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Things Getting Ugly in Madison


jk

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http://www.madison.com/wisconsinstatejourn...ports/43054.php

Yikes. The Leavitt/Eaves confrontation in GF was apparently more serious than the initial reports. If only Alex had stuck with his initial lean and chosen UND, his life would be a lot more pleasant now.

I hope they get things squared away down there (after UND beats them) because it's not good for the league to have Wisco so down.

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I have a friend who is a high school coach here in Minneapolis. One of his kids went to Wisconsin for hockey and the word is that Eaves is not giving scholarships to a lot of the Sophmores next year and the players have already been told this. Apparently the style of Eaves is not sitting well with the Sauer recruits and there has been some mutiny in the locker room. Take what you will from this but after watching last weekends game here in MN that team looks very unmotivated and appears to play with no passion.

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I agree with Ghost. That was probably the worst Wisco team I've seen, ever. No chemistry, no spirit ... sad, really. If that's how Eaves is running the show, fine, but I have doubts about bringing in all new NDT players to replace experienced players, and there's still alot of bad blood in the Wisco camp over Badger Bob's kid not getting the job. I think Eaves has a very short window to turn things around in Madtown.

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Maybe in the future if I'm going to tell a story I should finish it. The look I got from Sauer was one that resembled a dog after it hears a high pitched sound. He just sort of tilted his head and gave me a really confused look. He then shrugged it off because he was basking in the glory of the Badgers beating the Sioux. This happened last year after the Friday night game. This is also two weeks after losing to Wayne State so you could see why he was happy.

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Wow.

While I shake my head at Eaves' actions, I wonder why Leavitt's lawyer needed to be involved. I also wonder at the "demand" to fire Eaves. Eaves was way out of line to be sure, but it kind of seems to me Leavitt and family are trying to throw their own weight around.

If he should leave the WI program it would be interesting to see if he would consider playing for the Sioux in the future. We don't need prima donnas on the team. If he does come I hope we have strong leadership like this year to make sure he minds his P's and Q's, ala Fournier.

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Wow.

While I shake my head at Eaves' actions, I wonder why Leavitt's lawyer needed to be involved. I also wonder at the "demand" to fire Eaves. Eaves was way out of line to be sure, but it kind of seems to me Leavitt and family are trying to throw their own weight around.

If he should leave the WI program it would be interesting to see if he would consider playing for the Sioux in the future. We don't need prima donnas on the team. If he does come I hope we have strong leadership like this year to make sure he minds his P's and Q's, ala Fournier.

Your right Dagies, we don't need discipline promblems/pre-madonnas, players that can't be in their room at curfew. Sounds like a spoiled brat kid, but the coach is wrong too. The coach should be putting his hands on players and assulting them. So both are wrong. I would say that Eaves days are probably numbered as a coach of the badgers. This type of tactics wouldn't work even in the NHL...

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Speaking of Wisco, does anybody know what happened to Jeff Yurecko who transferred there after playing part of one season at UND?  He was supposed to be eligible to resume play this year, but is not listed on their roster.

The story I heard is that Yurecko went to Wisconsin and enrolled as a student, but never showed up for practice. When the coaches contacted him, he said that he'd decided not to play.

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Here is another article on the situation http://www.madison.com/captimes/sports/uw/...ockey/43062.php

This article is interesting as Alex is pretty specific in the events leading up to the event, and specific in what occurred in the room at the Holiday Inn.

Alex states that this is coming out now (event happened 11/23/02 and Eaves apologized to the team 2 days after the event) because tension has arose from the situation: "it's that I was isolated from the team and get a negative feeling from being on the team".

It is interesting that the teammate present in the room (a freshman) is silent so far -- is he worried about treatment from the coaching staff if he comes out in total support of Alex's version. It seems pretty evident that regardless if Alex's version is 100% accurate, his teammates aren't too supportive of him (as I mentioned maybe they're worried about their playing time/relationship with the coaching staff as it appears, for now at least, Eaves will retain his job).

I need some help here: when Chris F. left the team couldn't he have played for UAA this year if UND had given him something like a mutual release? If that is the case I'd say let this kid go where ever he wants -- enforce the current sanctions/anger-management classes on Eaves (if those sancations were determined to be appropriate at the time of the "offense", why now fire him or lodge more sancations when it appears Eaves has taken steps to atone for his actions and hasn't been a repeat offender).

Major Juniors probably would be a good choice for Alex at this point. Like the rest of you I believe there is no place for physical abuse in a player/coach relationship, but the lead up to the confrontation, the actual confrontation and the slowly evolving fallout from the confrontation looks and smells funny-strange. Bottom line for me: "I" wouldn't want to see Alex in a Sioux uniform (but then I'm not a coach, thank goodness).

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Regarding transfer rules, it is my understanding that a player cannot transfer from one Division I school to another without sitting a year. He could go to a Division III school and play the next year, but not Division I.

There may be an exception that allows the player to skip the year on the shelf if the school gets hit with NCAA sanctions, but I'm not sure about that.

For this reason, I never understood the discussion of Blais granting a release to Fournier. As far as I know, Blais could have "granted him a release", co-signed his mortgage and legally adopted him and Fournier would still not have been eligible to play for UAA this year. Perhaps someone could help with the transfer rules.

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From reading these articles I believe Eaves did in fact do what Leavitt said he did. Eaves doesn't even come close to denying it.

BUT, from reading what Leavitt said about his own behavior, I don't buy it for a second. I've been around the block enough times and heard people tell enough stories about their "clean" behavior and frankly Leavitt's comments fit the MO of someone who is working a bit too hard to fit his halo.

No, I believe Leavitt brought some of this upon himself (I don't mean to infer he deserved anything physical. But I believe he brought the situation on himself, and probably helped provoke it).

Does that mean I wouldn't want him on the team? Not necessarily. I'm going to trust Blais judgement IF that situation ever even presents itself.

But certainly I doubt Leavitt would make us forget Spiewak or Notermann.

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