No asterisk - the results are the results. The question is what do the results tell us and are they relevant to what will happen in March.
No question that the Badgers were missing far more from their lineup than OSU.
Two games this weekend where our premier women's programs visited their chief rival and their primary competition for a conference championship.
Badger volleyball traveled to #1 Nebraska and looked completely outclassed after a tight 1st set. The Badgers are clearly the 2nd best team in the B1G and the 3rd best team isn’t close. Unfortunately though, the gap between the Badgers and the Huskers is about the same. While Badger volleyball has a lot of talent and I’m bullish on future seasons, I don’t see the Badgers closing the gap this year.
Badger hockey travelled to OSU and lost a couple of tight games. There is no gap between these two teams and with full rosters on both sides, it’s a tossup at this point or to be honest, I feel like the Badgers will be the better of the two by the end of the season.
For that to happen, we'll need to be healthy and Nela in particular will need to find her game. She was mainly invisible this weekend but I wonder how it would have been had she been on her normal line. Thought Kimbrel made some strides and she's gonna be a pest to opponents. Thought McNaughton could have made a few more saves and didn't have her best weekend and will be better next time. Hall is looking to be our most dangerous forward - I know she's a great goal scorer but I guess I didn't remember how fast she is - beating OSU players to pucks all over the ice.
Yeah... I'm pretty optimistic and like our chances. Badger volleyball probably can't beat Nebraska this season but Badger hockey can absolutely beat this OSU team.
Maybe that’s just me seeing it through homer goggles (it’s not), but I thought OSU would look more skilled than they did.
They're all about attitude/intimidation and clutch and grab and traffic in front of the net. They certainly have skill, but they don't win by out-skilling their opponents. They muck up the game and finish checks (that are supposed to be illegal) and run into skaters in open ice as a way to slow down their faster/quicker opponents.
It's their game plan and it works quite often. It's not the kind of hockey I enjoy watching but I'm sure OSU fans enjoy watching wins, so they probably love it. Might as well make checking legal though if you're gonna allow them to run into every player on the ice even after the puck is long gone. Is interference still a penalty?
OSU better hope they get WCHA refs in the Frozen Four.
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Obligatory - that rink and webcast sucks so hard. I just can't imagine being a fan or a parent and that's where you have to see an elite B1G program play their games. My son's youth rink was twice as big and didn't have netting on the sides. Do they have the warmers above the seats? Did they do chuck-a-puck between periods? Pathetic.
The announcers were fine and did good job though - worlds better than ours.
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Would Dunne be considered elite if she wasn't a giant? I'm never wowed when I watch her. Has some skill and her hands are pretty good. But for the most part , she's just bigger than everyone else... a bull in a china shop. Meh.
