What to do on Sunday?

[spyboy1]

What to do with myself on Sunday?

I'm going to be working in Milwaukee next week so on Sunday I can either travel directly to Milwaukee to see the Admirals host the Wild's AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros, and being from Minnesota, there's a certain appeal to seeing the Aeros so that in future seasons I can brag about seeing the guys before they were with the big club.

OR

I can stop off in Madtown to see what I assume will be WCHA rivals North Dakota vs. Denver to earn a trip to the Frozen Four. I'm sure the passion level will be higher for a single elimination playoff game than a regular season AHL game between two fairly average teams, but they are tied in the standings and in a fight to make the playoffs.

Both games start within an hour of each other, so I can only do one.

• The "jersey tiebreaker" is fairly even since I have an Aeros jersey I can wear in Milwaukee and a Sioux jersey I can wear in Madison.
  
• One vote for Madison is that I have never been to the arena before.
  
• If Wisconsin does make the Sunday game, the expected cost does go up substantially, making Milwaukee more attractive from an expense standpoint.
  
• Seeing the Aeros does give it a vote because of the long term ability to say "I saw him play before he was on the Wild".
  

What to do, what to do?

[lets_go_red]

I will be in Madison... nothing beets the NCAA Playoffs. I was at every game during the Badgers Championship run 2 years ago- and look at it this way...if North Dakota wins the National Championship you can say- hey I saw a game during that run.

[dfwabel]

I would go to the NCAA game. Sneak booze in and have fun with the mixers. NCAA championship events are fun but still a bit sterile, so you need assistance. The thought of a season ending take importance over minor league games.

[Joshawaggie]

If I was you, I'd go to Madison. Maybe I should just go myself, actually. I've never seen UND play in the NCAA tourney in person, it would be awesome.

[TBGKon]

Go to Madison, I saw the Lightning College Hockey Classic last December and college hockey is a great game great. The teams were Rensselaer Tech, Notre Dame, Colorado College (runner up) and UMass (champion). It was a great atmosphere and I'll surely go to it as long as I'm close to Tampa.

[officeglenn]

Playoffs vs. regular season? There's no contest. Go to the playoff game, no matter what level it's at.

[spyboy1]

It sure looks like college hockey has the respect of the people around here. I'm a bit surprised actually.

[Brass]

College hockey, 100% percent of the time. Nothing beats it. I've been to NCAA regular season games and, in my opinion, they are more exciting than an NHL or AHL playoff game.

NCAA regular season > NHL or AHL playoffs

[youcan'tseeme]

I have to agree, the college hokcey game is going to be at another level, emotionally. Which means more physcial play, these guys are playing for their lives.

[winghaz]

I'd go to Madison, but living in North Dakota, I'm clearly biased.

GO SIOUX!!!

[fkaKrock5cent]

I'm not a hockey fan but I'd go to the NCAA's. Nothing replaces a hyped croud.

[Viper]

I'm going to be working in Milwaukee next week so on Sunday I can either travel directly to Milwaukee to see the Admirals host the Wild's AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros, and being from Minnesota, there's a certain appeal to seeing the Aeros so that in future seasons I can brag about seeing the guys before they were with the big club.

I actually got that opportunity last season. My best friend from college now lives in Peoria and we took in a Rivermen vs. Aeros game, where I got to see Aaron Voros and Benoit Pouliot in action (both are now with the Wild). He wasn't much of a hockey fan before but I think I got him hooked.

That said, in your position I'd still go with the college game, for the reasons already offered, plus Madison as a city is a bit easier on the eye than Milwaukee.

[spyboy1]

Well, the freakin' Badgers managed to throw this plan into disarray by destroying Denver.

Now the locals are all going to want to go to the game, making the demand (and price to get in) a lot, lot, lot higher.

One the other hand, the atmosphere is also now going to be a lot, lot, lot more intense.

But back to the negative, instead of getting the #2 & #3 teams in the conference, I would get #2 vs. #6 (who went into the tournament below .500), now creating the possibility of a less than competitive mismatch.

[spyboy1]

Good choice men. I went to Madison for the Midwest Regional Final and had a good time, saw a very entertaining game with the always active Badger crowd providing the atmosphere.

Underdog Wisconsin led 2-0 heading into the third and North Dakota got two quick ones in the first half of the third and both goaltenders made sure it went to overtime. Since I still had to drive to Milwaukee after the game, I was not sad that the OT was a short one, at less than 3 minutes, with North Dakota advancing to the Frozen Four and sending the home crowd away disappointed. But, fear not, Wisconsin fans never, ever seem to take losing very hard because when the game ends they always think of how well their team played, look forward to next year and know that their next beer is just minutes away. The fact losing does not affect them more is one thing that I actually find annoying about them! Stop looking on the bright side and be bummed out, damnit!

On the hockey jersey side of things, since I am a fanatic in that area, I swear I will never, ever see the fans of a team who have had the same jersey since FOREVER, actually wear such a huge number of different styles of jerseys.

It does not matter to them one single bit if it was never worn on the ice, if you slap any sort of Wisconsin based logo on anything, they will buy it. Now I know that Wisconsin has had a few alternates in the recent past, but for a team that has had the same exact jersey since Chris Chelios went to college, I must have seen 25 different Badger jerseys.

Bucky's head. Bucky's head in a circle. Bucky's full body. Bucky's body so huge, it wouldn't even fit on the jersey, even rotated 20 degrees. A big "W". A big "W" with crossed hockey sticks. Wisconsin diagonally in some crappy free font that has nothing to do with their real jersey. A script "Badgers" on the front. A block "Badgers" on the front.

Then there were the secondary logos on the fashions jerseys. Claw silhouettes, Bucky's head that looked like it was squished in a vice. All sorts of made up stuff.

Then there were the jerseys themselves. Red. White. Black. Fashion jerseys in all sorts of templates in each of the three colors. Blackhawks throwback inspired chest stripes. Throwback Red Wings striping. More, more and more.

Mix and match your fave logo to your fave jersey design! I saw them all.

Even the attempts on reproducing the team's real jersey were ALL OVER THE MAP. Nice jerseys with nice lettering. Cheap jerseys with nice lettering. Cheap jerseys with cheap lettering. Cheap jerseys with the worst, crappy screen printed lettering ever. I mean, the worst looking light weight, shiny horrid jerseys with the thinnest, screen printing with bare spots in it that made Russian souvenier jerseys look like CCM authentics, and...

It didn't matter!

They wore them all without a care in the world. I've never really seen anything like it before. The range of quality and the staggering amount of variations in replica and fashion jerseys all from a team that has essentially always worn the same exact thing!

[lets_go_red]

The bucky so big it didn't fit and was rotated might be my favorite "futuristic" jersey ever...it was an alternate around 10-8 years ago, the script "Badgers" was an alternate last year I believe...and the W logo on the chest my have been the womens team jersey. But anyways, yes Wisconsin gear sells, not matter what. Also I think the fans weren't very disappointed because we weren't even expecting to get into the NCAA Tourny- I was a little sad when we lost, but I was pretty quick to get over it, now that Badger Hockey and Basketball Season is over- GO BREWERS!!!