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UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Barn

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  • UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Barn

    New arena shots (courtesy of Mavpuck):

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

    Video:

    http://www.omavs.com/mediaPortal/pla...25&catid=78412

    Same video on YouTube:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...be&app=desktop

    Dual rink facility and looks like it's gonna end up at 7,500 seats. I will maintain to my dying day that this is too small. Needs to seat at least 10,000 or so. For those that don't know it, UNO has averaged more than 7,500 per night throughout most years of the program's existence. We're buying what we can afford, I guess. At least this gives the school other revenue streams other than ticket sales, and the school does not even control all the seats in the CenturyLink Center as it is.

    The price tag comes in at a cool $87.9 million dollars.

    If anybody thinks they are staring down the gun barrel of a tougher schedule than UNO faces this season, I'm all ears (maybe some other NCHC brethren?):

    http://www.omavs.com/SportSelect.dbm...1&SPSID=795015

    We've already played our one and perhaps only gimme. Bentley, upcoming this weekend, is maybe the only other series we have that is on that same plane (with apologies to Falcon fans). Only the 3rd and 4th games, ever, between UNO and Bentley, whom UNO handily swept in Omaha in December of 2006.

    Season opened last night with a 6-1 yawner against the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology Ooks. The Ooks had already played 6 games prior to last night. Started sloppy and UNO got better and better as the game wore on and by the end it was pretty one-sided.

  • #2
    Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

    I have to agree, 7500 is too small for UNO. Looking back through the box scores in the past, I've noticed that UNO has drawn over 6K on the bottom end, but 10K for other games, and occasionally 15,000. It would be nice to have more >10,000 seat arenas that actually get that many in college hockey. As you said, they've averaged more than 7,500 already.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

      Originally posted by WiscDC View Post
      I have to agree, 7500 is too small for UNO. Looking back through the box scores in the past, I've noticed that UNO has drawn over 6K on the bottom end, but 10K for other games, and occasionally 15,000. It would be nice to have more >10,000 seat arenas that actually get that many in college hockey. As you said, they've averaged more than 7,500 already.
      What's interesting is that there is a not insignificant faction of UNO fans that think this size arena is fine.

      These folks always cite "all" the give away tickets and promotions that have supposedly made up our attendance figures and, somehow, "artificially" inflated our attendance numbers.

      My response to that is thus:

      1. Whether this is true or not, those people were in the building and obviously interested in UNO hockey or they would not have been there. I don't care about the method of ticket dissemination or the price associated with it. Fannies are either in those seats or they are not in those seats.

      2. For years, now, since UNO moved out of the Omaha Civic Auditorium, I have heard about freebie tickets and giveaways being a part of announced crowds. I have been a UNO season ticket holder for 9 seasons, now, out of the program's 16 season existence (besides attending many other games, both home and away). I have personally never known of or heard of any source of give-away tickets, ever. I have never had them offered to me. I don't know where or how they could be or have been obtained, either now or in the past. I have never spoken to any other fan, ever, that has had them offered to them, used them, or knew how they could be had, either. Further, while I have been aware of ticket discounts offered by the school, these have been for specific games and this has happened maybe once or twice a season and this has only occurred since UNO moved out of the Civic into what is now known as the CenturyLink Center.

      3. UNO played at the Omaha Civic Auditorium from it's inaugural year, the '97-'98 season, through the '02-'03 season and UNO sold out every single game they ever played there. 8,314 people every single one of those nights, with a corresponding season ticket holder base through those years of about 6,300. That's a sellout streak of 125 straight games through that 6 year period they played at the Civic.

      4. The "new arena size is O.K." faction also tries to cite the fact that just a couple thousand individuals or businesses held those 6,300 season tickets at the Civic despite not saying exactly what the relevance of that claim is. I don't see one.

      5. The other argument is that by playing in a smaller building and thus making tickets more "difficult" to get because the arena size is smaller is also cited as a plus by the "this size arena is O.K. crowd". The fallacy of this argument has already been exposed, and, right here in the City of Omaha. The Omaha Royals changed their name to the Omaha Storm Chasers, built a new park right here in the Omaha suburb of Papillion, where I live. This meant moving from Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha to brand new Werner Park for the 2011 season. They could squeeze 28,000 or so into Rosenblatt. Werner Park capacity is 9,023 and the Storm Chasers made this same argument about why they "had" to abandon Rosenblatt. Downsizing the park would make tickets more "valuable". What really happened? The Storm Chasers won their first AAA title in a generation and attendance went DOWN. In a brand new park!

      6. To clarify what I said in my previous post, UNO has averaged more than 7,500 fans per game in 10 of the 16 years of the program's existence. Building an arena that seats less than that is just plain nutty. They have now had many crowds north of 10,000 and a couple north of 15,000, even.

      This is, unfortunately, all about what money is available now to build this facility and the desperate need for the athletic department to reverse the bleeding of the athletic department that has occurred since moving to the CenturyLink Center, where the only revenue the school derives is from ticket sales, and ticket sales, alone. My hope is that the building is built with the ability to expand it (like the CenturyLink Center had been and was a few years after it was built). Otherwise, the program is going to leave money on the table because the project simply can't be funded at the level it really ought to be and that would be/will be sad, indeed.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

        Went to the Ooks game. I thought it was funny after the game when Dean said "we don't even have our systems in place yet" LOL. Scoring from everywhere on the ice looking like Tazmanian devils out there I'd say if it ain't broke don't fix it. Hopefully Zahn will be ready for Bentley. And next time we see a hat trick can we see some hats?

        7500 would have been a good starting point, with it being expandable to 10K. And after going to see The Eagles play in Lincoln I'd say meca needs to get a clue. PBA had the nicest most polite staff, ushers and security on earth. And the Valentinos Pizza was a far cry better than the pizza at the clink. Kudos to Theresa Kassaday for the decent rendition of the Canadian national anthem. Wasn't the greatest but it wasn't the embarrassment that followed. I'm anxious to see how our goal tending situation pans out.
        UNLEASH THE FURY!!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLMMx3MRi0s

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

          .
          Last edited by MAVFANJEFF; 10-09-2013, 03:11 PM. Reason: duplicate post
          UNLEASH THE FURY!!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLMMx3MRi0s

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

            Perks for University of Nebraska system employees (that includes UNO hockey staff as they are part of the State University system) being called into question (I guess):

            http://www.omaha.com/article/2013100...131008633/1718

            Who gets what:

            http://dataomaha.com/media/news/nu-foundation/

            Trev Alberts' Omaha Country Club membership is a tough get, indeed. Pelini's salary is the highest of any public employee in the State of Nebraska, as one might expect.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

              New season. Game day. Let's get it on!

              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En0TUVMQP1U

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

                Looking forward to checking out tomorrow nights game, as I'm in town for work tomorrow in Lincoln...

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

                  An utterly horrific performance in goal tonight by Ryan Massa. The defense wasn't great by any means, but he was awful. The first three goals by Bentley were inexcusable. I bet Massa isn't in goal tomorrow night. I'm shocked he didn't get yanked in the 2nd period. If we don't get better goaltending that this..........

                  On the other side of the coin, their goaltender won the game for them by making the saves that needed to be made, and, in particular, in a lot of wild situations in front of their net. UNO had a zillion scoring opportunities but had a devil of a time cashing many in. I also thought Bentley, by and large, had an excellent forecheck in this game that bottled us up a lot despite the fact that we handily outshot them.

                  Ryan Walters was a complete non-factor in this game. I spent a lot of time watching him and he had a tough night.

                  I don't know if it is their very dark uniforms that make it look that way, but, Bentley looks to have a pretty big team, size-wise. They absolutely deserved to win this game, and, they did.

                  I hope this is a good wake up call for the boys because I have a feeling that we thought we could mail this one in. If that's what happened (and we'll know tomorrow night) then I expect we see a different game tomorrow night. The whole night seemed like UNO was waiting for Bentley to lose and they forgot that they have to make that happen.

                  Bentley got two power play goals and two short-handed goals in this game while UNO got zot on the power play, despite 6 chances. Not good.

                  Attendance was 4,578. Crowd held down by the opponent and the fact that it was an absolutely gorgeous night for high school football tonight, the Lancers were also playing at home (in front of 2,654 at Ralston Arena), along with the Husker game being early tomorrow. The student section was great tonight.
                  Last edited by Red Cows; 10-12-2013, 01:36 PM.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Gibber View Post
                    Looking forward to checking out tomorrow nights game, as I'm in town for work tomorrow in Lincoln...
                    Hey, Gibber, you missed Bentley's biggest win in program history on Friday night. UNH has never played Bentley. Perhaps the teams will meet in the post - season some year.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

                      Weekend thoughts.

                      I saw more that concerned me than encouraged me. If we are a "major" program, then there is no excuse for us to have the goaltending situation that we have. Massa has been scary and one or both of the two freshmen goalies may pan out but they both have less than stellar juniors records. An .846 save percentage for our goalies thus far is utterly ridiculous.

                      Our power play looks absolutely awful. We couldn't put on any real meaningful pressure in an almost two minute long 5 on 3 power play last night, even. 1-12 on power plays through two games (and 3 given up).

                      I can't remember the last time UNO gave up 2 short-handed goals in a single game like they did Friday night. It may have never happened before but I have to think it probably has.

                      The whole weekend featured rather blase' hockey to me (pardon the pun). There wasn't a lot of energy shown by the team I thought and maybe (I hope) we just played down to the competition level. There was really nothing I saw that gave me the impression that we're going to be any sort of real factor this season in the new league unless Bentley is as good a team as Coach Blais now seems to think they are:

                      http://www.omaha.com/article/2013101...avs-to-victory

                      These were two games we should win handily and look a certain way doing it. We most certainly did not on either count. What it looked like was two games between very evenly matched teams, both of which could have gone either way.

                      I am trying to remember when I have seen worse looking ice at the CenturyLink Center than I have seen there this week. Maybe that's why these games this week looked sort of "slow" or "lackadaisical".

                      I did not get warm fuzzies this week and the exact words to describe the vibe I had fail me as it was almost a "you-had-to-be-there" kind of thing.

                      We'll see what next weekend holds for us at Northern Michigan. We'll know what we have real fast after this weekend as UNO has weekend series upcoming with, after that, in order:

                      Cornell
                      Denver
                      North Dakota
                      Michigan
                      Miami

                      As daunting a stretch of games as the school has ever faced. By a ton.

                      UNO will be sinking or swimming by December 1st since all these games will have been played by then.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

                        Coach Blais has a lot to work on.

                        Too many penalties, the defense has been horrible, as are special teams. It's hard to be real judgmental about the goaltending because of these other issues.

                        Scoring, as expected, hasn't been an issue. This is one area where I can see us improving even from where we are, now.

                        Frankly, I don't know what to expect out of this team, really. I know one thing, they are going to sink or swim this season in the next 5 weekends. The season will either be going somewhere at that point or pretty much be over with. I'm not very optimistic, based on what I have seen so far.

                        Interesting parallels between UNO hockey and NU football right now. Bad defense, and undisciplined, are words you can use to describe either situation right now.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

                          UNO didn't receive even a single vote in the poll this week. Not a surprise since none of their prior opponents have, to date, received any votes either.

                          Frankly, I haven't seen much of anything out of this team as yet that is "voteworthy".

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

                            Originally posted by Red Cows View Post
                            UNO didn't receive even a single vote in the poll this week. Not a surprise since none of their prior opponents have, to date, received any votes either.

                            Frankly, I haven't seen much of anything out of this team as yet that is "voteworthy".
                            Is that surprising to you?
                            Originally posted by SJHovey
                            Pretty sure this post, made on January 3, 2016, when UNO was 14-3-1 and #2 in the pairwise, will go down in USCHO lore as The Curse of Tipsy McStagger.
                            Originally posted by Brenthoven
                            We mourn for days after a loss, puff out our chests for a week or more after we win. We brave the cold for tailgates, our friends know not to ask about the game after a tough loss, we laugh, we cry, we BLEED hockey, specifically the maroon'n'gold. Many of us have a tattoo waiting in the wings, WHEN (not IF) the Gophers are champions again.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: UNO '13-'14 Season Thread: Barnstorming Through a New League and Raising a New Ba

                              Originally posted by Tipsy McStagger View Post
                              Is that surprising to you?
                              To some degree.

                              This has become an issue that is being debated now at Mavpuck:

                              http://www.mavpuck.com/mpboard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9450

                              Hard to argue with the thread starter's assertions (which is not me, by the way).

                              I am not entirely happy with what I am seeing, either.

                              Comment

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