WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

[Go4PuckFan2.0]

A lot more parity in college hockey these days. No program is entitled to success these days, and if there were, UW wouldn't be near the top of the list. It's hard to take these entitlement comments seriously when your own administration doesn't make hockey a priority.

Enjoy your six titles. With the mindset you have I get the feeling it will be a long time before UW gets another. They certainly don't have the conference hardware to show they are a consistent contender.

Duck...

[Dirty]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

Duck...

Duck...GOOSE!!!

[JDUBBS1280]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

BTW - My comments aren't inteded to be instigational. I'm just pointing out something I think gets danced around quite a bit. If you really want change, everything should be on the table for discussion. And I genuinely feel like the perception of UW has changed from a "hockey school" to just a school that has hockey under Alverez.

[TUSCHWI]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

And I'm sure there are others like you. Just giving an outsider's perspective. UW used to be regarded as a hockey school. A destination for hockey. Slowly but surely that is fading. I think that is a big factor that is being ignored. No school is top tier at everything. School's prioritize. hockey is just no longer a priority at UW. Just my two cents.

I appreciate an outsiders perspective Dubbs. With the emergence of FBall and BBall, hockey would naturally suffer to a point. Even so, there's no excuse for missing the NCAA's and not getting home ice in the WCHA playoffs with the facilities and everything else WI has. Heck, other football heavy schools (Michgan besides this year, and Notre Dame) are able to do it. And like I said before I think, if we're going to lose, at least play an exciting style style and lose 5-4...but score some goals.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

UW's gotten the talent...it hasn't performed...and that's coaching...not administration.

How can you be sure, though? Because they have some high draft picks? I just don't think that you can say that it is all coaching when you have the same guy that has had two championship caliber teams.

[markwojo]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

There is not a simple explanation (the lack of sucess relative to expectations at a school like UW). Hockey has slipped down the totem pole as football and basketball has risen in prominence, while money has poured into new facilities for basketball and renovations of Camp Randall (and no the Kohl is not there because of hockey and hockey is a mere afterthought often bounced for womans basketball and freaking high school wrestling), hockey has largely been ignored until the construction of LaBahn. The fact that the mens program was practicing in the Collosium for as long as they were is an embarassment. One of the bigger problems has been the uneven classes where it is feast of famine of either a veteran team or one devoid of virtually any upperclassmen (we are heading for that crash again in 2 seasons)...and Eaves has had a decade to fix that and has not. There has been a talent issue as well. While Eaves has gotten his share and done particularly well with Dmen recruits...he is always missing an elite forward or two and the goalies between Elliott and Rumpel have been mediocre at best. There has rarely been enough scoring depth and that only gets compounded when guys like Turris, Stepan, Smith, or Murray leave a year sooner then hoped/expected.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with Eaves and the results speak for themselves. In 11 years, no conference season or tourney championships, rarely in the tourney, and mediocrity at best. This trainwreck is on par with the end of the Barney era.

While you can argue Wisconsin's entitlement, please list how many teams have more advantages then Wisconsin in the college hockey world? There are certainly schools that do....North Dakota, Minnesota, BC....but there are not 14 programs (figure with 2 autobids....you only have to be in the top 14 to make the tourney) where Wisconsin should not be in the tourney at the least most years instead of rarely which is what we have evolved into.

[Almington]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

How can you be sure, though? Because they have some high draft picks? I just don't think that you can say that it is all coaching when you have the same guy that has had two championship caliber teams.

The issue is how Eaves handles the talent that he gets into the program. One National title, Two Frozen Four Appearances, ZERO Final Five Titles, ZERO Regular Season titles, 5 NCAA bids and an overall 0.550 winning percentage in 10 Years.

Eaves runs the program like a professional hockey organization, where each player is brought in to fill a very specific roll and then Eaves develops that player to fill that specific role. Thus by the time they are seniors they fill those roles with excellence (or they don't play). The problem is that not every player can make the transition to the next level (particularly in an offensive role) and when Eaves "misses" on one of the players he has counted on for offensive production their is no one of the team who can step up to fill the missing production because that is not what they are trained to do. For the most part, Eaves led teams are lacking in secondary scoring.

Even with UW's administration not making Hockey it's #1 priority, it is still putting more resources towards the program than 90+% of all the other schools. If the administration is guilty of anything it is being far to laissez-faire attitude towards the program and apathetic with regards to the results provided that revenue didn't decline and no NCAA violations were committed.

[DoorCtyBadgers]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

A lot more parity in college hockey these days. No program is entitled to success these days, and if there were, UW wouldn't be near the top of the list. It's hard to take these entitlement comments seriously when your own administration doesn't make hockey a priority.

Enjoy your six titles. With the mindset you have I get the feeling it will be a long time before UW gets another. They certainly don't have the conference hardware to show they are a consistent contender.

you dont need conference hardware to be national champions......

[JDUBBS1280]

I appreciate an outsiders perspective Dubbs. With the emergence of FBall and BBall, hockey would naturally suffer to a point. Even so, there's no excuse for missing the NCAA's and not getting home ice in the WCHA playoffs with the facilities and everything else WI has. Heck, other football heavy schools (Michgan besides this year, and Notre Dame) are able to do it. And like I said before I think, if we're going to lose, at least play an exciting style style and lose 5-4...but score some goals.

I agree, not saying it's impossible to be successful at both sports. But look at Michigan, the school you used as an example. They had a 17 year tournament drought at one time. Granted, they have been a model of consistency lately, but it just goes to show that few programs, if any, are immune to down periods.

One big advantage that Michigan also has that UW doesn't is being in the flagship program in one of this country's most fertile recruiting grounds. They get a ton of top kids just because they grew up Michigan fans.

We've seen a lot of success recently at smaller schools where hockey is the school's primary (or in some cases only) D1 sport. These schools prioritize hockey and put a lot of emphasis on their programs. Inversely, we have seen a lot of the big schools where hockey isn't the only big show on campus struggle more than they have in the past.

Minnesota had a 3-4 year down stretch, Michigan is horrible this year, and UW has been struggling as of late. These schools are just not guaranteed to be successful year-in and year-out any longer with the parity in college hockey.

I think it has been a bit easier for Michigan and Minnesota to minimize the down-swings because of the recruiting advantage I discussed earlier. UW will have some really great years moving forward, but unless they change the perception of just being a school with hockey instead of a hockey school, I don't think they'll see the same consistency they have seen in the past.

[DoorCtyBadgers]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

I appreciate an outsiders perspective Dubbs. With the emergence of FBall and BBall, hockey would naturally suffer to a point. Even so, there's no excuse for missing the NCAA's and not getting home ice in the WCHA playoffs with the facilities and everything else WI has. Heck, other football heavy schools (Michgan besides this year, and Notre Dame) are able to do it. And like I said before I think, if we're going to lose, at least play an exciting style style and lose 5-4...but score some goals.

tuschi you hit the nail on the head, if the badgers were at least playing some brand of exciting hockey then you wouldn't have as fans bailing at the rate they are...play great hockey, keep it exciting and all the rest takes care of itself

[JDUBBS1280]

you dont need conference hardware to be national champions......

I never said you did. It is a good outlier for consistency though. And let's be honest, it's not like UW has been raking in the national titles the last 20 years. They have capitalized when they have been close, but those years have been much fewer and farther between than other programs it considers its peers.

[JDUBBS1280]

There is not a simple explanation (the lack of sucess relative to expectations at a school like UW). Hockey has slipped down the totem pole as football and basketball has risen in prominence, while money has poured into new facilities for basketball and renovations of Camp Randall (and no the Kohl is not there because of hockey and hockey is a mere afterthought often bounced for womans basketball and freaking high school wrestling), hockey has largely been ignored until the construction of LaBahn. The fact that the mens program was practicing in the Collosium for as long as they were is an embarassment. One of the bigger problems has been the uneven classes where it is feast of famine of either a veteran team or one devoid of virtually any upperclassmen (we are heading for that crash again in 2 seasons)...and Eaves has had a decade to fix that and has not. There has been a talent issue as well. While Eaves has gotten his share and done particularly well with Dmen recruits...he is always missing an elite forward or two and the goalies between Elliott and Rumpel have been mediocre at best. There has rarely been enough scoring depth and that only gets compounded when guys like Turris, Stepan, Smith, or Murray leave a year sooner then hoped/expected.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with Eaves and the results speak for themselves. In 11 years, no conference season or tourney championships, rarely in the tourney, and mediocrity at best. This trainwreck is on par with the end of the Barney era.

While you can argue Wisconsin's entitlement, please list how many teams have more advantages then Wisconsin in the college hockey world? There are certainly schools that do....North Dakota, Minnesota, BC....but there are not 14 programs (figure with 2 autobids....you only have to be in the top 14 to make the tourney) where Wisconsin should not be in the tourney at the least most years instead of rarely which is what we have evolved into.

There are at least ten teams in college hockey today that put as much resources (or close enough) into their hockey programs to be considered equals to UW in that Dept. UND, UMN, Miami, Notre Dame, UNH, BC, BU, UMD, DU, Michigan State, etc...

UMD, BSU, Notre Dame, UNO soon, etc... all have or are getting new arenas. Schools like UNO, SCSU, UMD don't have as much resources as UW, but hockey is king at those schools. It's what made UND so successful.

Then, with the parity in college hockey there seems to be more and more smaller programs being competitive.

It's not like UW is in the back-yard of a major recruiting market, getting all those top recruits, and then failing to win. UW is having to compete with more and more programs for top recruits, and is losing more recruiting battles than before. That's why the entitlement act is kind of a joke. Especially when the sport isn't as big of a priority for the administration anymore.

[markwojo]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

you dont need conference hardware to be national champions......

Point was already made, but I'll repeat it. Conference success is a sign of excellence in the program. Lack of really ANY conference success is indicative of the state of the program under Eaves.

[Almington]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

Point was already made, but I'll repeat it. Conference success is a sign of excellence in the program. Lack of really ANY conference success is indicative of the state of the program under Eaves.

The Badger have only 4 F5 appearances making ZERO title games with Eaves as the coach. Yuck.

[markwojo]

Re: WISCONSIN Hockey Vol. XXIV - Craziest Season Of All Time

There are at least ten teams in college hockey today that put as much resources (or close enough) into their hockey programs to be considered equals to UW in that Dept. UND, UMN, Miami, Notre Dame, UNH, BC, BU, UMD, DU, Michigan State, etc...

Then, with the parity in college hockey there seems to be more and more smaller programs being competitive.

It's not like UW is in the back-yard of a major recruiting market, getting all those top recruits, and then failing to win. UW is having to compete with more and more programs for top recruits, and is losing more recruiting battles than before. That's why the entitlement act is kind of a joke. Especially when the sport isn't as big of a priority for the administration anymore.

That's not the 14 needed to keep UW out of the tourney and some on your list in comparison to UW are dubious. Notre Dame with their brand new shiny 5000 seat arena is not on par with Wisconsin when it comes to hockey. The fact that there is even a slight possibility of that being debateable is a testimony to why Eaves must go. No history. No local recruiting base.