Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

[vizoroo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

But that doesn't matter. Kids leave all the time when they haven't had great seasons. Calgary just signed junior David Eddy out of St. Cloud...I bet half of the fans in the league don't know who David Eddy is. Beau Bennett played like 10 games as a sophomore for DU this year and he just signed with Pittsburgh today.

Ramage is still a risk to leave and obviously has an opportunity to go. Maybe I'm crazy (very likely), but to me it's news when the team captain is deciding between returning for his senior season or signing with Calgary and tells the local beat writer that it looks like he'll probably return.

Bennett was the Pens #1 pick and his twitter bio basically said 2 years at DU and then was gone. Personally I was hoping another year at DU. Beau had a 4.0 last quarter so the academics were not a problem. Draw of the NHL and $$$ hard to beat.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

2012-13 Tentative Wisconsin Hockey Schedule

OCTOBER

12/13--@ Northern Michigan (Resch Center)
19/20--Miami (?)
26/27--@ Minnesota-Duluth

NOVEMBER

2/3--Colorado College
9/10--
16/17--@ Minnesota
23/24--Minnesota State
30/1--@ Denver

DECEMBER

7/8--Michigan Tech
14/15--
21/22--
28/29--Lake Superior State (?)

JANUARY

4/5--@ Alaska Anchorage
11/12--@ Minnesota State
18/19--
25/26--Alaska Anchorage

FEBRUARY

1/2--@ North Dakota
8/9--Bemidji State
15/17--Minnesota (Friday Kohl Center, Sunday @ Soldier Field)
22/23--Penn State

MARCH

1/2--@ Nebraska Omaha
8/9--St. Cloud State

That's what we've got so far at this point of the off-season. We're fairly certain that the WCHA schedule is 100% accurate. The Penn State series could be moved to a Saturday/Sunday series due to potential conflicts with the WIAA State Tournaments at the Kohl Center.

The only real question marks at this point are when the Miami and Lake State series will fit in the schedule. I made my best guess based on the information available. Lake State has a series scheduled for that second weekend of the year and at this point it looks like Miami has that open so it makes sense that the Miami series will fit in there since I'm guessing Eaves doesn't want to play the first weekend of the year, and take a weekend off.

There were a few open dates available for the Lake Superior series but I figure it's unlikely that Wisconsin will schedule a series the 14/15th or the 21/22nd of December as those weekends bookend finals at the University. Assuming UW doesn't want to go into a WCHA series with a three week break, my best guess is that Lake State series will slide in right before New Years.

 

[Badgers1]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

Thanks for the info Chuck. Didn't the WCHA a few years ago decide to not schedule any conference games during the World Juniors? I know a few coaches pushed for that and thought was some articles about it, but apparently this year that isn't the case.

 

[Gandalf the Red]

I know that this is really about fan perceptions (which doesn't mean anything) and not about anything that happens in the rink (which means everything).

I know that last year was last year, a lot of us (myself included) are more down about the team than we should be and that we all should expect better this year.

All that in mind... don't we need to be out of the cellar before we start thinking about other teams as being bottom feeders for us as fans to take for granted?

Weren't both teams behind the badgers in the standings? They were feeding the bottom, the badgers were 4 points out of 6th place. I'm actually being an optimist about the team for next season. Mankato might improve, but the badgers should be just fine ahead of them. I guess it depends how you define bottom feeder. If the badgers would have had msu/uaa last year instead of und/scsu, they might have been hosting home ice. Just how I'm looking at it.

As for the schedule, looks fun, basically four home non-con series with the one in Green Bay.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

As for the schedule, looks fun, basically four home non-con series with the one in Green Bay.

I'm not 100% certain that the Miami and Lake State series are at home but it makes sense because they traditionally always want to have 20 home dates. Those are the only two series in question that I'm not 100% on at this time.

Thanks for the info Chuck. Didn't the WCHA a few years ago decide to not schedule any conference games during the World Juniors? I know a few coaches pushed for that and thought was some articles about it, but apparently this year that isn't the case.

The first schedule that was sent to me included the road series in Anchorage in place of the Penn State series. It looks like Wisconsin decided it would be better to work in that series with Penn State and flip the Anchorage series to right after new years. Very real possibility UW will be without Kerdiles, McCabe and possibly even Labate that weekend.

 

[Badgers1]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

The good news for fans looking for hotel rooms for the weekend in Green Bay is that the Packers are on the road. I checked yesterday and today and the price dropped almost $300/night at some hotels once the schedule was released.

 

[Gandalf the Red]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

I'm not 100% certain that the Miami and Lake State series are at home but it makes sense because they traditionally always want to have 20 home dates. Those are the only two series in question that I'm not 100% on at this time.



The first schedule that was sent to me included the road series in Anchorage in place of the Penn State series. It looks like Wisconsin decided it would be better to work in that series with Penn State and flip the Anchorage series to right after new years. Very real possibility UW will be without Kerdiles, McCabe and possibly even Labate that weekend.

Knowing Barry they will be at home, though establishing a home/away w/ Miami for a few seasons would be a good thing. I would even consider going to Oxford if the Badgers traveled there early in the season in 2013/14. Maybe that is the plan, w/ more non-con dates open starting in 2013/14 having a series @ Miami would fit nicely on that schedule.

 

[Almington]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

Knowing Barry they will be at home, though establishing a home/away w/ Miami for a few seasons would be a good thing. I would even consider going to Oxford if the Badgers traveled there early in the season in 2013/14. Maybe that is the plan, w/ more non-con dates open starting in 2013/14 having a series @ Miami would fit nicely on that schedule.

Might just be me, but I'd rather keep the current members of the WCHA (and NMU) on the schedule on a regular basis then add a team (like Miami) that UW had almost zero history with.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

Might just be me, but I'd rather keep the current members of the WCHA (and NMU) on the schedule on a regular basis then add a team (like Miami) that UW had almost zero history with.

UW already has tentative agreements with North Dakota and Denver at this point which would be awesome. Wouldn't mind seeing St. Cloud, UMD, or CC but I'll take Miami/Maine/New Hampshire/Boston Schools in a a scheduling agreement any day of the week over Mankato, Bemidji, Anchorage, Tech, Omaha.

 

[burd]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

UW already has tentative agreements with North Dakota and Denver at this point which would be awesome. Wouldn't mind seeing St. Cloud, UMD, or CC but I'll take Miami/Maine/New Hampshire/Boston Schools in a a scheduling agreement any day of the week over Mankato, Bemidji, Anchorage, Tech, Omaha.

With all the things Gurt and others have said about UND on this site, I wouldn't be surprised if UND just said P!$$$ on it, we'll try to get a nice team on the schedule.

 

[vizoroo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

Gurss Turris well get some Badger love after his GWG against the Rangahs

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

Gurss Turris well get some Badger love after his GWG against the Rangahs

Still should have stayed at least 2 years.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Still should have stayed at least 2 years.

Still shocked he stayed an entire season.

 

[Gandalf the Red]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

Still should have stayed at least 2 years.

Totally agree, that decision set his NHL career back. That summer of strength training would have done wonders. My opinion on players leaving early is when they are dominating or near dominating and don't have much left to prove at this level, fine leave early. I would still love for them to stay, but I can't fault Craig Smith when he plays in the NHL out of training camp or McDonagh when he is shortly dominating for the Rangers, etc. I think that has played out for the majority of guys bolting early the past several years; expect Turris. He never lit up the WCHA, how did he think he would light up the NHL?

I haven't followed him at all this season, did he have a good year? Holding out when he hadn't done anything yet as a pro didn't sit well with me.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

While I'm in the Turris should have stayed another year/didn't like his holdout camp, he sure looked excited in the locker room interview post game. Good for him.

Still remember the only time I met him - took a few of my son's team mates to a game for his birthday, bought them each a puck in Bucky's Locker Room to get signed after the game. They asked me who I thought they should get and I said "Turris, he's gonna be great some day." That proclamation hasn't looked so good in the years that have followed.

The Badgers laid an egg that night against Mankato and I could hear Turris actually apologizing to the boys as they got his autograph. "Sorry we played so bad tonight, we'll try to do better tomorrow."

Really cool to those kids. Those pucks may actually end up being worthwhile after all.

Good to see him doing well.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

With all the things Gurt and others have said about UND on this site, I wouldn't be surprised if UND just said P!$$$ on it, we'll try to get a nice team on the schedule.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

FWIW I didn't mind the Turris hold out one bit this year. People think it was about money but that had nothing to do with it. It was all about trying to get Phoenix to trade him to a better situation. Tippet was playing him like 8-9 minutes a night when he was with the Coyotes last season. In Ottawa he's centering the second line most of the time which is a much better fit for him.

 

[Almington]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

FWIW I didn't mind the Turris hold out one bit this year. People think it was about money but that had nothing to do with it. It was all about trying to get Phoenix to trade him to a better situation. Tippet was playing him like 8-9 minutes a night when he was with the Coyotes last season. In Ottawa he's centering the second line most of the time which is a much better fit for him.

The situation in Phoenix changed greatly from the time that he was drafted and signed to when he was traded. While staying would have helped Turris get off to a better start in the NHL, he needed a fresh start and the only way to do that as a RFA is to force your teams hand and orchestrate a trade. I suspect that trade requests were made prior to the hold-out that Phoenix didn't accommodate. At that point, the hold-out and a public falling out is about the only option for the player. It isn't pretty and doesn't do anything for the player's reputation but better to take that hit and be out of Phoenix than to stay and be considered a giant draft bust.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey: Vol. XXI - For every dark night, there's a brighter day

Might just be me, but I'd rather keep the current members of the WCHA (and NMU) on the schedule on a regular basis then add a team (like Miami) that UW had almost zero history with.

As someone who's gotta pay for these games each year, I'd rather see us play a quality opponent - regardless of history. Bring in Notre Dame too.

BSU, Mankato, Tech, Omaha, UAA, heck, even CC and SCSU... wake me when it's over.

The fact (hopefully) that we will leave the WCHA but retain UND and Denver has actually rejuvenated my interest in the regular season on a micro level. Meaning - more than interested in the regular season as just a path to the playoffs. I will actually care more about individual games than just how they effect our record.

I'm really looking forward to seeing some new blood on the schedule.

It'd be cool if we could play Duluth every once in a while also.