Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

[solovsfett]

I've mentioned it here more than once before, but I recall reading in MSJ that on Friday night at the Jan 2000 Sioux/Badger series Madison, Blais and Sauer exchanged looks from their boxes just before puck-drop because they both recognized they were witnessing an atmosphere as charged up as any they had seen in a regular season college hockey game. And both games lived up to the hype. A couple of years later, I go back the Kohl Center to see the Sioux go up by 5 or so, only to see the Badgers score a couple and, with the crowd starting to take over, you just knew the Badgers would find a way to win, which they did. Then to see Robbie Earl make a diving highlight reel goal to beat the Sioux yet again in Madison, once again making the crowd go nuts. All those experiences were, to me, what is best about college hockey--even if the bad guys won every dang one of them. The Badgers seemed to have UND's number, and it sucked, but dam it was fun.

I was at all of the games you reference except for the earl hat trick game...

Incredible atmosphere each time and fantastic hockey. The I have most of that game where nodak was up 4 or 5 and UW came back to win taped on vhs.
I think the history generally was Wisconsin had nodaks number, Minnesota had wisconsins and nodak had Minnesotas. Loved every minute of it.

"And here we go PB, eades went right into the badger bench"

 

[Sioux-perDrunk]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Old time hockey=even fans fought the players
http://youtu.be/_G-FTg419NM

 

[UCBadger]

Old time hockey=even fans fought the players
http://youtu.be/_G-FTg419NM

Was there..........Nothing like a North Dakota game!

 

[MadCityRich]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Old time hockey=even fans fought the players
http://youtu.be/_G-FTg419NM

I still get chills! ****ing awesome!! Section GH - Row B - seats 3-4. Right above the tunnel. ****ing awesome!

 

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

I still get chills! ****ing awesome!! Section GH - Row B - seats 3-4. Right above the tunnel. ****ing awesome!

here's a longer clip of the water bottle incident
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jX...outube.com/watch?v=3jXsmGTQz-I&has_verified=1



Eades is/was a chump

 

[markwojo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

You keep mentioning compelling matchups....well the Big10 conference currently boasts 4 of the worst Pairwise ranked teams this year.

What is so compelling about this:

#39 Michigan State
#44 Minnesota
#47 Wisconsin
#51 Ohio State

These ranking are actually worse than they appear as #55-60 are Ivy League teams who have not started playing yet.

The current Big10 has now become the definition of a "flaming turd"!!

uhhh....yeah....cause you wouldn't want Wisconsin and Minnesota (and even Michigan St) over half (if not 2/3rds) of the WCHA (the final version before Big 10 altered the landscape). Lol because they're in a down year (or two in the case of Wisky)...you'ld rather have a steady diet of Mich Tech, Alaska, Bemidji, UNO...then Minnesota and Wisconsin. Did you even believe that yourself while you were typing?

 

[blackswampboy]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

you'ld rather have a steady diet of Mich Tech, Alaska, Bemidji, UNO...then Minnesota and Wisconsin. Did you even believe that yourself while you were typing?

have you looked at Michigan's schedule lately? steady diet of Mercyhurst, RMU, Niagara, Dartmouth, RPI, Union, Northern Michigan, Ferris...
no big change, don't kid yourself.

 

[markwojo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

have you looked at Michigan's schedule lately? steady diet of Mercyhurst, RMU, Niagara, Dartmouth, RPI, Union, Northern Michigan, Ferris...
no big change, don't kid yourself.

Are you lost? Seems you were looking for a Michigan thread and got lost here in a Wisconsin thread. What Michigan choses to do (or not do) with it's non conference schedule is up to them and has very little bearing on what Wisconsin appears to be doing. This Season, Whisky has BC/BU, Denver, & North Dakota OOC. Last year....North Dakota, CC/Denver, & BU. The prior year BC, Miami, & CC. I love what the move to the Big 10 has meant in terms of schedule flexibility and quality.

Repeating again.....one of the last seasons in the WCHA my Sat night season tickets netted me ZERO (as in NONE) games with Minnesota, North Dakota, or Denver who were to me the marquee flagship programs. In the end version of the WCHA (pre Big 10)...Wisconsin was guaranteed 4 games with Minnesota (same as in the Big 10 now) and generally were only going to get a pair of games a season against Denver & North Dakota. As a Wisconsin fan....I want games against Minnesota, North Dakota, Denver, CC, UMD, Michigan, BC, BU, and their ilk. The end version of the WCHA was a bloated conference schedule that didn't even get you 4 games a season against the top flagship programs and left your schedule so packed you only had 3 or 4 OOC series a season you could schedule.

 

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Are you lost? Seems you were looking for a Michigan thread and got lost here in a Wisconsin thread. What Michigan choses to do (or not do) with it's non conference schedule is up to them and has very little bearing on what Wisconsin appears to be doing. This Season, Whisky has BC/BU, Denver, & North Dakota OOC. Last year....North Dakota, CC/Denver, & BU. The prior year BC, Miami, & CC. I love what the move to the Big 10 has meant in terms of schedule flexibility and quality.

Repeating again.....one of the last seasons in the WCHA my Sat night season tickets netted me ZERO (as in NONE) games with Minnesota, North Dakota, or Denver who were to me the marquee flagship programs. In the end version of the WCHA (pre Big 10)...Wisconsin was guaranteed 4 games with Minnesota (same as in the Big 10 now) and generally were only going to get a pair of games a season against Denver & North Dakota. As a Wisconsin fan....I want games against Minnesota, North Dakota, Denver, CC, UMD, Michigan, BC, BU, and their ilk. The end version of the WCHA was a bloated conference schedule that didn't even get you 4 games a season against the top flagship programs and left your schedule so packed you only had 3 or 4 OOC series a season you could schedule.

Mark, the poor performance of the team made me miss the fact we have had some good non-conference opponents since joining the Big6 hockey conference. Now if all the Big6 teams improved their record, it could turn out better than it has so far...

 

[oldtyme25]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

uhhh....yeah....cause you wouldn't want Wisconsin and Minnesota (and even Michigan St) over half (if not 2/3rds) of the WCHA (the final version before Big 10 altered the landscape). Lol because they're in a down year (or two in the case of Wisky)...you'ld rather have a steady diet of Mich Tech, Alaska, Bemidji, UNO...then Minnesota and Wisconsin. Did you even believe that yourself while you were typing?

Yes I would like to see Wisconsin vs Minnesota because I would like to see some real offensive hockey versus Badger style of hockey which is just offensive!

So the question should be would I rather have to watch a league game that has some meaning against UNO or Bemidji to still have the privilege of having league games with North Dakota, Denver, Duluth, CC, St. Cloud and Mankato???? Hell yes is the answer!!

You want to give up those match-ups for games with Minnesota, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Lets keep in mind that Minnesota was already in the WCHA, so in essence we gave up all those fantastic game to get two attractive series (Michigan and Mich St.) as Penn State and Ohio State provide no compelling reason to go to the Kohl Center.

All I can surmise is that you would rather the Badger's continue to play meaningless non-conference games in a 2/3 empty building while you continue to tell yourself that Wisconsin is still an elite college hockey program. That ship has sailed my friend.

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Yes I would like to see Wisconsin vs Minnesota because I would like to see some real offensive hockey versus Badger style of hockey which is just offensive!

Andy Baggott has a nice article about how UW has changed their breakout to work the center of the ice more and not just dump it down the boards, reminds me of the UW women's breakout.

 

[blackswampboy]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

This Season, Whisky has BC/BU, Denver, & North Dakota OOC. Last year....North Dakota, CC/Denver, & BU. The prior year BC, Miami, & CC. I love what the move to the Big 10 has meant in terms of schedule flexibility and quality.

Ah, I see. Having to fill what, 14 OOC games every season certainly gives you the flexibility to schedule quality opponents like Northern, Ferris, Alaska, UAA, ASU, and CC every year. All those WCHA teams gives you a leg up on the Weasels' SOS, no doubt. ASU, maybe not so much.
Sorry to hear that St. Cloud, Bemidji, Tech, and Mankato don't meet your quality standards, but to each his own.
Best wishes for a successful season!

 

[oldtyme25]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Andy Baggott has a nice article about how UW has changed their breakout to work the center of the ice more and not just dump it down the boards, reminds me of the UW women's breakout.

Thanks Timothy A......But don't you have to ask yourself, has our program become so boring and un-newsworthy that it is now news that the Badgers are going to use more of the ice and dump it in less.....almost makes you want to rush to the Kohl Center in anticipation!

 

[markwojo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Yes I would like to see Wisconsin vs Minnesota because I would like to see some real offensive hockey versus Badger style of hockey which is just offensive!

So the question should be would I rather have to watch a league game that has some meaning against UNO or Bemidji to still have the privilege of having league games with North Dakota, Denver, Duluth, CC, St. Cloud and Mankato???? Hell yes is the answer!!

You want to give up those match-ups for games with Minnesota, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. Lets keep in mind that Minnesota was already in the WCHA, so in essence we gave up all those fantastic game to get two attractive series (Michigan and Mich St.) as Penn State and Ohio State provide no compelling reason to go to the Kohl Center.

All I can surmise is that you would rather the Badger's continue to play meaningless non-conference games in a 2/3 empty building while you continue to tell yourself that Wisconsin is still an elite college hockey program. That ship has sailed my friend.

Thanks "friend". Hopefully at some point the Kohl is 3/4ers full on a regular basis again (and I decide the product is worthy of my discretionary income again)....but alas Barry is still AD and clueless to the state of the program.

Wisconsin didn't give up anything for Ohio St/Penn St. I can name a half dozen teams in the old WCHA that are just as disinteresting of matchup as those. The net sum game was Minnesota 4 games swapped for Minnesota 4 games, 4 games against North Dakota/Denver were swapped for 4 games with Michigan (comparable blue chip history rich programs), & OOC flexibility was added so you could still schedule North Dakota, Denver, CC, and intriguing East cost teams.

 

[KaMiGo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Yes I would like to see Wisconsin vs Minnesota because I would like to see some real offensive hockey versus Badger style of hockey which is just offensive!

Up do date stats as of 29-Oct
Minnesota goals per game: 1.8
Wisconsin goals per game: 2.0

Minnesota SOG per game: 25.4
Wisconsin SOG per game: 27.8

Please enlighten us as to how Minnesota provides "real offensive hockey".

I get that the commonly accepted talking points are that MN plays real hockey, fast-paced hockey and that WI plays boring hockey, slow-paced hockey. But it doesn't look like MN has been an offensive juggernaut so far this year. When they open the season with 1 goal in 3 games while averaging 23 SOG, you pretty much forfeit the right to talk about their offensive prowess for a while.

 

[solovsfett]

Up do date stats as of 29-Oct
Minnesota goals per game: 1.8
Wisconsin goals per game: 2.0

Minnesota SOG per game: 25.4
Wisconsin SOG per game: 27.8

Please enlighten us as to how Minnesota provides "real offensive hockey".

I get that the commonly accepted talking points are that MN plays real hockey, fast-paced hockey and that WI plays boring hockey, slow-paced hockey. But it doesn't look like MN has been an offensive juggernaut so far this year. When they open the season with 1 goal in 3 games while averaging 23 SOG, you pretty much forfeit the right to talk about their offensive prowess for a while.

Minnesota historically delivers high octane offense and that's backed up by decades of evidence. Mchugh, Bonin, Crowley, rau, rasmussen, and on and on...6 games won't change that perception/reality and I'd guess by mid-season those numbers will favor our rat friends.

EDIT: Rats have 13 goals for, 12 against and 2 wins
Wisconsin 12 goals for, 22 against and 0 wins

Minnesota is due for a tougher year due to the amount of skill they've lost but make no mistake it won't take them more than 1/2 a season to get it in gear and be in contention for 1st or 2nd in the b10.

but I digress, what this debate really is about in terms of Offense is how UW plays (boring, play it safe, no creativity) vs. how Minnesota plays (wide open race horse hockey with lots of room for creativity

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Please enlighten us as to how Minnesota provides "real offensive hockey".

You are not a true UW hockey fan if you don't find EVERYTHING about rodent hockey offensive. I want to vomit just thinking about them.

 

[baalbrec]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

I've mentioned it here more than once before, but I recall reading in MSJ that on Friday night at the Jan 2000 Sioux/Badger series Madison, Blais and Sauer exchanged looks from their boxes just before puck-drop because they both recognized they were witnessing an atmosphere as charged up as any they had seen in a regular season college hockey game. And both games lived up to the hype.

The best 2 game series I ever watched in Madison (followed by the poorest night of drinking decisions I ever made in Madison). Thanks for the memories on that one.

 

[XYZ]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

Up do date stats as of 29-Oct
Minnesota goals per game: 1.8
Wisconsin goals per game: 2.0

Minnesota SOG per game: 25.4
Wisconsin SOG per game: 27.8

Please enlighten us as to how Minnesota provides "real offensive hockey".

I get that the commonly accepted talking points are that MN plays real hockey, fast-paced hockey and that WI plays boring hockey, slow-paced hockey. But it doesn't look like MN has been an offensive juggernaut so far this year. When they open the season with 1 goal in 3 games while averaging 23 SOG, you pretty much forfeit the right to talk about their offensive prowess for a while.

The last time Wisconsin outscored Minnesota was in 2010-11 and it was by .01 goals/game. Since then, Minnesota has not only outscored Wisconsin annually but has done so by significant margins. Now, I personally have no problem with a system that is (supposedly) defensive if it wins games and believe a team's scoring prowess is derived far more from talent than it is any supposed system, but if you're going to rely on just the first couple of weeks of this season to try to prove your point...you really don't have much of a point.

Up do date stats from 2014-15
Minnesota goals per game: 3.51
Wisconsin goals per game: 1.69

Minnesota SOG per game: 33.2
Wisconsin SOG per game: 25.4

See? I can post numbers in a vacuum, too.

 

[KaMiGo]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey XXXIV: A Season without Chuck

The last time Wisconsin outscored Minnesota was in 2010-11 and it was by .01 goals/game. Since then, Minnesota has not only outscored Wisconsin annually but has done so by significant margins. Now, I personally have no problem with a system that is (supposedly) defensive if it wins games and believe a team's scoring prowess is derived far more from talent than it is any supposed system, but if you're going to rely on just the first couple of weeks of this season to try to prove your point...you really don't have much of a point.

Up do date stats from 2014-15
Minnesota goals per game: 3.51
Wisconsin goals per game: 1.69

Minnesota SOG per game: 33.2
Wisconsin SOG per game: 25.4

See? I can post numbers in a vacuum, too.

Yes, historically MN has had far better offensive numbers than WI. I won't argue that, it is proven.

I was stating the fact that (to borrow a term from any monetary investment plan) "past performances to not guarantee future returns".

MN usually has a high-powered offense, but that hasn't been there this year. Is it a momentary anomaly where it is guaranteed to show up in a few games, or is this perhaps MN hitting a slump that might stick with them through the season? I don't know, and nobody else does either. You can ask the coaches, and players, and fans; they will give you the expected "We've got a lot to work on this year, we lost a lot of talent, we have some young men stepping into new roles, we are building our chemistry, blah blah blah". But until you see the results in the box score, you can't argue the facts of the season thus far; and those show that WI and MN, having played a similar set of opponents, are both putting up anemic offensive numbers with WI's numbers slightly ahead of MN's numbers.

My post wasn't an saying "Look! Wisconsin is better than Minnesota! Look at the numbers that prove it!" but rather an attempt to say "Minnesota has crappy numbers right now that don't line up with their assumed/God-given/birthright expectations of excellence, and I kind of enjoy the schadenfreude of the moment", nothing more, nothing less.