digitalbooya
Well-known member
What a dog shit 5 minute major call.
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Wisconsin Hockey 22-23 Empty Dreams & Empty Seats
- Thread starter Timothy A
- Start date
I was surprised to find these games on Peacock (and not BTN+). I do have Peacock so I can watch Tour De France....... Is it on Peacock because it is at ND?
Yep. Recent experience with the Gophers would indicate Peacock has some kind of deal with Irish hockey.
solovsfett
Registered User
Fire Gard. Carry on.
Lets see.......$10.75/month for Badgers only broadcasts on BTN+ or $4.99/month for perhaps all B1G content on Peacock........................................... ...............
(I know that is not going to happen, but...........................)
Just popping in to say it’s sad to see what you guys are talking about. My old man was a season ticket holder from the mid 70s until about 2012. He doesn’t even watch the games anymore when they are on. Neither do I. And Badger hockey was LIFE for me for the first 30 years of my life. Need lots of heads to fall, but I’m not optimistic it’ll happen.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
Nice to hear from you, old friend. Your story is typical of many fans. Jason King did respond to a poster and told us to hang in there. There is a slim possibility of hope.
solovsfett
Registered User
Milewski said there’s a lack of interest? From who? The former fans? The Athletic Department (obviously). ??? I’d like to hear more.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
Lack of interest in the readership of news with the program.
WiscTJK
Well-known member
I bought the whole year on BTN+ with all schools (called conference pass) by taking a discount they offered for like $75. I couldn't pass it up and it gives me access to lacrosse which UW doesn't have but there is great lacrosse in the BigTen (John Hopkins is BigTen for lax).
solovsfett
Registered User
So….it’s really just 5-6 of us who want to read about Badger hockey. The program has fallen off the cliff to the point where most long time fans aren’t going to return and what’s left are last of the diehards…sort of like a mass extinction event happened for Badger hockey.
I know this will piss people off and I don’t care. This has been 27 years in the making. AND to compound the problem the b10 conference and realignment really did destroy a lot of the diehards enthusiasm.
so what’s left besides you and I (well, we’re dropping our season tickets and after that I may only lurk) and a few others, is a tiny “fan base” who doesn’t know or care about the history of the program. This cannot sustain the program.
they don’t just need to fire Jason King and the entire staff down to the skate sharpeners, they need to make a home run Fickell type hire and that’s just not conceivable with an AD who knows less than 0 about hockey.
I disagree that it has been 27 years in the making. They had some really good teams in the 90s...arguable should have beaten LSSU but got hosed by refs in 93, 99 team with Reinprecht/Heatley shpulda won it all but they fell on their face, 06 team won it, 2010 team ran into freight train of BC in final. 13 And 14 teams were great but fell on their face in 1st rnd of NCAAs. 2021 fell face first as well against a neutral zone trap skating in slush.
Conference realignment has only been tough in the respect that the Big10 is much more difficult than WCHA was. We dont get to beat up on Sally anymore to inflate the record.
And you gotta leave Nate LaPoint, the equipment manager off the fire list. That guy is a pros pro and no one does it better.
While I do think Alvarez couldnt give a rip about hockey, I dont really think Richter did either. It was a self sustaining program in an era of college hockey where there were fewer teams, competition for resources (recruits) was much different and more regional, and facility/amenities werent a huge deal. That world is gone. Richter prob told Alvarez, "dont worry about hockey, it sustains itself".
What Alvarez really messed up was the fundraising structure, disbanding the individual sport booster prgms and pushing everything under the UW Fund. Yes, you can sport specific apply your donation...but how many really do that? Even that though was done because the rest of college football got into a facility arms race. You had to have new facilities to attract recruits.
Even Kohl Center was purpose built for hockey and it is already dated. The ice has got to be brought down in size. Every recruit prob gets told by opposing schools, "you really want to skate on big ice? You know the NHL is 200 x 85. Youll slow your development."
And how many kids in the Granato Era have really developed? Kunin, Frederic, Caufield, Holloway and Weissbach. With only Weissbach hitting 4yrs and only 1 player in his era hitting 100pts in Malone (out of sheer will, bc he wasnt an amazing player). Goalie has been a train wreck. Blue Liners another train wreck. A wholesale change is needed.
What Alvarez really messed up was the fundraising structure, disbanding the individual sport booster prgms and pushing everything under the UW Fund. Yes, you can sport specific apply your donation...but how many really do that? Even that though was done because the rest of college football got into a facility arms race. You had to have new facilities to attract recruits.
Even Kohl Center was purpose built for hockey and it is already dated. The ice has got to be brought down in size. Every recruit prob gets told by opposing schools, "you really want to skate on big ice? You know the NHL is 200 x 85. Youll slow your development."
And how many kids in the Granato Era have really developed? Kunin, Frederic, Caufield, Holloway and Weissbach. With only Weissbach hitting 4yrs and only 1 player in his era hitting 100pts in Malone (out of sheer will, bc he wasnt an amazing player). Goalie has been a train wreck. Blue Liners another train wreck. A wholesale change is needed.
WiscTJK
Well-known member
Agree with all of this. Especially Nate LaPoint, he is amazing on how fast he has sticks ready if someone breaks them and he has been used by Team USA.
WiscTJK
Well-known member
The bolded I won't agree with. Herb Kohl was specific that the Kohl Center would be basketball first and fit in hockey. He didn't want another Bradley Center (built for hockey, used for basketball). That's why there are some many obstructed view seats at the Kohl Center (every row in the third level above row 3), where as the Bradley Center was great in every seat. I do agree on shrinking the ice and that would help the obstructed views and get more in line with most of the college venues now.
solovsfett
Registered User
1992 Wisconsin defeats LSSU with ANY other ref in the world as head referee.
but 1996-2023 is what I’m talking about. Mostly mediocre hockey. 99 was a blip (albeit very fun), 04-06 was great, 10 was great, 13-14 waaaaay overrated imo. And the remaining years were average to sub-average.
to a fan base that was once as rabid as UW hockey fans were after watching the team win 3 titles in less than 10 years (73, 77, 81) the last 27 years are simply not acceptable.
And teams in the b10 do get to beat up on the weaker teams. Wisconsin is now one of those teams that gets destroyed. Is it a tougher league? Maybe because there are only 7 teams. But don’t discount a large segment of fans who would rather see Nodak, UMD, Denver and Northern Michigan on the schedule vs tOSU, Ped State, MSU etc
I think it is fair to say '77-'83 is the zenith of the hockey program. However, that means WI played the likes of Mich, Mich St, and Notre Dame as part pf the WCHA. From a conference perspective theres no reason to say they arent long time league rivals.only Ohio St and Penn St are new arrivals.
Outside of those 5 yrs, Wisconsin always has been a mediocre prgm that puts together a strong run every now and then thru beating up on teams like Mich Tech, Colorado College, Northern MI and Alaska and being decent against the top end competition like NoDak, Denver, UMD and the Goophs.
I think its only a very small segment that wants to see those games. Look, I loved playing against NoDak and Denver and the like but those days are over. Adapt and survive. However, UW needs to make a better effort on playing against those teams in the non conf slate.
There's lack of interest because the team hasn't won a playoff game in 12 years. That in part had to do with the lack of journalistic accountability on part of the Wisconsin Journal staff. They should have been calling this out years ago. Instead the team has gone on sucking for years without any columnist calling for the head coach to be fired. I mean that I supposed to be their job. Not the job of people griping on USCHO forums. Polzin is a waste. If basketball had not won an ncaa game in 3 years Polzin would probably have a column about basketball needing a change.
Lack of accountability with the department and the journalists. And then the journalists say "theres a lack of interest". Really? Well ya you havent been doing your job for a decade what do you expect?