3 stars, 3 things that stood out in Wisconsin's upset win over No. 1 Minnesota

[Da-news-now]

The Badgers were resilient and played a composed game to knock off the Gophers in the Big Ten opener. Here's how it happened in Minneapolis.

Continue reading...

 

[TW]

I finally got to watch a game. I was able to watch it right after watching the Bucks game, by setting it up to play on demand. I was impressed by the way the Badgers played as a unit, how they neutralized the Gopher speed, and the way they protected the front of the net. Everyone knew their job, and did it.

The Badgers played so well that Minnesota was frustrated in the 3rd period, and it showed. That 5-minute misconduct was well earned. It's just fortunate he didn't get a skate to the face because of it. It could have ended up a severe injury, and a suspension.

Two things. The Badgers helped each other play their game on the ice. There is no "It's all about me!," on this team. You can tell, while watching, that it's not going to happen out there. Secondly, the Badgers don't give up offense to play defense, and they don't give up defense to play offense. The two mesh together because they are good skaters, stick handlers, and passers. They don't wildly flail at pucks, they know where they're going.

If they can take the second game from the Gophers this weekend, that #14 ranking is going to drop easily into the single digits, and set them up as one of the top teams in the Big 10. It's really exciting seeing a focused team like the Badgers have.

I'm going to watch every game I can this year.

 

[Crease Creature]

Minnesota only managed 24 shots on goal, you're gonna win a lotta games playing team defense like that.

Also, I love what I'm seeing from McClellan (G). We haven't had a netminder we can be confident in for a long time. He's shown some serious improvement from last season. And that goes back to the first point, the rest of the team is keeping him clean so that he can stand out.

 

[TW]

Minnesota only managed 24 shots on goal, you're gonna win a lotta games playing team defense like that.

Also, I love what I'm seeing from McClellan (G). We haven't had a netminder we can be confident in for a long time. He's shown some serious improvement from last season. And that goes back to the first point, the rest of the team is keeping him clean so that he can stand out.

He gets down flat on the ice. No room to skip one between his pads.

The Badgers are only giving up an average of 23.1 shots per game. That's pretty darned good. Considering that they only gave up 24 to the #1 team in the game, it's awesome. At the same time, they're getting up 39.1 themselves. Another point to smile about. I love the stats available. It pretty much spells out where this team is heading.

2023-24 Men's Hockey Cumulative Statistics | Wisconsin Badgers

The official 2023-24 Men's Hockey cumulative statistics for the Wisconsin Badgers Badgers

uwbadgers.com

 

[57packer]

There was never much doubt that Granato brought in talent. He just, for whatever reason, could never get to play as a team and to play solid team defense. This team already seems ahead of anything we saw for the last several years.

 

[Crease Creature]

He just, for whatever reason, could never get to play as a team and to play solid team defense.

There's no question that whatever his brother Don brought to the table was something they just could not replicate. When Don left after year 2, Tony and Mark Osiecki (despite a career as a d-man himself) were never able to get back to that point. Then Cole Caufield came a couple years later, and the team showed an offensive spark but the D still sucked.

But this, whatever Hastings is doing, is phenomenal. Even if we in turn get spanked by Minny tonight, I fully expect some life to return to the Kohl Center next weekend.