Wisonsin came out flying in the third game of the best-of-three
playoff.
 
5 Badger goals in the first 15 minutes put the game away (actually, the
goals were in the middle 10 minutes of the period). Kochen we pulled,
replaced by Mitchel (I think), who played very well for the remainder.
The Badger goals came mainly because they were really flying, playing
hard, making plays, forcing Northen Michigan mistakes, and making them
pay them. In the other end, Wisconsin played very solid defense, and
Daubenspeck looked much sharper than last night.
 
NMU got on the board with about 12 minutes left in the third, but that
was it for the Wildcats. We thought Wisconsin would put Soper in
at that point, to give Daubenspeck some rest and Soper a chance
to play, but Dauber stayed in.
 
=======================================================================
 
Misc notes:
 
- Except for tonight's game, Wisconsin and NMU have played very
  close all season -- in January the teams tied twice in Marquette.
 
- The officiating by Buzz Christiansen and Bob Ames was not an issue
  this weekend. As always, they let a little bit more go uncalled
  than I like, but they were not a factor. Jon Elvy (from Minnesota)
  was the linesman.
 
- The Badgers continue to get balanced scoring and are avoiding
  stupid penalties.
 
- Twice last night, and once tonight, a Wildcat player was down
  on the ice and the officials blew the play dead while Wisconsin
  was controlling the puck. I thought the rule was to wait until
  the team of the injured player had the puck ...
 
- Senior Defenseman Mark Strobel did not play at all this weekend,
  due to a knee injury in last Sunday's game. Hopefully he will
  be back for the game Friday.
 
- Sauer said last week that this season has been a rejuvinating
  experience for him. He made some adjustments last summer, and
  made an effort to keep the coaching staff and team focused, but
  did not change his basic coaching philosophy. The last few
  years have been really hard on Sauer. The addition of Assistant
  Coach Pat Ford (a former Badger player who was an assistant
  at NMU for the past two years) also helped, according to Sauer.
 
  Sauer praised the team for playing their roles, working hard,
  playing hard, and enjoying the game, and for their ability to
  bounce back and get the job done.
 
 
        --david
 
 
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david parter                                         [log in to unmask]
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