As Dave Parter already posted, the Badgers showed little sign of life at
last nights showdown.  Frankly they deserved to lose.  Stupid penalties,
no hustle, standing around, *poor* passing, *rotten* stick-handling,
"power play?  what's that?"...
 
I'll congratulate the Gophers on the upcoming season sweep right now.  (We
play them for the first of four times on Jan 19.)
 
The Badgers scored first on a 5-on-3 power play - Raygor with a drive from
the right faceoff circle at 7:57 of the 1st.
 
The Irish evened the score at 13:57 of the 1st, also on the power play, with
Ling on a wrap-around that appeared to miss G-Daubenspeck's pads wide to
the ice-side and hit either his stick or his stick-hand glove and deflect in.
 
ND added another power play goal at 8:49 of the 2nd (Dhadphale) and a short-
handed goal at 17:33 of the 2nd (Morshead) to really take the life out of
the crowd (and the Badgers).
 
The Badgers pulled within one at 10:26 of the 3rd period as Sanderson split
the D and beat Eisler in the 5-hole.
 
Wisconsin seemed to get some life for about 3-4 minutes late in the third
period, actually playing like a hockey team, but they couldn't score and
so they went back in their shell with about 2-1/2 minutes remaining.
 
One of the prime examples for me of the Badger's lack of discipline was when
Daubenspeck, after making a save on his knees in close, reacted to a mild
poke at his pads with a left to the jaw of the Notre Dame player while still
on his knees.  He got a 2-minute roughing penalty out of it.
 
There was alot of talk around us of the need for Jeff Sauer to be replaced
as head coach of the Badgers.  His hockey knowledge was praised, but his
lack of discipline with his team was brought up again and again.  Frustration
with a down year?  Perhaps in part.
 
One other note: as a former UW Varsity Band member, I was surprised by how
little the band seemed to try to fire up the crowd.  I mean, there were 14,000+
people there just waiting for an excuse to get excited, and all we got was
The Beer Barrel Polka and the like.  Very few cheers started with the band at
all, and there were *no* skyrockets.  It seemed like the fans had to start their
own cheers (like the guy in the white sweater who runs up and down the aisles
with two pieces of cardboard, one with "GO" the other with "RED".  Ho hum...)
Maybe the band has given up hope for the season, too.
 
It's probably a good thing that Wisconsin lost.  They would have been completely
embarrased and humbled by the powerful BU team that played in the first game.
You'd think the Badgers could learn a thing or two from watching a team of the
Terrier's caliber play.  Observing them from the stands may be the best thing
to happen to Bucky this weekend.
 
--
Steve Manning         Merge Technologies, Inc.   Phone: (414) 475-4300
Service Engineer      1126 S. 70th Street          Fax: (414) 475-3940
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