In my opinion, that is the problem with the PWR. While it is a superior system to what the NCAA BB Committee does, the swing in a teams rankings based on just one game seems too drastic when compared to the full "body of work" over an entire season.
I like the system, but I see your point, and its burned UW in the past. In 2008-09, UW got swept by NMU at home (we need to stop playing them), which were bad losses that year as well. UW went on to miss the tournament by something like .0002 points in the RPI. At least the next season turned out ok...
I like the objectivity of it though. I agree that RPI is probably the wrong statistical method for the reason you say, but generally speaking this is as logical of a method as I could think of to determine the field.
And to further your point, when I checked the rankings last night after the game ended we were 16th, but moved to 17th after the rest of the games last night had finished. Talk about variability!
Great sweep! It's always special to sweep on the road. Last night, the team had it's slow periods but pulled thru' in the end after a long stretch of losing while entering the 3rd period. In the recent past I would've written them off after MSU scored at the end. I keep saying it, but the offense is so exciting to watch and the D is improving. No more concerns with goaltending from me.
With PSU coming in, Kohl Center should sell out 2 this weekend, but we'll see.
With PSU coming in, Kohl Center should sell out 2 this weekend, but we'll see.
Not sure about sellouts - PSU still doesn't have the pull of a UMn, but I would expect very solid crowds at the very least.
I'm guessing MCR means "should" as in "the program should be a program that gets 2 sellouts with important conference games," rather than "we can realistically expect..."
The re-building of the fan base only started this January, and it will be a long, long time before the program reaches its potential. The recent winning streak is a tiny blip on the local sports radar when we get out of our bubble of college-hockey-loving, USCHO-forum-account-having fans. Most people don't know anything about college hockey, because it was invisible for about 5 years, which is why so many hockey fans around here don't care about the Badgers.
Remember to bring your enthusiasm to the Kohl Center (without any "back in my day" grumpiness...we want people to feel included, not excluded). The "old people" haven't sounded all that loud lately!
Speaking of enthusiasm at the Kohl Center, I'm bringing my teenage son and some buddies up from Chicago for the Fri night Michigan game and am looking for suggestions on where to eat before the game. Thinking the Nitty Gritty would be the go to, especially since we're celebrating his 16th bday, but they don't take reservations on game nights. Is it crazy there before games? Any suggestions for someone who's last Badger home game was at the Colliseum? ��
I haven't seen/heard anything official yet, but I believe that a fighting penalty carries a 1 game suspension in the NCAA.
I hate to say it, but I've been expecting a penalty like this from Greenway to bite us in the rear.
He is an aggressive young man and I often see him giving an extra push or shove after the whistle and have seen him in too many facemask-to-facemask situations where the linesmen have to come separate things.
I get that a player can be riled up and emotional, but you have to be able to keep that under control. One swing in a fight-or-flight reaction I can understand. But taking 3 or 4 big swings is just stupid. Add in the fact that he was smiling/laughing at the officials as they pulled him out of the box to send him off and I'm losing a little bit of respect for the kid. I sure hope he gets the message that things like this hurt the team and he gets a dose of maturity in a hurry.
Injuries + suspension + PSU always throwing LOTS of shots at the net has me worried for this weekend.
I haven't seen/heard anything official yet, but I believe that a fighting penalty carries a 1 game suspension in the NCAA.
I hate to say it, but I've been expecting a penalty like this from Greenway to bite us in the rear.
He is an aggressive young man and I often see him giving an extra push or shove after the whistle and have seen him in too many facemask-to-facemask situations where the linesmen have to come separate things.
I get that a player can be riled up and emotional, but you have to be able to keep that under control. One swing in a fight-or-flight reaction I can understand. But taking 3 or 4 big swings is just stupid. Add in the fact that he was smiling/laughing at the officials as they pulled him out of the box to send him off and I'm losing a little bit of respect for the kid. I sure hope he gets the message that things like this hurt the team and he gets a dose of maturity in a hurry.
Injuries + suspension + PSU always throwing LOTS of shots at the net has me worried for this weekend.
Thank you! Haven't been to Dotty's since they moved from Fairchild, so that would be fun. Lots of great suggestions- thanks!It will be very busy, but if you get there early enough (5 pm or so), you should be fine. Dotty Dumplings is right up the street one block towards state st (known for their hamburgers). Same deal there, need to get there early. There is a relatively new place called double u on university ave right up the block from Wando's 1/2 block that has good bar hamburgers. Wando's is an option and BW3 is right on University a block and a half west of Wandos. And there are lots more options on state street, hamburgers, Mexican, state street brats, portabella (Italian), gyro's (parthenons). And I forgot if you want a good pizza place that is really fast is Ian's pizza by the slice right next to Dotty Dumplings. They have good pizza and lots of weird combinations that are really good. Make sure to stop into Red Shed for a pickle jar LIT and they have fantastic grilled wings.
Maybe G2O were reading this...3 first period goals for, 0 first period goals allowed. That is always a good indicator.
After a solid away/neutral sweep of Ohio State, here is where things stand:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Guess who's back? Back again? Wisconsin's back, tell a friend.
<a href="https://t.co/XM4jeNxChH">https://t.co/XM4jeNxChH</a></p>— Crease Creatures (@CreaseCreatures) <a href="https://twitter.com/CreaseCreatures/status/826116109506080769">January 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Wisconsin gets 93 votes, good enough to get to 18th place in the latest poll
RPI climbs to 18
PWR also climbs to 18
Team O, 3.59 - 7th
Team D, 3.14 - 43rd
PP, 27/124 21.77% - 10th
PK, 91/105 86.7% - 7th
Penn State has been an odd team this year; lots of early season success, but at home against poor competition. Recently they have been in a 0-4-1 stretch during which they have not scored more than 4 goals and are averaging just over 2 per game.
Looking a little bit deeper into the numbers gives some interesting insight. For years PSU has been known as a team that will take a shot from pretty-much anywhere inside of the blue line and would put up 40 per game regularly. However, this year UW is ahead of them in shots. Not by much (824-805), but still ahead of them.
The other big thing that jumps out at me is how stats have adjusted based on full season vs conference stats. If you look at full season, UW is 3.71 for and 3.12 against and PSU is 4.08 for and 2.96 against. Trim that sample size down to just conference games and you get a completely different picture; UW at 4.20 for and 2.60 against with PSU at 3.80 for and 3.40 against.
I think that UW has a good chance to get some points. I don't know if I can call for a sweep, however, an undefeated weekend seems realistic.