Brian Elliot signs

[Hilltopper99]

UW goaltender finished his career last weekend in the final five and is signed with the Senators. Heading to Binghampton for the rest of the season.

[boblee]

Congrats Brian.

[nikebauer_07]

One of my favorite sights from last weeks Final Five.. Elliott getting "the start" until the first whistle, but he actually managed to give up a goal in the first minute! He then stormed off of the bench and threw his stick and glove to the floor.. So much for Wisconsin being the State of Hockey this year

[MNHockeyFan1]

One of my favorite sights from last weeks Final Five.. Elliott getting "the start" until the first whistle, but he actually managed to give up a goal in the first minute! He then stormed off of the bench and threw his stick and glove to the floor.. So much for Wisconsin being the State of Hockey this year

Why did they pull him so quickly?

[nikebauer_07]

One of my favorite sights from last weeks Final Five.. Elliott getting "the start" until the first whistle, but he actually managed to give up a goal in the first minute! He then stormed off of the bench and threw his stick and glove to the floor.. So much for Wisconsin being the State of Hockey this year

Why did they pull him so quickly?

I'm guessing they just wanted to let him start since it would more than likely be his last game wearing a Badger uniform (which it turned out to be) and then let Connelly, who is a soph, get some experience.

[wisconsinprephockey]

So much for Wisconsin being the State of Hockey this year

Don't know where your getting that Wisconsin was supposed to be the state of hockey this year, whoever it is doesn't know much about the sport.

I wish it were true, but sadly, it is not...

[nikebauer_07]

So much for Wisconsin being the State of Hockey this year

Don't know where your getting that Wisconsin was supposed to be the state of hockey this year, whoever it is doesn't know much about the sport.

I wish it were true, but sadly, it is not...

Well last year whenever it was.. some of the lesser knowledgeable hockey fans in wisconsin were proclaiming this after both the men and women won the titles last year..

[wisconsinprephockey]

Hmmmm...

Defenately a great moment for Wisconsin Hockey, and tremendously contributed to the building of Wisconsin Hockey Tradition.

Far cry from the state of hockey...

[Hilltopper99]

I made the comment last year after the mens and women's national championships, but CLEARLY wrote that I was joking. It's so ridiculous I never thought anyone would remember it. Nevertheless congratulations to the Badger women on the repeat (have to give Canada a lot of credit for this one).

[nikebauer_07]

I made the comment last year after the mens and women's national championships, but CLEARLY wrote that I was joking. It's so ridiculous I never thought anyone would remember it. Nevertheless congratulations to the Badger women on the repeat (have to give Canada a lot of credit for this one).

I saw it other places, too so it wasn't just you topper

[wally_wizall]

Ok, so this is to whoever is saying Wisconsin isn't the state of hockey. I totally agree, it isn't. But it is more credible at a collegiate level than Minnesota. I am a die hard Badger fan and all my roomates are die hard Gopher fans. We have this arguement all the time about what college has a more credible hockey reputation. Hands down it is Wisconsin. Wisconsin has been to 8 NCAA Championships and won 6 of them. Minnesota has been to 11 NCAA Championships and won 5. The incredibly sad part about it is Minnesota has the "cream of the crop" to pick from when it comes to recruiting youth players year in and year out and yet have only 5 NCAA titles to show for. Everyone knows Minnesota is the nations hot bed for breeding great youth hockey players, which would lead most people to believe they have a trophy case full of NCAA titles. However the U of M can never seem to put it together when it comes to playing in late March/April. The point I am trying to make is Wisconsin has the elements to "make it work with what they have." We can win when we need to win and unlike the Gophers, the Badgers can finish late in the season.

So like I said before, when it comes to Minnesota or Wisconsin, Wisconsin is clearly the state of collegiate hockey.

[wildhckyfan14]

Ok, so this is to whoever is saying Wisconsin isn't the state of hockey. I totally agree, it isn't. But it is more credible at a collegiate level than Minnesota. I am a die hard Badger fan and all my roomates are die hard Gopher fans. We have this arguement all the time about what college has a more credible hockey reputation. Hands down it is Wisconsin. Wisconsin has been to 8 NCAA Championships and won 6 of them. Minnesota has been to 11 NCAA Championships and won 5. The incredibly sad part about it is Minnesota has the "cream of the crop" to pick from when it comes to recruiting youth players year in and year out and yet have only 5 NCAA titles to show for. Everyone knows Minnesota is the nations hot bed for breeding great youth hockey players, which would lead most people to believe they have a trophy case full of NCAA titles. However the U of M can never seem to put it together when it comes to playing in late March/April. The point I am trying to make is Wisconsin has the elements to "make it work with what they have." We can win when we need to win and unlike the Gophers, the Badgers can finish late in the season.

So like I said before, when it comes to Minnesota or Wisconsin, Wisconsin is clearly the state of collegiate hockey.

by your logic Michigan is the State of Collegiate Hockey, and by making it work with what you have do you mean recruiting Canadians?
the awesome thing about Minnesota is year and year out they have a team composed of nearly all homegrown Minnesota hockey players, next year, no matter what happens the team will be all Minnesotans, and the U of M takes pride in fielding a competitive team of mostly Minnesota boys. How many teams can say they recruit mostly with in their state?

[George Blanda]

Ok, so this is to whoever is saying Wisconsin isn't the state of hockey. I totally agree, it isn't. But it is more credible at a collegiate level than Minnesota. I am a die hard Badger fan and all my roomates are die hard Gopher fans. We have this arguement all the time about what college has a more credible hockey reputation. Hands down it is Wisconsin. Wisconsin has been to 8 NCAA Championships and won 6 of them. Minnesota has been to 11 NCAA Championships and won 5. The incredibly sad part about it is Minnesota has the "cream of the crop" to pick from when it comes to recruiting youth players year in and year out and yet have only 5 NCAA titles to show for. Everyone knows Minnesota is the nations hot bed for breeding great youth hockey players, which would lead most people to believe they have a trophy case full of NCAA titles. However the U of M can never seem to put it together when it comes to playing in late March/April. The point I am trying to make is Wisconsin has the elements to "make it work with what they have." We can win when we need to win and unlike the Gophers, the Badgers can finish late in the season.

So like I said before, when it comes to Minnesota or Wisconsin, Wisconsin is clearly the state of collegiate hockey.

Tough to agree with that when Minnesota has four more D-1 hockey teams than Wisconsin.

Tough to disagree with the man that said Michigan should be considered the State of College hockey. Most NCAA titles in that state BY FAR.

The thing is...for the past however many seasons, the Gophers have been ranked #1 in the country for a good chunk of time. For a lot of that time, they have been playing with pretty much only freshmen and sophomores. Which might have something to do with why they can't finish late in the season like Bucky.

[boblee]

I dont know how you can argue against Minnesota. They have 5 D1 teams. On a yearly basis, 1-2 will be very good, 1-2 will be above average, and 1-2 will be average. Tough to argue against.

[Hilltopper99]

When I think about a "state of hockey", I consider not only the quality of a university club in a given year, but an entire culture of the sport. Minnesota has ponds filled with kids, hockey rinks in the parks, top-notch talent at the youth, HS, collegiate levels and an NHL franchise. In my mind these factors and many others make MN the "state of hockey". I too am a huge Badger fan - I live in Wisconsin, after 15 years in MN, attend a handful of games a year and love to see the Gophers fall to Big Red. But I can't even find a place to skate in the southeastern part of the state, can't get excited about the Milwaukee Admirals, unless an ex-Badger or Gopher is in town, and The HS talent is few and far between (although quickly improving). Point is - Minnesota is clearly the state of hockey, maybe Massachusetts or Michigan has a claim, but I know Wisco does not.
(Maybe the state of distance running though - a ton of olympians live and train in Madison and UW is a premier CC and track program in the country. Or the state of speed skating perhaps.)

[wally_wizall]

This is in realation to the gentleman who was talking about Minnesota having all Minnesota kids. Last year when Wisconsin won it all we had 13 or 14 Wisconsin natives on that team. So obviously the majority of Bucky's squad was made up of Wisconsin born players. Doug Woog and now Don Lucia ae trying the whole "minnesota kids" thing. The bottom line, it doesn't work! Minnesota cannot expect to win a championship if they don't go out of state. Just look at their last 2 championships. The 2 reasons they won them were because of Grant Potulny (North Dakota) and Thomas Vanek (Austria). So you have to get players from elsewhere if you're ever going to be a serious contender for an NCAA title. The whole all minnesota kids thing is cute and all, but isn't putting and real harware in the trophy case, just scrap metal.

So minnesota has to rethink their approach to recruiting.

[The Exiled One]

This is in realation to the gentleman who was talking about Minnesota having all Minnesota kids. Last year when Wisconsin won it all we had 13 or 14 Wisconsin natives on that team. So obviously the majority of Bucky's squad was made up of Wisconsin born players.

...and four Minnesotans.

Ok, so using your criteria: take last year's Gophers, add David Backes, Travis Morin, Matt Niskanen, Joe Jensen, and even Luke Erickson (all Minnesotans on other MN College teams), then see if they wouldn't have "won it all" last season.

Sorry, but collegiately the state of Minnesota is still king, they just have that 5 D1 colleges thing to contend with.

[Blue Breeze]

This is in realation to the gentleman who was talking about Minnesota having all Minnesota kids. Last year when Wisconsin won it all we had 13 or 14 Wisconsin natives on that team. So obviously the majority of Bucky's squad was made up of Wisconsin born players. Doug Woog and now Don Lucia ae trying the whole "minnesota kids" thing. The bottom line, it doesn't work! Minnesota cannot expect to win a championship if they don't go out of state. Just look at their last 2 championships. The 2 reasons they won them were because of Grant Potulny (North Dakota) and Thomas Vanek (Austria). So you have to get players from elsewhere if you're ever going to be a serious contender for an NCAA title. The whole all minnesota kids thing is cute and all, but isn't putting and real harware in the trophy case, just scrap metal.

So minnesota has to rethink their approach to recruiting.

Wisconsin has 1 title since the early 90's. Outside of last year the Badgers have done nothing in the tourney under Eaves. Should he re-think his approach to recruiting? I'd say you'd argue against it. Minnesota under Lucia has been an elite team and a title contender each year outside of his first. Yea, let's scrap the philosophy and start from scratch.

Kris Chucko, Peter Kennedy, Grant Potulny, Ryan Potulny, Phil Kessel, Kellen Briggs, Sam Lofquist, Grant Scott. All non-Minnesotans recruited in the Lucia area, and there are more that I can't remember at this point. He'll go after kids from different states, but when you have such fertile ground for recruiting, there isn't a need to venture far.

[wildhckyfan14]

This is in realation to the gentleman who was talking about Minnesota having all Minnesota kids. Last year when Wisconsin won it all we had 13 or 14 Wisconsin natives on that team. So obviously the majority of Bucky's squad was made up of Wisconsin born players. Doug Woog and now Don Lucia ae trying the whole "minnesota kids" thing. The bottom line, it doesn't work! Minnesota cannot expect to win a championship if they don't go out of state. Just look at their last 2 championships. The 2 reasons they won them were because of Grant Potulny (North Dakota) and Thomas Vanek (Austria). So you have to get players from elsewhere if you're ever going to be a serious contender for an NCAA title. The whole all minnesota kids thing is cute and all, but isn't putting and real harware in the trophy case, just scrap metal.

So minnesota has to rethink their approach to recruiting.

So you're saying it only takes one player to win a championship? and who was that one player for the BADgers last year? Most would say the person this topic is about, Brian Elliot (Canadian). Wisconsin had a good team last year and they did win both Men's and Women's so that automatically makes them the end all of the college hockey universe, If I recall the U of M did the exact thing a few years back winning both men's and women's and we just went about our business because we know the truth.

[wildhckyfan14]

I dont know how you can argue against Minnesota. They have 5 D1 teams. On a yearly basis, 1-2 will be very good, 1-2 will be above average, and 1-2 will be average. Tough to argue against.

also I wasn't arguing against Minnesota just disproving the one who said Wisconsin is, think about how many D-1 teams Michigan has also, but really only about 2-3 of them are really competitive on a yearly basis.

[wally_wizall]

To respond to a lot of that............Brian Elliot was indeed a factor last year and a huge one at that. But Robbie Earl and Joe Pavelski carried the load for most of the playoffs however. If I remember right I believe Pavelski had 3 goals against Bemidji state in the 1st round, and Earl was Mr. frozen 4 last year at the Bradley Center. So yes, Elliot was the man, but we also needed great offense to get where we did. Not to discredit Wisconsin's Tom Gilbert who had a monster goal against BC.

And to thew Minnesota fan that keeps talking about 5 D-1 teams. That is great and all, but lets be realistic. The U of M is the only year in and year out solid team this state has. Sure UMD and SCSU take there turns at having a good run once every 4 years or so but the U of M is the only real contender. Mankato and Bemidji are hardly powerhouses. They flat out suck.

Also, if it were up to me I would say the land of college hockey belongs to Michigan. With 9 titles and more credible collegiate teams than Minnesota it is clearly a better state for college hockey. But when considering my main point which was Minn vs. Wisc, I'll take Badger Hockey anyday over the Gophers!

[puckoff077]

To respond to a lot of that............Brian Elliot was indeed a factor last year and a huge one at that. But Robbie Earl and Joe Pavelski carried the load for most of the playoffs however. If I remember right I believe Pavelski had 3 goals against Bemidji state in the 1st round, and Earl was Mr. frozen 4 last year at the Bradley Center. So yes, Elliot was the man, but we also needed great offense to get where we did. Not to discredit Wisconsin's Tom Gilbert who had a monster goal against BC.

And to thew Minnesota fan that keeps talking about 5 D-1 teams. That is great and all, but lets be realistic. The U of M is the only year in and year out solid team this state has. Sure UMD and SCSU take there turns at having a good run once every 4 years or so but the U of M is the only real contender. Mankato and Bemidji are hardly powerhouses. They flat out suck.

Also, if it were up to me I would say the land of college hockey belongs to Michigan. With 9 titles and more credible collegiate teams than Minnesota it is clearly a better state for college hockey. But when considering my main point which was Minn vs. Wisc, I'll take Badger Hockey anyday over the Gophers!

michigan has a lot more people to choose from, and they also have players from other states. and yes they do have more NCAA titles than the gophers, but a majority of them (6of9) came in the first ten years, when there weren't as many D-1 teams out there. SCSU is a contender much more than once every four years. And as for your earlier post of how they can't win with just minnesota boys, just wait for next year. Kangas is a really solid goalie and was the piece that this team was missing.

[grindiangrad-80]

Congrats to Elliot- He is a heck of goalie. He should have an excellent career.

Wally Wizzall- Aw, nevermind.

[Blue Breeze]

The badgersd are getting Hickie! He was the Mr. Hockey winner and he jumped ship to Wisconsin. So obviously Eaves can recruit!

Go Bucky, down with Goldy

He was not the Mr. Hockey winner, further burying your argument. And you didn't even spell it right, it's Hickey. You must be a diehard.

[Blue Breeze]

I didn't know this was grammer school retard. Who cares how you spell it, all I know is he is going to be lighting the lamp against you tools next year and you'll be talking about "the one that got away" or as we call them in Wisconsin "The one who thought about his decision and wised up"

OWNED

Yea, you really "owned" me there didn't you. Hickey might not even be there next year. Good luck having him light the lamp on a team that scores about 2 goals per game. Is he going to be getting all of those? Dare I bring out the all-time head to head records of these teams? I hope you had fun here, cause I have a feeling your time will be short-lived.