Wisconsin Women's Hockey 2021-2022

[Timothy A]

Todd Milewski tweets today that the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship is going to be held in Madison, official announcement coming Monday.

Games played at LaBahn and Capitol Ice Arena in Middleton (2600 seating capacity, where the Madison Capitals USHL team plays, and where I've never been).

I am dying to know the dates. We are out of town the 11th to the 18th. Please don't be those dates. It would be a huge treat to watch a few of these games. There will probably be all sorts of interesting people there like D1 coaches and USA/Canada folks there evaluating.

 

[Timothy A]

Now that the season is over a few closing thoughts on the class leaving us.

Kendra Nealey. The MVP. 1 loss and one tie with her in the line-up. One of those D you never notice that make the world go around.
Delany Drake. She didn't quite have the scoring skills her dad Dallas had (maybe if she was Watts she would have), but one of those players who similarly to Nealey just got the job done in her role. She was really a savior of the team coming back when Picard was lost for the season. Watts would they have done without her?
Grace Bowlby. Another glue defender, the typical UW defenseman. Stepped in as a Fr and played like she had been there the year before. I feel bad not saying more, she was just 100% solid.
Caitlynn Schneider. Very speedy reliable player 2 way player who played a crucial role in last year's Natty run. She created some excitement at times.
Maddie Posick. Cut from the Maddy Rowe cloth, playing any role needed for the team both forward and defense. She really progressed with her skating ability her Fr to So year, just tremendous strides. Her Fr year I wondered if she got onto the team just because of who her Dad is; wasn't sure she belonged on a D1 team. She showed she did belong her So. year. She is the the girl that all WI HS hockey players should dream to aspire to be through hard work and max effort.
Daryl Watts. OMG when Wattage transferred to WI, it was like a dream. From a poster's standpoint I had SO much fun with her transfer LOL. Watts a blast. As a player it was a privilege to be able to watch a super skilled player like her in person for 2 seasons and the season I didn't get to watch in person the Natty was delivered.
Brett Pettet. She played on the top 2 lines the last 3 years. Such a well rounded 2 way player and really great on faceoffs.
Kennedy Blair. Kinda followed the Soup script. Didn't know Watts to really think of her as far as a player coming from the CHA, how she would fit in, but she delivered a Natty to us last year and this year she didn't get as much help from the unusually leaky D after Nealey went down.

The 5th year players sure saved MJ's behind because if they don't come back, who in the world does he field a full team? Even with them back they were short players. It was a great run for non-transfers in this class, 2 time National Champs! On Wisconsin!

 

[Timothy A]

Time to ponder the future.

Buchbinder, Harvey and Jungels replace Nealey and Bowlby. A huge net gain simply trading 3 solid for 2 solids. It's easy to say that Harvey and Jungels will be typical UW fr. D, completely competent on the breakout, in transition and in the D zone. With LaMantia and Edwards those are the top 5 D with Kotlowski at #6. It's hard to see Helgeson or Toft getting any PT. Interestingly Nealey has only played 4 years of college hockey, but it appears she's not going to do the 5th year thing.

Not a lot of time to get to scoring now, but they have to replace 35% of their goals and assists from this year's team. Curl is interesting because her goals to assist ratio is not typical for a top F. Usually it's about 50/50, but with her its 22g-11a, 16g-9a and 7g-10a in the shorted year. She was the first F off team USA. It will be very interesting to see how her game has elevated since she trained with the team (along with Eden and Buchbinder). Will she be more of a set-up person than just a goal scorer? Can she get to 50 pts? Hard to say. It's also hard to say if OB and Web can get back to 50 without playing with Watts. Can you just plug Curl into that line?

 

[robertearle]

Time to ponder the future.

Buchbinder, Harvey and Jungels replace Nealey and Bowlby. A huge net gain simply trading 3 solid for 2 solids. It's easy to say that Harvey and Jungels will be typical UW fr. D, completely competent on the breakout, in transition and in the D zone. With LaMantia and Edwards those are the top 5 D with Kotlowski at #6. It's hard to see Helgeson or Toft getting any PT. Interestingly Nealey has only played 4 years of college hockey, but it appears she's not going to do the 5th year thing.

My best understanding is that Nealey has no option to play another year. The extra COVID year was an inducement to get schools and players to 'risk' participating in the 2020-2021 year when nobody knew how much or little a season there might end up being. If you chose to not participate in 2020-21, you don't get the extra year. Nealey was at Cornell for 2020-21 and Cornell chose to not participate. So no extra year for Nealey. Her first year at Cornell was 2017-2018. That means her five-year clock - not extended by COVID bonus - runs out in 2022.

Now, between 'not participating' really not having been her choice and then 2021-2022 being somewhat lost to injury, she could maybe petition the NCAA and see if they're felling more charitable to those who didn't participate in 2020-21, but no idea if that would succeed.

She gets kind of doubly-screwed. Though I noted this before: her bio page says she "graduated from Cornell with a degree in neurobiology", so more generally, I think she'll be OK in the non-hockey world.

 

[robertearle]

I am dying to know the dates. We are out of town the 11th to the 18th. Please don't be those dates. It would be a huge treat to watch a few of these games. There will probably be all sorts of interesting people there like D1 coaches and USA/Canada folks there evaluating.

You get half a loaf.

Dates are June 6 through 13. So you get early rounds, but miss the medal games, I guess.

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/...s_in_wisconsin

"The final schedule and ticket information will be release[d] in the near future."

 

[Timothy A]

You get half a loaf.

Dates are June 6 through 13. So you get early rounds, but miss the medal games, I guess.

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/...s_in_wisconsin

"The final schedule and ticket information will be release[d] in the near future."

So I get to eat then. How cool. Hopefully I can see a few games. Maybe take a day off of work when they play during the day.

 

[Timothy A]

My thoughts now go other forwards. Eden played in 15 games during the covid year and really sparked the offense. She scored 8g 7a in that timeframe. Could she be a 40-50 point player? I don't know, her sample sized @ WI was small, could she have maintained that pace? How did the team USA training elevate her game?

Enright played in 28 games this last season and only scored 54 goals and had 21 assists. She is on the U18 roster for USA. Is she ROTY material? If yes, that would project 30-40 points. ROTY Hemp for MN had 32 points this year; Pankowski had 43 her Fr. year. Comparing her to another F out of MN, Norby, had 21 pts as a Fr. She is another smaller F @ 5-5. I hope she plays like Mauermann did physically. So 20-40 points is the range then.

 

[ARM]

ROTY Hemp for MN had 32 points this year; Pankowski had 43 her Fr. year.

Pankowski was coming off a delayed entry, having centralized with Team USA the year before.

 

[top cheese]

Pankowski centralized until Christmas eve when she was cut, then played HS hockey with NAHA.

 

[Timothy A]

So continuing my thoughts about scoring, it looks like 20-30 would be the a reasonable points range for Enright based on the other comments which are much appreciated.

Laila Edwards could be in that same boat having been on the U18 team. I have not come across any HS scoring info, though I did find out that future 2023 Badgers Ava McNaughton and Bella Vasseur are her HS teammates. She is 6-0, UW really needs more size at the F spot. Probably 20-30 pts.

Kirsten Simms may be the best Fr forward coming to WI from Watts I have read, her HS stats are also not easily found. She is another 5-5 forward. Probably 20-30 points.

The complete wildcards in looking at who will score for WI next season freshmen-wise are Jungels and Harvey. If both of these are as good advertised, I have no recent UW D to compare to...LaMantia or Burke's Sr. year? Jaques put up 21/38 for OSU this season, but I cant imagine either will do that until they are upper-classmen; IF they can reach that level at all which is unheard of. Can one or both get to 25 pts? Seems reasonable.

So....WI needs to replace 50 goals and 84 assists 134 pts if we consider this season a success on the scoring front, which in my head it was a disappointing year for scoring with the WOW line carrying the load. The Fr if they all score 25 pts get UW to 125 pts. Add in Curl and Eden conservatively at 35 each, that puts us at an added 195 points. I think OB and Web may slide back a bit, SS will score like she's used to, Picard and Woz will have better So years, I think UW will be ok scoring next year. Now I can sleep tonight, dreaming of 100 more points this year vs last.

 

[Bonzo]

So continuing my thoughts about scoring, it looks like 20-30 would be the a reasonable points range for Enright based on the other comments which are much appreciated.

Laila Edwards could be in that same boat having been on the U18 team. I have not come across any HS scoring info, though I did find out that future 2023 Badgers Ava McNaughton and Bella Vasseur are her HS teammates. She is 6-0, UW really needs more size at the F spot. Probably 20-30 pts.

Kirsten Simms may be the best Fr forward coming to WI from Watts I have read, her HS stats are also not easily found. She is another 5-5 forward. Probably 20-30 points.

The complete wildcards in looking at who will score for WI next season freshmen-wise are Jungels and Harvey. If both of these are as good advertised, I have no recent UW D to compare to...LaMantia or Burke's Sr. year? Jaques put up 21/38 for OSU this season, but I cant imagine either will do that until they are upper-classmen; IF they can reach that level at all which is unheard of. Can one or both get to 25 pts? Seems reasonable.

So....WI needs to replace 50 goals and 84 assists 134 pts if we consider this season a success on the scoring front, which in my head it was a disappointing year for scoring with the WOW line carrying the load. The Fr if they all score 25 pts get UW to 125 pts. Add in Curl and Eden conservatively at 35 each, that puts us at an added 195 points. I think OB and Web may slide back a bit, SS will score like she's used to, Picard and Woz will have better So years, I think UW will be ok scoring next year. Now I can sleep tonight, dreaming of 100 more points this year vs last.

I'm not really worried about scoring with Curl and Eden back and the talented FR coming in. Goaltending is what should cause you to lose sleep.

 

[ARM]

So continuing my thoughts about scoring, it looks like 20-30 would be the a reasonable points range for Enright ...

For some further background on how difficult it can be to predict how many points any player, but particularly a rookie, will produce, consider former Gopher Rachael Bona. She started her career 10 years ago. Like Enright, she was a top player coming out of MN HS, but she wasn't Ms. Hockey her senior year -- former Badger Karley Sylvester was. She played exactly 41 games every season of her NCAA career, and her point totals were: Fr, 8+7=15; So, 14+18=32; Jr, 23+38=61; Sr, 15+23=38. The Fr, So, and Sr seasons make sense from a career progression, and would be what I would predict as likely totals for similar players, but why did she produce 60% more points as a junior than any other season? Did her team have a better season? They had a very good year, but that's the only season where they weren't NCAA champs. Did she play on a better line? She skated with a Sr and Fr who both had a reputation for being good defensive players. As a senior, she played with a Sr and Fr who had reputations for being good offensive players and her production dropped. It's hard to tell.

So much of it comes down to whether or not a player gets ice time, and if she winds up on a line that gels or not. When a team has 10 or more forwards and a freshman isn't a star, she often gets shuffled around on the lines and might not get many shifts. At that point, it is tough to stay confident.

 

[Timothy A]

I'm not really worried about scoring with Curl and Eden back and the talented FR coming in. Goaltending is what should cause you to lose sleep.

UW will score so much next year goaltending won't even matter. Wink.

We shall see. I am excited because 1) I have 100% confidence that the leaky D play will be a thing of the past 2) MJ will have the right players on the roster in the G spot to deliver us a Natty.

 

[Timothy A]

For some further background on how difficult it can be to predict how many points any player, but particularly a rookie, will produce, consider former Gopher Rachael Bona. She started her career 10 years ago. Like Enright, she was a top player coming out of MN HS, but she wasn't Ms. Hockey her senior year -- former Badger Karley Sylvester was. She played exactly 41 games every season of her NCAA career, and her point totals were: Fr, 8+7=15; So, 14+18=32; Jr, 23+38=61; Sr, 15+23=38. The Fr, So, and Sr seasons make sense from a career progression, and would be what I would predict as likely totals for similar players, but why did she produce 60% more points as a junior than any other season? Did her team have a better season? They had a very good year, but that's the only season where they weren't NCAA champs. Did she play on a better line? She skated with a Sr and Fr who both had a reputation for being good defensive players. As a senior, she played with a Sr and Fr who had reputations for being good offensive players and her production dropped. It's hard to tell.

So much of it comes down to whether or not a player gets ice time, and if she winds up on a line that gels or not. When a team has 10 or more forwards and a freshman isn't a star, she often gets shuffled around on the lines and might not get many shifts. At that point, it is tough to stay confident.

Excellent perspective. You have a great example there and just look at SS last season. I would have bet a lot of money that she'd have 50 points for the season. She was 31 61 45 (an extrapolated number) and 28. Watts can account for that? A 61 pt season, holy crap. Who you play with makes a big difference. Sadly I cannot recount her linemates from that year. That's why I don't think OB and Web will be quite as high scoring next year w/o Watts.

 

[ARM]

... just look at SS last season. I would have bet a lot of money that she'd have 50 points for the season. She was 31 61 45 (an extrapolated number) and 28. Watts can account for that? A 61 pt season, holy crap. Who you play with makes a big difference. Sadly I cannot recount her linemates from that year. That's why I don't think OB and Web will be quite as high scoring next year w/o Watts.

Didn't SS have her best production when she was with Watts and Pettit? Anyway, she didn't look quite right to me early last year, but down the stretch, she seemed to have her regular jump and was much more dangerous. I think Webster and O'Brien will be fine. Sometimes it can get tough for younger players to play with a marquee scorer, as they can err on the side of deferring to her too much. They did well with Schneider at crunch time in 2021. As much as anyone, that's what won UW the title.

 

[robertearle]

Didn't SS have her best production when she was with Watts and Pettit? Anyway, she didn't look quite right to me early last year, but down the stretch, she seemed to have her regular jump and was much more dangerous. I think Webster and O'Brien will be fine. Sometimes it can get tough for younger players to play with a marquee scorer, as they can err on the side of deferring to her too much. They did well with Schneider at crunch time in 2021. As much as anyone, that's what won UW the title.

I am 99.9% certain that for their first two years - and that would include the 61 point season - Curl and Shirley were line mates. Who was their third? When I get a chance later, I'll see if video of games from that season can still be pulled up on BTNPlus, and I'll take a look. The other way, that I just tried and failed, would be to pull up the line charts they regularly post on the twitter account. I looked to see if there was a way to 'search' the content of someone else's twitter account; there is, but only if they have their account set up to let you do so, and the UW Women's hockey account doesn't appear to allow it.

 

[ARM]

I am 99.9% certain that for their first two years - and that would include the 61 point season - Curl and Shirley were line mates. Who was their third? When I get a chance later, I'll see if video of games from that season can still be pulled up on BTNPlus, and I'll take a look. The other way, that I just tried and failed, would be to pull up the line charts they regularly post on the twitter account. I looked to see if there was a way to 'search' the content of someone else's twitter account; there is, but only if they have their account set up to let you do so, and the UW Women's hockey account doesn't appear to allow it.

I sampled a few games from here, and it looks like she was mostly with Watts, centered by Pettet (sorry about the misspelling earlier) near the end, but earlier by Roque.
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1920/schedules/wisw

 

[robertearle]

I sampled a few games from here, and it looks like she was mostly with Watts, centered by Pettet (sorry about the misspelling earlier) near the end, but earlier by Roque.
http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1920/schedules/wisw

I was able - surprisingly! - to pull up full game videos at BTNPlus; I'll have to remember that when I've got nothing better to do. I looked at the start of four different games and got different top two line combinations in each of the four (probably means different 3rd lines, too, but I didn't go that for)

Oct 4 vs Penn State: Roque, Watts, Shirley and Schneider, Curl, Norby.
Nov 17 vs Mankato: Roque, Watts, Shirley and Pettet, Curl, Mauermann
Jan 24 vs Minnesota: Roque, Curl, Norby and Pettet, Shirley, Watts
Feb 16 vs Ohio State (Fill The Bowl): Roque, Curl, Mauermann and Pettet, Watts, Shirley

So for 2019-2020 Shirley's 61 point season, Watts was the constant (and not as I thought, Curl. That must have been their freshman year).

 

[Steamboat]

UW will score so much next year goaltending won't even matter. Wink.

We shall see. I am excited because 1) I have 100% confidence that the leaky D play will be a thing of the past 2) MJ will have the right players on the roster in the G spot to deliver us a Natty.

I see the swagger is back. We look forward to months of chortling until Chicken Little returns and tells us that the sky is falling.

 

[slapshot willy]

Points in hockey are definitely related to how good a player is for sure. But they are most definitely related to who a player plays with, ice time including pp time and the opposition (close games against strong teams, blowouts against weaker teams)