Badgers Women's hockey 2024-25

[El Guapo]

Go Gophers!

Sadly though this appears to be Bucky's year so far. They are darn good and admittedly fun to watch. I was hoping to take my daughter to the game on Friday, but not for these prices. We'll go to a sports bar.

Honestly, if they held the NCAA Finals in Madison, they probably sell out the Kohl Center or at least sell 8-10K tickets in advance and if the Badgers are playing, a packed house. Sadly, for whatever reasons, it seems that the State of Minnesota has had the Lions share of hosting the NCAA Women's NCAA Tourney. Not once, has it been in Wisconsin.

If they held the finals in Madison, it would be at a smaller arena as I believe LaBahn holds less than 3k fans. My guess is that they want to keep the games at home ice arenas. They could host it at the Xcel Energy Center where the Minnesota Wild play, and probably pack that place.

Let's be real though. Southeastern WI doesn't know hockey from its rear end. As someone who grew up in Milwaukee, I can say that there is a monumental difference between Minnesota and Wisconsin in terms of hockey. The state nearly grinds to a halt for three things annually - fishing opener, deer opener, and the state high school hockey tournament. Go to northern MN and everybody and their grandma plays hockey. There's a reason that the US Hockey Hall of Fame is in Eveleth, MN. Anyway, the NCAA knows that even if the Gophers aren't in the Frozen Four that hockey fans will fill the stands. You can't say that about many other places for hockey, let alone women's hockey.

Good luck to everyone on Friday though. It should be fun.

 

[Voyageur]

Well the good news for Harvey, Edwards and the Badgers, those 2 players are juniors, so they should be back next year. The Badgers are returning a lot of top players next season, but 2 key losses to graduation will be O'Brien & Eden. I won't be surprised if they pick up 1-2 top players in the transfer portal. We had Clarkson parents sitting behind us for yesterdays game and I kept hearing them say things like "Wow, what a college hockey atmosphere, I can see why they get the top players here."

One thing that will change college hockey in 2025-26 will be the Olympics. I don't think they are pausing the NCAA Hockey schedules during the Olympics, so several teams may "lose" key players during a long stretch. I can see both Harvey and Edwards as possibly being on that Olympic team. Seniors O'Brien and Eden have a great shot as well, with O'Brien probably being a shoe-in.

The Gophers held on to beat Colgate yesterday, so Bucky and Goldy will be going at it again on Friday night, at 7:30. Meanwhile OSU will take on Cornell in the other semi-finals. The Badgers can't look past the Gophers, but if I was a betting man, it will once again be the Badgers VS the Buckeyes in the Championship game, for the 3rd straight year.

What you heard from those Clarkson parents is a real breath of fresh air and a true complement to the Badgers hockey program and fans. It's things like that which makes us Wisconsin Proud. Texans can't understand it. They have their pride, but when talking to them they end up saying things like, "I got my Texas pride, but you boys take the trophy home." It makes me smile, inside and out.

I think the Badgers will have a rough go next year because of the Olympics. I think we're going to see several players not being available to the Badgers as they'll be following Olympic dreams.

I agree on the finals. The biggest obstacle in the first game of the finals is playing a game in Minesota against the home team. They're going to be on a season high for that one. Bucky is gonna have to let the dogs out to win it. A match-up against OSU would be fitting. They're the only team who can honestly say they're good enough to beat the Badgers on other than a lucky night.

 

[Voyageur]

Go Gophers!

Sadly though this appears to be Bucky's year so far. They are darn good and admittedly fun to watch. I was hoping to take my daughter to the game on Friday, but not for these prices. We'll go to a sports bar.


If they held the finals in Madison, it would be at a smaller arena as I believe LaBahn holds less than 3k fans. My guess is that they want to keep the games at home ice arenas. They could host it at the Xcel Energy Center where the Minnesota Wild play, and probably pack that place.

Let's be real though. Southeastern WI doesn't know hockey from its rear end. As someone who grew up in Milwaukee, I can say that there is a monumental difference between Minnesota and Wisconsin in terms of hockey. The state nearly grinds to a halt for three things annually - fishing opener, deer opener, and the state high school hockey tournament. Go to northern MN and everybody and their grandma plays hockey. There's a reason that the US Hockey Hall of Fame is in Eveleth, MN. Anyway, the NCAA knows that even if the Gophers aren't in the Frozen Four that hockey fans will fill the stands. You can't say that about many other places for hockey, let alone women's hockey.

Good luck to everyone on Friday though. It should be fun.

No doubt about it, Minnesota is bigger in hockey than in Wisconsin. But, in Wisconsin, the sport has been growing fairly quickly in a lot of areas. The biggest problem has been finding money to build ice rinks in areas because there was such a lack of interest. But that's changing, and so is the scope of the game in Wisconsin. It starts with communities building skating facilities and youth hockey programs. Build them and it all naturally follows but it takes time.

To tell you the truth, Minnesota is loaded with "hockey snobs," and that makes them less liked because of it. Even though they still produce more D1 level hockey players than any other state, Wisconsin has grown from not even being on the list to #6, and that's up two notches from 3 years ago. Interest is growing, and so are the number of rinks being built around the state. Interest is growing rapidly. But, true, still way behind Minnesota.

In the meantime, your comment about attendance? Here's a fact. During this past season, the Badgers had an attendance of over 50% more than the Gophers and averaged 152.4% of their seating capacity. Minnesota meanwhile ended up with a 59.3% attendance rating. As you can see from this charting, it's the Badgers, at the D1 level, that has the fans, and Minnesota is not even close.

EDIT: Seeing Minnesota-Duluth in 4th place with attendance is a real eye opener too. That's amazing for a smaller but highly competitive school.

Women's Division I Hockey 2024-2025 Attendance | Statistics - College Hockey | USCHO.com

Statistics Mens and Womens College Hockey Scoring, Goals, Assists, Goaltending Leaders, Player Stats, Conferences Stats, Team Stats, Rosters, Statistics

www.uscho.com

 

[Voyageur]

Another interesting fact. Wisconsin Badgers men's hockey home attendance is second in total to North Dakota in D1 hockey. Minnesota comes in at #3. Minnesota has 90% fill rate, Wisconsin is 67.4%. It sounds like Minnesota is actually doing more to fill their stadium but that's actually destroyed by the fact that the Badgers average attendance for this past year actually exceeds the total capacity of the Minnesota facility. So, hands down, Wisconsin beats them in this one too by exceeding their 100% capability.

But, North Dakota wins this one by a long shot over everyone else. What I do think is amazing is Minnesota-Duluth in top 10, and seeing Minnesota State & St. Cloud State in the top 20. In this one, without doubt, the state of Minnesota wins the overall interest.

Men's Division I Hockey 2024-2025 Attendance | Statistics - College Hockey | USCHO.com

Statistics Mens and Womens College Hockey Scoring, Goals, Assists, Goaltending Leaders, Player Stats, Conferences Stats, Team Stats, Rosters, Statistics

www.uscho.com

 

[El Guapo]

You both make a lot of good points.

Something tough about introducing hockey is the cost barrier. It is a big financial and time burden on parents, so it's good to see that the sport is growing in areas.

The Gophers always have attendance problems with most sports. Not only do you have all of the major sports (as do most Big Ten universities) but you've also got all of the pro sports teams in town. I never went to a hockey game as an undergrad, but did sit through every d*** football game at the Metrodome. Go some place like UMD where hockey rules and the other sports are minor, and you develop a passionate fanbase because there is not much to do in Duluth during the winter except to go to the DECC.