Which NHL team has the most support in Wisconsin? (Milwaukee: college, restaurant)

[hogger129]

Blackhawks FTW

Been watching them since the days of Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Gary Suter.

[jtur88]

I grew up in Wisconsin, and was always a Black Hawks fan, back in the days of Pilote and Vasko and Skov and Litzenberger, and Nesterenko, but they were always in last place in a 6-team NHL and never on TV. But I didn't really become interested in hockey until I moved to Quebec, and became a Canadiens fan, with Beliveau and Geoffrion. Now that the Habs suck, I'm rooting for the Black Hawks in the Stanley Cup. But also for Ottawa because Colin Greening's dad was a good friend and colleague of mine.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by Admirals818

The Minnesota Wild would be the "local" NHL team, particularly because they are televised in Milwaukee.

How many times do I have to keep telling people that FSWisconsin is not FS Wisconsin. It's a Twin Cities TV station that branded itself FSW and has the contract for Brewers and Bucks games and when there is nothing else on that draws ratings they put on MN Outdoors or Wild games. Fs(Twin Cities) does not put on wild games because of ratings in Milwaukee. The Blackhawks are Milwaukee's NHL team that and the pred's but even that changes since affiliates change every so often. You will see more Hawks stickers and t shirts and flags in Milwaukee than you will of predator gear and I am willing to bet ratings for Hawks games are higher than Nashville games here. Just by shear number of Chicagoland transplants there are more blackhawk fans in Milwaukee than Nashville fans. Plus it's a lot easier to drive down to the mad house in 1.5 hours than driving 10 hours to Nashville. Also a lot of people here who love the Admirals have a great respect for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Pettit. and since he was such a hawks fan a lot of Milwaukeeans became hawks fans simply due to Mr.Pettit. I also believe the Admirlas were the IHL or AHL affiliate for a short time for the blackhawks but I can't seem to find anything on that.

[Milwaukee City]

Sports News on Tap: Can Wisconsin Sports Fans Like The Chicago Blackhawks?

Articles about Lloyd Pettit - Chicago Tribune

[Travellin]

Originally Posted by jtur88

I grew up in Wisconsin, and was always a Black Hawks fan, back in the days of Pilote and Vasko and Skov and Litzenberger, and Nesterenko, but they were always in last place in a 6-team NHL and never on TV. But I didn't really become interested in hockey until I moved to Quebec, and became a Canadiens fan, with Beliveau and Geoffrion. Now that the Habs suck, I'm rooting for the Black Hawks in the Stanley Cup. But also for Ottawa because Colin Greening's dad was a good friend and colleague of mine.

As a highly moral and ethical human being, even though I live in beercheeseville, AKA Wausau, I will always root for the Hawks, Bears and Sox.

I'm originally from the westburbs of Chicago and detest the gb pukers.
There is no NHL or AL/MLB team here.

I also used to go to the Stadium to see Mosienko all the way to Mikita.

The first and only time I went to the U.C. was when Kane scored the goal with a second left against the preds and Hoss won it in OT.
Most exciting hockey game I've ever been to.

[Milwaukee City]

I would like to update, after the Hawks won the cup in 2010 you saw a huge uptick in people in WI and more so in MKE wearing Chicago Blackhawks gear and now this year I have noticed a ton of hawks fans in Milwaukee and all over the state of WI. The streak helped and the cup win in 2010 helped but for a long time people from WI have always had a "I hate everything IL" and "I hate anything to do with Chicago" complex. Now this is more pervasive outside the Milwaukee area. So with all the new fans of the Blackhawks in WI the reason they tell me they like the hawks is simple, WI doesn't have a hockey team and the Chicago Blackhawks are the closest team with the Madhouse on Madison being only 89 miles south of downtown Milwaukee or roughly the same difference from Milwaukee to Madison.

The NHL should welcome every bandwagon fan they can get and the same goes for each club, with the NHL being in far 4th place among "The BIG 4" they should do everything to get and keep every fan that is new to the sport. Hockey is a complex game and much like baseball it takes some will to learn and sometimes can be hard to follow. Hockey requires a certain attention span that other sports don't require. If I were the Blackhawks I would tap into the Milwaukee market or WI market as Wisconsin's NHL Team but it's not like they need to, the hawks average 21,775 which is 110.4% of the United Center and has led the NHL in attendance for the last 5 years.

Milwaukee being only 25 mins north of the Chicago metro area(state line) helps and having a Metra stop in Kenosha helps too and a drive to the Chicago's most northerly EL stop being only an hour from downtown Milwaukee. So while some in Northwest WI will root for the Wild, you could make a strong argument that the Blackhawks should be WI's hockey team.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by hogger129

Blackhawks FTW

Been watching them since the days of Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Gary Suter.

Chelios is a Red Wing. He owns Cheli's Chili in Detroit.

[reppin_the_847]

I'm actually from Illinois, so you guys might find this funny, but I would think that Milwaukee could potentially support an NHL franchise. Sadly, an NHL team would probably draw considerably better than the abysmal Milwaukee Bucks basketball team for a variety of reasons. I think some moron executive in the NHL thinks that the Milwaukee market is situated too close to the goliath Chicago market to be able to support its own hockey team. Since Wisconsin is a cold weather Great Lakes state, I'd beg to differ. Much of Wisconsin has a lot in common with Michigan, for example, and the Detroit Red Wings have a gigantic fanbase throughout the entire state of Michigan. And Detroit also has pro baseball, football & basketball (out in Auburn Hills which has suffered as of late). And the city of Detroit has shrunk so much that the city only has slightly more population than Milwaukee. Of course, the Metro Detroit area is certainly a lot larger & populated than Milwaukee, but still! Perhaps Milwaukeeans will be more willing to fund a new arena in town if there's a prospect of a pro hockey team. What do the Wisconsinites think ?

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

I would like to update, after the Hawks won the cup in 2010 you saw a huge uptick in people in WI and more so in MKE wearing Chicago Blackhawks gear and now this year I have noticed a ton of hawks fans in Milwaukee and all over the state of WI. The streak helped and the cup win in 2010 helped but for a long time people from WI have always had a "I hate everything IL" and "I hate anything to do with Chicago" complex. Now this is more pervasive outside the Milwaukee area. So with all the new fans of the Blackhawks in WI the reason they tell me they like the hawks is simple, WI doesn't have a hockey team and the Chicago Blackhawks are the closest team with the Madhouse on Madison being only 89 miles south of downtown Milwaukee or roughly the same difference from Milwaukee to Madison.

The NHL should welcome every bandwagon fan they can get and the same goes for each club, with the NHL being in far 4th place among "The BIG 4" they should do everything to get and keep every fan that is new to the sport. Hockey is a complex game and much like baseball it takes some will to learn and sometimes can be hard to follow. Hockey requires a certain attention span that other sports don't require. If I were the Blackhawks I would tap into the Milwaukee market or WI market as Wisconsin's NHL Team but it's not like they need to, the hawks average 21,775 which is 110.4% of the United Center and has led the NHL in attendance for the last 5 years.

Milwaukee being only 25 mins north of the Chicago metro area(state line) helps and having a Metra stop in Kenosha helps too and a drive to the Chicago's most northerly EL stop being only an hour from downtown Milwaukee. So while some in Northwest WI will root for the Wild, you could make a strong argument that the Blackhawks should be WI's hockey team.

[cmuguy25]

Originally Posted by ram2

Chelios is a Red Wing. He owns Cheli's Chili in Detroit.

He did play for Chicago before Detroit, was even quoted saying he hated Detroit (which is why it was so crazy when he came to Detroit to play.)

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ram2

Chelios is a Red Wing. He owns Cheli's Chili in Detroit.

He played nine seasons in Chicago before getting traded to Detroit at age 37. He is also from the Chicago suburbs (Evergreen Park).