Preface: Hella triggered by years of comments. Don't take this post personally as it's not aimed specifically at you, but rather the older folks of the fanbase.
Sick of condescending posts. Y'all realize it's nothing to do with what it used to be. It's the old people trying to tell the young people what to do and how they should act that drives me up a wall. Having old people tell you what to do or how the program USED TO BE good isn't fun. It quite literally ruins the experience.
Also, back in the 90s they played at the DC Coliseum which, according to Wiki (I know, reliable...), had a capacity of about 7,500 people for hockey games. Even if it were upwards of 10,000 it would still be FULL on a regular basis nowadays. Wisconsin is second in all of college hockey in attendance with an average of 10,044 and Minnesota is a very distant third at 7,944. They play in the second biggest rink in all of college hockey. Attendance PEAKED all time from about 2005 to 2012. It wasn't the 90s, 80s, 70s, etc. It was the mid to late 2000s and early 2010s. I had season tickets with my parents, both of whom graduated in the very early 1990s from Madison and went to games on the regular, from 06-08'. Those games were an absolute blast to go to and they made the weekdays seem extra long because you couldn't wait for the weekend to arrive. The 4 year cycle and taking to long to get a new head coached literally bottomed the program out. That's on Barry "I'm not a hockey guy" Alvarez. That's not on the fanbase for showing displeasure with a team lacking results. Hell, some of you on here had a way longer leash on Tony Granato than me the "young guy who has no clue about how great and loud the program used to be." Maybe I noticed it quicker cause I chat up the Minnesota Wild fans over on HF who are extremely knowledgable on the game and spent less time in the "hello old friend" honeymoon phase. I remember being so ****ing annoyed when North Dakota came to town and the Badgers literally spent the entire two games circling backwards into their own zone. He isn't a good coach or a good example. Getting into it with opposing teenagers/early 20 year olds!? That's our coach ladies and gentlemen. More focused on talking trash than anything else a coach SHOULD BE doing.
But then again I have no ****ing idea what a good college team looks like or what a pure rivalry is, right? Oh wait, I do though! My university is the only remaining undefeated team in all of college hockey. You want to know why? Winning culture! UWSP literally lost their head coach to Michigan Tech and they keep winning because that's what they do. Yes, I am aware that Wisconsin prior to 2000 had probably the best winning culture in the country. Yes, in my days of first watching college hockey (2005-2010) Wisconsin went to two national championship games in five years. My first memory that I can remember was watching Brückler struggle against I believe Alaska Anchorage in the WCHA playoffs and Brian Elliott came in and the Badgers willed their way to a victory. People know what winning culture looks like. The excitement and adrenaline for the program will return when the winning culture resurfaces.
