THE TOURNAMENTS: The 53rd Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys Hockey State Tournament and the 22nd Girls Hockey State Tournament will take place Thursday-Saturday, March 2-4, at Bob Suter’s Capitol Ice Arena in Middleton, Wis.
TICKET INFORMATION: Ticket prices for the tourney are $11 per game plus online fees, and they can be purchased on-line on the WIAA website through GoFan, the WIAA ticketing partner, at: https://gofan.co/app/school/WIAA2?activity=Hockey.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE AND PAIRINGS: The single elimination boys tournament features four teams in two divisions. The girls tournament also features four teams. There were 85 boys teams and 28 girls teams at the beginning of the championship Tournament Series this year.
BOYS SCHEDULE: (*approximate times - start 30 mins. following previous game)
Division 1
Semifinals - Friday, March 3
Game-1: #1 Notre Dame (26-0) vs. #4 University School of Milwaukee (19-8) - 10 a.m.
Game-2: #2 Verona (22-5) vs. #3 Hudson (19-9) - 12:15 p.m.*
Championship Game - Saturday, March 4
Game-3: Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 - 2:30 p.m.*
Division 2
Semifinals - Thursday, March 2
Game-1: #1 New Richmond (22-4) vs. #4 Menomonie (10-16) - 10 a.m.
Game-2: #2 Mosinee (21-6) vs. #3 Oregon (16-11) - 12:15 p.m.*
Championship Game - Saturday, March 4
Game-3: Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 - 9:30 a.m.
GIRLS SCHEDULE: (*approximate times - start 30 mins. following previous game)
Semifinals - Thursday, March 2
Game-1: #1 De Pere Co-op (23-3) vs. #4 Middleton Co-op (19-6) - 4 p.m.
Game-2: #2 Superior/Northwestern (19-5) vs. #3 Hudson (13-10) - 6:15 p.m.*
Championship Game - Saturday, March 4
Game-3: Winner of Game-1 vs. Winner of Game-2 - 12:10 p.m.*
FINALS ON STATEWIDE TV NETWORK: The finals of the boys and girls State Tournaments will be televised live on WKOW Madison, WAOW Wausau, WXOW La Crosse, WQOW Eau Claire, WYOW Eagle River, WMOW Crandon, WCWF in Green Bay/Fox Valley and WMLW Milwaukee. The finals will also be streamed live on the State Television Network’s websites.
SEMIFINALS STREAMED ON NFHS NETWORK: The boys and girls semifinals will be streamed live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network. To purchase a subscription to the live programming for only $11.99 per month, log-on to www.wiaa.tv or www.nfhsnetwork.com and click on the subscription button located on the page header. Archived streams of the sessions will be available On Demand on www.nfhsnetwork.com 72 hours after the tournament.
ABOUT THE NEW VENUE: Built in 1999, Bob Suter’s Capitol Ice Arena, located at 2616 North Pleasant View Road in Middleton, received a multi-million dollar renovation in 2018 that added significant amenities and upgrades. The facility is equipped with two full sheets of ice with seating for 2,611 spectators, a state-of-the-art sound system, scoreboard and a high-definition video board. The arena also has a media broadcasting booth, eight public locker rooms, six public bathrooms, and one family restroom. It is the current home for the USHL Madison Capitols and Madison Capitols AAA hockey.
LAST YEAR: Hudson won the Division 1 championship for the second year in a row with a 6-2 victory over Edgewood in the title game. Rice Lake edged former two-time defending champion St. Mary’s Springs 4-3 to capture the Division 2 crown. In the girls final, the co-op of D.C. Everest/Marathon/Merrill/Mosinee/Wausau East/ Wausau West captured the championship with a 5-0 shutout over the Onalaska/Aquinas/Bangor/Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Holmen/La Crosse Central/Logan/West Salem Co-op in the final.
TOURNAMENT TEAM HISTORY: The first WIAA State boys hockey championship game was held in 1971. The tournament expanded to two divisions for the first time in 2020. The two-division format features four teams qualifying for the State Tournament in each division. Superior won the first championship and has won 12 more since to give the Spartans a membership-leading 13 State titles. Madison Memorial has won eight titles; Hudson has won six; and Madison East has earned four. The first girls tournament was held in 2002. The Mosinee and D.C. Everest co-op program that included Wausau East and West has three championships. The co-op won the 2008 championship. Championships in 2012 and 2017 were won by the same group of schools but was identified D.C. Everest as the host school of the co-op. A different configuration of the co-op won the title in 2022.
THE BOYS DIVISION 1 FIELD: Notre Dame was awarded the #1 seed in the bracket. The Tritons are making their fifth State appearance in the last six years and their 10th overall. Their first five appearances came consecutively from 2010-14. The Tritons’ one State championship came in 2012. They also advanced to the title game in 2020 and finished runner-up. They qualify this season following a 3-2 overtime victory versus Bay Port in the Fond du Lac Sectional final. Second-seeded Verona returns to State for the fifth time in the last six seasons and for the 11th time overall. The Wildcats won championship in 2014 and then again in 2020. They also advanced to the title game and placed runner-up in 2013. The Wildcats advance to the State semifinals this season following a 4-1 triumph over last year’s runner-up Edgewood in the sectional final hosted in Sun Prairie. Two-time defending champion Hudson is the third seed in the bracket. The Raiders qualify for the tournament for the 14th time and for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. They have six State titles on their ledger. The first came in 2001 with the second coming in 2004. The Raiders then won back-to-back championships in 2017-18 before capturing consecutive titles again the past two seasons. They also advanced to the championship final in 2016 and finished runner-up. This season, they defeated Superior 3-1 in the sectional final held in Chippewa Falls to continue their effort to win a third consecutive championship. University School of Milwaukee is the fourth seed. The Wildcats return to State for the fifth year in a row and for the 16th time overall. They have won three State titles. The program’s first championship came in 2006, and then they added their second title in 2010. Their most recent championship came in 2019. This season, they return in pursuit of their fourth title after skating to a 4-2 win over Brookfield East Co-op in the sectional final held in Brookfield.
THE BOYS DIVISION 2 FIELD: Top-seeded New Richmond returns to State for the first time since 2011 and for the fifth time overall. The Tigers advanced to the championship final in 2003 and finished runner-up. They are on a pursuit to win the program’s first State title, which continues following a 3-2 win over the Amery Co-op in the sectional final held at Amery. Mosinee is the second seed in the bracket. The Indians will be making their fourth appearance as a stand-alone program. The previous experiences came in 1972-74 and again in 1992. They also qualified as part of a co-op with Columbus Catholic and Newman Catholic in 2008, which is the most recent of the experiences. They are attempting to advance beyond the first round for the first time in program history. The Indians edged Lakeland 2-1 in the sectional final played in Mosinee to return to the tournament field. It will be the first-ever appearance for Oregon, which received the #3 seed. The Panthers began celebrating their inaugural trip to the State Tournament following their 1-0 shutout over former two-time defending champion St. Mary’s Springs in the Stoughton Sectional final. Fourth-seeded Menomonie returns to State for the first time in 32 years and for the third time in the program’s history. The Mustangs’ prior appearances came back-to-back in 1990-91. After falling in the quarterfinals in 1990, they won their lone State championship in 1991. Their return this season comes by virtue of a 3-2 win over the Altoona Co-op in the Somerset Sectional final.
THE GIRLS FIELD: The top-seeded team in the bracket is the 11-school De Pere/Ashwaubenon/Bay Port/Green Bay East/Green Bay Preble/Green Bay Southwest/Green Bay West/Notre Dame/Pulaski/Seymour/West De Pere Co-op. This rendition of the co-op makes its third appearance at State albeit with a different host school. The Bay Area Ice Bears won the State title in 2014 and finished runner-up in 2017. Another configuration of the co-op, without Pulaski, also placed runner-up in 2010. The De Pere co-op returns to the tournament with a 3-1 win over the University School of Milwaukee in the Fond du Lac Sectional final. Second-seeded Superior/Northwestern makes its first appearance as a co-op. Superior, as a stand-alone program, has four previous experiences. The most notable of those was a State championship in 2005 and a runner-up finish in 2004. The Spartans advance to the semifinals following a high-scoring 7-5 triumph over the Hayward Co-op in the final of the Spooner Sectional. Third-seeded Hudson returns to the State semifinals for the first time since 2020 and for the sixth time overall. Their first two appearances resulted in State titles in 2002 and 2003. The Raiders advance to the final field of four this season by defeating the Onalaska Co-op 2-1 in the Somerset Sectional final. The Middleton/ Dodgeville/Edgewood/Madison Memorial/Madison West/Mount Horeb/Verona Co-op was issued the fourth seed in the tournament. The Metro Lynx will be making their second consecutive appearance and their third in the past four seasons, which also accounts for the program’s overall experiences. Their most notable of the appearance came in 2020 when they advanced to the championship game and finished runner-up. The opportunity to continue pursuit of the program’s first championship comes following a 5-1 victory over the Viroqua Co-op in the Stoughton Sectional final.
ORDER STATE TOURNAMENT APPAREL: WIAA licensed apparel is available at Bob Suter’s Capitol Ice Arena for the 2023 State Boys & Girls Hockey Tournaments. Apparel is also available online. Access the Boys and Girls State Hockey Tournaments online store through a partnership with Sports World at https://sportsworld.chipply.com/WIAAhockey23 or by clicking on the apparel link on the boys or girls hockey tournament pages on the WIAA website.
FOLLOW STATE MEET ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Receive updates of the State Boys and Girls Hockey Tournaments on the WIAA State Tournament Twitter account @wiaawistate with the hashtag #wiaahockey. Also like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram at wiaawi.
NEED RESULTS?: The quickest way to get State hockey results will be to access the WIAA website at www.wiaawi.org and navigate to the respective hockey homepage.
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