Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

...I've said before I don't think this team overall is that talented (sure there are some talented players but as a whole?) but was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt after being shouted down by a few posters...I don't want to overreact to one game, UW lost to what is allegedly an inferior team and they lost at home. If moving Labate and starting Peterson, playing w/out Kerdiles are all reasons why they lost Chuck is right and this team is ****ed. It would also bear out my initial thoughts 1-2 years ago about this group if one guy means that much to them.

When you get a chance watch the 2006, 1992 or 1990 NCAA Title games in their entirety. Now watch this current team. Fellas, UW is several players short THIS SEASON of making a deep playoff run. I can't imagine how screwed they'll be next year. And I'm going to cut no slack, absolutely no slack; to Eaves and Company for losing games with freshman next year. It was their job to turn the ship around and maintain it at a high level. This is the final year of "benefit of the doubt" that I give them.

also...where are the forward recruits for next season?

Setting next year aside for the moment, I don't think there's a problem with the level of raw talent on this team. I say that because if raw talent is all it took, MN would have a lot more titles. My personal belief is that the talent pool is much wider today and the top 15 or so teams are good enough (talent wise) to beat anyone in a one and done tournament. This team is good enough in that regard IMO. But, what wins championships is ...well... 'character' is perhaps the closest to the word I'm looking for. Belief, desire, determination, CONFIDENCE, and WILL TO WIN. Of course you need talent, no substitute for it, but those are the intangibles that championship teams possess that truly separate them from the crowd.

Last night's game is frustrating because it puts huge question marks behind all those words. One of the more telling stats is that Dahl and Meuer, who are both very good in the faceoff circle (and who didn't suddenly become terrible in one week) went a combined 6 for 21 on faceoffs. What that tells me is that it's unlikely that we won even a single 50/50 draw.

Granted, sometimes events conspire against teams on a given night, and it just happens that they can't make anything work. Bouncy ball top fives get knocked off by Joe Average State College fairly often. It happens. To be fair, Alaska is now 5-1 against ranked opponents.

Plenty of time left for the play to be a crazy anomaly. Time will tell, but we certainly looked miles from being a contender. As has been pointed out, last night falls on the leadership, as does the responsibility to right the ship.

 

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

Setting next year aside for the moment, I don't think there's a problem with the level of raw talent on this team. I say that because if raw talent is all it took, MN would have a lot more titles. My personal belief is that the talent pool is much wider today and the top 15 or so teams are good enough (talent wise) to beat anyone in a one and done tournament. This team is good enough in that regard IMO. But, what wins championships is ...well... 'character' is perhaps the closest to the word I'm looking for. Belief, desire, determination, CONFIDENCE, and WILL TO WIN. Of course you need talent, no substitute for it, but those are the intangibles that championship teams possess that truly separate them from the crowd.

Last night's game is frustrating because it puts huge question marks behind all those words. One of the more telling stats is that Dahl and Meuer, who are both very good in the faceoff circle (and who didn't suddenly become terrible in one week) went a combined 6 for 21 on faceoffs. What that tells me is that it's unlikely that we won even a single 50/50 draw.

Granted, sometimes events conspire against teams on a given night, and it just happens that they can't make anything work. Bouncy ball top fives get knocked off by Joe Average State College fairly often. It happens. To be fair, Alaska is now 5-1 against ranked opponents.

Plenty of time left for the play to be a crazy anomaly. Time will tell, but we certainly looked miles from being a contender. As has been pointed out, last night falls on the leadership, as does the responsibility to right the ship.

talent isn't 100% of the equation of course, coaching has to play into it obviously along with team leadership. 1990 had Steve Rohlik as captain and leader and the team had a meeting after a blow-out loss to NMU and set forth rules (not to go out and party etc) for themselves for the remainder of the season and their goal was a championship or bust really. 1992 they had 0 leadership as evidenced by their meltdown, however they still made the title game almost exclusively based on talent.

2006 = Burish and his classmates as leaders. Enough said.

we're 1/2 way through the season and I watch this team play and still don't see signs of them coming together for a run and I DEFINITELY don't see a Burish type out there to lead them. That leaves it on the coaches to find appropriate lines and a system that will get them there or give them the best chance to win and I think we've seen superior UW teams under Eaves also fall short so I'm a bit of a pessimist on this front.

Lots of games to be played but I'd be less than honest if I didn't say next year factors into my attitude about the coaching staff and where this program stands.

To answer re: Minnesota. There's no question to me they've had superior talent in many years under Woog and Lucia, and the only thing keeping them from having 10 titles by now or more is the coaches haven't found a way to get those all-stars to play together better. Basically Minnesota appears to me to have the 1992 badger talent almost annually, but the coaches need to bring them together to get the rings.

 

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

talent isn't 100% of the equation of course, coaching has to play into it obviously along with team leadership. 1990 had Steve Rohlik as captain and leader and the team had a meeting after a blow-out loss to NMU and set forth rules (not to go out and party etc) for themselves for the remainder of the season and their goal was a championship or bust really. 1992 they had 0 leadership as evidenced by their meltdown, however they still made the title game almost exclusively based on talent.

That's very interesting. 1989-90 was the team's most successful season ever, correct?

 

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

That's very interesting. 1989-90 was the team's most successful season ever, correct?

in terms of wins and losses? I think that belongs to the 77' team but I'm not 100% on that. Both the 1977 and 1990 teams won the WCHA conference and conference tourney, then the NCAA Championships of course

 

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

in terms of wins and losses? I think that belongs to the 77' team but I'm not 100% on that. Both the 1977 and 1990 teams won the WCHA conference and conference tourney, then the NCAA Championships of course

Just for the record, solo is correct: '77 team finished 37-7-1 and the '90 team finished 36-9-1. They were both Monster teams.


Speaking of stats, I gotta believe that barring injury or some other weird circumstance, Petey has started his last game for quite awhile.

Landon Peterson- 3-5-1 (.879 save %)

Joel Rumpel- 7-1-0 (.932 save %)

I don't even think those stats are entirely Petey's fault. For whatever reason the boys just won't play well in front of him. I don't know why. Maybe Petey lost them at the Boston Massacre and just hasn't ever been able to get them back.

 

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

Badgers move to 5-8-1 without Kerdiles.

Eaves said this isn't a day to day thing with Nic and he would think he'd be out a few weeks at least... that was speculation on his part.

What a roller coaster early on. Kerdiles draws a penalty 30 seconds in and then all of a sudden he's gone and the lines are scrambled again. We're just a different team without Nic in the line up. Going to be a B1G challenge for the boys to get it done next week against Michigan.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

The D jumping up in the play on the forecheck saved the day. I wonder if that was a coaching move or just the players trying to make something happen. At either rate, I like it. Hopefully the F recognize and cover.

I think McCabe played his best game I have seen in play as a Badger. He was hammering people and creating scoring chances. I don't recall if he was in on any busted coverages that lead to UAA goals which would temper my enthusiasm.

Rumpel did not play as well as I had hoped he would, he had a couple awkward moments on some of the goals, but they do seem to play winning hockey in front of him.

The pp is so different with Kerdiles at the point instead of Drake, you don't realize it until you see both in the same game. I'd like to see a more Kerdiles like guy in place of Drake, like Zengerlee or maybe even Zullinick, while Kerdiles is out.

 

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

The D jumping up in the play on the forecheck saved the day. I wonder if that was a coaching move or just the players trying to make something happen. At either rate, I like it. Hopefully the F recognize and cover.

I think McCabe played his best game I have seen in play as a Badger. He was hammering people and creating scoring chances. I don't recall if he was in on any busted coverages that lead to UAA goals which would temper my enthusiasm.

Rumpel did not play as well as I had hoped he would, he had a couple awkward moments on some of the goals, but they do seem to play winning hockey in front of him.

The pp is so different with Kerdiles at the point instead of Drake, you don't realize it until you see both in the same game. I'd like to see a more Kerdiles like guy in place of Drake, like Zengerlee or maybe even Zullinick, while Kerdiles is out.

Agree that McCabe really stepped up his game (just when we needed it) last night. We desperately need him to play up to the level he's capable of and he took it upon himself to set the tone after Kerdiles went down. He was in the middle on Bailey's second goal and I'd think he would want that play back. He had support and should have challenged Bailey and taken him off the puck, but to be fair, Bailey made a fantastic shot off the pipe and in.

The PP conversation remains frustrating. I wouldn't move Zengele from his spot down low (which isn't where he has been playing) good things are going to come from him there. Drake has a good shot, we just didn't see it as we never got the puck through to him low to high, which is where he's an asset there. Maybe Zully would do well there, but he has a propensity not to shoot the puck... need to be able to one time it from there when it pops out. I imagine we're going to continue to tinker with it.

Speaking of Zully, I thought he took a step forward last night. Offensively things didn't work out for him but he was in there, hustling and doing the dirty work that is going to get him better chances for points. He's been unnoticeable a lot but last night he was mixing it up with the big boys pretty good. He needs to continue in this vein.

Besse is really getting the hang of the college game and I feel it's only a matter of time until he breaks out. His 6 shots on Friday were one of the few bright spots. Alaska put the clamps on him last night, (they had to) but he continued to work hard and play physical. Good things coming there.

Rumps is 8-1. What else can you say about him?

 

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

Almost forgot the interesting positively spun statistical factoid of the day:

Take away the Boston Massacre and the Badgers would be 7th in offense @ 3.62 gpg (currently 3.5, t-9th) and 8th in defense at 2.18 ga. (currently 2.83, 32nd)

That 1.44 goal differential would be top 5 as well. (Almington's favorite statistic.) I realize of course that if we proceed down the road of selective statistics we could lead the nation with 5gpg, 0ga, and a 5g differential. So what.

Bring on the B1G Blue Weasels!

 

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

Right out of the gates, Wisconsin was firing on all cylinders. After the first period, it kind of flattened, though I don't think it got to the flatness of Friday's game. There were a few defensive breakdowns that need to be fixed. Actually, a lot needs to be fixed before they play Michigan.

 

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

The 2011 Frozen Four was my first exposure to the Michigan fans during the PK, and I wanted to shoot myself. Just don't do that.

What do they do?

 

[Almington]

Almost forgot the interesting positively spun statistical factoid of the day:

Take away the Boston Massacre and the Badgers would be 7th in offense @ 3.62 gpg (currently 3.5, t-9th) and 8th in defense at 2.18 ga. (currently 2.83, 32nd)

That 1.44 goal differential would be top 5 as well. (Almington's favorite statistic.) I realize of course that if we proceed down the road of selective statistics we could lead the nation with 5gpg, 0ga, and a 5g differential. So what.

Bring on the B1G Blue Weasels!

I like goal differential because it normalizes for style of play and you win when you score more goals than the other team and winning is the point of playing the games.

The top 15 (or so) teams are so equal in talent, that the character trait of grit, or resolve to win, is what separates teams. This team is good not great because the character is good, but not great. That may change, but I'm not betting on it at this point in the season.

 

[Suze]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

Badgers move to 5-8-1 without Kerdiles.

Eaves said this isn't a day to day thing with Nic and he would think he'd be out a few weeks at least... that was speculation on his part.

What a roller coaster early on. Kerdiles draws a penalty 30 seconds in and then all of a sudden he's gone and the lines are scrambled again. We're just a different team without Nic in the line up. Going to be a B1G challenge for the boys to get it done next week against Michigan.

Hopefully Kerdiles will be back soon. We lost our top scorer as well (Allen), he didn't play much of the 3rd period Saturday, but nobody seems to know what happened to him.

 

[Buck 'em]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

Right out of the gates, Wisconsin was firing on all cylinders. After the first period, it kind of flattened, though I don't think it got to the flatness of Friday's game.

Yeah it was pretty obvious. I think not having Kerdiles out there made a huge difference. Frankly, without some puck luck on that last goal, they could easily have lost the game.

 

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

...
also...where are the forward recruits for next season?

Yep, I agree with you there...I expected by now to have most of the slots filled for next year. We are less than 9 months away from start of first semester 2014-15.

My confidence for Michigan this week is pretty low. I am hoping for a sweep, but I am just don't think it will happen... I missed the games this week as I was out of town, but it sure didn't sound good from twitter and press conferences.

 

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

How did Cavallini play on Friday in his first game as a Badger?

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

How did Cavallini play on Friday in his first game as a Badger?

The 4th line didn't get much icetime and nothing jumped out at me on tv then they were out there. I recall only seeing them out once in the 1st period, but it had to be more than that.

One positive spin on last weekend is now the boys should be ready for UM since UAA was such a handful.

Guesses on attendance for this upcoming weekend......over 11,000?

 

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

Guesses on attendance for this upcoming weekend......over 11,000?

For Saturday, definitely, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it break 12K. Friday should be 5 figures in paid attendance (ugh...that shouldn't be significant). This is all based on what the ticket site's available seating map looks like.

 

[TUSCHWI]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

It was disclosed on the TV broadcast that PB and Howie will be doing the radio for the UM game next week as a one time special. That will be awesome. There's no hockey color guy who is any better than Howie. There's a lot of great memories associated with those two and UW hockey for me.

Andringa even commented about the poor attendance and said that UW has to do something bout it to get them back to the glory years.

I heard Andringa's comment after PB noted the quiet crowd and Andringa said something to the extent that "somebody - meaning the Athletic Dept - needs to look at this model (the hockey team and loss of enthusiasm was my take on that). He also noted that winning helps but that it needs someone selling the program like Bob Johnson used to do. That was somewhat a paraphrase but essentially what he said. He never said another thing but it was telling to me that someone who is connected with the AD, albeit loosely perhaps (former Prez of National W Club), etc. would come out and say that...he almost sounded frustrated, which is good imo. He's right.

And I'm jacked to hear PB and Howie on the radio this weekend. Like many of your I grew up listening to them and it will be a fun night of nostalgia. Now if I can only explain to my mom - and make her understand - how to listen to the broadcast on the Interweb...sigh...

 

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVIII: This could be a banner year, but how would we know?

I heard Andringa's comment after PB noted the quiet crowd and Andringa said something to the extent that "somebody - meaning the Athletic Dept - needs to look at this model (the hockey team and loss of enthusiasm was my take on that). He also noted that winning helps but that it needs someone selling the program like Bob Johnson used to do. That was somewhat a paraphrase but essentially what he said. He never said another thing but it was telling to me that someone who is connected with the AD, albeit loosely perhaps (former Prez of National W Club), etc. would come out and say that...he almost sounded frustrated, which is good imo. He's right.

And I'm jacked to hear PB and Howie on the radio this weekend. Like many of your I grew up listening to them and it will be a fun night of nostalgia. Now if I can only explain to my mom - and make her understand - how to listen to the broadcast on the Interweb...sigh...

you got that right, I hope Andringa and many other alums are going to start talking with the AD to get that cement head to understand what's wrong w/the Hockey program...get him off of the "football, football, football, football" garbage because his mindset is unfair to the entirety of the rest of the Athletic Deparment and really, mainly to all the student athletes who don't play football.

IIRC Andringa was asked if he'd prefer to play in the KC or Great Dane and his answer was GREAT DANE. I believe that says everything we know about the atmosphere of the KC, the attitude of the AD that led to the terrible atmosphere etc.

C'mon Mr. Andringa, get Mendel, Hill, McDonald, Kurtz, Derksen, Byce, Sagissor, et al and get them to march into Barry's office and give him what's for!

EDIT: PB and Howie for 1 more game, woot! Man, I almost want to record that for posterity