Zelenov is cooking. Give Badger hockey some damn attention.
The Curds & Chaos Desk · Reported brief + original R-rated fan column · Adult language
Source brief
Wisconsin announced Vasily Zelenov as Big Ten Second Star of the Week on October 13. He had four points during the road sweep at Minnesota State and seven for the season: one goal and six assists.
Read the reporting: Wisconsin Athletics ↗Our take · Original opinion
A Badger is stacking points on the ice while the rest of us perfect the art of arguing about sports we have barely watched. Zelenov brought production. We brought a hot take and half a pretzel. Advantage: Zelenov.
What gets my attention is the balance of the production. A goal is the part everybody can point at. Assists make you look at how a chance came together. I like a player who makes the next thing possible. That is not a claim that every touch was magic; it is a reason to watch the actual shifts instead of treating the scoring list like a slot machine. The distinction matters because early-season excitement can get ridiculous in a hurry. One good stretch and suddenly we are decorating a trophy room in our heads. Enjoy the recognition. Absolutely talk some shit with your hockey friends. Just leave enough space between a weekly honor and a season-long conclusion to park a Zamboni. My interest now is whether the habits keep showing up when the easy-looking sequence stops looking easy. Does the puck move with purpose? Are teammates finding each other? Can Wisconsin keep creating reasons for a defense to make uncomfortable decisions? Those are the questions I want the next games to answer. A ranking tells you where the conversation sits. A shift tells you what the team is doing. And this is your friendly reminder that Badger fandom has more than one entrance. Football does not own the whole damn building. There are teams on ice, on courts, and everywhere else giving you something worth watching. You can care about more than one without surrendering your parking-lot opinions. The best part of following another Wisconsin team is finding a new reason to yell at a screen. The worst part is realizing your allegedly free evening now has an opening faceoff. Your chores will file a complaint. Your laundry has been preparing a case for weeks. Frankly, its legal position is strong. Give Zelenov his flowers, give the hockey team your attention, and save the championship engraving for later. A little perspective does not kill the fun. It just keeps the fun from turning into a dumbass prediction. On, Wisconsin.