The sign said they are “the greatest band ever,” and the team for whom they play isn’t bad either.
The No. 3-ranked women’s hockey team of the Wisconsin Badgers beat North Dakota 4-1 in Fargo to advance to the 1 p.m. Sunday title game in the WCHA Final Faceoff. The ease of the Saturday win may be seen as a pleasant surprise, as when asked earlier in the week about a favorite, owner Ryan of Kozy Korner, which put up that sign, said that it was 50-50, since North Dakota was at home and has become a pesky rival.
That means the team advances to the finals against either Bemidji State or the Minnesota Gophers — making for a border battle — and perhaps more importantly to local people that the Badger marching band will play again at Kozy in North Hudson, at around 8 p.m. Sunday. Bemidji won that semi-final game 1-0.
This is the second chance in three days to see the Badger band there, as they and their pumping horns swung through on the way up to the Fargo area on Friday.
And boy do those horns swing. They once again were the definition of demonstrative early Friday evening, swaying sideways or up and down with every passing second. Despite that speed, there was still time for them to flash a waving hand or thumbs up sign between notes. It was right around 5 p.m. that the two dozen or so members marched into Kozy, and quickly rounded a couple of corners in the establishment, with some of them flipping on through to the back area without missing a beat.
After a quick first number, instructions made their way to the end of the band’s line via both words and non-verbal cues. Soon they would be circling up and around past the kitchen area — or have one of their members with the biggest instrument stand up high inside a booth to toot his horn — taking time on occasion for chant lines such as “when you say Wisconsin …”
The patrons loved it, as a woman just an arm’s length away from one of the players led them in swaying with the band. A pair of young girls stood on their chairs to applaud, and closer-by, two young boys next to the tuba player covered their ears. Between the reactions of the four of them, it appeared the volume was at just the right level.
One of the patrons, a recent transplant from Ohio, said she was heartened by the family friendly atmosphere, and the politeness and attentiveness to the children’s needs even as the music poured out — something you wouldn’t necessarily find in her home state. When she had come in with a relative, they were asking the best place to see the soon-coming show, and the locals said, again politely, that any of the booths were fine, as the band by the nature of their performance would be cycling through the entire area.
The newfound fan from Ohio had even gone out to buy a black Badger sweater, with slightly edgy lettering that was partially in a neon green, for the occasion. She thought this more appropriate than her Buckeye shirt.
To wrap up your weekend, you might want to come early to Kozy and check out Badger men’s basketball against Ohio State, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, then stay for hockey that night. You just might see someone in Buckeye garb.