I've often been critical of Jeff Sauer as a head coach.  That has led to
several private e-mail confrontations between other Badger fans and me.
 Here's a switch:  I'm impressed with his choice of Mark Johnson to take over
the special teams coaching duties.
 
I've still not seen a game (I will eventually nuckle under and buy the damned
satellite so I can get feeds from MSC when they play the Gophs and maybe
SCSU, and PSRM when they play Denver and maybe CC, but I haven't yet), but I
like what I've read about the energy shown on the power play.
 
And, unlike other years (and maybe because of the already mentioned dearth of
posts to hockey-l), I haven't heard about the great individual talent on the
team (that word, again, that doesn't have an "I").  Could it be that the head
coach is being a head coach, surrounding himself with competent assistants,
and recruiting players to fit the needs of the team, versus the best athletes
(and egos) around?  I see that Bill Howard is still goalie coach.  I really
feared losing him when his son graduated.  But Jeff Sauer managed to keep the
guy who is (in my opinion) the best goalie recruiter and college coach in the
US in the Cardinal and White.
 
Dare I say that I'm optimistic about this year, and next year?
 
Now if only they could start playing twice on Friday, or Friday and
Sunday....
 
Steve G
 
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