the needle for me, not immediately anyway.

If it's Granato I'm all in.

OZ, I may wait a year to see how he shaped his first recruiting class and see how/if he can improve current players

 

[MadCityRich]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol I: Dawn of the Fifth Age of UW Hockey!

Genius.

Here's a visual aid for my favorite line:

<a href="http://imgur.com/zVOO9z6"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/zVOO9z6.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Mac, that is ****ing awesome.