LaBahn Arena is the home ice of the

Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey The Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey team is the hockey team that represents the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. History On October 8, 1999, the Bulldogs played the Wisconsin Badgers in the first ever Women's WCHA conference ...

team. It was the second arena to be purpose-built for a women's collegiate hockey team; the first was

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Ridder Arena Ridder may refer to: Places *DeRidder, Louisiana, city in US state of Louisiana *Ridder, Kazakhstan, settlement in Kazakhstan (named for Philip Ridder) Things *Ridder (title), Dutch and Belgian title equivalent to knight * Knight Ridder, newspaper ...

. The arena is connected via a tunnel to the

Kohl Center The Kohl Center is an arena and athletic center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The building, which opened in 1998, is the home of the university's men's basketball and ice hockey teams, and the women's basketball team. ...

, which the women's team shared with the men's team from its inception in 1999 until 2012. The men's team also practices there. The facility also houses locker rooms for the swimming and diving teams.

Naming

The arena is named for longtime Badger boosters Chuck and Mary Ann LaBahn, its main fundraisers.

Background

Before 2012, the women's ice hockey team drove from its headquarters at the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center to the Kohl Center. Whenever the Kohl Center was being readied for a basketball game, the women drove to a rink in nearby

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

for practice. The men often practiced at the Bob Johnson Hockey Facility three miles from campus or the Memorial Sports Center when the Kohl Center was being readied for basketball. Some questioned the safety of the players during these drives, especially during Madison's often snowy and icy winters.Baggot, Andy.
Home ice advantage at new LaBahn Arena
. ''

Wisconsin State Journal The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of September ...

'', October 2, 2012. In the 2020-21 season, the men's ice hockey team also played at LaBahn Arena for cost and league reasons. As the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

mandated all conference games be played behind closed doors, and the cost of converting

between basketball and hockey during the pandemic without attendance, the team played games at LaBahn, which also serves as the backup venue for men.

References

External links

Info page at UWBadgers.com
Indoor arenas in Wisconsin College ice hockey venues in the United States University of Wisconsin–Madison Sports venues in Madison, Wisconsin Indoor ice hockey venues in Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-sports-venue-stub