How The WIAA Decision Affects The Hockey Schedule

Yesterday the WIAA announced that they would be keeping the boys basketball tournament at the Kohl Center until the year 2020. They also announced that the girls basketball tournament will be moving to the Resch Center in Green Bay for the next two years.

This presents some good news for the Wisconsin hockey team, as well as a few more headaches in regard to future schedules.

There had been conflicts because the tournaments were scheduled to fall on weekends that the Badger men's hockey team need the Kohl Center available for the WCHA playoffs, and in the future the Big Ten tournament when that league starts in the fall of 2013.

However UW AD Barry Alvarez convinced the Big Ten to go to a neutral site tournament, avoiding conflicts at the Kohl Center. The Big Ten tournament will be played at the Xcel Energy Center in 2014 and 2016, and at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit in 2015 and 2017.

The boys basketball tournament will now be played the second weekend of March (7-9) at the Kohl Center, and the girls tournament the weekend after in Green Bay.

That is good news for the men's hockey program because it guarantees that the Kohl Center will be open for the first round of the 2013 WCHA playoffs if the Badgers finish in the top six of the league and earn the right to host a first round series.

The problem it creates is that the Badgers currently have a home series scheduled against St. Cloud State during the weekend of the boys basketball tournament March (8-9). That's going to create headaches for the schedule makers that have to adjust schedules so that the Badgers are on the road that weekend but still will be able to host St. Cloud another weekend.

Another issue is the weekend of February 22nd and 23rd. Wisconsin is set to host Penn State in a non-conference sereis that weekend. However it sounds like the WIAA will have the rights to host the state wrestling individual tournament that weekend at the Kohl Center.

Wisconsin may be looking to move that series to another weekend. If they are unable to do so, the series is likely to be a Sunday/Monday affair.

One last additional note, it appears that the outdoor game between Wisconsin and Minnesota tentatively scheduled for Sunday, February 17th will be finalized this week. That will be a Friday/Sunday series with the Friday game being played at the Kohl Center with a travel day before the Sunday outdoor game.

2012-13 Tentative Wisconsin Hockey Schedule

So here's what we've got pieced together at this point. Obviously things will change since we don't know where the St. Cloud home series will fit in, and we know that the Badgers will now be on the road the last weekend of the season. We also aren't certain where the non-conference series with Miami and Lake Superior State fit in.

OCTOBER

12/13--@ Northern Michigan (Resch Center)

19/20--Miami (?)

26/27--@ Minnesota-Duluth

NOVEMBER

2/3--Colorado College

9/10--

16/17--@ Minnesota

23/24--Minnesota State

30/1--@ Denver

DECEMBER

7/8--Michigan Tech

14/15--

21/22--

28/29--Lake Superior State (?)

JANUARY

4/5--@ Alaska Anchorage

11/12--@ Minnesota State

18/19--

25/26--Alaska Anchorage

FEBRUARY

1/2--@ North Dakota

8/9--Bemidji State

15/17--Minnesota (Friday Kohl Center, Sunday @ Soldier Field)

24/25--Penn State (Likely Sunday/Monday due to WIAA Wrestling)

MARCH

1/2--@ Nebraska Omaha

8/9--Road series due to WIAA boys basketball

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Chuck can also be reached via e-mail at chuckschwartz@live.com