History Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey

1 history

1.1 history
1.2 modern era
1.3 johnson era
1.4 sauer era
1.5 eaves era
1.6 granato era

history
early history

pond hockey had been played on lake mendota in madison since late 1800s. university of wisconsin formed informal hockey program in 1910s. 1921 season saw development of intercollegiate hockey @ michigan, wisconsin, , minnesota. michigan , wisconsin scheduled 4 games played on consecutive weekends february 18 26, 1921.

modern era

the modern era of badger hockey began in 1963 decision of athletic director ivan b. williamson. badgers played home games @ hartmeyer ice arena before moving dane county coliseum in 1967. program began independent ncaa division team , scheduling 8 games against western collegiate hockey association teams, losing 8 games. late in 1965–66 season, badgers broke through, beating minnesota golden gophers 5–4 in overtime, first win on wcha opponent. @ end of season, coach john riley retired.

johnson era

jake gardiner playing wisconsin (2010).

in 1966, wisconsin hired badger bob johnson. under johnson, wisconsin offered wcha membership 1969–70 season. in same season badgers received bid ncaa division men s ice hockey tournament. badgers won first national championship @ 1973 frozen four. badger bob s 1977 team 1 of successful date, team swept through wcha tournament , 1977 ncaa tournament. behind efforts of 4 first team all-americans, mike eaves, mark johnson (bob s son), craig norwich , julian baretta, 1977 team won title 6–5 victory in overtime against michigan.

despite losing 1 of top players, mark johnson, 1980 american olympic team, badgers reached ncaa title game 3 consecutive times in 1981, 1982, , 1983. winning program s third title in 1981 defeating rival minnesota in championship game 6–3. after again reaching championship game in 1982, badgers lost north dakota, program dealt second blow departure of johnson. later coach in nhl , win stanley cup pittsburgh penguins. left wisconsin after 15 seasons 3 ncaa championships, record of 367–175–23, , having built program ncaa powerhouse.

sauer era

former badger assistant coach jeff sauer hired in 1982 replace badger bob johnson head coach. sauer won 1983 ncaa championship in first season. wisconsin defeated harvard 6–2 earn program s fourth ncaa title. under sauer s leadership, badgers qualified 8 consecutive ncaa tournaments 1988 1995, , won program s 5th ncaa title in 1990, 7–3 victory on colgate. also, sauer presided on team s move aging coliseum new, on-campus kohl center in 1998. badger men led nation in college hockey attendance every year moving kohl center through 2011 season.

wisconsin again reached 1992 ncaa championship game against lake superior state, losing 5–3. game, featured questionable calls referee continually put badgers @ two-man disadvantage, irked several players lashed out beyond sauer s control, verbally abusing referees , earning sauer one-game ncaa suspension. assistant coach bill zito received two-game suspension, while players blaine moore , jason zent each received one-game suspension. game later vacated ncaa rules violations unrelated incidents in championship game. in mid-1990s, badger hockey earned ncaa bids in 1998 , 2000, underachieved compared high standards of 1970s , 1980s. 1999–2000 team featured duo of second overall nhl draft pick dany heatley , steven reinprecht, won macnaughton cup, , earned no. 1 position in polls of season, upset boston college in ncaa regionals. 2 seasons later, during 2001–02 season, coach sauer announced retirement. jeff sauer left wisconsin 2 ncaa titles , record of 489–306–46 @ wisconsin, , 655–532–57 overall record head coach.

eaves era

badgers gather before game against boston university (2010).

sauer s replacement mike eaves, former player captain on 1977 ncaa championship team , still holds record wisconsin s all-time leading scorer. in 2003–04, eaves brought badgers short of frozen four, falling in overtime maine in 2004 ncaa tournament. badgers returned national prominence winning 2006 ncaa championship in milwaukee 2–1 win on boston college. in 2010, badgers returned ncaa championship, vying seventh ncaa title lost 5–0 boston college @ ford field in detroit, michigan, in front of then-record crowd indoor ice hockey game of 37,592. in 2011, missed wcha final-five , ncaa tournament completely. in 2012, team missed ncaa tournament again. in 2013 winners in last-ever appearance in wcha final 5 before team joins newly established big ten hockey conference 2013–14 season. in inaugural season of big ten hockey conference, badgers won big ten tournament, second consecutive conference tournament championship. 2014–15 season worst season in team history. finished season record of 4–26–5, setting school records fewest wins , losses in season. eaves fired on march 18, 2016 after finishing 2015–16 season 8–19–8 record.

granato era

athletic director barry alvarez hired detroit red wings assistant tony granato replace eaves in late march 2016. hired tony s younger brother don granato, coach of u.s. national team development program s under-17 team, , mark osiecki, associate head coach of american hockey league s rockford icehogs , former assistant coach @ wisconsin 6 years in 2000s. tony granato signed five-year contract worth $2.75 million while osiecki , brother signed three-year deals worth total of $660,000 piece. hires seen getting uw men s ice hockey on track, , noticed media, such wisconsin state journal, when said alvarez answered critics think uw no longer cares men’s hockey in best way during press conference introducing 3 coaches alvarez stated i’m confident we’ve taken right steps today in re-establishing dominance of our hockey program 3 coaches wisconsin alums; tony granato played 1983 1987 all-american, don granato played 1987 1991, , osiecki played 1987 1990. after 3 coaches hired phrase dream team came used when referring uw s new coaching staff, first used barry alvarez when said more dream 3 of guys. me, s dream team.

in granato s first season, led team respectability 20-15-1 overall record , 12-8 conference record, enough second place. on march 18, lost conference championship game penn state 2-1 in double overtime.