The difference is entirely in the NAO. In 95/96, we had alternating periods of cold/snow and otherwise mild and sunny wx, it was the winter that had something for everyone. I believe it's remembered as cold because winter showed up early and hung around into April in addition to all the snow - but in the means it wasn't really cold, and plenty of very mild days. The blocking slowed the overall pattern progression enough to extend the cold intrusions and pull the storm track into the ideal location for us repeatedly - shift the SE ridge 500 miles southeast and watch what happens.
Hard to argue we are seeing a much different setup this year, but absent any sustained blocking the cold is in and out in 36 hours, the SE ridge is back over our heads instead of off the coast, the storm track is west of the mountains. Unless you can explain what will break the persistence of the past several winters to deliver more than transient periods of bootleg blocking we are getting a very similar pattern we would have seen in 95/96 if the block hadn't been present.