Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

Now that I've thought about it more: there's a mass exodus of hockey fans who aren't interested in paying money to see the Badgers anymore. The right price point will attract those fans, I think, and will give some serious competition to the money being spent to see the Badgers.

 

[GB Puck Fan]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

I have to think that's not good news to the athletic department.

As much as my gut says that it won't work long term, the Badger hockey team is at a vulnerable stage and no longer has a stranglehold on the local hockey market as evidenced by the slipping attendance numbers.

A cheaper ticket with convenient parking, beer sales, a more wide open style of play, fighting(?).

We'll see...

Overall, I agree.

As for the fighting, that largely depends on the team. Mark Carlson's teams in Cedar Rapids almost never take a penalty, much less fight. The first year under Jon Cooper, the Gamblers had a least one fight for the first 15 games - including three separate fights to start the game once (drop the puck - fight - stop play, repeat, repeat, all with :04 coming off the clock.)

The USHL certainly tolerates it more, as it is 'only' a 5:00 major, not the automatic ejection as in college. And, you can make the case that league encourages it. I don't think a second fight would result in a game DQ. About the only restriction is that any fight under 5:00 remaining in the game is an automatic 2-game suspension to prevent a team from gooning it up when down a bunch a goals.

But overall, it really does depend on the coach's philosophy. Compared to college, though, there certainly is more of it. And often it's the loudest cheering of the night, other than the shootout (but that's a different subject...)

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

Personally, I don't care for rules sanctioned (meaning no DQ) fighting. I wouldn't miss it even a little if the NHL outlawed it.

There is a certain segment though that will eat it up while they drink down their $6 Bud Lites.

 

[bucky15]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

Personally, I don't care for rules sanctioned (meaning no DQ) fighting. I wouldn't miss it even a little if the NHL outlawed it.

There is a certain segment though that will eat it up while they drink down their $6 Bud Lites.

I don't care for the staged fights in the NHL, but some I feel are needed in the NHL. I don't understand how people find a couple of teenagers punching each other entertaining (USHL/OHL/WHL/QMJHL), so I 100% agree with you on that level.

 

[GB Puck Fan]

I don't care for the staged fights in the NHL, but some I feel are needed in the NHL. I don't understand how people find a couple of teenagers punching each other entertaining (USHL/OHL/WHL/QMJHL), so I 100% agree with you on that level.

And I would wager that at least half of the fans at a Gamblers game don't realize they are teenagers... That may be because of venue that some see it as "higher" - and thus older - than SNC

 

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

I don't care for the staged fights in the NHL, but some I feel are needed in the NHL. I don't understand how people find a couple of teenagers punching each other entertaining (USHL/OHL/WHL/QMJHL), so I 100% agree with you on that level.

And they will continue to happen when "five for fighting" eventually becomes a thing of the past. Unlike most places on the internet, I don't need to explain why - you all watch college hockey, and you see when players choose to fight others. It's never a gimmick. It's actually standing up for your teammates. That happens in sports.

 

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

Chuck/Andy just put out this article discussing potential implications for the Badgers as a result of this USHL franchise -- New Madison USHL franchise presents positives and negatives for Badgers

 

[Carter]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

Sorry to interject, but I have virtually all the Badger hockey programs from about 1979 forward, and I'm thinking it's time to part with them. If anyone is interested, my email should be listed with USCHO. Thanks.

 

[burd]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

Sorry to interject, but I have virtually all the Badger hockey programs from about 1979 forward, and I'm thinking it's time to part with them. If anyone is interested, my email should be listed with USCHO. Thanks.

The program for a certain Sioux/Badger game in 1982 might be of interest.

 

[GBBadger14]

New ticket package announced for recent grads... although I'm not sure only giving a 12% discount is going to do much good.

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/080613aab.html

 

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

New ticket package announced for recent grads... although I'm not sure only giving a 12% discount is going to do much good.

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/080613aab.html

Better than nothing. If it doesn't do any good, it won't do anything bad. At the very least, some former crease creatures may be more inclined to go to games as an "old person." Maybe some of them can spread some of the students' energy to the other seats. They'd better get the word out!

The student section is critical to growing/maintaining the fan base. For many fans, the first time they root for the Wisconsin hockey team is when they are students at the university. Some were already big hockey fans, while others got their first exposure to hockey. In either case, they enter the UW Badgers fan base, and are deepest within the magic of Badger hockey as student fans. Keeping them around is healthy for the program. Not retaining them and relying on other locals is not.

As far as discounts are concerned, I think the obstructed view seats should be way less, the five-game mini-plans should have some kind of discount, and tiered pricing should be a thing.

Also, if anyone knows of any Wisconsin hockey game footage from the Coliseum days on the internet, besides the water bottle incident, that would be awesome.

Edit: One more comment - this is just one (and perhaps the most obvious) of a few noticeable steps taken by the athletic department in response to this past season's publicized attendance issues.

 

[XYZ]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

The student section is critical to growing/maintaining the fan base.

The student section as it was is gone. It died with the removal of the week-long waiting line for first pick of tickets. No longer the case, the atmosphere has slowly but surely suffered tremendously and it's likely unrecoverable. You can't create a culture from scratch but you can kill one by being incredibly naive, and that's exactly what Alvarez et al. did. It's over.

 

[WiscDC]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

The student section as it was is gone. It died with the removal of the week-long waiting line for first pick of tickets. No longer the case, the atmosphere has slowly but surely suffered tremendously and it's likely unrecoverable. You can't create a culture from scratch but you can kill one by being incredibly naive, and that's exactly what Alvarez et al. did. It's over.

If that's the case, then I'd sure love to have been in the student section when it wasn't "gone." The fact of the matter is that I've seen students become new fans with my own eyes, and the experience and culture is still incredible. It's easily the best student section we have. And yes, that includes even average games last year. So what if there's no week-long waiting line? I'm one of the biggest Badger hockey fans I know (and the biggest Badger hockey fan most of my friends know), but that sounds like it would suck.

 

[WiscTJK]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

If that's the case, then I'd sure love to have been in the student section when it wasn't "gone." The fact of the matter is that I've seen students become new fans with my own eyes, and the experience and culture is still incredible. It's easily the best student section we have. And yes, that includes even average games last year. So what if there's no week-long waiting line? I'm one of the biggest Badger hockey fans I know (and the biggest Badger hockey fan most of my friends know), but that sounds like it would suck.

You waited in line once at the beginning of the year, and then you had those tickets throughout the year, versus now where you turn in your voucher or whatever on each game day and get different tickets for each game. I agree with XYZ that this new method is not nearly as good as the old method.

 

[XYZ]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

If that's the case, then I'd sure love to have been in the student section when it wasn't "gone." The fact of the matter is that I've seen students become new fans with my own eyes, and the experience and culture is still incredible. It's easily the best student section we have. And yes, that includes even average games last year. So what if there's no week-long waiting line? I'm one of the biggest Badger hockey fans I know (and the biggest Badger hockey fan most of my friends know), but that sounds like it would suck.

New students will always become fans. That will never change, but the change in ticketing procedures has slowly killed the student fan culture that used to exist as it prevents the true diehards and leaders from investing their time to get in the prime locations, which thus makes it nearly impossible for them to congregate and perpetuate what was a very unique culture. As some would graduate others would move in and maintain that culture. Things are much different now than they were less than ten years ago. The mutant birth of the football cheers is evidence enough of that. I'm not one to sit and ramble about the "good ol' days" like some sort of dope romantic and I don't attend games anymore anyway as I live 250 miles away, but it's just a fact that things are very different now -- and not for the better in the minds of many.

 

[Almington]

New students will always become fans. That will never change, but the change in ticketing procedures has slowly killed the student fan culture that used to exist as it prevents the true diehards and leaders from investing their time to get in the prime locations, which thus makes it nearly impossible for them to congregate and perpetuate what was a very unique culture. As some would graduate others would move in and maintain that culture. Things are much different now than they were less than ten years ago. The mutant birth of the football cheers is evidence enough of that. I'm not one to sit and ramble about the "good ol' days" like some sort of dope romantic and I don't attend games anymore anyway as I live 250 miles away, but it's just a fact that things are very different now -- and not for the better in the minds of many.

What the loss of the line destroyed was a sense of cohesion and frendship amongst the different groups of diehard fans. This allowed them to have a large enough group to actually somewhat lead the unorganized pass of student fans.

 

[WisconsinWildcard]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

The student section as it was is gone. It died with the removal of the week-long waiting line for first pick of tickets. No longer the case, the atmosphere has slowly but surely suffered tremendously and it's likely unrecoverable. You can't create a culture from scratch but you can kill one by being incredibly naive, and that's exactly what Alvarez et al. did. It's over.

Not that another anecdote is always useful but I had tickets in both systems and I could not agree more. The shift was fast and unpleasant to watch.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

I'll echo what everyone else said. The sea change from '06-'07 or so onward is remarkable.

I'll add that a Crease Creatire Alumni section is LONG overdue. A great idea I wish existed while I was living in Milwaukee and before my daughter was born.

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

I'll echo what everyone else said. The sea change from '06-'07 or so onward is remarkable.

I'll add that a Crease Creatire Alumni section is LONG overdue. A great idea I wish existed while I was living in Milwaukee and before my daughter was born.

I believe the idea of the Alumni section came one of the UW posters here, "The Hallucination"...but I could be mistaken.

 

[icebadger]

Re: Wisconsin Hockey Vol. XXVI: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Tolerate The BTHC

I'll echo what everyone else said. The sea change from '06-'07 or so onward is remarkable.

I'll add that a Crease Creatire Alumni section is LONG overdue. A great idea I wish existed while I was living in Milwaukee and before my daughter was born.

I'll confirm the change as well. I waited in the line outside the KC for several years to get good seats I stopped getting season tix in grad school when they switched to the voucher system. I didn't feel like it was worth it to worry about getting good seats by arriving early for every single game. I'm not quite 5 years out now. If they let me in on the Young Alumni plan, I would probably do it. If not, their loss.