Badger Men's Hockey!

[Pokerbrat2000]

Well, its about time we discussed the Men's Hockey Team. A program with a great historical past, but has absolutely sucked since the whole Big10 reorganization and pulling out of the WCHA. I actually just realized that I was at the semi-final and final games, when the Badgers last won the NCAA Tournament in 2006, it was in Milwaukee. Can they do it again this year?

I was just happy with the way this program turned around in 2023, under their new head coach Mike Hastings. Nobody saw this coming. Now are they good enough to win it all? While I think they are, I doubt they do. This is a team that looks great one night and the next night, they absolutely suck. So to have that "Great team" show up for the next 4 straight games, is a long shot at best. I also think they got seeded into THE toughest quarter of the bracket. They start off today at 4:30 against the 2023 NCAA Champs Quinnipiac. The Bobcats finished at 26-9-2, with 7 0f their 9 losses being 1 goal games, 6 of them in OT. If somehow they get past the Bobcats, they will most likely face BC (Boston College), a team that has been ranked #1 in the country for most of the year.

It's a Great Day For Hockey, but will it end up being a GREAT year for the Hockey Badgers?

Tune in at 4:30 Central Time on ESNPNews today, to find out which direction it is headed in.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Entertaining game to watch and call me a homer, but I walked away from it frustrated with the officiating. I was glad to see that up until the last minute of the 1st period, the refs were basically letting them play. Then for whatever reason, they started calling nit picky penalties....but only on the Badgers. I am fine when refs call it loose or close, but come on, keep it consistent across both teams. Only 5 penalties were called during the game, 4 on the Badgers, 1 on the Bobcats.

3 situations where I thought the Badgers got absolutely hosed. When the Badgers were on their first and only power play (late in the 3rd period), score tied, the Bobcats committed 2 obvious penalties, neither were whistled. Even the announcers said something about them and concluded "Well they like to keep it close and not decide the game, they aren't going to call those." Oh really? so fast forward to OT, they call a slashing penalty on the Badgers, that wasn't much of anything. What happened to "keeping it close"?

The final "no-call" was during the Badgers only PP also. Bucky had a wide open net and the goalies stick, "left his hand" and hit the puck before it went in. Sorry, but a goalie doesn't just lose his stick in that situation, he threw it at the puck, which is an automatic penalty shot. Below is a quote from a local news story about this play.

"On a line change, William Whitelaw was able to get on the breakaway. He deked Duplessis to give himself an open net, but Duplessis was able to contort himself and appeared to throw his stick at the puck to prevent the goal. No penalties were called and the game continued."

Badgers brought down in overtime as season ends against Quinnipiac

PROVIDENCE, R.I – The Wisconsin men’s hockey team’s turnaround this season was something out of a storybook. The Badgers went from Big Ten bottom feeders, to nearly winning the regular

www.channel3000.com

 

[Voyageur]

It's too bad there wasn't a review of the play. According to the rules, I believe there can be a video review of a play if a major penalty would be considered part of it. Apparently the trigger for the replay is if the ref calls the penalty, not if a coach wishes to review a play that should have been called a major.

Let's face it. Over the last few years, Wisconsin's sports programs have been given the short end of the stick in just about every sport, and it's so obvious that even the conference won't weigh in on it by saying that everything is legit. I think about the two years that they did everything in their power to make sure Brad Davison wouldn't get the charging calls, despite the fact that it was obvious, play after play, that he had taken away driving lanes from opposing players.

The whole thing was based on the fact that he was playing defense the way it was designed to be played, not turning it into a circus act.

Then there's this year, watching the Badgers mauled by Purdue constantly, and the moment a Badger player would fight back, they were whistled for a foul. Then, Painter coming out and saying that the Badgers were "too physical" against their big guy in the middle, despite the fact he was the one initiating 90% of the contact. The league said nothing, as if what he said was okay.

Nothing will change if they don't get some hair on their rear area and start to make waves over it.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

It's too bad there wasn't a review of the play. According to the rules, I believe there can be a video review of a play if a major penalty would be considered part of it. Apparently the trigger for the replay is if the ref calls the penalty, not if a coach wishes to review a play that should have been called a major.

Let's face it. Over the last few years, Wisconsin's sports programs have been given the short end of the stick in just about every sport, and it's so obvious that even the conference won't weigh in on it by saying that everything is legit. I think about the two years that they did everything in their power to make sure Brad Davison wouldn't get the charging calls, despite the fact that it was obvious, play after play, that he had taken away driving lanes from opposing players.

The whole thing was based on the fact that he was playing defense the way it was designed to be played, not turning it into a circus act.

Then there's this year, watching the Badgers mauled by Purdue constantly, and the moment a Badger player would fight back, they were whistled for a foul. Then, Painter coming out and saying that the Badgers were "too physical" against their big guy in the middle, despite the fact he was the one initiating 90% of the contact. The league said nothing, as if what he said was okay.

Nothing will change if they don't get some hair on their rear area and start to make waves over it.

In the end, it is all suppose to balance out right?

Now I will say this about the Hockey game yesterday, like I said before, the officials were letting them play hockey, of course that was with a 1-0 Bobcat lead. Once the Badgers went ahead or the game was tied, that was when the whistles started blowing. Sometimes I wonder if Refs intentionally or sublimely want to help out the underdog, make the game more interesting?

I also don't like the fact that players and coaches can get fined for talking about the officiating. Everything else is free game, but leave those officials alone!

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Just a small bit of what I am seeing online about the officiating...."glad" to see it wasn't just me!

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