Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

[Biddco]

On the plus side at least in their arena opener UND remembered that the point of hockey is to score goals.

We didnt give up seven goals.

[SCSU Euro]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

A: UND

I really hate to break up this ****ing contest with an actual question, but I guess I've never paid attention to who takes faceoffs at ceremonial things like that... is it always the captain (assuming like 99.8% of teams out there your captain is a skater)? I guess I mean do they always send out the captain or always send out a center or always send out least a forward? Or if a team's got a defenseman who's their captain does he get to take it?

[dggoddard]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

You have 58 college hockey programs and suffice it to say you have 58 sets of variables that impact attendance.

Clearly who you play on a given night or weekend can have a tremendous impact on both attendance (internet/walk up sales) and revenue.

[Dirty]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

We didnt give up seven goals.

A small consolation for you I'm sure given UMD forgot the point of hockey.

[theprofromdover]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

I really hate to break up this ****ing contest with an actual question, but I guess I've never paid attention to who takes faceoffs at ceremonial things like that... is it always the captain (assuming like 99.8% of teams out there your captain is a skater)? I guess I mean do they always send out the captain or always send out a center or always send out least a forward? Or if a team's got a defenseman who's their captain does he get to take it?

Chara, the captain defenseman, takes them for the Bruins.

[SCSU Euro]

Chara, the captain defenseman, takes them for the Bruins.

Hmmm... It is now my life's work to find a team with a goalie for a captain and attend a game where he takes a faceoff. Ceremonial will be fine, actual one, even better

[Biddco]

A small consolation for you I'm sure given UMD forgot the point of hockey.

I'm just glad they didn't forget in the Frozen Four later that season. That would have been embarrassing!

[Dirty]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

I really hate to break up this ****ing contest with an actual question, but I guess I've never paid attention to who takes faceoffs at ceremonial things like that... is it always the captain (assuming like 99.8% of teams out there your captain is a skater)? I guess I mean do they always send out the captain or always send out a center or always send out least a forward? Or if a team's got a defenseman who's their captain does he get to take it?

I like how you ask this question when both Montgomery and Genoway are defensemen.

[sterlippo1]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

You have 58 college hockey programs and suffice it to say you have 58 sets of variables that impact attendance.

Clearly who you play on a given night or weekend can have a tremendous impact on both attendance (internet/walk up sales) and revenue.

exactly and also, i think UND and their fanbase and what they have going on up there is unique in college hockey. UND and about just about all of the rest of the teams are 2 different animals

[brassbonanza]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

Interesting insight, I bet BU's largest attendance numbers came against Merrimack and Providence.

[darker98]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

The entire history of UND hockey, I would say that is a fairly large sample. It shouldn't matter what team you use for the analysis because it is a relative comparison between teams that come into a given team's barn. My point is, if the team you're playing matters then I would expect all of the top 20 attended games at UND would be against Minnesota, Denver, Duluth, etc (their rivals). Correct?
The fact that Tech and Mankato make the top five tells me that UND fans will go watch UND play anyone, and that was the point of this post. They don't just show up when a "premium team" comes to town and stay home when they play a bottom-feeder. And while this may not hold true for your team then that means to me that the fans are there to see the visitors, not the home team. Well what kind of fans are they if they are not there to see the home team?
Ryan J

I believe there was a game against Anchorage that was up there too.

[Happy]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

For those of you who still think fans won’t show up unless you are playing a “premium name” team I present excerpts from a North Dakota press release issued today:

“UND's average home attendance of 11,341 fans per game ranked second nationally behind only Wisconsin's 11,772.9.”

“The Sioux played in front of two of the five largest crowds in program history when 12,065 turned out to watch a 1-1 overtime tie with Michigan Tech on Feb. 18, and 12,029 witnessed a 3-0 win over Minnesota State in the regular season finale on March 3. Those two crowds ranked as the fourth and fifth-largest in program history.”

Hmmm... Seems like there isn't any problem at all playing "no-name" programs according to those numbers. If the fans don't show up in your building, maybe they just don't care about the HOME team?

Ryan J

Wow, I would have thought a great team like UND would have sold out every game.

[burd]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

Wow, I would have thought a great team like UND would have sold out every game.

Shows how little you know about great teams.

[bronconick]

Re: Debunking the Myth – Who you play has a huge impact on attendance

On a smaller scale, Western's attendance successes and failures, such as they are have been pretty closely tied to on-ice success. By the final year of Culhane's run as coach, we only pulled in 2,613 for MSU, 2,374 for Michigan, and 2,393 for a season average. 7-8 years earlier, both games would have been SRO sellouts at 4,575 and average attendance was usually in the 2,700-3,000 range, if I'm remembering right.

This season, after a trip to the NCAA tournament last year, the average was 3,444. They outdrew that Michigan State game from 2009 in all but one regular season game, IIRC.

[HumRsky]

I'm just glad they didn't forget in the Frozen Four later that season. That would have been embarrassing!

Good point, we did outscore UND 7-0 in that frozen four. They did beat us 1-0 in holes punched in arena walls and Michigan played flipped the bird, however.


As for the topic of the thread, it is a very small sample and it's a team that draws very well for every game. It's like saying that Women's hockey attendance is great because Wisconsin's attendance record is more than 10,000. If you look at attendance for less popular teams over the last 20 years I'm certain you'll find a noticeable difference in attendance for games against Minnesota, UND, and possibly Wisconsin vs. attendance for other games.