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The 1977 Badgers went 37-7-1 — including a 26-5-1 mark in the WCHA — on their way to the NCAA championship. what was at stake. "When you get down on yourself every once in a while,'' he went on, "you can always look at your hands, and you've got a lot of great memories pre- served in these rings — championship rings.'' Decades later, Steve Alley is the head of his own successful Chicago-area investment firm — the Alley Company LLC — which specializes in sepa- rate account investment management. "We man- age money for high net worth individuals,'' he said. "We're a boutique shop in Lake Forest that has stood the test of time; two of the biggest 'bear' markets in history.'' Decades later, Steve Alley still wears his rings. "I rotate them,'' he said. Besides his two NCAA cham- pionship rings — from 1973 and 1977 — Alley also has a ring from his 2001 induction into the Uni- versity of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. Even though Team USA didn't medal in 1976, the Olym- pic adventure is still close to his heart. Alley and UW defenseman John Taft competed for Johnson at the Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Alley has since gained a greater appreciation for being on the world stage; especially after joining other Chicagoans in their pursuit of the 2016 Summer Games; a bid that went to Rio de Janeiro. "What I learned about my Olympic experience,'' said Alley, a native of Anoka, Minn., "is that it winds up being maybe the more important experi- 28 » VARSITY JULY 26, 2012 ence of the three that I had. "We had a lot of success at Wisconsin winning two NCAA championships. But as life has gone on, I've realized that the Olympic experience is some- thing that everyone in the world can identify with.'' After the '76 Olympics, Alley and Taft rejoined Bob Johnson in Madison for their senior year and helped lead the UW to a 37-7-1 record (26-5-1 in the WCHA) and the NCAA crown. "We always joke around with various alumni whenever we get to- gether for reunions about, 'Who was the best team ever?''' Alley said. "We were a wire-to-wire nation- al championship team. "We were ranked No. 1 at the start of the season and finished that way. In that sense, I don't think that there's any doubt that the '77 team was the best ever at Wisconsin.'' The Badgers featured five players with 20 or more goals: Mark Johnson (36), Alley (32), Eaves (28), Mike Meeker (26) and Stubby Grauer (21). Craig Norwich was the leading scorer with 83 points. Despite such firepower, particularly on the power play, Alley confided, "I told Mike Eaves af- ter watching his 2006 team win the NCAA champi- onship that his team would have beaten us.'' That '06 team posted a 30-10-3 record (17-8-3 in the WCHA) and revolved around the scoring of Joe Pavelski and Robbie Earl, the leadership of Adam Burish and the goaltending of Brian Elliott.