Group registration began Tuesday for UW-Madison student men's hockey season ticket-holders and will run for two weeks, ending Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m.
The Wisconsin Athletic Ticket Office sent reminders via e-mail Tuesday afternoon - o - ousing their new BuckyMail e-mail system - to those students who have already purchased season tickets. Tickets are still available.
This is the first year tickets will be distributed based on a point system announced in April.
Justin Doherty, UW-Madison assistant director of athletic communications, said he is hopeful that the new process will go well.
We're not anticipating any conflicts,"" Doherty said. ""Our ticket office and our department are obviously more than willing to work with people and iron out any questions that people have.""
As part of the policy, ticket-holders must register as part of a group, which can be no more than six people. Once a group's application has been submitted, no substitutions, additions or changes will be allowed.
Seat allocations will then be made using an objective group point average. Each student in the group will be assigned an individual point total - o - obased on factors such as class standing and purchase history. The cumulative point total will be divided by the number of group members to get the group's average.
Groups with the highest point averages will be allocated seats in the lower level and so on. Students who do not register with a group will be placed near students with similar point totals.
""We're trying to work with students to make this a successful plan,"" said Vince Sweeney, associate athletic director for external relations.
The date and time in which registration forms are submitted will have no bearing on which seats a particular group will be given - o - owhich is significantly different from the previous allocation policy.
UW-Madison sophomore Ian Alexander, who camped outside the Kohl Center with his friends every day last year in order to get tickets in the lower level, will now submit a group registration form and hope for the best.
""We've got a group of five right now - o - oall sophomores,"" Alexander said. ""I'm upset that I'm not going to be able to sit in the first deck. I loved that last year.""
UW-Madison sophomore Greg Langer, who camped out for 11 days last year, said while standing in line he met other students not only interested in hockey, but with shared classes as well.
""You meet a lot of great friends that way, so it's a shame to lose the system that we had,"" Langer said.
Group registration forms can be downloaded at ""www.uwbadgers.com/tickets/mhky/groupform_6407.pdf"":www.uwbadgers.com/tickets/mhky/groupform_6407.pdf and turned into the ATO, located at Gate 1 of Camp Randall on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
