Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

good to get a victory tonight and see Zengerle's huge night!

quick q's since I missed the game.

Is Meuer out for tomorrow? Status on Sean Little?

also...anyone have thoughts on Chase Drake getting game action soon? I really liked what I saw several weeks ago (I liked his control and he seemed comfortable one the ice, no bad/dumb passes etc)

when are Lee and McCabe projected to be back?

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

good to get a victory tonight and see Zengerle's huge night!

quick q's since I missed the game.

Is Meuer out for tomorrow? Status on Sean Little?

also...anyone have thoughts on Chase Drake getting game action soon? I really liked what I saw several weeks ago (I liked his control and he seemed comfortable one the ice, no bad/dumb passes etc)

when are Lee and McCabe projected to be back?

I didn't see the game either, was in Eau Claire (saw two great high school games) but I can answer a couple I think.

Meuer will be able to play tomorrow. Was a game misconduct, not a game DQ.

No update on S. Little...didn't return after injury. Edit: Eaves said post game he doesn't know the extent of it and if he can go tomorrow or not. He called it a "soft tissue" injury to the leg. No clue what that means.

I wouldn't mind seeing Drake. He's played better in limited action this season than Springer IMO.

As for Lee and McCabe...Badgers have next weekend off...their goal was the UMD series the weekend after. If not, both will be ready for RIT the first series after New Years.

 

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

thanks Chuck, I agree w/you on Drake as compared to Springer. I mean it was only the two games I saw w/Drake but he made a good impression and Springer just makes me nervous each time he's got the puck with an opposing player anywhere near him

good news on Meuer, I really am liking how he plays (as well as Paape and Woods)

and good news on Lee/McCabe, if they miss only one more series and with the schedule being a bit easier in the 2nd half we could see a nice run Jan-Mar

 

[Buck 'em]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

Glad to hear Meuer will be able to play tonight. That was a stupid penalty - I mentioned to my wife (who almost never comes to games with me) he was gone before the whistle blew.

Nice to see the guys stepping up. The 2 short-handers in the 1st were just great hustle and execution.

It was a kinda strange game. Small-ish crowd, including the student section. Lots of people around me that have never been to a game - hope they enjoyed the blowout and decide to return.

Even though the Badgers were outshot, it always seemed like they were in control of the game. Rumpel had a couple fantastic saves, and a solid night overall.

I couldn't help but think of the rodent fans whining about the Badgers running the trap. They should have watched Mercyhurst last night. I swear there were times they only had 1 guy drop into their offensive zone. Bucky was unfazed, though, and ran nice short-pass transitions.

 

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

nice to get the sweep this weekend. it's got to boost the confidence for sure.

Zengerle looks so confident right now it's amazing. it's like watching a young Reinprecht out there. Navin had imo his best game as a badger. Too bad he wasn't rewarded with a goal.

The d is still not as confident under pressure as I'd like em to see. Esp Ramage and Springer. for some reason they seem to be having troubled busting out of the zone or making good outlet passes.

Jefferson Dahl has turned into a great grinder in the Matt Murray-type mold.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

Very nice to see the team take care of business when needed. Hopefully that carries over to UMD.

This team is going to make some noise if they can get healthy. I'm not saying they are going to win anything but they are going to be tough to play against.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

What an interesting team....Coming in from a really bad series agianst CC, Friday start all So & Fr F's, they lose a guy to a 5 min major, lose a guy to injury and stomp a statistically awesome goalie. Saturday, they fall behind, fight back and win going away. The PP is really klicking, the PK is aweful, and UW has the top 2 scorers in the freaking country. This is such a bizzarro season so far.

I heard an interesting comment from one of the coaches that this team practices harder than it plays. I've never heard or seen that before either.

 

[Almington]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

What an interesting team....Coming in from a really bad series agianst CC, Friday start all So & Fr F's, they lose a guy to a 5 min major, lose a guy to injury and stomp a statistically awesome goalie. Saturday, they fall behind, fight back and win going away. The PP is really klicking, the PK is aweful, and UW has the top 2 scorers in the freaking country. This is such a bizzarro season so far.

I heard an interesting comment from one of the coaches that this team practices harder than it plays. I've never heard or seen that before either.

It's nothing more than the difference between for a young team between being at home and being on the road.

 

[MadCityRich]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

On a personal note, my eldest son, a So. in HS, recieved the most hideous and heinous mailing ever to come to a Weisensel household, a letter from the U of Rodentsota, asking him to go to their website, register, claim a free gift and check out the school. My eyes just about exploded, my youngest grabs the letter and runs around the house taunting me in a loving yet mean sprited way. I chased him all over the house screaming "now I've got to lop your hand off, you've touched something from that disgusting school!!!!!!!!!!" I grabbed a towel, eventually caught him, grabbed the letter with the towel, and am saving it for the campfire this summer. I did not lop his hand off, but he said, "I better take a shower now", realizing the error of his ways.

Rumour has it, Scooby, goldy & brent sent an application for your son to UMTC.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

What do you think the realistic odds are that Wisconsin will get home ice? Last year 28 points in the league got you home ice...that's also exactly the midpoint if you average out the possible league total points. So we'll use that for the cut off.

Wisconsin has 9 points currently which means they need to accumulate 19 more to get to that 28 point threshold. Wisconsin has 8 WCHA series left this season...UMD, Anchorage, St. Cloud, & Denver at home, and Mankato, North Dakota, Bemidji, and Minnesota on the road.

They need to average 2.375 points per weekend. Uphill climb, that's for sure.

 

[UWisco]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

If we play the rest of the year like we played against Mercyhurst we won't win many games. IMO we didn't play very well and to get 12 goals was a huge accomplishment. Our passing was absolutly terrible probably giving us all of our turnovers.

 

[NEWI Badger Fan]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

What do you think the realistic odds are that Wisconsin will get home ice? Last year 28 points in the league got you home ice...that's also exactly the midpoint if you average out the possible league total points. So we'll use that for the cut off.

Wisconsin has 9 points currently which means they need to accumulate 19 more to get to that 28 point threshold. Wisconsin has 8 WCHA series left this season...UMD, Anchorage, St. Cloud, & Denver at home, and Mankato, North Dakota, Bemidji, and Minnesota on the road.

They need to average 2.375 points per weekend. Uphill climb, that's for sure.

Team/Points/Where/Comment:

Duluth 2 (H) UW cannot afford to get swept. Let's steal a win on Friday after a bye!
Kato 2 (A) hope for sweep but young UW team is on the road. Injured players should be back!
AA 4 (H) should be able to sweep.
Nodak 2 (A) usually play well in GF
Jan 3 (H) payback from earlier series
DU 2 (H) please don't get swept! UW is DU's bi#$h at the Kohl Center
BSU 2 (A) can young UW team now more experienced sweep?
Rodents 1 (A) ouch. get swept and UW goes on the road.


Optimistic view gives UW 18 points. UW should be better during conference games when and if they are healthy. Counting on some players to bring their level up as they mature during the season.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

Team/Points/Where/Comment:

Duluth 2 (H) UW cannot afford to get swept. Let's steal a win on Friday after a bye!
Kato 2 (A) hope for sweep but young UW team is on the road. Injured players should be back!
AA 4 (H) should be able to sweep.
Nodak 2 (A) usually play well in GF
Jan 3 (H) payback from earlier series
DU 2 (H) please don't get swept! UW is DU's bi#$h at the Kohl Center
BSU 2 (A) can young UW team now more experienced sweep?
Rodents 1 (A) ouch. get swept and UW goes on the road.


Optimistic view gives UW 18 points. UW should be better during conference games when and if they are healthy. Counting on some players to bring their level up as they mature during the season.

If they are going to do it they absolutely cannot afford to get swept in conference play from here on out and they will most likely have to sweep a series or two that no one is expecting them to.

 

[Almington]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

What do you think the realistic odds are that Wisconsin will get home ice? Last year 28 points in the league got you home ice...that's also exactly the midpoint if you average out the possible league total points. So we'll use that for the cut off.

Wisconsin has 9 points currently which means they need to accumulate 19 more to get to that 28 point threshold. Wisconsin has 8 WCHA series left this season...UMD, Anchorage, St. Cloud, & Denver at home, and Mankato, North Dakota, Bemidji, and Minnesota on the road.

They need to average 2.375 points per weekend. Uphill climb, that's for sure.

I'd say that it's at best a 50-50, more likely a 40-60 against home ice, they'd really want to get closer to 30 to be sure that they don't lose out on a tiebreaker. It will really depend on how they do at Mankato and Bemidji. They have 9, assuming that they can get 12 from the home games puts them at 21. So they would need to get 7 on the road, assuming that they only get 2 points out of the 4 games at MN and UND, that means that they have to get 5 or more at BSU and MSM. Not looking good. Hurts that they are on the road for the last 2 weeks of the regular season.

 

[Gandalf the Red]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

I'd say that it's at best a 50-50, more likely a 40-60 against home ice, they'd really want to get closer to 30 to be sure that they don't lose out on a tiebreaker. It will really depend on how they do at Mankato and Bemidji. They have 9, assuming that they can get 12 from the home games puts them at 21. So they would need to get 7 on the road, assuming that they only get 2 points out of the 4 games at MN and UND, that means that they have to get 5 or more at BSU and MSM. Not looking good. Hurts that they are on the road for the last 2 weeks of the regular season.

One point on the road so far will definitely make this an uphill struggle, especially getting swept at Tech. Looking at the standings, they could eventually jump over Tech and SCSU, but NoDak will likely make a strong 2nd half run. I really don't see it happening, Bucky has already played 12 conference games, and most of the league has played 9 or 10, so they are even farther behind in pts/game than the standings show. At 0.75 conference pts/game the Badgers are actually 9th in the WCHA.

Not trying to be negative, just realistic. I think the best thing they can do is finish strong and be one of those teams no one wants to play and go to UNO or CC or DU and knock them off in teh 1st round and make it to St Paul.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

Rumour has it, Scooby, goldy & brent sent an application for your son to UMTC.

If they sent the app in, and will pay his tuition, I'll send him there. Isn't a degree from rodentsota better than nothing? Umm, well, that was a dumb question, wasn't it? :O

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

If they sent the app in, and will pay his tuition, I'll send him there. Isn't a degree from rodentsota better than nothing? Umm, well, that was a dumb question, wasn't it? :O

That depends. Napkins are more absorbent.

*waits for humorless rodent troll to come in and tell me that I don't understand anything about universities and that I'm ignorant about their business school or some such horse*****

 

[Almington]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

One point on the road so far will definitely make this an uphill struggle, especially getting swept at Tech. Looking at the standings, they could eventually jump over Tech and SCSU, but NoDak will likely make a strong 2nd half run. I really don't see it happening, Bucky has already played 12 conference games, and most of the league has played 9 or 10, so they are even farther behind in pts/game than the standings show. At 0.75 conference pts/game the Badgers are actually 9th in the WCHA.

Not trying to be negative, just realistic. I think the best thing they can do is finish strong and be one of those teams no one wants to play and go to UNO or CC or DU and knock them off in the 1st round and make it to St Paul.

The advantage is the 28-30 point threshold is nearly independent of what other teams do. If you can get to over 0.500 in league play that is theoretically good enough for home ice (depending on how the points are distributed among the teams). The Badgers DO have an uphill climb to get to that 0.500 level, and how close they get will depend on how they do on the road. If they can't get the points at Mankato or BSU they will need to secure home ice, winning a first round playoff series on the road will be nearly impossible. If they can get 12/16 points available in home games, and 8/16 points available on the road they will end with 29 points and be around where they need to be to get home ice. Can they become a 0.750 team at home and a 0.500 team on the road over the rest of the season, doubtful since it gives the team VERY little margin for error but anything is possible. The team has the talent to do it, they just need to put all the pieces together.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

Can they become a 0.750 team at home and a 0.500 team on the road over the rest of the season, doubtful since it gives the team VERY little margin for error but anything is possible. The team has the talent to do it, they just need to put all the pieces together.

I don't know if it's possible, but I do know that getting McCabe and Lee back are going to be huge additions in the second half. They've basically been playing without a top paring (& PP) defenseman and second line center for the past 5-6 weekends.

 

[GoBucky36]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XX - Growth Through Experience

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/112911aaa.html

University of Wisconsin All-American blueliner Justin Schultz, who produced seven scoring points and earned a +4 plus/minus rating while boosting the Badgers to a two-game non-conference sweep over visiting Mercyhurst last weekend, has been named Red Baron® WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for Nov. 29.