Has UND lost in conference realignment?

[LTsatch]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

^ I can't help but be amazed at the coverage difference between the Big Ten and NCHC after watching the Big Ten openers today.

The B1G needs some new announcers, how do you put a tennis guy on a Minnesota hockey broadcast, complaining about "unforced errors" like Serena Williams was on court. Very quiet at Marriucci, I know the students are off, but that game was like a morgue. The Michigan-Ohio St. broadcast was excellent though.

[Hammy]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

The B1G needs some new announcers, how do you put a tennis guy on a Minnesota hockey broadcast, complaining about "unforced errors" like Serena Williams was on court. Very quiet at Marriucci, I know the students are off, but that game was like a morgue. The Michigan-Ohio St. broadcast was excellent though.

Those were ESPN's announcers. Not BTN/B1G.

[Hammy]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

Let's see what happens in five years. Then all the NCHC teams will be full of players recruited to play in the NCHC and things will be much more clear.

This is a somewhat ridiculous statement given the bulk of the teams in the NCHC were well established and showing some quality results in their former conferences.

[4four4]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

^ a timely moment for a bump? Through almost the halfway point of the season, UND is 4-7-2 (having just lost to St. Lawrence of all teams) and is even below .500 in its own super league. As for the NCHC, there had even been rumors of Miami and Western Michigan being unhappy with the travel in the NCHC. The Big Ten and Hockey East strategically ignored the NCHC with their Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge and I can't help but be amazed at the coverage difference between the Big Ten and NCHC after watching the Big Ten openers today. Yes, Big Ten hockey is at the mercy of Football and Basketball but it still beats what the NCHC has gotten in terms of coverage. And, surprisingly, the Big Ten is promoting hockey very well. Penn State (the so called bottom barrel team in the Big Ten) is 4th in hockey attendance - aided partially by the Wells Fargo Center game - but no doubt is gaining a footing on its campus.

I think there is a lot of disappointed people in Grand Forks and the lack of the success by the hockey team is making the whole conference realignment thing frustrating for Sioux fans. And before anyone talks about Hakstol's storied second half runs, consider that the 2013-2014 UND team has very few pieces in place to do so. Perhaps this puts a different perspective on the "UND will be fine" and the "Big Ten is a joke" comments. Not saying the tracks are falling off after only a couple months but I think its safe to say that things are not all smiles on the Prairie and the home of the 12,000 seat palace.

Miami and Western are not used to traveling past grandma's house they better get used to it or the rest of the league will pass them by.

[Jimjamesak]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

Let's go to the WCHA for reaction...

[hattrick16]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

Not to get a whole big thing going, but I never quite got what made UNO, St. Cloud, Miami and Western Michigan so special. ND, Denver and UMD are historically great college hockey schools, but as for the whole NCHC it doesn't seem to me as special as the league wants everyone to think.

[The Exiled One]

Not to get a whole big thing going, but I never quite got what made UNO, St. Cloud, Miami and Western Michigan so special. ND, Denver and UMD are historically great college hockey schools, but as for the whole NCHC it doesn't seem to me as special as the league wants everyone to think.

Won't speak for the other schools, but hockey goes a LONG way back at SCSU... just not at the D1 level. However, the conference wasn't formed based on history, but on the future. In which case, you'd want to find schools that invest heavily in hockey. Success would hopefully come with that, but is second in importance to the money.

Just going to add that I believe the NCHC was horribly conceived. For SCSU, the move was a neccesary evil.

[bcarlisle]

^ a timely moment for a bump? Through almost the halfway point of the season, UND is 4-7-2 (having just lost to St. Lawrence of all teams)

"Of all teams" ? Really?! I'm pretty sure St. Lawrence was playing world class hockey when the actual Sioux were still fighting and winning on the prairies.

Perhaps you didn't notice the two ECAC teams in last year's Frozen Four final. Btw, as SLU fans, we are lucky if we get just one nationally televised game per season. We play in a (admittedly beautiful) 3,000 seat, 62 year old barn in a media market that makes Grand Forks feel like Boston. We are in a 12 team league where seven teams don't even offer athletic scholarships and where six teams don't even play a full schedule. And yet, our league is dominating the early Pairwise and our team is stacked with blue chip (but 100% undrafted) recruits; we currently lead the nation in scoring and PP percentage and are .667 against non-league competition this year, including last night.

"Of all teams" my *****. I think UND will be just fine in the NCHC. With all due respect to the participants in this thread, sitting where I sit, this thread is a silly discussion. After seeing how shellshocked your coach and captain looked on the post-game last night, I'd be more worried about whether your guys will be able to get their socks on for the warmups tonight.

[Tipsy McStagger]

"Of all teams" ? Really?! I'm pretty sure St. Lawrence was playing world class hockey when the actual Sioux were still fighting and winning on the prairies.

Perhaps you didn't notice the two ECAC teams in last year's Frozen Four final. Btw, as SLU fans, we are lucky if we get just one nationally televised game per season. We play in a (admittedly beautiful) 3,000 seat, 62 year old barn in a media market that makes Grand Forks feel like Boston. We are in a 12 team league where seven teams don't even offer athletic scholarships and where six teams don't even play a full schedule. And yet, our league is dominating the early Pairwise and our team is stacked with blue chip (but 100% undrafted) recruits; we currently lead the nation in scoring and PP percentage and are .667 against non-league competition this year, including last night.

"Of all teams" my *****. I think UND will be just fine in the NCHC. With all due respect to the participants in this thread, sitting where I sit, this thread is a silly discussion. After seeing how shellshocked your coach and captain looked on the post-game last night, I'd be more worried about whether your guys will be able to get their socks on for the warmups tonight.

I missed the memo where the also - rans in the conference get credit for what the other teams did.

[Go4PuckFan2.0]

"Of all teams" ? Really?! I'm pretty sure St. Lawrence was playing world class hockey when the actual Sioux were still fighting and winning on the prairies.

Perhaps you didn't notice the two ECAC teams in last year's Frozen Four final. Btw, as SLU fans, we are lucky if we get just one nationally televised game per season. We play in a (admittedly beautiful) 3,000 seat, 62 year old barn in a media market that makes Grand Forks feel like Boston. We are in a 12 team league where seven teams don't even offer athletic scholarships and where six teams don't even play a full schedule. And yet, our league is dominating the early Pairwise and our team is stacked with blue chip (but 100% undrafted) recruits; we currently lead the nation in scoring and PP percentage and are .667 against non-league competition this year, including last night.

"Of all teams" my *****. I think UND will be just fine in the NCHC. With all due respect to the participants in this thread, sitting where I sit, this thread is a silly discussion. After seeing how shellshocked your coach and captain looked on the post-game last night, I'd be more worried about whether your guys will be able to get their socks on for the warmups tonight.

In all fairness, Hakstol always looks like the last guy in the room to figure out what just happened.

[Dirty]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

"Of all teams" ? Really?! I'm pretty sure St. Lawrence was playing world class hockey when the actual Sioux were still fighting and winning on the prairies.

Records prior to the 1950-51 Season

UND - 46-41-3. First winning season 1946-47
SLU - 35-43-1. First winning season 1946-47

World Class hockey indeed.

[Speed Kills]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

Losing the Fighting Sioux nickname is going to hurt UND way more than the changing of conferences. They have lost their identity and their mystique. Yeah, they still play in the REA but they are no longer the Sioux. Speaking of the changing of conferences, the NCHC looks to be a less than stellar conference. Outside of SCSU, every other team so far appears to be mediocre at best.

[Red Cows]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

Losing the Fighting Sioux nickname is going to hurt UND way more than the changing of conferences. They have lost their identity and their mystique. Yeah, they still play in the REA but they are no longer the Sioux. Speaking of the changing of conferences, the NCHC looks to be a less than stellar conference. Outside of SCSU, every other team so far appears to be mediocre at best.

Let me get this straight.

They've lost their identity and mystique because they are no longer called "The Fighting Sioux"?

From my perspective, as a fan of one of their conference mates for the past 4 years, I always assumed that they derived their identity (to some degree) and their mystique (to a ginormous degree) to the fact that they are one of the most successful college hockey enterprises in annals of the NCAA in addition to winning a boatload of hockey games. They'd have the same identity and mystique if they'd always been known as the "The Fighting Cinderellas" as far as I am concerned. Don't see how what they are, or, are not called affects that in any way.

I don't see how relinquishing (they didn't "lose" it) the "Fighting Sioux" nickname hurts anything other than maybe their pride.

I also think I'd reserve any blanket judgements about the NCHC for after the conference has played a few more than 4 conference series weekends in the entirety of it's history and everybody in it has played more than 14 games, which is the most anybody in the league has played so far.

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Re: Has UND lost in conference realignment?

Losing the Fighting Sioux nickname is going to hurt UND way more than the changing of conferences. They have lost their identity and their mystique. Yeah, they still play in the REA but they are no longer the Sioux. Speaking of the changing of conferences, the NCHC looks to be a less than stellar conference. Outside of SCSU, every other team so far appears to be mediocre at best.

Really? A lot of things factor into building a successful hockey program...a nickname is not one of them.

It's no longer "realignment". It's here. It is now "alignment". Stop worrying about it and move forward.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Losing the Fighting Sioux nickname is going to hurt UND way more than the changing of conferences. They have lost their identity and their mystique. Yeah, they still play in the REA but they are no longer the Sioux. Speaking of the changing of conferences, the NCHC looks to be a less than stellar conference. Outside of SCSU, every other team so far appears to be mediocre at best.

Winning is the ultimate antidote. If UND wins, the fans will be there. Their fans are white. They shouldn't care about the logo.