Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

[GBBadger14]

I caved and bought the monthly BTN Plus subscription. Too excited for hockey!!!

(Plus is need something to distract me from the result of that football game.)

Anybody else watching the BTN2GO feed? Can only faintly hear the radio call.

[Innova]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

Not going to be a good night for evaluating the goalies.

[KaMiGo]

Attendance is about what I would expect for an exhibition game on a football weekend. 300 level - maybe 20 people, 200 level - maybe 10-15%, 100 level - about 50%.
I dig the new uniforms and the "forward arrows" in the stripes.
No advertising on the boards yet, so that looks kind of odd.
Dressing 2 goalies. Second guy sits on a chair in the tunnel.
Of the 23 other skaters, they managed to cram then in shoulder to shoulder on the bench.
Lots of energy on the ice, a little sloppy as you would expect for the first game, but I'm having a blast.
HOCKEY SEASON IS BACK!!!

[MadCityRich]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

I would've gone to the game, but I'm in Vilas County at my bro's doing some angling. Was interesting listening to Brian Posick & Ian Perrin (on line) talking about the UV Vikes. They had to pay their own airline tickets to MSN and only dressed 17?

Those kids had to be exhausted. Jeez, I think we all should pony up some cash and run them up to Marquette in a Badger Coach. Kudos to them.

[Bonin21]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

Who would win between Victoria and your women's team?

[MadCityRich]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

Who would win between Victoria and your women's team?

Trouble maker.

[Bonin21]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

Trouble maker.

It was half serious. Doesn't look like Victoria has played an NCAA exhibition in years. Would a USHL team beat them?

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

I really enjoyed that, because there were a lot of things we normally don't get to see during the regular season, no matter how good or bad the Badgers are. It was pretty clear the Badgers had enough talent to win on talent alone, and watching the Besse/Kunin/Hughes line didn't even look fair.

Tony Granato got (what sounded to me like) a noticeably strong wave of extra cheering at the end of the UW lineup announcements.

I'm surprised Victoria went with their starting goalie the whole game. (Of course, I don't know their plan for the season ahead.)

Does anyone know much about the BCIHL? It appears they're outside of the window of CIS. I've looked up some of the players listed in the box score (http://www.uwbadgers.com/boxscore.as...hockey&id=7485), and it appears to be predominantly guys who played Junior A*, some lower leagues, though at least one had a full WHL career. (*A bunch of these guys only managed a few games at the BCHL level; I'm not sure of the degree to which the CJHL leagues vary.)

That game happened, and it was pretty much unrelated to the season that's about to take place. I hope the Badgers won't sit in the penalty box as much as they did tonight, though. Anyway, it was a ton of fun.

[Buckeye22]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

Does anyone know much about the BCIHL? It appears they're outside of the window of CIS. I've looked up some of the players listed in the box score (http://www.uwbadgers.com/boxscore.as...hockey&id=7485), and it appears to be predominantly guys who played Junior A*, some lower leagues, though at least one had a full WHL career. (*A bunch of these guys only managed a few games at the BCHL level; I'm not sure of the degree to which the CJHL leagues vary.)

The BCIHL is sort of an anomaly in college hockey. Its a five team league. It's unique in that it crosses the border (4 of the 5 teams are in British Columbia; Eastern Washington is in the United States), it's a mix of university and junior college teams (4 of the 5 teams are four-year universities; Selkirk College is a primarily two-year community college) and it's a mix of varsity and club teams (4 of the 5 teams are considered clubs; Trinity Western, who you guys played last year, are considered varsity). In terms of level of play the league is probably slightly better than ACHA DI club hockey, but worse than CIS. Trinity Western's goalie who kept things close with you guys last year had some professional experience in Europe before coming to TWU. A few years back great goaltending almost allowed Simon Fraser to upset North Dakota. So basically you guys shouldn't be surprised by the scoreline against the Vikes, but there's definitely some talent in that league that peaks out every once in a while.

[solovsfett]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

You know it Solo! All hail G2O!

While Victoria may not be a good measuring stick I like the fact UW put up 10 on them and Tony alluded to the team not getting complacent with a big lead. I think he's the right coach at the right time. He's got a great understanding of UW's tradition and history of excellence in hockey (and by that I mean Badger Bob through the Sauer years until 1994) and he's absolutely driven to achieve greatness but he also seems to want to have fun while doing it and I think that echoes Badger Bob (remember reading about fancy capers in practice? or installing european style power plays?) and that really seems to resonate with today's players.

[Wisko McBadgerton]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

So it seems from last night that next week the top 13 will likely be:

Kunin-Hughes-Besse
Wagner-Frederick-Johnson
Labosky-Malone-Zimmer

Linhart-Tischke
Greenway-Mcguire


After that we had F lines:

Zirbel-Soleway-Ford
Cavallini-Ustaski-Freytag

and D:

Davison-Bunz
Sexton-Hurley

The top nine are going to be fun to watch. I thought Hughes looked especially impressive on the puck and if he can just stay healthy, that line is going to do big things. Was also impressed with Zimmer's sheer speed and Labosky's all around game.

If Bunz indeed steps over Sexton to play, I think that bodes well for the Badgers. Sexton has a very good head for the game and produces big hits, but Bunz is a probably a much better skater. Seems both F and D will start the year with at least one guy capable of playing D-1 not in the line up, and that alone is a significant step forward.

[GBBadger14]

NMU played Victoria today.

NMU won 10-1.

[gwhinwi]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

NMU played Victoria today.

NMU won 10-1.

Should be a fun weekend series then.

[BuB]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

Good article by Oates in the WSJ - it's an interview with Granato, talking about what he would like to see from his teams - an energetic and attacking style. In addition, Granato reiterates his plan that he understands there are guys he will not have for four years, and working through that plan then on recruiting trail so that the team does not see the peaks and valleys of the previous regime.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/sports/c...24f67d3b3.html

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!

Good article by Oates in the WSJ - it's an interview with Granato, talking about what he would like to see from his teams - an energetic and attacking style. In addition, Granato reiterates his plan that he understands there are guys he will not have for four years, and working through that plan then on recruiting trail so that the team does not see the peaks and valleys of the previous regime.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/sports/c...24f67d3b3.html

Great article. The change in philosophy should be great as a fan. More entertaining games.