My Experience at Madison

[Watchout for Flying Pucks]

This was my first trip to Madison to watch the Sioux take on the Badgers. My friends and I heard that Madison was a great town to have fun. Last year we traveled to Houghton, MI to watch the Sioux and we had a blast, but this year in Madison it was totally different. When we got to the Kohl Center one of the Badger's fans asked us not to yell Sioux at the end of the National Anthem. He told us that we were being disrespectful to the United States and that North Dakota was a bunch of communist. The guy was just trying to get under our skin, but we didn't let him so he looked like a stupid Badger fan. After the Sioux victory we went to States Street to celebrate. State Street looked like a lot of fun with all the bars and people, but it wasn't we heard a lot of Badger fans yelling F*ck the Sioux. We went to a couple of bars and we didnt feel very welcomed compared to the other cities in the WCHA while wearing our Sioux jerseys. I actually got punched in the face because we wouldn't buy a guy a shot. He kept on taking our Sioux hats and throwing it on the floor telling us that we needed to buy him a shot. I dont think I will be going back to Madison for some time. Like my friend said there were 30% nice Badger fans and 70% disrespectful Badger fans. And the best line that they can come up with is " Sioux is a girls name" Let me give the student section and band credit. It was very cool to see them all involved with all the different songs they did. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. I am just wondering if anyone else had the same kind of experience my friends and I did.

Go Sioux!!!

[Let'sGoHawks!]

This was my first trip to Madison to watch the Sioux take on the Badgers. My friends and I heard that Madison was a great town to have fun. Last year we traveled to Houghton, MI to watch the Sioux and we had a blast, but this year in Madison it was totally different. When we got to the Kohl Center one of the Badger's fans asked us not to yell Sioux at the end of the National Anthem. He told us that we were being disrespectful to the United States and that North Dakota was a bunch of communist. The guy was just trying to get under our skin, but we didn't let him so he looked like a stupid Badger fan. After the Sioux victory we went to States Street to celebrate. State Street looked like a lot of fun with all the bars and people, but it wasn't we heard a lot of Badger fans yelling F*ck the Sioux. We went to a couple of bars and we didnt feel very welcomed compared to the other cities in the WCHA while wearing our Sioux jerseys. I actually got punched in the face because we wouldn't buy a guy a shot. He kept on taking our Sioux hats and throwing it on the floor telling us that we needed to buy him a shot. I dont think I will be going back to Madison for some time. Like my friend said there were 30% nice Badger fans and 70% disrespectful Badger fans. And the best line that they can come up with is " Sioux is a girls name" Let me give the student section and band credit. It was very cool to see them all involved with all the different songs they did. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. I am just wondering if anyone else had the same kind of experience my friends and I did.

Go Sioux!!!

So, you are saying that you have been on a lot of WCHA road trips, and the Madison experience has been the worst as far as "d-bag" home fans?

I wonder how they would have treated you if they had won, or got more than 16 shots on goal each night!

Anyway, nice sweep, and don't let the UW idots ruin it, keep making the trip and fill up that arena. I heard the Sioux fans on the friday broadcast, good job to those who were there!

[Big A HG]

Friday night the fans were worse than Saturday night. I actually sat by some cool season ticket holders right at center ice on the media side. Any heckling they did was all in good fun, and I was sure to give it back to them knowing we were just enjoying the game. Friday night though I was by some ultra-libs who I don't mesh well with.

[Watchout for Flying Pucks]

So, you are saying that you have been on a lot of WCHA road trips, and the Madison experience has been the worst as far as "d-bag" home fans?

I wonder how they would have treated you if they had won, or got more than 16 shots on goal each night!

Anyway, nice sweep, and don't let the UW idots ruin it, keep making the trip and fill up that arena. I heard the Sioux fans on the friday broadcast, good job to those who were there!

Yes, I have been to the following arenas to watch the Sioux: Michigan Tech, St. Cloud State, U of M, Mankato State, Duluth, and now Wisconsin. I have also been to the Final Five and the Frozen Four in Milwaukee. I would have to say these fans were the worst, even worse than the Gopher fans!

[Wilbur]

People people.....one word says it all.....Wisconsin.....I mean come on......

Every year at the final five the most crazy/disturbed fans we run across come from Wisconsin.....never fails. I think the Wisconsin fans also hold the record for puking the most at Alarys. I don't know how half of them cheer during games because they're too drunk to realize whats going on. And regardless of the outcome they sing and dance after every game.....probably because they aren't sure who won....

[Oxbow6]

People people.....one word says it all.....Wisconsin.....I mean come on......

Every year at the final five the most crazy/disturbed fans we run across come from Wisconsin.....never fails. I think the Wisconsin fans also hold the record for puking the most at Alarys. I don't know how half of them cheer during games because they're too drunk to realize whats going on. And regardless of the outcome they sing and dance after every game.....probably because they aren't sure who won....

Exactly...my wife's family is from central WI and they ALL still live there. Kind of a twisted, gin and tonic laced cult like group of people in that state!

[sioux7>5]

I still think that the student section does not know sh#@ about hockey. They are just there to do some choreography and go home. I like going to Madison if not for the reason to hear them yell " That's Debatable" regardless if they are at full strength or the Sioux are. What, they cracks me up. But they do have fun and I have never had a too bad of experience in Madison.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

People people.....one word says it all.....Wisconsin.....I mean come on......

Every year at the final five the most crazy/disturbed fans we run across come from Wisconsin.....never fails. I think the Wisconsin fans also hold the record for puking the most at Alarys. I don't know how half of them cheer during games because they're too drunk to realize whats going on. And regardless of the outcome they sing and dance after every game.....probably because they aren't sure who won....

I gave you a plus 1 for this post. Nice work!

[Watchout for Flying Pucks]

I still think that the student section does not know sh#@ about hockey. They are just there to do some choreography and go home. I like going to Madison if not for the reason to hear them yell " That's Debatable" regardless if they are at full strength or the Sioux are. What, they cracks me up. But they do have fun and I have never had a too bad of experience in Madison.

I will give you that about the students yelling " Thats Debatable" whether or not they are on the pp or pk what is with that? We were having a good experience until getting punched in the face for no reason.

[Siouxmama]

My opinion is, the student section stays involved in the game with song and dance, but just look at them. They appear to be a bunch of zombies, just going thru the motions. They dont have a clue.

[USA Hockey]

This was my first trip to Madison to watch the Sioux take on the Badgers. My friends and I heard that Madison was a great town to have fun. Last year we traveled to Houghton, MI to watch the Sioux and we had a blast, but this year in Madison it was totally different. When we got to the Kohl Center one of the Badger's fans asked us not to yell Sioux at the end of the National Anthem. He told us that we were being disrespectful to the United States and that North Dakota was a bunch of communist. The guy was just trying to get under our skin, but we didn't let him so he looked like a stupid Badger fan. After the Sioux victory we went to States Street to celebrate. State Street looked like a lot of fun with all the bars and people, but it wasn't we heard a lot of Badger fans yelling F*ck the Sioux. We went to a couple of bars and we didnt feel very welcomed compared to the other cities in the WCHA while wearing our Sioux jerseys. I actually got punched in the face because we wouldn't buy a guy a shot. He kept on taking our Sioux hats and throwing it on the floor telling us that we needed to buy him a shot. I dont think I will be going back to Madison for some time. Like my friend said there were 30% nice Badger fans and 70% disrespectful Badger fans. And the best line that they can come up with is " Sioux is a girls name" Let me give the student section and band credit. It was very cool to see them all involved with all the different songs they did. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. I am just wondering if anyone else had the same kind of experience my friends and I did.

Go Sioux!!!

I've been on every Madison trip since 2005. One thing you have to understand is that Wisconsin is a football state, and many of them do not understand the game of hockey. Although Minnesota fans can be arrogant, at least the majority of them understand the game. With Wisconsin fans, not only do the majority of them not understand the game of hockey, they are also drunk and belligerent. With respect to the campus and community, it is VERY liberal. Walking around that campus and town is like going back to the 1960's almost. Many of the students that go to school there are big city kids that come from very wealthy backgrounds, making it a very preppy atmosphere. You can see it in the harmonic cheers that the students section does. When I was a college student, you could not have gotten me to dance in circles and clap hands. I will say, we've had some great times in Madison over the years (some of the others on this board can attest to that), but it is definitely a different culture and atmosphere that is different than anywhere else in the WCHA.

[MoreSiouxForYou]

We all should take a note though. I have had problems with fellow Sioux "D-Bags," who are not fans but just like everyother fan base they show up to get drunk and rag on people in the halls of games. That isn't acceptable. It's COLLEGE hockey!!! Not life and death, no reason to be an adult beating people up or fighting.

If you are at a game have a good time with them, enjoy the banter, and shake hands at the end of the game.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

We all should take a note though. I have had problems with fellow Sioux "D-Bags," who are not fans but just like everyother fan base they show up to get drunk and rag on people in the halls of games. That isn't acceptable. It's COLLEGE hockey!!! Not life and death, no reason to be an adult beating people up or fighting.

If you are at a game have a good time with them, enjoy the banter, and shake hands at the end of the game.

Absolutely, there are always these types of fans, it appears that the percentage is much higher in Madison though.

[focker]

I've been to 4-5 games in Madison now and never had any real issues at all. I met way more !@#$%! fans at the one Gopher/Sioux game I went to than at any of the badger games.

State street is a different story from the actual game, however. You're bound to meet a few real douche's on a big stretch of bars like that, especially when you're wearing a big bright green sioux jersey after the game. It's like a douche magnet.

[burd]

I keep expecting to hear Rod Serling's voice.

[Goon]

This was my first trip to Madison to watch the Sioux take on the Badgers. My friends and I heard that Madison was a great town to have fun. Last year we traveled to Houghton, MI to watch the Sioux and we had a blast, but this year in Madison it was totally different. When we got to the Kohl Center one of the Badger's fans asked us not to yell Sioux at the end of the National Anthem. He told us that we were being disrespectful to the United States and that North Dakota was a bunch of communist. The guy was just trying to get under our skin, but we didn't let him so he looked like a stupid Badger fan. After the Sioux victory we went to States Street to celebrate. State Street looked like a lot of fun with all the bars and people, but it wasn't we heard a lot of Badger fans yelling F*ck the Sioux. We went to a couple of bars and we didnt feel very welcomed compared to the other cities in the WCHA while wearing our Sioux jerseys. I actually got punched in the face because we wouldn't buy a guy a shot. He kept on taking our Sioux hats and throwing it on the floor telling us that we needed to buy him a shot. I dont think I will be going back to Madison for some time. Like my friend said there were 30% nice Badger fans and 70% disrespectful Badger fans. And the best line that they can come up with is " Sioux is a girls name" Let me give the student section and band credit. It was very cool to see them all involved with all the different songs they did. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. I am just wondering if anyone else had the same kind of experience my friends and I did.

Go Sioux!!!

IF someone punched you in the face that's an assault and I would have had this moron arrested. People should not call ND communist especially when one of their Senators is one of the most liberal in the senate. Thank God he was defeated. From past experience at the Final Five I found that UW fans are for the most part pretty cool.

[Stromer]

This was my first trip to Madison to watch the Sioux take on the Badgers. My friends and I heard that Madison was a great town to have fun. Last year we traveled to Houghton, MI to watch the Sioux and we had a blast, but this year in Madison it was totally different. When we got to the Kohl Center one of the Badger's fans asked us not to yell Sioux at the end of the National Anthem. He told us that we were being disrespectful to the United States and that North Dakota was a bunch of communist. The guy was just trying to get under our skin, but we didn't let him so he looked like a stupid Badger fan. After the Sioux victory we went to States Street to celebrate. State Street looked like a lot of fun with all the bars and people, but it wasn't we heard a lot of Badger fans yelling F*ck the Sioux. We went to a couple of bars and we didnt feel very welcomed compared to the other cities in the WCHA while wearing our Sioux jerseys. I actually got punched in the face because we wouldn't buy a guy a shot. He kept on taking our Sioux hats and throwing it on the floor telling us that we needed to buy him a shot. I dont think I will be going back to Madison for some time. Like my friend said there were 30% nice Badger fans and 70% disrespectful Badger fans. And the best line that they can come up with is " Sioux is a girls name" Let me give the student section and band credit. It was very cool to see them all involved with all the different songs they did. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. I am just wondering if anyone else had the same kind of experience my friends and I did.

Go Sioux!!!

Thats unfortunate that you had a bad experience there. I was down there with some of my friends and we had a blast. I actually enjoy people coming up and yelling F the Sioux. Normally after you respond back you actually end up in a decent convo with them. But it sounds like you had a real tool in the bar with you. Madison is a strange town. They really don't know hockey at all, but once they know the score of the game half of them hate you and half love for some reason. All in all I've always found it to be a pretty cool place to visit and I can't wait to go back next year.

[Sioux-cia]

I went to the Saturday game with three 20 something y/o Wisconsin fans. One of them admitted knowing very little about hockey but enjoyed going to the games. (Umpires?!? Are you kidding me?? LOL) They were wearing their red and white and I was in my Prpich garish green jersey. As we were walking into the arena, I saw a small group of Sioux fans and yelled, 'Sioux Yeah Yeah'. They stared at me blankly. We sat in section 218. I sang the national anthem and yelled Sioux with my right arm outstretched in a salute and no one gave me any grief. My friends and I gave each other crap during the game and enjoyed each others discomfort during the other team's scoring and our own teams penalties. I don't care if the Wi students know anything about the game or not. They're college students who are at the game to have a good time. So what? Why should that affect us at all? I enjoyed watching them. I wish our students were as enthusiastic. Just image, students who know what's going on during the game and really getting into it with chants and dances. We would have an awesome student section. The RIT students who went to Detroit were absolutely entertaining throughout the F4, even though their team fell quickly and decisively their first game. It was fun watching them engage the other groups around them through out the tournament. I don't think any one of them went home early just because their team lost. What's wrong with having fun?? Hell yeah, I want to watch the game AND win but I like having fun as well.

After the game, my friends took me to 'the Churchkey', a little bar not far from the arena. I was the only one in Green and White. Several guys, some drunk and some not so drunk, came up and shook my hand, told me it was a good game. A couple added that we still sucked and I laughed. Someone bought me a tequila shot (OMG! It had been awhile!!) and a couple others bought me a beer. As the only visible Sioux fan in the bar, I was an easy target but no one treated me badly. I had a great time.

I think it's wrong to lump an entire state and student body into the same trash heap because of the bad acts of a few. Unless we have interacted with each and every one of them, I don't know how we can say a certain percentage are jerks and a lower percentage are less than jerks...unless we're talking about Gopher fans of course (jk?). I have been working in Wisconsin for six months now and the people here have been great to me. They have treated me like a long, lost, much missed relative. It's been great. Not to say there aren't some who can't stand me and wish I would leave, NOW, and vice versa.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience because you had the bad luck to run into the azz wipes of the Wisconsin fan base. If you believe in Karma or 'what goes aroung comes around', you know they're going to get their's, ten-fold.

[Big A HG]

You are a woman and are treated as such in most cases. The machoness of being a male brings out the worst in some people.

Also, you can complain about our student section all you want, but Wisconsin's ENTIRE crowd gets into chants and cheers, not just the students....unlike our old geezer crowd who is there to say they were there when they have their morning coffee with all the other geezers they hang out with.

[82SiouxGuy]

You are a woman and are treated as such in most cases. The machoness of being a male brings out the worst in some people.

Also, you can complain about our student section all you want, but Wisconsin's ENTIRE crowd gets into chants and cheers, not just the students....unlike our old geezer crowd who is there to say they were there when they have their morning coffee with all the other geezers they hang out with.

Listen junior, there are people at the Ralph who are there for the social aspects. There are people like that in most venues. But many of us "old geezers" have been going to UND hockey games since before you were born. We are hockey fans and we go to watch the games. We may or may not yell and scream as much as you would like. But we are fans, just as much as you are. I get a little tired of you and a few others that keep referring to the crowd in the insulting manner that you do.

And you may not have realized it, but the new Ralph has developed a reputation as one of the best crowds in college hockey. A lot of teams want to play there not only for the building, but for the atmosphere. So I think it's about time you knock off the insults of the "old geezers" at the Ralph.

[Sioux-cia]

Listen junior, there are people at the Ralph who are there for the social aspects. There are people like that in most venues. But many of us "old geezers" have been going to UND hockey games since before you were born. We are hockey fans and we go to watch the games. We may or may not yell and scream as much as you would like. But we are fans, just as much as you are. I get a little tired of you and a few others that keep referring to the crowd in the insulting manner that you do.

And you may not have realized it, but the new Ralph has developed a reputation as one of the best crowds in college hockey. A lot of teams want to play there not only for the building, but for the atmosphere. So I think it's about time you knock off the insults of the "old geezers" at the Ralph.

I absolutely concur!

[Big A HG]

Listen junior, there are people at the Ralph who are there for the social aspects. There are people like that in most venues. But many of us "old geezers" have been going to UND hockey games since before you were born. We are hockey fans and we go to watch the games. We may or may not yell and scream as much as you would like. But we are fans, just as much as you are. I get a little tired of you and a few others that keep referring to the crowd in the insulting manner that you do.

And you may not have realized it, but the new Ralph has developed a reputation as one of the best crowds in college hockey. A lot of teams want to play there not only for the building, but for the atmosphere. So I think it's about time you knock off the insults of the "old geezers" at the Ralph.

Don't like getting knocked on do ya? Sioux-cia said UW's students were louder (true), and I'm saying the old farts at the Kohl Center are much louder than the ones sitting on their hands at The Ralph.

I've heard the "I've been going to Sioux games since before you were born" dozens of times...it doesn't make you any louder or the atmosphere any more intimidating.

Facts are facts, didn't mean to get anyone's Depends in a bunch.

[Irish]

IF someone punched you in the face that's an assault and I would have had this moron arrested. People should not call ND communist especially when one of the Senators is one of the most liberal in the senate. Thank God he was defeated. From past experience at the Final Five I found that UW fans are for the most part pretty cool.

This is a Sioux Hockey forum, not some Tea Party chat room.

[UND Fan]

Listen junior, there are people at the Ralph who are there for the social aspects. There are people like that in most venues. But many of us "old geezers" have been going to UND hockey games since before you were born. We are hockey fans and we go to watch the games. We may or may not yell and scream as much as you would like. But we are fans, just as much as you are. I get a little tired of you and a few others that keep referring to the crowd in the insulting manner that you do.

And you may not have realized it, but the new Ralph has developed a reputation as one of the best crowds in college hockey. A lot of teams want to play there not only for the building, but for the atmosphere. So I think it's about time you knock off the insults of the "old geezers" at the Ralph.

Good post!

[Melvin]

I absolutely concur!

I am not sure what some of these people consider old geezers?