16th Annual Badger Hockey Showdown Begins Tonight
December 31, 2004 | Men's Hockey
No. 4 Wisconsin (13-5-0, 10-4-0 WCHA) plays host to the 16th annual Badger Hockey Showdown as Yale (1-11-0, 1-9-0 ECAC), Clarkson (4-11-2, 1-5-1 ECAC) and defending champion Ferris State (6-10-2, 3-7-2 CCHA) visit the Kohl Center beginning at 4 p.m.
Wisconsin hockey found the perfect way to ring in 2005 as the Badger Hockey Showdown returns to the Kohl Center for the second time after 14 years at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Running since the inaugural event in December of 1989, this year's version takes place New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in the top college sports town in America.
The brainchild of former Badger head coach Jeff Sauer, the Showdown has featured defending NCAA champions, Hobey Baker winners and finalists and numerous future NHL stars. Praised by coaches, players and fans as one of the best showcases of college hockey talent in the nation, the tourney has become one of the most successful in college hockey history.
Since 1989, over 390,000 fans have witnessed the December spectacle in Milwaukee and Madison, averaging over 26,000 fans per year and over 13,000 spectators a day.
Wisconsin has enjoyed much success at the Showdown, winning eight of the 15 championships. The Badgers have defeated hockey powers Boston College (1989), North Dakota (1990), Maine (1991), Northern Michigan (1993, 1997 and 2002), Bowling Green State (1994) and Boston University (2000) to win titles. Hockey East members Boston University (1992 and 1995) and New Hampshire (1996 and 2001) have each won the Showdown twice, while Bowling Green State was the first CCHA team to win the Showdown in 1998. At the 1999 event, North Dakota became the first WCHA team other than the Badgers to win the Pettit Cup. Wisconsin enters the 2004 event looking to recapture the title after falling to Ferris State in the final of the 2003 Showdown.
The Ferris State Bulldogs left the Kohl Center in Dec. 2003 as champions of the 15th annual Badger Hockey Showdown and the Bulldogs return in 2004 as the second school other than host Wisconsin to defend a title. Making their first appearance last year, the Bulldogs cooled off the red-hot Badgers in the 2003 title contest to claim the tournament victory. FSU rode the pads of tournament most valuable player Mike Brown to a 4-2 win after knocking off UMass Lowell in the semifinals. The win snapped Wisconsin 's school-record 15-game unbeaten streak.
The Bulldogs open with Clarkson, which came within a game of an ECAC postseason championship and NCAA berth last season. The Golden Knights make their first appearance at the Badger Hockey Showdown.
Yale, Wisconsin's semifinal opponent, competes in the Showdown for the third time. The Bulldogs skated against the UW in the first round of both the 1991 and 1998 Showdowns, dropping a 6-1 contest in 1991 and taking a 4-2 victory in 1998. Yale finished second with a 4-1 championship game loss to Bowling Green in the 1998 title game.
The winner of the Showdown is awarded the Pettit Cup, named after two of the State of Wisconsin's best friends of hockey. The trophy is named after Lloyd Pettit and Jane Bradley Pettit, hockey enthusiasts and philanthropists from Milwaukee.
Lloyd Pettit is best known for his career as a broadcaster for the Chicago Blackhawks. He started as an analyst there in 1961 and began doing play-by-play in 1963. He won an Emmy Award in 1966 for his coverage of the Blackhawks on the road during the 1965-66 season. He continued to do play-by-play through the 1974-75 season. In 1986 he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and also received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award which is presented `in recognition of members of the radio and television industry who made outstanding contributions to their profession and the game during their career in hockey broadcasting.'
Jane Bradley Pettit, whose father Harry L. Bradley was a co-founder and chairman of the Allen-Bradley Company, shared her gifts with the Milwaukee area. She married Lloyd in 1969 and the couple bought the Milwaukee Admirals in 1976. In 1985 Jane and her husband announced that they would donate a multi-million dollar sports complex to the city of Milwaukee in honor of her late father. The Bradley Center was completed in 1988 and hosted an exhibition between the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers as the inaugural game at the complex. One year later it became the site of the first Badger Hockey Showdown and went on to host 13 more before the tournament moved to the Kohl Center last season. Pettit also contributed to the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School and the Pettit National Ice Center.
Both Jane and Lloyd were inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993. Their charitable donations to both the athletic and artistic scenes of Milwaukee gained them great respect in the community. Jane lost her battle with lung cancer Sept. 9, 2001 and Lloyd died of natural causes on Nov. 11, 2003.
