WCHA Playoffs

Rough Year For The Badgers
"Curse of the Seawolf II" afflicts program
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From: Wisconsin State Journal
by Mike Baggot

(left) Its been a bumpy ride since the Badgers won the National Championship back in April


If you're holding out hope the defending NCAA men's hockey champions are going to pull it together and make a gallant run through the playoffs, a little advice:

Let it go.

It's just not going to happen.

University of Wisconsin players can put forth an inspired, pedal-to-the-metal, do-or-die performance every night from here on out and it won't change the inevitable outcome.
This season is going to end sooner than anyone associated with the program wanted, or expected, and there are two theories to support such a belief.

One: No matter how much they want to, or try to, the Badgers are not going to change who they have become during the first 30-plus games. They are inconsistent, offensively challenged and prone to underachievement
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Two: Fate simply has other ideas.

Since that day in early April when UW athletic director Barry Alvarez declared ownership of college hockey - celebrating the unprecedented feat of men's and women's NCAA titles in the same year - strange things have happened to the men and I'm not even talking about the fact they have faced three goaltenders whose last names begin with "Z."

It started within days of that Alvarez-led civic celebration when junior winger and leading goal scorer Robbie Earl told the gathering masses that he would return this season and then turned pro a few days later, signing with Toronto.

A month later, UW coach Mike Eaves learned center Sam Gagner, a 2007-08 recruit projected to be a top-10 NHL draft pick this summer, had changed his mind and was going to play Major Junior in Canada.

In June, Badger Jeff Likens was arrested for disorderly conduct at "CountryFest" when he fell into a tent at four in the morning while a family was sleeping inside.

July brought a moment few saw coming: Sophomore center and leading scorer Joe Pavelski turned pro, signing with San Jose and playing alongside Matt Carle this season.

Ten days before school started the San Jose Sharks struck again, Mike Potenza, the respected and well-liked strength and conditioning coach for the men's and women's team, took a job with the NHL team.

For reasons still unclear, neither the men's or women's teams were invited to the White House for their traditional summertime photo-op with the president.

On the October night when the NCAA championship banner was raised at the Kohl Center, not only did the Badgers lose in overtime to North Dakota, their top three returning scorers suffered significant injuries. Wingers Jack Skille and Ross Carlson missed 11 and seven games, respectively, while defenseman Kyle Klubertanz missed three.

Upset with a lack of playing time, freshman defenseman Nigel Williams dropped out of school in November and joined Gagner in the Ontario Hockey League.

Center Blake Geoffrion had his scooter stolen during preseason training camp and defenseman Davis Drewiske had his NCAA championship ring stolen in December.
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Then Kyle Klubertanz was charged in December with criminal damage to property for toppling a cow sculpture in front of the Kohl Center for an incident that occurred back in August. Klubertanz and a former teammate were reportedly on their way home from a night at a campus area bar when they decided to tip over one of the CowParade Wisconsin cows at the Kohl Center.

Asked about this timeline, Eaves told a story about a man who walks the beach and keeps picking up pieces of coal. One breaks open and on the inside is a diamond.

"In all these quirky things that have happened, is there something worthwhile that we can take with us and use at the end of the year?" Eaves said. "I don't know that answer to that, but that's the way you have to look at it."

11 comments:

Schoolgirl said...

Please help us all bloggers out there!
We are two Norwegian students from the Norwegian School of Management, BI who are writing master thesis about blogging. In order to develop a theory related to blogging, we need to do a qualitative research. Due to this, we would ask you to help us fill out a short survey. It will only take a short time to answer the simple questions in this web survey.This survey is for research purposes only, and your answer is very important to the accuracy of our research. We are not selling anything, and your personal information is secured and your answers will be grouped anonymously. Click the "Yes, I'll take the Survey" button bellow to begin the survey.
We really appreciate your time and thank you for helping us developing this theory of blogging!
Sincerely
Annicken Hejna and Veronica Isaksen


http://confirmit.bi.no/wix/p1378943.aspx

du78 said...

DG,

Wow, you have some Norwegian schoolgirl hotties after you! Very impresssive!!

The article is great and after reading it I thought it was one of your masterpieces.

dggoddard said...

Mike Baggot wrote the story for a Madison fishwrap last week. i just added the details about the arrests and spiced up a few sentances. Is that wrong?

Norwegian schoolgirls? I think I'll leave that alone.

Anonymous said...

You think I could get some Norwegian school girls if I had a blog? This might be the motivation I need to get of my lazy butt and finally start one. I bet they'd be greatly impressed by my cape.

dggoddard said...

Dirty,

No doubt. Chicks dig bloggers.

du78 said...

I knew you must have emebellished the article, good job!!

I'll give the Norwegian hotties my theory of what your blogging theory is. If anything negative, bad or scandalous can be found out about any WCHA hockey team other than DU, it must be published with a particular emphasis on CC, UND and Minnesota. This makes for good reading and attracts visitors to the site. If a team outside of the WCHA has a transgession they are also fair game especially if DU might face them in an OOC game or national tourney. This results in fair and balanced reporting.

dggoddard said...

du78,

Let me know how that survey works out for you. You have my proxy.

du78 said...

No way, I don't want my machine to get infected with a virus!!!

Anonymous said...

I took one for the team and looked up this "site". The good news is there is no virus, it looks legit. The bad news is that it's in Norwegian and upon initial inspection there are no pictures of the Annicken and Veronica making out.

du78 said...

Dirty - maybe you can learn Norwegian in the next hour or so!

If you do ever get your blog going maybe you should have a Norwegian version also.

Eric J. Burton said...

DU78 your statement can be taken two different way.

Norwegian Hotties, sweet. I can imagine it would make a great movie.