College Hockey NIT Tournament?

[Sean Pickett]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

Sean has used the same source which I have. Nothing is mentioned about attendance.

I fixed my issue with using ProQuest to access The Boston Globe. A one sentence article on the championship game gave the attendance as 2,700. For comparison, the NCAA Final had a reported attendance of 7,132 at Boston Garden the same night.

Sean

[TovarishchLisa]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

This is posted under "Memorable Bulldog Moments" on the UMD hockey website:

March 16, 1974. The host Bulldogs upend the University of Vermont 7-4 to capture the short-lived (it lasted just one year) National Invitational Hockey Tournament, a four-team event patterned after college basketball’s NIT, for clubs which didn’t qualify for NCAA post-season play.

The other two teams, according to UVM's history PDF and the UMD media guide, were Lake Superior State (lost 3-2 to UVM) and Saint Louis (lost 6-3 to UMD)

[UVM Cat in Texas]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

The other two teams, according to UVM's history PDF and the UMD media guide, were Lake Superior State (lost 3-2 to UVM) and Saint Louis (lost 6-3 to UMD)

And then 22 years later we beat Lake State again 2-1 to advance to the Frozen Four. That was our best team ever and could have been national champs had we not been rooked in the semis.

[TovarishchLisa]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

Some newspaper clippings on this (thanks to Redditor /u/hockeyepidemiologist!!):

https://imgur.com/a/LApdW

Lake State was a last-second add; Wisconsin was supposed to participate - Bob Johnson guaranteed it - but he'd never run it past the AD, who shot it down.

[UVM Cat in Texas]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

Some newspaper clippings on this (thanks to Redditor /u/hockeyepidemiologist!!):

https://imgur.com/a/LApdW

Lake State was a last-second add; Wisconsin was supposed to participate - Bob Johnson guaranteed it - but he'd never run it past the AD, who shot it down.

Cool, thanks for posting. Some interesting reading there.

[John J. MacInnes]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

Some newspaper clippings on this (thanks to Redditor /u/hockeyepidemiologist!!):

https://imgur.com/a/LApdW

Lake State was a last-second add; Wisconsin was supposed to participate - Bob Johnson guaranteed it - but he'd never run it past the AD, who shot it down.

I especially liked seeing the quotes from first year Lake State coach "Rich Conley".

Also interesting to note that LSSC (they didn't become a university until 1987) was still a member of the NAIA for this tournament. The Lakers beat Bemidji 4-1 to claim the school's 2nd NAIA national championship, then played in the CCHA tournament, and finally this event.

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

Wouldn't mind the idea this year, as UMn would win it easily.

[UMICH]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

Wouldn't mind the idea this year, as UMn would win it easily.

I wouldn't be so sure, and anyway would you really want to win the title of 17th best college hockey team?

[UMICH]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

...but the potential of Minnesota-North Dakota for a consolation trophy would be pretty freaking hilarious

Yes it would be.

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

I wouldn't be so sure, and anyway would you really want to win the title of 17th best college hockey team?

As it is with the bb NIT, the winner of that tournament is considered by most to be far better than the 69th best team. Few will admit to as much.

Looking at this year alone, Minnesota basically TIED UMD in the standings but they could only take one 12th place team and UMD had a .001 advantage in the PWR? But look where UMD is now, still playing for the Title and going up against 3 B1G teams, so its quite possible that conf was a tad bit underrated.

I'm not advocating for a hockey NIT like post season tourney, but my reasons for not wanting something like are just different. A team like UND or Minnesota this year? There would always be a good chance one of our best players wouldn't even stick around to play in the tourney, this year I doubt Casey M would stick around for it, although I'm not sure if Buffalo has a chance to make the playoffs or not, but even if they aren't, maybe their semi-pro team is and I'm sure CM would like to get to playing at the next level as soon as possible. And it's more of a rarity, but this year it would have delayed the coaching change. So it wouldn't even be like the big names that might make the tourney like UMn, BC and UND would even be the same teams that played during the season, so...

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

...this year I doubt Casey M would stick around for it, although I'm not sure if Buffalo has a chance to make the playoffs or not, but even if they aren't, maybe their semi-pro team is and I'm sure CM would like to get to playing at the next level as soon as possible.

CM is starting for the Sabres tonight. He'll get a couple games under his belt this season, but not much. Buffalo is in dead last in the NHL... again.
The Sabres farm team (which is professional, not semi-pro), the Rochester Amerks wil be in the playoffs this season, however the only way the Sabres could get CM's agent to agree to signing him now was to guarantee his contract would be a one-way NHL contract only. He'll have to settle for the World Championships rather than actual playoffs. It's too bad, too. The Amerks actually have a shot at making a run this year as long as the Sabres send all their talent back after next week.

[Sean Pickett]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

CM is starting for the Sabres tonight. He'll get a couple games under his belt this season, but not much. Buffalo is in dead last in the NHL... again.
The Sabres farm team (which is professional, not semi-pro), the Rochester Amerks wil be in the playoffs this season, however the only way the Sabres could get CM's agent to agree to signing him now was to guarantee his contract would be a one-way NHL contract only. He'll have to settle for the World Championships rather than actual playoffs. It's too bad, too. The Amerks actually have a shot at making a run this year as long as the Sabres send all their talent back after next week.

It is my understanding that a one-way contract is only in regards to money: i.e., Buffalo can send him to Rocchester, but he will make the same amount.

Sean

[FredsDeadFriend]

Re: College Hockey NIT Tournament?

CM is starting for the Sabres tonight. He'll get a couple games under his belt this season, but not much. Buffalo is in dead last in the NHL... again.
The Sabres farm team (which is professional, not semi-pro), the Rochester Amerks wil be in the playoffs this season, however the only way the Sabres could get CM's agent to agree to signing him now was to guarantee his contract would be a one-way NHL contract only. He'll have to settle for the World Championships rather than actual playoffs. It's too bad, too. The Amerks actually have a shot at making a run this year as long as the Sabres send all their talent back after next week.

Meant no disrespect by calling Rochester a semi-pro team, I just meant the farm team, the next rung down from the Sabres. Good to know he'll be playing tonight!!! The more Gophers in the NHL the better. I have fun tracking them all each night. I don't remember a single day this winter when at least one Gopher didn't play NHL hockey. In fact, I don't remember a single day when at least one Gopher didn't get at least a point, too?

Let's hope he follows in the tradition of scoring in his first professional game like 3 or 4 other Gophers did this season.