Andy Baggot has an update for us this morning on senior forward Michael Davies who was a healthy scratch last weekend against Colorado College. If you read the blog you probably saw that I had steam coming out of my ears over the decision to sit Davies.Mike Eaves claims that he has seen some progress from Davies in two practices since the decision to sit his top returning goal scorer. "He's just got to keep building on that and then we need to make a decision,'' Eaves said.
Eaves was asked if he'd previously settled for less than the maximum effort from Davies. "We've always battled it,'' Eaves said. "This is another attempt on our part to make that happen in terms of reaching his potential.''
Let me state this for the record again, I understand why Eaves sat Davies last weekend. I understand why he has sat him in the past. I still disagree with it. We have seen two years in a row how thin of a line it is to get into the NCAA tournament. We CANNOT afford to be sitting our top goal scorers because of Eaves thinks he's this bad ass disciplinarian. Last season all we needed was one, ONE more win or tie and we would have been in the NCAA tournament. Eaves needs to find better ways to motivate his players, especially players that are proven goal scorers.
Friday night we had plenty of chances to score goals, but we didn't because there is, and has been a severe lack of goal scorers on our roster since Joe Pavelski went to the NHL. Realistically, the only proven goal scorers on our roster this season are Michael Davies and Derek Stepan. Do you honestly trust ANYONE else to put up goals on a consistent basis? Other top teams in the country have 4-5 big time producers. Players like Bohmbach and Street and Geoffrion and Mitchell are very nice forwards don't get me wrong. But those players are not top end point producers at this level.
After a game where we put up 40 plus shots and lost, and a game where we only scored one goal, it would be an absolute travesty if Michael Davies is not in the lineup this weekend at Mankato. I find it funny how after our anemic performance offensively last weekend all of a sudden Eaves says that Davies is starting to "get it." What a cop out. Eaves realizes this team is going no where offensively without Davies.
Eaves did the same thing with Tom Gorowsky up until his senior season. I realize that Tommy wasn't the greatest skater but he proved throughout his hockey career that he was a big time point producer at every single level. Eaves continued to sit him. What did Goro do with extended playing time? He produced at a high level.
The fact remains that this team is absolutely loaded and there is no question that at a big time program like Wisconsin, the "what have you done for me lately" attitude applies. Yes Eaves won a championship, but a ton of the players that led them to the title were Sauer recruits. Since the title all we've done is crap in our pants. This is a HUGE season in terms of Eaves job status.
Go Badgers
Photo by Melody Hasse
chuckschwartz@live.com
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