Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

[blockski]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Or you could just get conferences to make it a two-game round robin format. The ECAC already does this, and it works just fine for most basketball conferences.

You can't go to just a two game home and home out west and still maintain the tradition of playing on Friday and Saturday nights. The logistics just won't work with the travel distances involved. The only way that works is if you significantly reduce the number of conference (and overall) games, which is basically what the ECAC does with the Ivies' restrictions.

If you have to do two-game series for some opponents, then you pretty much have to do them for all opponents - especially with the unbalanced schedules out west.

[Timothy A]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Yeah, because the conferences as they stand right now clearly aren't based on geography at all.

What about Air Force? They are a natural to be in the same conference as CC and DU. I do understand thier rivalry with Army, but those could be n/c tilts.

The deathbed CHA was a horrible geographic combination. MN, PA, AL, NY.

Alaska (Fairbanks) should be in the same conference as UAA, and play in the same conference as UND and all the Colorado Schools and UNO.

The point is out west things could be cleaned up geographically. And thre CHA schools need to find good geographic homes.

[state of hockey]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Has everyone forgotten the reasoning behind UA_ and UAA being separate?

[pinch]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Ok...my thoughts

I think this is being done in the NHL this yr... on a delayed penalty.. if the penalized team is in the defensive zone, they must clear the zone (not simply possesion)... also I would take penalties, hand passes, clearing over boards etc, back to the defensive zone for faceoffs.

MJ.. they used to be eligible for the NCAA, so lets go half way.. your are eligible while in High School -- no repeaters, so the date should be from when you enter 1st grade. This would allow most players to play MJ through their draft yr.

Visors-- all for them, but dont see that happening.

Olympic ice-- lets try and stay away from it... and if we are staying away from things, lets not have a frozen 4 in a football stadium ever again.

No shootouts, no 4 man officiating crews, lets go to 10 minute overtimes with an ice cut in regular season--- whats the hurry?

[NUMcNeely]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

No shootouts, no 4 man officiating crews, lets go to 10 minute overtimes with an ice cut in regular season--- whats the hurry?

Agreed on the shootouts, 4 man officiating crew, but OT is good at 5 minutes. In a tight conference race where every point counts, you shouldn't walk away from a game if you play a team even through a regular 3 periods and a 5 minute overtime period. Just my thoughts, nobody is right or wrong here, but I just think that every point is precious and that not getting one for playing a team even through that amount of time isn't fair. Nor are shootouts, those are just dumb to me.

[unofan]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

You can't go to just a two game home and home out west and still maintain the tradition of playing on Friday and Saturday nights. The logistics just won't work with the travel distances involved. The only way that works is if you significantly reduce the number of conference (and overall) games, which is basically what the ECAC does with the Ivies' restrictions.

If you have to do two-game series for some opponents, then you pretty much have to do them for all opponents - especially with the unbalanced schedules out west.

None of which is an argument for reducing all conferences to 8 teams, which is what Tim was arguing for. In my opinion it's better to play everyone twice, with both games at one team's rink or the other, than to play some teams twice and others 4 times. If travel costs and tradition require the Friday-Saturday series to stay in place, then just alternate sites year to year.

And fewer conference games isn't necessarily a bad thing. One of the reason all mathematical formulas, including KRACH despite the thinking of its proponents, struggle with hockey is because of its heavily insular schedule. Frankly, there's no reason teams need to be playing 25+ conference games as part of a 34-game schedule.

Frankly, reducing all conferences to 8 teams leads to somewhat of a scheduling dilemna. Either you play everyone 3 times (21 games total) and carries its own travel issues, or you play everyone 4 times (home and away) and you're right back to a 28 game conference schedule, which doesn't solve anything.

[bigmrg74]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

A longer season will not happen. Hockey is already one of the longest seasons in the NCAA for games played (and the longest in terms of calendar duration). It will not be extended.

Ice size is also a non-starter. Universities are not going to change their rinks. Hell, if the freaking Winter Olympics isn't going to change ice sizes to meet the rules, college hockey sure isn't going to either. Besides, I like the variety between rinks - having some big sheets and some small sheets is fun.

"getting more media exposure" isn't exactly something college hockey can just change. Swami's idea of aggregating all available video and audio feeds is probably the best that college hockey, as a group, can do - lower the barriers to accessing that content. But you can't just make ESPN cover college hockey.

True, hell, not even Obama could make ESPN cover college hockey if he really wanted them to cover it in the regular season.

The FCS (formerly DI-AA) number is 63.
The FBS (formerly DI-A) number is 85.
The DII number is 36.

A fairer comparison is to baseball, which gets 11.7 "equivilancies" to split among a maximum of 27 "counters" in Division I.

Football is a "counter" sport, such that if a player gets even $1 in athletically related financial aid, he counts as one of the 85/63/36

Right, that one dollar of aid there would count towards being part of one of the Scholorship Equivilancies. At the FBS(D1-A), players can only get a full ride scholorship, while at FCS(D1-AA) and D2, Players can get anywhere between a full ride to the one dollar, as long as the total aid given out adds up to be about what 63 and 36 scholorships would be, then those schools are ok.

[scsutommyboy]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

I think they should go back to the 15 minute overtime period. These guys only play two games a week I think they can handle it and it would get rid of most ties.

[blockski]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

None of which is an argument for reducing all conferences to 8 teams, which is what Tim was arguing for. In my opinion it's better to play everyone twice, with both games at one team's rink or the other, than to play some teams twice and others 4 times. If travel costs and tradition require the Friday-Saturday series to stay in place, then just alternate sites year to year.

And fewer conference games isn't necessarily a bad thing. One of the reason all mathematical formulas, including KRACH despite the thinking of its proponents, struggle with hockey is because of its heavily insular schedule. Frankly, there's no reason teams need to be playing 25+ conference games as part of a 34-game schedule.

Frankly, reducing all conferences to 8 teams leads to somewhat of a scheduling dilemna. Either you play everyone 3 times (21 games total) and carries its own travel issues, or you play everyone 4 times (home and away) and you're right back to a 28 game conference schedule, which doesn't solve anything.

I've argued before that college hockey would be served better with fewer conference games. I'd suggest limiting conference games at 24, which would be an incentive to have smaller conferences rather than big ones. As you note, this would help KRACH and PWR a great deal, it would force teams to play out of conference more often, perhaps making it easier for a smaller conference team to pay the bills - either by getting teams to travel to them, or cashing in on a nice payday for a series at one of the big schools.

Capping conference membership isn't the right answer, you're right on that. Not when there are so few stable conferences.

As I mentioned, however, the logistics make fri-sat series the most palatable, especially in the West.

Anyway, capping conference games at 24 is an actionable item that the NCAA (or the conferences themselves) could enforce. Capping membership at 8 teams per conference is not.

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

I think they should go back to the 15 minute overtime period. These guys only play two games a week I think they can handle it and it would get rid of most ties.

I don't recall OT ever being 15 minutes.

[MikeAnderson]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Anyway, capping conference games at 24 is an actionable item that the NCAA (or the conferences themselves) could enforce. Capping membership at 8 teams per conference is not.

Perhaps. I've never heard of it in any sport ever, but perhaps.

The only scheduling requirement other than minimum and maximum games to be eligible for the championship I've ever heard of are in FBS football, where every team is required to have a minimum of five home games.

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

They should bring back the DQ cup.

[Joey13]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Good thread Swami! Most of my thoughts have already been mentioned, but....

+ The clutching and grabbing is bad. IMO - the NCAA was noticeably better than the NHL before the lock-out, and now it is worse.

+ I know Regionals sites are chosen way in advance, but lower seeds getting home ice really defeats the purpose of the regular season. I get selling tickets, and don't buy the old travel argument, but it is just weak.

+ I agree with the visor argument. Although seeing the players faces is typically a good thing, it makes me feel ancient.

+ I can't agree with shortening the season. I am already tired of hearing how the Bruins scratched Blake Wheeler in the playoffs because "He hit 'the wall' that NCAA players hit because of their short seasons."

+ I will put the HD plug into the television argument. Watching NHL Center Ice in HD and then switching to standard definition on the Fox Sports package (on an HD TV) is like going back in time. I only watch b/c I love college hockey. If I were a 'new fan' watching that, it would never make me start following NCAA hockey.

+ Free beer? How about selling beer? At the FF in DU Pioneer gear people always say "You guys sell beer." This does not help the on-ice product, but why punish the people who buy tickets? To argue that not serving beer to of-age fans at sporting events somehow keeps kids on campus from binge-drinking is preposterous.

+ And finally, I do not care for the big ice. It reduces hitting, and skill can still flourish on the small ice - IMO.

[Happy]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

I don't waste time rebutting the patently insane.

Well, if you don't like those then,

BTHC.

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Well, if you don't like those then,

BTHC.

No, he's right Happy. I can't stand to watch hockey in a sold out arena. Why would anyone? It's much better when there's only a 1000 or so fans. Makes it seem more exclusive, and it's much more quiet without all that "atmosphere" to worry about.