The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey and basketball teams are bound for the Big Apple.
The second “Super Saturday – College Hoops & Hockey,” a doubleheader of Big Ten men’s basketball and hockey at Madison Square Garden in New York City, was announced on Wednesday afternoon — with Wisconsin athletics in a featuring role.
This year’s inaugural edition will commence Jan. 30 and showcase the University of Michigan and Penn State University battling in each of the two games.
A 2014 agreement between the Big Ten and Madison Square Garden laid groundwork for future Big Ten events to be hosted at the world-famous arena.
The 2017 edition of “Super Saturday” will feature Wisconsin squaring off against Rutgers in basketball and Ohio State in hockey, with both games scheduled for Jan. 28 of that year. Also part of the agreement, the 2018 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Championship, along with other regular season matchups, will be held there.
While Badgers basketball has a long history of playing on the fabled Garden-hardwood — since 1947 — Wisconsin hockey will skate the same ice as the New York Rangers for the first time ever, a bizarre fact considering the closeness between the two organizations.
Current Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh and assistant captain Derek Stepan spent two years together at Wisconsin before both joining the organization in 2010.
Former Rangers’ goaltender Mike Richter was a Badger as well. His No. 35 jersey was retired to the Madison Square Garden rafters in 2004.
Eight other Badgers have played for the Broadway Blueshirts throughout their careers as well, making this a special occasion for Wisconsin men’s hockey.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our program and especially our student-athletes,” Wisconsin Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez said in a statement. “It will be a great experience for them to play in this unique event in one of the most famous arenas in the world. We have a large number of fans and alumni in the New York area and this is a fantastic chance for them to see our teams compete.”
While hockey has been a sore point for the past two seasons — Wisconsin is 8-39-11 overall since the 2014-15 season — a strong showing on a national stage could present a significant chance to open new markets.
The recent dominance of eastern teams in NCAA hockey has kept many talented, eastern players from venturing out to the Midwest.
Since Wisconsin won their last title in 2006, only two other midwestern teams have won the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament, compared to the collective seven championships won by eastern teams since. Dating back to the 2012-13 season, only two eastern players have donned a Badgers’ jersey on the ice — Mark Zengerle and Corbin McGuire.
With the professional ties the Wisconsin men’s hockey team now has to the New York area and the recruiting hotbed the Northeastern United States is, the event could help Wisconsin gain access to an untapped market.
But only if they put on a good showing.
