Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

I love all the Olympic talk and no-doubt Alev Kelter is an amazing athlete! But we are only 5-1/2 weeks from the first games Badger fans! What are people thinking about this years team and their chances to win it all? How about thoughts on line combinations, D-pairings, power play, PK, etc.? Lets get the talks rolling!

One of two teams from the WCHA will most likely win the national championship and there is one of those teams whose "chances" seem better than the other this coming year.

[Badger Booster]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

http://isthmus.com/arts/sports/badge...etter-retires/

One of the first Wisconsin-born/raised elite players to play for the Badgers. Good luck to her in her future endeavors.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

At this point in the summer, I don't see a 12th forward just appearing out of nowhere. Looks like most, if not all, the freshmen are already on campus. I don't remember the last time they weren't able to play 4 full lines. Maybe one of the listed defensemen is being targeted to convert to a forward. It's definitely happened in the past (Mikkelson, A. Kelter).

There are 7 D's, so it is a possibility, though we don't know if Rolfes will be ready to go or not. In the end I'm not sure how much the 4th line matters. When they play the tougher teams the bench shrinks anyway. Only have 11 F will matter if they have injuries. The other thought on the F's is 2018, they will not have Panny and possibly Clark, which would leave them @ 12 or 11. That's why it's curious MJ didn't ever fill the 12th spot or even go with 13 this year.

Ranking the D, 1 - 7....Ryan, Channel, Rolfes, Gardner, Steffen, Williams, Rowe.

[pokechecker]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

One of two teams from the WCHA will most likely win the national championship and there is one of those teams whose "chances" seem better than the other this coming year.

#ThreePeat

[Leather helmet]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

One of two teams from the WCHA will most likely win the national championship and there is one of those teams whose "chances" seem better than the other this coming year.

I predict the Gophers roll 4 lines throughout the WCHA championship game, and the Badgers, because they have only 11 F, are forced to double-up one of their centers, who is therefore a step slow late in the game due to exhaustion, leading to an uncovered player in the slot, resulting in a 1-0 Gopher victory.

For want of a nail, the war was lost.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

I predict the Gophers roll 4 lines throughout the WCHA championship game, and the Badgers, because they have only 11 F, are forced to double-up one of their centers, who is therefore a step slow late in the game due to exhaustion, leading to an uncovered player in the slot, resulting in a 1-0 Gopher victory.

For want of a nail, the war was lost.

I think UW will bury the rodents and they will be forced to not play their 4th line at all. Quality > numbers

[pensrule]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

There are 7 D's, so it is a possibility, though we don't know if Rolfes will be ready to go or not. In the end I'm not sure how much the 4th line matters. When they play the tougher teams the bench shrinks anyway. Only have 11 F will matter if they have injuries. The other thought on the F's is 2018, they will not have Panny and possibly Clark, which would leave them @ 12 or 11. That's why it's curious MJ didn't ever fill the 12th spot or even go with 13 this year.

Ranking the D, 1 - 7....Ryan, Channel, Rolfes, Gardner, Steffen, Williams, Rowe.

Great observations. I really don't think having only 11 forwards will hurt at all. I agree for the most part with your rankings of the defense. Rolfes could really be the "X" factor if she is healthy.. How do you rank the Forwards?

[D2D]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

Great observations. I really don't think having only 11 forwards will hurt at all.

True if they can stay mostly injury free and academically eligible.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

Great observations. I really don't think having only 11 forwards will hurt at all. I agree for the most part with your rankings of the defense. Rolfes could really be the "X" factor if she is healthy.. How do you rank the Forwards?

Rolfes was a top D pair player before she stopped playing. She had 10 pts in 10 games, was +18 and had 10 blocks as well.

Ranking the F's is too hard, I don't know where to slot in the Freshmen. I don't think any of the F will be behind Johnson, but will they be better than Pankowski, Clark, Nurse, Wellhausen, Cogan, Shaver or McKibbon? I sure hope so, but I don't see it.

I think Wellhausen is going to have a monster year. She was impactful in every way but the scoresheet last year, especially once she was off Pankowski's line. There's no way she's going to score under 30 points this year. Shaver too, who made the U22 roster, that says a ton right there. It's gonna be big year for the making deposits in the opposing team's net.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

True if they can stay mostly injury free and academically eligible.

It's a risk I would not have taken as a coach. Surely he had some opportunities over the last 12 months to land a serviceable forward.

[pensrule]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

Rolfes was a top D pair player before she stopped playing. She had 10 pts in 10 games, was +18 and had 10 blocks as well.

Ranking the F's is too hard, I don't know where to slot in the Freshmen. I don't think any of the F will be behind Johnson, but will they be better than Pankowski, Clark, Nurse, Wellhausen, Cogan, Shaver or McKibbon? I sure hope so, but I don't see it.

I think Wellhausen is going to have a monster year. She was impactful in every way but the scoresheet last year, especially once she was off Pankowski's line. There's no way she's going to score under 30 points this year. Shaver too, who made the U22 roster, that says a ton right there. It's gonna be big year for the making deposits in the opposing team's net.

I agree that if Rolfes is indeed healthy then I think the Badgers will be plenty deep on the defensive side of things. She was a "blue chip" type of recruit before being injured. I also agree that Wellhausen could have a very good year this season. 30 points may be a bit high of a prediction considering she really wasn't part of the power play last year. But I could definitely see her somewhere in the 20+ point range. She was one of the best forwards on the team over the last month of the season. Played with a ton of confidence and always plays hard.

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

Guessing lines is a crapshoot, but let's shoot some craps. Could go with a superline setting the wheels in motion:

Clark/Pankowski/Nurse
Shaver/McKibbon/Roque
Cogan/Norby/Wellhausen
Mauermann/Johnson/XXX

Could go more conventional:
Cogan/Pankowski/Clark
Nurse/McKibbon/Roque
Shaver/Norby/Wellhauson
Mauermann/Johnson/XXXX

Could go wacko
Pankowski/Norby/Nurse
Cogan/McKibbon/Roque
Shaver/Wellhausen/Clark
Mauermann/Johnson/XXXX

I don't know why keep putting Mauermann on the 4th line, she and Roque could be interchangeable, hopefully they are. Mauermann popped 55 pts last year at SSM (just under a pt per game) (FYI Brett Pettet, UW class of 17, popped 65 pts as a JR @ SSM). Roque was 2nd team all MI playing against da boyz and scored 36 pts (over a pt per game). I am expecting big things out of Norby, averaged over 2 pts per game.

[rangersrule]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

Guessing lines is a crapshoot, but let's shoot some craps. Could go with a superline setting the wheels in motion:

Clark/Pankowski/Nurse
Shaver/McKibbon/Roque
Cogan/Norby/Wellhausen
Mauermann/Johnson/XXX

Could go more conventional:
Cogan/Pankowski/Clark
Nurse/McKibbon/Roque
Shaver/Norby/Wellhauson
Mauermann/Johnson/XXXX

Could go wacko
Pankowski/Norby/Nurse
Cogan/McKibbon/Roque
Shaver/Wellhausen/Clark
Mauermann/Johnson/XXXX

I don't know why keep putting Mauermann on the 4th line, she and Roque could be interchangeable, hopefully they are. Mauermann popped 55 pts last year at SSM (just under a pt per game) (FYI Brett Pettet, UW class of 17, popped 65 pts as a JR @ SSM). Roque was 2nd team all MI playing against da boyz and scored 36 pts (over a pt per game). I am expecting big things out of Norby, averaged over 2 pts per game.

Well Coach Johnson certainly has some talent to work with when talking about the 11 forwards. It will be interesting to see what lines he puts together. I happened to see a few of these players when they played in highschool/prep school. We used to live in Minnesota and I saw my share of the girls hockey and some Shattuck games as well. A couple years ago I saw Wellhausen play a number of games and she really stood out to me her senior year. I think she scored close to 80 points that season in like 45 games or so. I did see Brette Pettet play when she was a freshman and she is definitely the real deal! In my opinion Norby is probably the top forward in this seasons freshman class followed by Roque and then Mauermann. It should be fun to see how Steffen fits in as well on the d-corps! As I mentioned, the coaching staff has a wealth of talent to work with this season!

[Timothy A]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

Shaver and Pankowski and are the 1st line for the US U22 team and Nurse and Clark are on the Canadian U22 1st line.

[pensrule]

Re: Wisconsin Badgers 2016-2017

Shaver and Pankowski and are the 1st line for the US U22 team and Nurse and Clark are on the Canadian U22 1st line.

2-1 USA loss... Nurse scored a goal for Canada.