Lindenwood AD is doing the work already. Are they next?

[moose97]

Listen up moron, see I can use name calling just like you. The Ralph is magnificent, the best in college. Much better than The Old Barn that I & tons of Sioux and Grand Forks natives went to for games. I am not your history teacher so go look up Englestadts background & how it ties into racism.

Finally, its Engelstad. Not Englestadts. You pretentious *****.

[HofstraHockey]

Annnyyywaayyyyyy.... if he thinks that his community rink is the nicest thing out there, he's delusional. It might be the nicest DI rink in Missouri, but that's about it.

[Siouxfaninseattle]

Wow. So any news on the topic of the thread?

[JohnsonsJerseys]

Wow. So any news on the topic of the thread?

“We just need a rubber stamp from the president,” Zombo said. “Our AD is doing the work already. Any time you’re starting out, the bottom line is going to be in the red. You’ve got to let the community know you’ve got a program. We just need a go-ahead from the people that write the checks.”

So just like every other school in the US, all they need is $100M (and a rubber stamp apparently) and **bing** they'll have a men's D-I hockey team. So easy, any school can do it. The folks from the NHL/College Hockey study group should be down any day now to produce a report stating that Lindenwood would be an excellent candidate for D-I hockey... once they find the funding.

[UncleRay]

OK, it's been dialed down enough for me, I think get it now. Let me play it back to you: Do not mention the name of the rink that the University of North Dakota plays in on Juneteenth. And furthermore, do not use the nickname of said rink on Juneteenth.

Did I break into jail by using the phrase "the name of the rink that the University of North Dakota plays in?" If so, my bad; what would be the appropriate way to refer to that facility on Juneteenth or any other day for that matter?

I think it's "the name of the rink in which the University of North Dakota plays." Something about a preposition or conjunction or something is the wrong thing to end a sentence with.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I think it's "the name of the rink in which the University of North Dakota plays." Something about a preposition or conjunction or something is the wrong thing to end a sentence with.

Ugh. Correct. I should know better. Will note that for Juneteenth 2021.

[gfmorris]

University presidents don't give rubber stamps to Division I men's sports that require 18 scholarship equivalents and hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel unless you have a moneybags donor.

GFM

[moose97]

University presidents don't give rubber stamps to Division I men's sports that require 18 scholarship equivalents and hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel unless you have a moneybags donor.

GFM

LIU might beg to differ

[HofstraHockey]

LIU might beg to differ

With the amount of money Lindewood pours into their ACHA and their roller teams, it wouldn’t be a huge jump to go NCAA. The biggest difference for them and LIU though is the travel. There’s a whole bunch of day trips available to LIU (Army, Princeton, Sacred Heart, Yale, Quinnipiac, UConn, even AIC if you want to stretch it a bit) that a place like Lindenwood doesn’t have. What’s the closest to them? Miami or Notre Dame? The travel budget will take the biggest hit, for sure.

[Lost_Husky]

With the amount of money Lindewood pours into their ACHA and their roller teams, it wouldn’t be a huge jump to go NCAA. The biggest difference for them and LIU though is the travel. There’s a whole bunch of day trips available to LIU (Army, Princeton, Sacred Heart, Yale, Quinnipiac, UConn, even AIC if you want to stretch it a bit) that a place like Lindenwood doesn’t have. What’s the closest to them? Miami or Notre Dame? The travel budget will take the biggest hit, for sure.

They have a number of teams a reasonable (8 hour) bus ride away from them for non-conference games.

The thing that will kill their budget is if/when they join a conference.

[moose97]

With the amount of money Lindewood pours into their ACHA and their roller teams, it wouldn’t be a huge jump to go NCAA. The biggest difference for them and LIU though is the travel. There’s a whole bunch of day trips available to LIU (Army, Princeton, Sacred Heart, Yale, Quinnipiac, UConn, even AIC if you want to stretch it a bit) that a place like Lindenwood doesn’t have. What’s the closest to them? Miami or Notre Dame? The travel budget will take the biggest hit, for sure.

U of Illinois (you never know) - 3 hours
Miami - 5 and a half hours
Wisconsin - 5 and a half hours
Notre Dame - 5 and a half hours
Alabama-Huntsville (for now) - 6 and a half hours
Ohio State - 6 and a half hours
Western Michigan - 6 and a half hours
Omaha - 6 and a half hours
BGSU - 7 hours
Ferris State - 7 and a half hours
Michigan State - 7 and a half hours
Michigan - 7 hours 45 min
Minnesota State - 8 hours
Minnesota - 8 and a half hours
St Thomas (who has a head start) - 8 and a half hours
SCSU - 9 and a half hours
RMU - 9 and a half hours
Mercyhurst - 10 hours
UMD - 10 hours
Michigan Tech - 10 and a half hours
Northern Michigan - 10 and a half hours
LSSU - 11 hours

Hell, if you increase the distance to 13 hours, you can add Penn State, Denver, CC, Air Force, NoDak, Niagara, Canisius and RIT...

[HofstraHockey]

U of Illinois (you never know) - 3 hours
Miami - 5 and a half hours
Wisconsin - 5 and a half hours
Notre Dame - 5 and a half hours
Alabama-Huntsville (for now) - 6 and a half hours
Ohio State - 6 and a half hours
Western Michigan - 6 and a half hours
Omaha - 6 and a half hours
BGSU - 7 hours
Ferris State - 7 and a half hours
Michigan State - 7 and a half hours
Michigan - 7 hours 45 min
Minnesota State - 8 hours
Minnesota - 8 and a half hours
St Thomas (who has a head start) - 8 and a half hours
SCSU - 9 and a half hours
RMU - 9 and a half hours
Mercyhurst - 10 hours
UMD - 10 hours
Michigan Tech - 10 and a half hours
Northern Michigan - 10 and a half hours
LSSU - 11 hours

Hell, if you increase the distance to 13 hours, you can add Penn State, Denver, CC, Air Force, NoDak, Niagara, Canisius and RIT...

Like I said- not a lot of day trips in there. It's what seems to have hurt UAH for all these years. But not exactly a selling point when you're telling recruits that each game is a 6 hour+ bus ride each way.

[moose97]

Like I said- not a lot of day trips in there. It's what seems to have hurt UAH for all these years. But not exactly a selling point when you're telling recruits that each game is a 6 hour+ bus ride each way.

Clearly, you are from the east. You realize what the travel is like in the NCHC/WCHA/B1G, right? Hell, they're practically the geographic center of the NCHC

[Lost_Husky]

Like I said- not a lot of day trips in there. It's what seems to have hurt UAH for all these years. But not exactly a selling point when you're telling recruits that each game is a 6 hour+ bus ride each way.

Those are all weekend series do-able bus trips.

For off-season speculation, travel distances are reasonable and the have a rink, assuming funding, does anyone think the CCHA, Nacho, or B1G would be interested?

My thought, there is no way the B1G or Nacho would be interested. CCHA maybe, especially if they want to go to 10 teams or the long speculated/discussed MnSU to Nacho move happens.

Do the Alaska Schools try to cobble together a conference with ASU, UAH, and Lindenwood. Use it as a conference to get Lindenwood on their feet, (more) time for ASU to get there rink built/into a conference, and the UA_s to get their situation straightened out? Completely understanding this conference would not be sustainable, but to bide time for the schools.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Listen, that’s not a terrible rink. Higher capacity than 10-15 or so current rinks in D-I. Looks nice and new. From a quick look on google maps, it’s not near a campus or anything, but it’s also just off the interstate in the suburbs and near a hotel or two.

Not great, but enough that the idea of the school needing a $100M gift to rubber stamp it is kind of absurd. Schools with serviceable arenas at the ready have much lower overhead for this sort of thing.

I think it’s doable. I believe that there’s more of a market for this sort of thing in the corridor from Missouri through Tennessee and into Virginia/Maryland than one might think.

That said… yeah, I think moose’s first reaction of “hey let’s hear from more than just some ACHA coach” is the right answer. There have been plenty of “ACHA program thinks it can go varsity” stories over the years. If you’ve been on the forum long enough, it’s a broken record.