Almington
Blood Boiling with Rage and Hate
Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time
Last year UW didn't have a stud offensive Dman on the team: 2006-07 which is what this season feels very similar to where you have a very sold D, top quality goaltending, experience and (on paper at least) talent at forward and yet, the team just doesn't seem to be able to leverage those advantage into wins because they are just not scoring enough goals on a consistent enough basis because it's not getting the offensive nudge that it needs from the D.
Bah. If that Johnson kid would have just developed like Eaves and those other guys and just put up 150 pts his Junior year, we'd have that 7th banner already hanging.
So, anyway, several weeks ago I was listening to Chuck's podcast as he described AA's difficulties in recruiting/retaining high end talent, leading them to play a system which relies on strong goal tending and a heavily defense oriented strategy to keep games close and give them a chance late against obviously more talented teams. Chuck touted this 'formula for success' for AA's situation as the best way for them to play in the WCHA. I totally agree with his assessment.
Later in the same podcast, (though I'm sure not making a conscience comparison at all) when talk turned to the Badgers, Chuck accurately described Bucky's 'formula for success': Strong goal tending, defense first, keep it close, and so on. All the same words and phrases he used to describe AA. Again a very good assessment, but it struck me--Why in the world does Wisconsin have the same 'formula for success' that perrennial WCHA bottom dweller AA has?
I have no idea, but it is the case. I guess I generally agree with Almington: It's the sytem that is frustrating fans and the scoreboard. As fans, when it works we're satisfied because a 1-0 win trumps a 6-5 loss every time. But when it doesn't, we're doubly unhappy because losing 2-0 and 3-1 a lot just sucks to watch.
"Wisko you moron, you've been huffing Zamboni fumes again haven't you? It's not the system at all, it's that we don't have enough studs up front!"
Yes, I have, and no, it's not. Actually, I believe it's that we don't have the studly offensive defensemen. The Eaves system starts with defense. What it relies on is NHL caliber defensemen to start the offense, make the passes, jump into the high slot, and anchor the powerplay. When it's really clicking, the system can turn the puck over and lead the nation in scoring-- even take you to the NC game. But not without super-studs on the blue line.
Adding two high flying forwards to this team would make it better of course, but would it be a top five team? I don't believe so. Because the system is not designed to work that way and unless Eaves changed things up (which he has not shown to be very willing to be flexible) those high flyer's impact would be muted by the style of play. Instead, add a couple of all star D-men to the mix. With the goaltending and guys we already have up front... The way the system works it just might make this team a contender. (Albeit one that is going to need to win 2-1 and 3-2 a lot, but that is exactly what it's supposed to do.)
So what am I saying? Just that all this longing for another Heatley, a Reinprecht, a Shuchuk, a Granato, a Lecy, a Johnson, or dare we hope-- a second coming of Bert Dehate? (Don't look at me like that. Yes, I said Bert Dehate. 47 goals - 31 games played in '67-'68.) All this longing for big time scorers is wasted breath, because as long as Eaves is in charge, what we need to pray for is more Justin Schultz, Jamie Mcbain, Craig Anderson, Brian Rafalski, Barry Richter, Theran Walsh, and Chris Chelios. Give him three Craig Norwich's and three Gary Suter's and Eaves' system (although kind of boring) is going to win a lot of games. But barring that, it's going play a lot like a better staffed AA and it's not going to be all that fun to watch.
Last year UW didn't have a stud offensive Dman on the team: 2006-07 which is what this season feels very similar to where you have a very sold D, top quality goaltending, experience and (on paper at least) talent at forward and yet, the team just doesn't seem to be able to leverage those advantage into wins because they are just not scoring enough goals on a consistent enough basis because it's not getting the offensive nudge that it needs from the D.
) I agree that Pavs was huge, leading the team with 56 pts (Zengerle had 50 last year) but they won a lot of very low scoring games. As far as utterly dominating in 06-- Well, we averaged 3.4 gpg and gave up 2.0. In '10, with an admittedly better blue line, we averaged 4.0gpg and gave up 2.6.
