Thursday, March 10, 2011

Women's Hockey Wants (and Deserves) Your Help

I haven't been able to devote much time or effort to the Wisconsin men's team in the latter half of this season, but living in Columbus allowed me to see the lady Badgers in January and has put me within a four-hour drive of Erie, Pennsylvania, the site of this year's Women's Frozen Four. Unfortunately, this also means that I will not be able to get my loud, obnoxious self to the Kohl Center this Saturday for the women's national quarterfinal game against the Russian National Team University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. In my stead, I want to encourage each and every person who can possibly attend to do so.

If you're reading this, you probably already know the success that the women's team has had in recent years, and this year as well. Our #1 Badgers boast three of the top four scorers in the country in senior Meghan Duggan (2nd, 82 points), junior Hilary Knight, and sophomore Brianna Decker (T-3rd, 76 points each). Duggan is one of the three remaining candidates for the Patty Kazmaier award. The Badgers have a 2-1-1 record against the Bulldogs this year. And finally, our great fellow Wisconsin fans set the single-game women's hockey attendance record against the Gophers in January. This team wants your help, and they deserve it.

If you've never been to a women's hockey game before, you'll be impressed with what you see. One of these two teams has won the national championship each of the last five years, so there's no question that the level of play in this game will be astronomically high. There may not be any checking allowed, but that opens up the game for more skilled plays, with beautiful passing and excellent skating. And if you're not a hockey fan at all, first of all you've come to the wrong blog, but secondly you might never get another chance to see your team host an NCAA tournament game in any sport in your home arena.

So I beg of you: get to the Kohl Center any way you can on Saturday night. Walk. Drive. Bike. Take a cab. Even get one of those wacky bicycle-rickshaw things if you have to. Just go, be loud, and cheer the Badgers on to victory. Make this game a night to rememeber, and send our lady Badgers (and me) to Erie with the chance to win their fourth national championship. It's always a great day for hockey.
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