> I'm curious why Badger coach, Jeff Sauer, benched his high-scoring
> junior centreman, Kelly Fairchild, for the whole first period in the
> Michigan game on Saturday. I heard that Fairchild was involved in an
> altercation which occured late in the MSU game on Friday.
 
> Was this move a class act by the coach? (i.e. He will not tolerate this
> kind of behavior from *any* player--even if one of his best players is
> involved...and to hell with the "win-at-all-costs" mindset.)
 
> Or did the altercation somehow play a factor in the loss to MSU, and
> Sauer wanted Fairchild to think twice about committing a bonehead play
> in the Michigan game?
 
> Can anyone who saw the game shed some light?
 
Fairchild was benched for the first period Saturday because he took a
10-minute misconduct penalty Friday night.
 
It was reported before the season that this would be the policy this
season. I do not know if it has been applied consistantly (hopefully
there won't be enough misconducts to make it an issue), and I don't
know if Sauer left himself room to decided that a misconduct wasn't
deserved...
 
So, I'd say partly class act, partly (long?) overdue discipline from
the coach... in past seasons, Sauer has had few rules
and left most internal discipline issues to his captains
 
He has said of himself (paraphrasing):  I'll always give the player the
benefit of the doubt.  I'm just not that a scream-and-yell, get tough
kind of coach.
 
        --david
 
 
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david parter                                         [log in to unmask]
university of wisconsin -- madison          voice: 608-262-0608/262-2389
computer sciences department                           fax: 608-262-9777