Wisconsin Women's Hockey 2022-2023

[Lindsay]

Lol....le was parked in front of the net during the pp in the 2nd period. Umd is the better team do far. Get out of the d zone easy, tape to tape passes, pp creates chances. It seems like they have an extra player on the ice all the time. Bummer.

Oh ok. I didn’t watch yesterday. I wouldn’t abandon her as a net front present right away nonetheless.

Seems like a great second half is ahead in terms of parity. OSU Wisconsin will be a great series.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Wow! I can't believe Wisconsin got swept at home. I thought that wouldn't happen until the Buckeyes came to town! (Wink)

 

[wiscolorado]

What a fantastically disappointing series for the Badgers. I am not sure if I'm more inclined to takeaway that UMD is a lot better than I realized, or that UW is not as good this year as I thought/hoped. Perhaps both of those things are true to an extent. I am extremely impressed with how well UMD defended. The Bulldogs hardly made a defensive mistake all weekend, and they blocked so many shots and passes. UW didn't make many mistakes either, but there were a few, and they paid for them.

UW simply must improve offensively. One goal in three games is patently unacceptable, even against good opponents. As stalwart defensively as UMD was this weekend, UW did have a good number of decent scoring chances in both games. They were struggling to generate A+ chances, but they had enough decent chances that they should have been able to finish a few of them.

 

[robertearle]

About the middle of the third period, this thought occurred to me, and right now I honestly don't know the answer: which is more likely, that Wisconsin wins the WCHA, or Wisconsin fails to make the NCAA tournament?

Neither, of course, is likely, but which is less unlikely. I do not know.

(Also, when's the last time they got swept at home? Raty-era Gophers, 2014 or so?)

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Hey Timothy A, I've asked you this in previous seasons but any chance of you coming to Columbus next weekend?
What about any other Wisconsin forum members?

 

[Timothy A]

What a fantastically disappointing series for the Badgers. I am not sure if I'm more inclined to takeaway that UMD is a lot better than I realized, or that UW is not as good this year as I thought/hoped.

Both.

 

[robertearle]

Both.

Duluth played for the National Championship last year (and got beat on a couple fairly fluky goals).

 

[wiscolorado]

Duluth played for the National Championship last year (and got beat on a couple fairly fluky goals).

Ah, I knew that OSU won last year, but I didn't know that UMD was the runner up. Coming into this weekend, I really just knew that UW had a better record than UMD so far this season (although not by a huge margin). I just moved back to Madison last summer after being away for a few years, so I'm getting back into college hockey and caught up with things this season. It turns out that it's kind of difficult to follow college hockey from southern California and southern Arizona....

 

[robertearle]

Ah, I knew that OSU won last year, but I didn't know that UMD was the runner up. Coming into this weekend, I really just knew that UW had a better record than UMD so far this season (although not by a huge margin). I just moved back to Madison last summer after being away for a few years, so I'm getting back into college hockey and caught up with things this season. It turns out that it's kind of difficult to follow college hockey from southern California and southern Arizona....

I lived in Torrance CA for about 25 years, including the time period when UW women's hockey became what they are now. Trust me, it's gotta be a WHOLE lot easier now than it was in 2006.

 

[ARM]

When looking at UMD in the standings, it helps to remember that they have completed their season series with tOSU, and now, they're also done with UW. Other than their second series with the Gophers, and that's in Duluth, they'll be a clear favorite in their remaining games.

When UMD has Soderberg in net, with Bell and Flaherty in front of her, I think that's as challenging a back half to score on as there is in the country. The 'Dogs don't have the offensive depth of some teams, but they have two comeback wins versus UW, and they rallied from two down to force OT with UM. They seem to be greater than the sum of their parts.

As for UW, the Badgers have a ton of talent. However, they are also counting on a lot of young talent, while the other contenders rely heavily on senior leaders. UW has seniors, too, but the Badgers seem to be better set for the future than the other WCHA teams.

 

[wiscolorado]

I lived in Torrance CA for about 25 years, including the time period when UW women's hockey became what they are now. Trust me, it's gotta be a WHOLE lot easier now than it was in 2006.

I can imagine! The proliferation of streing options is a great thing. Even so, for me, I found it hard to stay interested in the team when I was far away from Madison and unable to attend any games in person. And I had plenty of other things going on in my life to keep me occupied. For those couple of years, I would check in on the scores every now and again, to see how the team was doing, but that was about it. I did find ESPN's Spanish language stream of the 2021 national championship game that I watched from Tucson. I am still unsure why I was only able to access a Spanish stream, and not an English one, but mostly I was just happy to have a way to watch!

 

[wiscolorado]

When looking at UMD in the standings, it helps to remember that they have completed their season series with tOSU, and now, they're also done with UW. Other than their second series with the Gophers, and that's in Duluth, they'll be a clear favorite in their remaining games.

When UMD has Soderberg in net, with Bell and Flaherty in front of her, I think that's as challenging a back half to score on as there is in the country. The 'Dogs don't have the offensive depth of some teams, but they have two comeback wins versus UW, and they rallied from two down to force OT with UM. They seem to be greater than the sum of their parts.

As for UW, the Badgers have a ton of talent. However, they are also counting on a lot of young talent, while the other contenders rely heavily on senior leaders. UW has seniors, too, but the Badgers seem to be better set for the future than the other WCHA teams.

That is important context that I was unaware of. I was very impressed with Soderberg this weekend. She was fantastic, especially on Saturday. UMD can beat anyone in the country if she is playing as well as she did this weekend.

There's a lot left still to play for this season, and we'll see how things turn out, but it is nice to know that the expectation is that this season should be at worst a slight and temporary downturn from the normal level we are accustomed to in Madison. It is fun to see how players improve during their time in the program.

 

[Timothy A]

When looking at UMD in the standings, it helps to remember that they have completed their season series with tOSU, and now, they're also done with UW. Other than their second series with the Gophers, and that's in Duluth, they'll be a clear favorite in their remaining games.

When UMD has Soderberg in net, with Bell and Flaherty in front of her, I think that's as challenging a back half to score on as there is in the country. The 'Dogs don't have the offensive depth of some teams, but they have two comeback wins versus UW, and they rallied from two down to force OT with UM. They seem to be greater than the sum of their parts.

As for UW, the Badgers have a ton of talent. However, they are also counting on a lot of young talent, while the other contenders rely heavily on senior leaders. UW has seniors, too, but the Badgers seem to be better set for the future than the other WCHA teams.

The D is fine, the goaltending is fine. The top end players are not getting it done for UW offensively. The expectation was the Olympic residency players would play big and play big in big games. Compher, Curl, Eden and Harvey should be the one the team leans in the big games to score. Then the next level are SS and OB. They don't have someone who can make the big plays when they need to like Pankowski and Roque did. It's not there, now. Is going to somehow come together? It's getting late in the season to expect a player or players to suddenly raise the level of play. Something is missing.

To see them lose at Q, then have more good than bad yesterday and more bad than good tonight shows they are trending in the wrong direction.

Maybe slide Picard up to C the 3rd line. She's was more noticeable this weekend than Simms with a lot less playing time.

 

[robertearle]

I can imagine! The proliferation of streing options is a great thing. Even so, for me, I found it hard to stay interested in the team when I was far away from Madison and unable to attend any games in person. And I had plenty of other things going on in my life to keep me occupied. For those couple of years, I would check in on the scores every now and again, to see how the team was doing, but that was about it. I did find ESPN's Spanish language stream of the 2021 national championship game that I watched from Tucson. I am still unsure why I was only able to access a Spanish stream, and not an English one, but mostly I was just happy to have a way to watch!

"Streaming" helped turn me into a Badger women's team fan.

I was sitting around doing nothing on a Saturday night in early 2004 when I thought to check and see how the men's team was doing. As it happened, they were playing right then (North Dakota), and the UW web site has a stream of the game available; such video streaming was just becoming "good enough" around then. So I watched, and then got into the habit of checking for such video streams of UW home games; often as not the streams were of the women's team. I started watching them just as they got 'good', and before long I was hooked.

But video streams were few and far between otherwise, sometimes you could find streams of radio broadcasts (Bemidji, particularly). Often there was only "live stats" windows. For national championships, you could find a cable broadcast on some channel or other, and then go to the local sports bar and talk them into putting the game on a monitor way over in the corner while the rest of the bar watching basketball 'March Madness'. (I remember particularly that UW lost the 2008 championship the same day some kid named Steph Curry and Davidson (who?) were taking down the UW basketball team.)

 

[ARM]

The D is fine, the goaltending is fine. The top end players are not getting it done for UW offensively. The expectation was the Olympic residency players would play big and play big in big games. Compher, Curl, Eden and Harvey should be the one the team leans in the big games to score. Then the next level are SS and OB. They don't have someone who can make the big plays when they need to like Pankowski and Roque did.

I'd definitely include O'Brien in your top level. Shirley has been a top-line player on a championship team. I'd have them near the top, and in SS's case, making a play doesn't necessarily mean scoring. It is hard to look to Harvey and Compher to be the nucleus of the team when it is their first year with a team that has so many vets with a couple of rings. The situation was different when Duggan or Pankowski returned, as their teammates were accustomed to rallying around them.

The D and goaltending might be fine, but they aren't yet at championship Wisconsin level. You've had teams where they weren't going to give the opponent anything, and eventually, the offense was going to score. I'd take UMD's goaltending over yours. Maybe that will change in a couple of months, but that's how it looks now.

 

[Patricio]

What an ugly weekend. After today, Bucky has lost three in a row and managed only 1 goal over 9 periods!!!! And there is a strong possibility that the strings may be extended next weekend. And the final two weekends of the regular season against MN and OhSt are only 3 weeks away. The way things are looking now, the Badgers may well suffer SIX more losses before the regular season ends and a 7[SUP]th[/SUP] in the WCHA tournament that follows in which they will play either MN or OhSt again. Not a recipe for a bid to the NCAA championship.

Suddenly, something is seriously wrong. It began last weekend against Quinnipiac and got worse this weekend. Assuming the coaches attempted to make adjustments between the two weekends as well as during the games, they still haven’t found any fixes. Somehow, they apparently decided switching the line assignments of Eden and SS would improve things. I was surprised by this when Eden was announced as starting on Line1 Saturday since I thought the first 2 lines were fine as they were. Personally, I have felt for a while that moving Picard to Line 3 with Simms and Woz and LE to Line 4 would make sense since Picard is similar to Simms and Woz in speed and aggressiveness, while LE has less speed and tends to be more passive. So, I think it would be nice if someone would explain the choice to shuffle the first 2 lines.

As for LE, many in this forum (including myself) have expressed interest in her establishing a presence around the net as a routine role (something which, in fact, started shortly after her recruitment was announced). The fact that she hasn’t adopted such a position suggests that the coaches have not as yet emphasized that she do this. She is a very tall and strong F for women’s hockey, and she likely would provide a distracting presence for goalies. But, like many of the taller girls in my sons’ classes, she may have experienced most of her growth before or shortly after starting high school. If so, she may not have had a need to be very aggressive to have her way on the ice and the level of aggressiveness at this level is unfamiliar to her. I also have noted that she has been less rambunctious when she scores goals. So, she simply may have a less aggressive personality and still is trying to adapt to the more intense level of play at this level. Frankly, if this is the case, I admire her for struggling and for refusing suddenly to adopt a totally new persona. Perhaps a line switch would help her decide how to adapt to the new environment and remain true to her personality. Everything I have heard about her indicates she is a wonderful young woman, and it is for her to define who she is on and off the ice. However, I can’t help wishing that she finds ways to occupy more space around the goal that she finds comfortable.

On a more positive note, nice to see Gervais return to action. Never know when one may need to call on a backup goalie.

 

[robertearle]

Re: Laila Edwards - during the U18 Worlds last summer (where she was the MVP, remember), I don't recall her spending much time in front of the net. I DO recall how comfortable she was with the puck on her stick, and how often and how long the puck found its way there and stayed there. So much so that I commented just that to the mother of current US U18 goalie, Anneleis Bergmann, and she readily agreed (Mrs. Bergmann happened to have tickets next to me for a number of nights, and we talked a great deal during the many games).

That is, the skill set she displayed last summer was an outside puck-handler and not someone inside, taking up space. If she could help the offense by setting up in front of the goal, I expect Mark Johnson would have her there. She's maybe more Meghan Duggan than Hilary Knight.

Don't try to fit a square peg into the round hole just because the hole needs filling. Instead, see if you have a round peg somewhere nearby.

 

[Timothy A]

I'd take UMD's goaltending over yours. Maybe that will change in a couple of months, but that's how it looks now.

I'd take UMD goaltending and D play (as a team unit) over UW's right now. And probably their F's too. UW is a team of immense talent who have not learned how to play at a high enough level as a group when under pressure. It's a deep flaw. If they make the ncaa's, they could win a game or 2, but if they get to the FF, I don't see getting out of the semi's.

WI clearly lacks a creator like Watts or Roque. I was hoping Harvey could fill that roll to some extent. She looked the part early on, but now against tougher competition she's not as wowy as before. Simms may be a creator in the making, we shall see.

And something else that strikes me is of the games I have seen, I don't recall seeing any sniper shot goals (maybe LE had one?), any goals where you say to yourself, "wow she put the puck there!?!". I get part of that is having time and space. Teams either give it to you, or you create it. UW is not creating it and teams are getting better at not giving you it either. Not even on the PP.

UW's forecheck has never been about planting a F in the front of the net. It's frustrating that they often times end up with 3 F below the goal line along the boards, get the puck, then have no one to feed. The D can't seep down too far because of the depth of the F's. I was very happy to see LE parked in front of the goal on the 2nd pp unit. Both units should do that, and then pass, pass shoot! Even stick 2 in front. These intricate down low plays are SO low percentage.

 

[Patricio]

I want to thank the authors (Robert Earle and Timothy A) for their posts preceding this one for their comments.

Robert does an excellent job explaining why LE has not adopted a role in front of the crease. He notes that he recognized in last summer’s U18 Worlds that her skill set is that of an outside puck-handler. I attended only two of the U18 championship games but do recall noting that she tended to adopt the same position during those games as she does with the Badgers. Anyway, his comments strike home and I will stop harping about her hanging out around the crease though (to answer a question Timothy raises) I will add that I do recall a LE hard wrist shot from between the circles that she snapped off into the upper right corner so quickly and with such speed the goalie was unable to react.

As for the U18 Worlds, though LE was voted the MVP of the Worlds, I personally was more impressed by the play of Potter, Simms and Janecke of the US and Ava Murphy of Canada – all of whom notably played with high intensity. For about half of the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] period I found myself sitting next to a member of Canada’s development team who was logging comments about the game, and he spoke very positively about Murphy. She and Potter are expected to join the team next year at D and I expect them to be entertaining to watch.

As for Timothy A’s post, I agree with all of it. So, I only can say amen.

For now, my curiosity (though not necessarily any posts) will focus on whether Picard gets a chance to play on the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] line with Simms and Woz. That and maintaining an adequate supply of beverages to dull the pain I see coming for the remainder of this season.

 

[Lindsay]

I went and rewatched her 4 goals and some of the assists from the u18s and I think we’re both right. Had success in front, and off the rush, off the wall etc.

Regardless Edwards is a wonderful hockey player and having a solid freshman season by any normal measure. I have no doubt more hockey success is in store for her and I am definitely cheering for her, as I do all the players from Ohio.