Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck
I listened for about 2 mins tonight as I was running errands
was anyone in this thread at the game tonight? honest opinions?
sounds like the crowd was terrible which is completely understandable given the recent woes
this is not a comment on Brian Lucas or Ian Perrin but man I miss PB and Howie...Bill Howard never minced words, but even when he was pointing out negatives he'd find a way to bring it back and state what the team could do or needed to do to get back on track
I was there. My objective-as-possible assessment, starting with on-ice stuff:
What I said about the Badgers playing a very solid game was true at the time, but it got shakier as the game went on. There was a noticeably large difference between how the top two lines of forwards played, and how the bottom two lines played, in all facets of the game. When the second goal was scored, the McGuire - Ustaski - Cavallini line got caught out there a bit long on the 2nd goal. (I believe Kunin was able to get on the ice, IIRC.) I'm not sure if there were more stoppages, or if they were able to successfully keep the lower lines' shifts shorter early on, but it seemed like their depth was exposed as the game went on, which I kind of expected. ("Exposed depth" is my overriding takeaway if I have to sum it up in one short sentence.
For much of the game, it was nice to see that the Badgers were not visibly outmatched in the way they were most of the time last season. The top-4 d-men logged heavy minutes (or maybe the third pairing just happened to be on when their names/numbers were less visible from my seat if I'm not looking for it...I wasn't clocking anything). They were competent. There were some plays where NMU got the best of them, and there were other times where they managed puck possession very well. Those top-6 forwards were winning many battles for pucks, and even if they were at a disadvantage, would make something out of very little.
Speaking of which, Adam Rockwood drew a penalty that really stood out to me. He picked up a loose puck at the NMU blue line and skated in. Because it was a sudden turnover, no Badgers were right there to help him, and he was going against 2 Wildcats players. My initial thought was "nice...oh, but he's kind of in a dead position." Then he managed to split both of them, holding on to the puck.
Miller made me nervous a few times, but he was definitely fine.
Regardless of intent, the officials favored NMU in a noticeable way. By "noticeable," I mean that among plays that I saw well enough and completely enough to judge, we're talking about a 6 or 8 minute swing in penalty minutes that should've gone the Wisconsin's way. The incident that resulted in coincidental roughing minors was a textbook example of what should've been 2 and 4 minute penalties. Both players went after each other, and Cavallini (had to look up which player it was) got headlocked after the initial instances of roughing died down. That's just one example. Oh, and it wasn't the only blatant headlock Northern Michigan got away with. They should've definitely started OT shorthanded. In addition to the bull-poop that was excused by refs afraid to do things other than coincidental penalties, there were two blatant instances of interference that were as blatant and clear as you will ever see. I'm talking open ice hits, far away from the puck, in which it is very clear which player initiated the collision. We got a good "In-ter-fer-ence" chant going after the second one. (We also chanted "he tripped on himself" after what appeared to be a phantom trip, but that was Kunin's slash, not a trip...so there may have been something behind the falling NMU player that we didn't notice.)
Off ice:
At about 6:55ish, I was about the saddest I've ever been at a Wisconsin hockey game. Not the most shocked by a heartbreaking loss. Not the most disappointed from watching the team get shelled. The overall sadness was starting to feel very real, which kind of caught me by surprise, as I thoroughly expected a pathetic crowd, numbers-wise. Seeing it in reality hit me hard. It was a visual representation of the huge difference of what could/should be and what is. It was a visual representation of how the Madison area could have a great college hockey environment, but instead, it just...doesn't.
I'd expect to see more students make it to future games - it was lower level only, save for maybe 2 groups in the second deck's first row - based on the sales and the back-loaded home schedule this year. They've broken 1000, which is bad, but if I recall correctly, is better than the criminally under-hyped 2013-14 team. I've also heard that they are definitely going to try to push it as the year goes on. We'll see how all of that goes. Thankfully, the students who
were there still embody that extra specials something that the hockey student section has had and others haven't in my time here. That's still alive. It was weird - the first deck of the student section (especially the front parts loaded with returning students) seemed to have the energy and mentality of this being a big-time sport. The juxtaposition of that next to the very empty rest of the lower bowl and very empty upper levels was somewhat bizarre. It only made sense if you remember that it's a program that
always drew big, intense crowds every night just a handful of years ago, but crashed since then. Those were the two Wisconsin Hockey experiences at play. I will concede that there were a few longish quiet periods, but given that the rest of the crowd was in a tough spot being so spread out, and the student section was limited in numbers, it was okay, and even great at times. It didn't help that Tolvanen didn't really do anything very chantable. (I have no idea how good his English is, anyway.
)No skating around during stoppages, no removing his mask. He did take a drink during play on 2 occasions.
The sequence of events in the last minute of regulation was nuts. When I try and block out all the big issues that we all know about, the hockey game itself was pretty good.
This is much less important than the rest of this stuff, but I want to mention that I think it's nice that they show the NHL rights of the drafted players during player intros. It helps people learn a bit more about college hockey.
