Thomas Rowe wrote:
 
>Wisconsin has this incredible dominance on Friday night.  Friday they
>outplayed CC and won 5-2.  And the level of play was indicative of the
>score - they seemed better at all phases of the game by about that score
>difference.
>
>Saturday, it was like night v. day.  CC totally dominated the Badgers
>for the first two periods and whacked them 6-2.  It was as if Wisconsin
>had no fire (until late in the 2nd and into the 3rd period) and just
>couldn't get it on.  Admittedly, Daubenspeck didn't have one of his
>better games, but you can't blame the loss on him.  And CC also looked a
>lot more ready to play than they did Friday.
 
The Badgers came out fired up on Friday night, as they do every weekend.
The passing was pretty crisp, the guys skated well, and they took advantage
of CC mistakes.  Granted, it didn't look like CC played as well as we know
they can, but UW was playing like they did down the stretch last year.
 
Then Saturday (which sucks for me because I have Saturday night tickets and
have only seen them win 3 times this year, including one on a Friday) Bucky
came out flat.  CC skated circles around us, beat us to pucks,
out-physicaled us in the corners, caught Dauber on one of his off-nights,
and caught a few breaks (i.e. Brian Swanson's goal when the puck bounced out
of the CC zone, right to him coming out of the penalty box for a breakaway).
 
>So, which is the *real* Wisconsin team and which is the *real* CC team?
>And why can't Wisconsin get it up for Saturday night?  The obvious
>thought that occurs is that the Badgers are motivated but not
>sufficiently conditioned for that 2nd game.  However, from watching
>them, I don't think that's the answer.  My best guess would be its a
>kind of mind-set thing.  Its like they say to themselves "Well, we can't
>seem to win on Saturday so why get all fired up about it" or maybe "Hey,
>they're ranked above us and we got our split - anything more is gravy."
>I'm just speculating here without anything to back it up.  Anybody out
>there think they know what's going on?
 
While I can't claim to "know" what's going on, I do agree that the Badgers
are victims of their own minds.  If they think that a split at home at this
time of year is good enough (even against CC, who hasn't been swept in 54
WCHA series now), they better go back to the drawing board.  There is talent
on this team; it was evident on Friday, and just didn't show up at the Great
Dane Saturday.
 
Todd
.......................................................................
By Todd D. Milewski             [log in to unmask]
of The Cardinal staff           [log in to unmask]
                                http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/5614
 
"When the Cowboys won the Super Bowl, Dallas went crazy, but when the
Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl again, all America will go crazy."
                                                -Brett Favre, 1994
 
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