Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

A serious and somewhat off-topic question: how much hockey do they show on the BTN? I just got it and I'm curious.

They try to schedule something like 5 or 6 games a year or so.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

What college hockey needs is a cool trophy.

Champs can get the generic NCAA championship one too for permanent display in their trophy cases, but this sport needs its own Stanley Cup type trophy. The winner gets it for a year and relinquishes it when they are eliminated the following year or bring it to the Frozen Four to defend if they make a return trip to the FF the following year.

At this point, of course, it's probably too late and it's tough building a tradition now but you have to start somewhere. I'd like to see someone create one soon.

[nmupiccdiva]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

They try to schedule something like 5 or 6 games a year or so.

That's it?? Wow.

[mcfarljd]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

That's it?? Wow.

If you think about it how many opportunities do they really have to show games? Mich and St are in the same cluster so thats 4 a season, but FSN Detroit has most of those. Along with the appropriate FSN regional getting the majority of the Wisconsin/Minnesota games. There were 6 shown last year according to the schedule on their website, and obviously all were only B10 vs B10 matchups.

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/sports/.../schedules.asp

[Happy]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

The best way to improve men's college hockey is to get rid of Title IX, or at least have the supreme court get rid of the quota system it has become. A couple of wild ideas would be to have the National Champ play The Memorial Cup winner, have the Olympics go back to amateurs, or have other states learn to do this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneso...ol_boys_hockey

[moose97]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

And the one that most won't agree with...all new rinks should be Olympic sized to encourage teams to take skaters and open the game up! (This would make even a bigger difference in the NHL where the players seem to be too big and fast for their rinks, although I'd hate to be a D-man in that situation.)

Of course most won't agree with it. For all intensive purposes, Olympic ice has been a failure in the USA. Call it a '90's fad, if you will. Heck, the Gophers are even considering renovating Mariucci to get rid of it (see page 32 of this PDF, where the UMinn hockey staff talks about reducing the Mariucci ice surface size, and thus, producing a "more exciting" on-ice product...), and Doug Woog has called it a mistake to put it in. I'd venture an educated guess (with no backing, and not having personally asked anyone, but had Doug Woog on The Hockey Show say it was a mistake) that most coaches would rather not have a 200x100 in their building.

[NUMcNeely]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Get rid of title ix, makes it very hard for programs to start up or jump to d1.


Get the Canadians involved, add 2 to HE (Mcgill and Concordia, both in montreal and could start off a good rivalry), add western ones to make a western conference with the Alaskas (UBC, Simon Fraiser for example.) ECAC breaks up into two divisions with the addition of 2 Canadian schools, (Newbrunswick, Dalhouise for example)

Canada is the biggest hockey loving nation in the world, college hockey should take advantage of it and dig into the hockey crazed market. I know Rogers Sportsnet has agreed to air some Hockey East games for the coming season and beyond (a few years I think).

[scsutommyboy]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Of course most won't agree with it. For all intensive purposes, Olympic ice has been a failure in the USA. Call it a '90's fad, if you will. Heck, the Gophers are even considering renovating Mariucci to get rid of it (see page 32 of this PDF, where the UMinn hockey staff talks about reducing the Mariucci ice surface size, and thus, producing a "more exciting" on-ice product...), and Doug Woog has called it a mistake to put it in. I'd venture an educated guess (with no backing, and not having personally asked anyone, but had Doug Woog on The Hockey Show say it was a mistake) that most coaches would rather not have a 200x100 in their building.

SCSU wants to move to a NHL size rink with their remodel, but I don't think they will have the cash because they would have to lower the floor so the site lines would not be ruined. Coaches now realize the big ice sucks!

As for thinking the big ice makes the games more exciting, that is not true. Watch the olympics with NHL players and you will see it makes it less exciting.

[Red Cloud]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

The best way to improve men's college hockey is to get rid of Title IX, or at least have the supreme court get rid of the quota system it has become. A couple of wild ideas would be to have the National Champ play The Memorial Cup winner, have the Olympics go back to amateurs, or have other states learn to do this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneso...ol_boys_hockey

He said serious ideas.

[Beer Pong Horn]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Get the Canadians involved, add 2 to HE (Mcgill and Concordia, both in montreal and could start off a good rivalry), add western ones to make a western conference with the Alaskas (UBC, Simon Fraiser for example.) ECAC breaks up into two divisions with the addition of 2 Canadian schools, (Newbrunswick, Dalhouise for example)

Canada is the biggest hockey loving nation in the world, college hockey should take advantage of it and dig into the hockey crazed market. I know Rogers Sportsnet has agreed to air some Hockey East games for the coming season and beyond (a few years I think).

As long as it sucks players from Major Juniors and not from other D-1 teams, I think this is a good idea.

[blockski]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

What changes would you make to college hockey to improve the product?

2. Move the start of the college season back to Nov. 1. The season is too long right now. Get rid of the bye weeks and keep the same number of games.

I like the theory behind this, but I'm not sure about the execution. I think you need a couple of bye weeks for scheduling flexibility and general rest. I also don't see how you can realistically shorten winter break for most schools, between the holidays, final exams, and kids away for the WJC.

It would be nice for teams to have a week or two of practice before launching into games, however.

4. Reduce the number of conference games by four, thus opening up more inter-league play, which will help create less insualr schedules and a more representative NCAA tourney selection.

Love this idea, but as Ralph notes - we must put it in absolute terms. Cap conference schedules at 24 games max. That leaves non-Ivy teams with 10 OOC games to schedule (12 for teams with an Alaska trip)

5. While we’re on the subject of the NCAA tourney, I’d get rid of PWR and adopt KRACH as the team selection numerical reference. It’s just a better mousetrap.

Oh yeah.

9. Speaking of harmonizing, I would push for a deal where the NHL would contribute up-and-coming young officials to college hockey as part of their officiating development programs, as I believe they already do with Major Junior Hockey.

I think this is a great idea, but I'd just settle for more harmony with the conferences, yet alone within the larger pool of hockey leagues.

Would it be possible/desirable to take the officiating out of the conference's control and have one national body governing it?

[sbkbghockey]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

To be fair, while that's what ESPN originally stood for, it no longer is considered to refer to the acronym. They're just ESPN.

yeah i my joke didnt work without stating the old acronym.
the point is ESPN doesnt care about professional or college hockey!!

Its hard to get exposure and grow the sport when casual sports fans are disconnected from the sport. think about all the stories on ESPN right now: College football, pre-season NFL, baseball, and some soccer and general sports highlights. There's no mention of any college hky news, ie BGSU back in the right direction UAH problems, coaching changes, etc...

some of the posts have great ideas but until college hky has more media exposure casual sports fans wont pay much attention to it till the frozen four... despite being a revenue sport at the schools its given attention on tv as one of the supplemental non-revenue sports on campus.

[toehimp]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

Im not too concerned with the 'clutch and grab'. Hockey is a game of skating, sure, but also of strength and conditioning. C&G has been around too long to put the genie back in that bottle.

I disagree with the shorter season idea for selfish reasons. From April to October, I daydream about the coming season. I think that if these players have any inkling to go to the next level, longer season is necessary.

I totally agree with the visor idea. When I coached youth hockey, we had a meeting with some of tUMD staff regarding injuries. They had research that showed that after the implementation of the full cage rule, injuries went up, not down. Credited it to the increased 'confidence' that players had due to more armor. How did the players 50 years ago do it with leather helmets(maybe), newspaper shin pads, and wood sticks??? Technology isnt always a good thing. Take the full cage away.

I would like to see more NC games, adds a little spice to the season.

And I say open the borders for the Canadian teams. People are right, Canada is a hockey-crazed country and their players are top notch. Opening the border would increase the competition nationwide (and put the pompous goofers at a disadvantage).

And YES, do away with the Olympic ice!!! talk about boring!!! give me a smaller sheet where the players can actually get to one another without an overnight trip and Im there!!! Let the Europeans have it, we want NHL sized ice!!!

Free beer is always good.

How about shrinking up the outfits the cheerleaders wear??? Maybe D-1 Hockey needs to be more like the St. Paul Saints minor baseball organization - More entertainment for your $$$. Good hockey, Shock and Awe(the Ralph) and fun will sell tickets.

thats all

stev

[blockski]

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.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey

"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.

Agreed. And I don't know that you'd want ESPN to cover it anyway. This gets back to the Vs/ESPN argument in the NHL thread: would you rather have (relatively) quality coverage that fewer people can get to but is still very much focused on your sport, or do you want to start subjecting your school to having games start at 9 pm on Tuesday just so you can be on a channel that will cut away to a mini-sportscenter at a moment's notice?

Considering the footprint that Vs. has compared to College Hockey's footprint and the "primetime" aspect, I'd think that that would be a better channel to target anyway. That or we could see if USA wants to get more sports... but that's a non-starter. College hockey as a whole can't do too much to control which networks pick up games.