Re: Wisconsin Hockey, Vol II: Rebuild, Refresh, and Renew!
People get mad at me for saying this - but I really think that since FB and BB have become better there has been a decline in student participation and energy at hockey games. When UW was only good at hockey, it was the only thing we were winning at and the Great Dane and early KC were rocking.
I am NOT wishing for a decline in Badger basketball and football, but now that we are much more competitive across the board in athletics - that thirst to cheer for a winner gets quenched much easier at UW than it used too....
That's a little bit of it, but wasn't the hockey student section sold out and as loud as ever from the mid to late 2000s? (EODS, please chime in.) Even when I was a freshman (right as the decline was really starting), anyone who had been to a hockey game (and not just hockey nuts like myself) knew that it had the strongest atmosphere.
The presence of UW hockey and college hockey on the UW campus did fall much further than football or basketball could conceivably fall. If the basketball team finished in the bottom 2 or 3 every year for a decade (yes, a
decade) in the 14-team Big Ten, it
might get to the point where we could start comparing the decline of the program overall (not just on-ice/on-court) to what we saw with UW hockey. That being said, you might be surprised how well the hockey student section at its worst, minus one or two terrible games, compares to the basketball student section at its best, minus one or two marquee "event" games.
I was a freshman the first year of the men's hockey non-sellout streak. That was before the basketball team was making final four runs, but it was well known how good that team was every single year (always top 4 in the Big Ten, making sweet sixteens like it's automatic, etc). In terms of the actual number of fans at games, the hockey and basketball student sections were pretty comparable (doing some estimating, as they're arranged differently with the temporary seats). There were literally only 2 basketball games that had more than a smattering of students (who would be sitting) in the
second level: senior day had a modestly populated second level, and the OSU game was the only full student section. Also, if you had read or heard anything about the Grateful Red, you'd have been shocked by how quiet and passive it was, even for good games.
Obviously, things took a turn for the better once the hype train got rolling the next year, and more so in the two following years. (And hooray for the priority purchase day!) There were even a few creative chants from fans - and not just band members doing "sieve" chants - which was new. It still lacked the cohesiveness of the hockey fans, but people visibly cared. As expected, things started getting more flat last year, but I'd be surprised if it gets down to how it was in 2011-12 very soon.
Anyway, I feel like there were other factors at play. I see tons of hockey fans who just don't get into UW hockey (more about college hockey falling off the map for its own reasons, rather than football/basketball pushing it off), and the student section was out in full force well after football and men's basketball established themselves as competitive programs. Sure, if hockey were the only competitive team, it would be huge, but I really don't feel overly optimistic saying that it can be strong along with other strong programs.
). This year's seniors were the last freshman class to really have a big WOW-inducing environment, and that was just some of the time, mainly down the second half stretch (13-14). In terms of numbers, that year wasn't good, though the 11-12(?)-dollar reserved student tickets did get scooped up. 
