the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

[Congo99]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

The U.S. 2 schools need to set themselves up as a solid block, and allow gravity to bring schools into THEIR orbit, rather than limping around, hat in hand, like a wounded beggar asking for scraps. We are all better schools, and better programs, than every other remaining school.

Bring the Alaska schools into the mix, and you have a very nice, tight conference of Far Northern Schools:

LSSU
NMU
Tech
BSU
Fairbanks
UAA

Great rivalries. Great travel partners. All institutions similarly dedicated and funded.

Its time for the UP schools to flex some muscle. I know, after ten years under Tom A's "leadership," we have all been made to feel like we are impovershed scum, small school burdens. We are bad for TV in Detroit, and that was the only thing Tom A and his evil mavens cared about. Well, Tom is gone, the CCHA is dead. Time for the UP schools to grab themselves by the back of the neck, pull themselves up, slap themselves in the face, and remind themselves that they are excellent D-I hockey programs. Stop acting like beat dogs. We are not dogs. If the U.S. 2 schools band together, the other midwestern schools will have to deal with a very good bloc.

Good post.

[geezer]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

Bring the Alaska schools into the mix, and you have a very nice, tight conference of Far Northern Schools:

LSSU
NMU
Tech
BSU
Fairbanks
UAA

Great rivalries. Great travel partners. All institutions similarly dedicated and funded.

This matches my proposal from last week. But I don't mind letting Mankato & St. Cloud hang around also.

[aparch]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

How about not doing that because US 2 Doesn't come within 40 miles of LSSU.

Or Marquette. Or Houghton.

[darker98]

Hey, do we salute or spit in the St Louis Bay as we cross the Bong Bridge bypassing our friends from Duluth?

You might as well back track and spit at Grand Forks too.

[The Sicatoka]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

UMD (Duluth, MN) and UND (Grand Forks, ND) decline.

[Biddco]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

Hey, do we salute or spit in the St Louis Bay as we cross the Bong Bridge bypassing our friends from Duluth?

How about not doing that because US 2 Doesn't come within 40 miles of LSSU.

[Andrew J Carter]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

If you create a Highway 2 conference, I DEMAND you add UVM and Maine. Their respective towns are also along US 2.

Hey, do we salute or spit in the St Louis Bay as we cross the Bong Bridge bypassing our friends from Duluth?

[RaceBoarder]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

If you create a Highway 2 conference, I DEMAND you add UVM and Maine. Their respective towns are also along US 2.

Now what would Hippies and Lobster add to this conference

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

If you create a Highway 2 conference, I DEMAND you add UVM and Maine. Their respective towns are also along US 2.

[JF_Gophers]

Re: the Highway 2 Conference -- A proposal

Cept NMU is bout to jump to the WCHA.

[Lakerblue]

The core of the HWY 2 Conference:

LSSU
Tech
NMU
Bemidji


As a life-long Laker fan and supporter, I am hoping that LSSU leaves the CCHA far, far in the rear-view mirror. I am hoping Tech, NMU, and BSU follow suit.

The CCHA is/was a horribly run operation. I am hearing that the boys out west were none to fond of the WCHA operation, either.

I submit its time to blow the whole thing up.

I can only submit my opinions from an LSSU slant, as that is where my heart resides. I believe that LSSU will only survive, and will only thrive, if they can get into a league with NMU, MTU, and Bemidji (call it the U.S. 2 alliance). Any other teams that round out that league would be fine -- but in my opinion for fan support, energy, similarly situated schools, similarly situated budgets, and similary situated institutional support for hockey -- LSSU MUST find a way to allign themselves with Tech, Northern, and the Beavers.

In my opinion, any league discussion MUST start with those four schools having their own meeting and setting their own parameters, and reaching out from there. These are the four best programs remaining (not in recent W-L records, but rather in the more important long-term indicators of success: financial, facility, and institutional support).

Consider the excellent facilities each of these schools provides. Consider the solid fan base, and solid alumni base, in small, hockey-mad, winter cities. Consider that each of these programs has a history and tradition of success and has each fed, in their own time, star players to the NHL.

Let us be a bit cold-blooded here: what do Ferris and BGSU bring to LSSU? Why should LSSU look south and east when the obvious connection is West? I mean, if BGSU and Ferris want to join the U.S. 2 League, great. But the discussion should center on the UP schools / BSU -- and radiate outward from there. NOt the other way around.

The U.S. 2 schools need to set themselves up as a solid block, and allow gravity to bring schools into THEIR orbit, rather than limping around, hat in hand, like a wounded beggar asking for scraps. We are all better schools, and better programs, than every other remaining school.

Bring the Alaska schools into the mix, and you have a very nice, tight conference of Far Northern Schools:

LSSU
NMU
Tech
BSU
Fairbanks
UAA

Great rivalries. Great travel partners. All institutions similarly dedicated and funded.

Its time for the UP schools to flex some muscle. I know, after ten years under Tom A's "leadership," we have all been made to feel like we are impovershed scum, small school burdens. We are bad for TV in Detroit, and that was the only thing Tom A and his evil mavens cared about. Well, Tom is gone, the CCHA is dead. Time for the UP schools to grab themselves by the back of the neck, pull themselves up, slap themselves in the face, and remind themselves that they are excellent D-I hockey programs. Stop acting like beat dogs. We are not dogs. If the U.S. 2 schools band together, the other midwestern schools will have to deal with a very good bloc.