Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXIX: Yes, this is the Rumpel Rink!
I think Eaves has made plenty of mistakes, and also done a number of things well. Some folks look at last year's team as a bit of a failure, but personally I think Eaves has done some of his best coaching the last couple years. After the Boston Massacre and a slew of key injuries it wouldn't have been hard to lose the team, but despite the disappointing loss at the NCAA's I felt that Wisconsin was a good enough team to beat anyone in the country in a series by year's end, and frankly, that's what I want to see.
A lot is laid at Eaves feet and I'm not trying to defend him in everything he does or doesn't do, but it's not just Wisconsin that has had issues. For some perspective consider that since the 2005 DU-Sue title match-up, There have been only 4 (old) WCHA teams of the 18 total in the title game. WI twice, UMD's title run with great top lines they managed to keep together, and the goofs last year. Compare that to the preceding 9 years where 9 of 18 participants were WCHA teams that won 6 of 9 titles.
The thing is, the landscape of college hockey is so changed that it almost renders historical comparisons irrelevant. (Btw- I am old enough to have watched Mark Johnson work magic and see Julian Baretta skate backwards into goal on WPT reruns as a kid and to have regularly watched the Badger Hockey MACHINE live at it peak in the early 80's.) Consider that in 1990 there were <200k total registered hockey players of all ages in the US, and today that number is quickly approaching 600k. (And the growth isn't from a bunch of old guys deciding suddenly to take up rec hockey.) The generational boom from the Miracle on Ice and the Mighty Ducks is at hand in college hockey and talent is widespread and plentiful. Back in the day the 'haves' won with better players. Today the talent margin between the traditional 'haves' and 'have nots' is clearly razor thin. And because we recruit such youngsters- judging talent level is a rather nebulous thing. If you could hand pick and land every 15-16 year old you wanted there is really so little to say whether in 4 years time you will have the best or the 37th best roster in college hockey. IMO it is just so much harder to win consistently today, than it was 20 years ago.
In the same time period discussed above, Eaves has won 13 less games than Lucia while (oddly) playing exactly the same number of games. (364 if you're counting along) I find that totally unacceptable and yet I must confess it again represents a very thin margin --an extra seeing eye flutter puck or two a year, an inch higher with the glove now and then... And when you really break it down the fact is that Eaves is much worse the first half of the season and better the second half. Which may even suggest Eaves has done more with less? At the least it follows in the Bob Johnson tradition of "climbing the mountain." The ol' Badger cared more about learning in Oct.- Nov. and more about winning in Feb.- Mar. Which is very much why WI has so few conference titles and so many tournament wins.
What is frustrating is that I don't quite feel Eaves performance bad enough to fire him, and at times he has been very good, yet still not consistently quite up to the high standards and expectations at Wisconsin. Would another coach have won 20 more games in that time span? Say a guy like Dean Blais with his more longed for throw-back run-and-gun style? I find it hard to speculate that as it seems just as likely he would have lost 20 more, albeit perhaps by scores of 7-4 and 8-5. Fun to watch if you're disinterested, but trust me, losing like that is every bit as bad, if not worse, than losing 2-1.
