Western Conference Finals

Unfortunately the Chicago Blackhawks were eliminated last night in OT of Game 5 of the Western Finals by the Detriot Red Wings. Three Badgers were on the ice in Adam Burish for Chicago, and Brian Rafalski and Chris Chelios for Detriot. Rafalski and Chelios play for another Cup against the Pittsburgh Penquins starting saturday night on NBC. Burish had a great playoffs and has no reason to hang his head; Chicago is a team on the rise.

What I really wanted to bring up was the manner in which Detriot scored both goals last night and throughout the series. Last night, they scored both goals right around the net. As much as I dislike Detriot, I think Coach Eaves should take some of this tape and show it to the team. Over the past few seasons, the Badgers generally haven't scored a lot of goals by camping out in front of the net. While the PP was great last season, it was more of a function of Jamie McBain's brillance and his blue line friends, than it was the forwards making something happen (more often than not). John Mitchell and Blake Geoffrion like to camp out in front, but from my vantage point(s), the Badgers don't crowd the crease like other teams. I've seen a lot of juicy rebounds over the past several seasons, but there is rarely someone in position to capitialize.

W/ all the talent on the team this coming season, I expect the Badgers to do a lot of things well. I hope Eaves gets more action around the crease instead of passing around the perimeter until the puck skips over someone's stick and out of the zone w/ out getting a shot off. I want to see Geoffrion, Patrick Johnson, Craig Smith, the Bohmber, Sean Dolan and Mitchell camped out in front on their shifts in front the opponents sieve and scoring some goals from point blank.

The offseason: agonizing!