You know the scores, and I didn't take written notes, so this
will be more my impressions and how much fun we had.
 
I wasn't able to make it to the Thursday night game (I have an intramural
game of my own to play). I understand that 7-8,000 were in the
stands. Erik and Paula said it was very exciting!
 
FRIDAY
======
On Friday, three us (Me, Wendy Istvanik, and John, whos isn't on
hockey-l) drove to Milwaukee for the games. Both
games had announced crowds of about 12,000. Several Minnesota
fans said that they expected the place to be full, and wondered
where all the Wisconsin fans were.
 
We had really nice seats -- 3rd row, upper deck, in the corner. A
bunch of very nice Minnesota fans were right behind us. After a
while, we got to talking. It was fun.
 
Unfortunatly, the Badgers lost in overtime. Both teams had good
chances to win it in regulation, but didn't. St. Cloud did a
really good job of breaking up the play in the neutral zone all
game long. Wisconsin's power play was also lacking, as it has
most of the season. In particular, I think they didn't make smart
choices against the Huskies.
 
We went over and found Erik and Paula at their seats, and agreed to
meet them (and Bob Gilreath and his family) after the game and go to
dinner. The three of us, plus two more friends (Deb and Pat), met them
in the lobby... Bob had to check in to a new hotel (the Holiday Inn was
a disaster), and we ended up going to dinner without them. Erik lead us
to very good Thai food.
 
The Minnesota-MTU games was over pretty early. Tech was just out
of gas. In the second period, both teams played really sloppy,
and the third was rather boring. With 16 minutes to go, Tech
pulled ram for on extra skater. The Minnesota fans behind me were
stunned. Minnesota missed on their first 60-foot shot at the
empty net, but a few moments later they put it away.
 
If this tactic was suppossed to spark the team, it didn't work at
all. It was embarrassing to watch. I don't know if it ever makes
sense, but I don't think I'd try it with a tired team against a
team as fast as Minnesota.
 
The drive home was uneventful.
 
SATURDAY
========
12,004 fans saw the Badgers demolish a very, very tired Tech team.  Six
games in 9 days was just too much. Mancini started all his seniors, and
then replaced Ram in the net with Caravaggio (a freshman), at the first
whistle.  With a bit more than one minutes remaining in the game, Ram
came back out to finish the game. I didn't notice, but others
speculated that the seniors also got the last shift.
 
Jim Carey played the first period for the Badgers, and then
freshman Kirk Daubenspeck took over in the goal. All the lines
got a lot of ice time, including the second power play unit,
which did very well.
 
We met Erik and Paula again, and walked to Eduardos for some
really good pizza for dinner.
 
12,600-somthing fans saw the final. What an exciting game!! While
most badger fans cheered for St. Cloud, some of us figured that
a Minnesota victory was better for the Badgers NC$$ selection. It
was tough, but I guess I wanted to see the gophers win. Mostly I
cheered for good plays either way -- and there were A LOT of them.
 
MISC
====
St. Cloud didn't bring their band, but did have a good number of fans.
 
Tech's band has a lot of spirit (but their "On Wisconsin" is pretty
bad, and their version of the Minnesota Rouser was even worse).
 
The Minnesota band didn't impress me (please, no band flames).
 
A lot of Minnesota fans were at the games.
 
The PA announcer only announced two other scores: the final from the
Milwaukee Admirals game, and a partial score from the Michigan-???
semifinal. Very annoying.
 
The Bradley Center did NOT move the goal lines to 15 feet. It seems to
me that they should have for a championship tournament.  It seemed to
bother the refs the most -- the ref in the corner had trouble getting
out of the way in every game I saw.
 
I don't know why the crowds were as small as they were, but I
will speculate:
    - it is about an hour and a half from Madison to Milwaukee, which
      means giving up at least a half day work, if not more, for a 2pm
      faceoff.
 
    - Wisconsin did not play Minnesota in the semi-finals.  While not
      overlooking St. Cloud, I think more fans would have been there if
      we had played the gophers.
 
    - Wisconsin fans aren't used to going to the final 5 -- it has been
      in St. Paul for all 5 years until now.
 
    - Winning the WCHA tournament doesn't seem to be as big a deal to
      the Wisconsin fans as it sounds like it is in the other leagues.
      Probably because it has always been in St. Paul, and the Badgers
      have been in the NC$$ tourney anyway for several years.
 
    - $60 for tickets, plus gas, eating out, time off from work or school,
      is a lot.
 
I had a lot of fun, even though the Badgers lost on Friday. I am
looking forward to St. Paul in two weeks!
 
        --david
 
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david parter                                         [log in to unmask]
university of wisconsin -- madison          voice: 608-262-0608/262-2389
computer sciences department                           fax: 608-262-9777