Buccigross and Melrose

[J.D.]

Oh Drew, now that is some trolling!

[Darius]

Melrose = Denny Crane. Gotta love him!

[MarkEagleUSA]

Not sure if Clay Matvick is doing any games but he's very solid.

Matvick and Sean Richlin are doing Allentown. They were pretty good yesterday but each had a couple of Melrose moments.

[TovarishchLisa]

This tournament, frankly, has shown a lot of issues with the health of college hockey.

The replay system is a complete trash fire. Empty seats galore at most of the regionals. ESPN clearly phoning it in. When your highest stakes games are showcased so poorly, is it much of a surprise when the sport continues to kind of go backwards in relevance outside of us diehards?

And as someone else said in here, hyperfocusing on NHL relevance makes things less interesting. I honestly believe prospect gazers are the worst part of following this sport right now. There's nothing wrong with watching games just to watch good, fun hockey!

[J.D.]

I'm not sure college hockey is going backwards. Not with LIU, St. Thomas, Augustana and Lindenwood starting D1 programs. The NHL has more college players than ever and that number seems to only be increasing. With that said, there should be a way to improve the regionals.

[MichVandal]

Watching all the games, the only host that is really mailing it in is Melrose. Everyone else knows what they are talking about, and actually are in the broadcast of games during the season. And given that Melrose has been doing this for a long time, I would not exactly call this the downfall of college hockey. If people are upset that it's on ESPNU and not 1 or 2, remember womens BB is on those channels right now. Which appears to be more popular. Shocking, I know.

[JohnsonsJerseys]

But is it too much to ask to at least get rid of Melrose? Replace him with Billy Jaffe or even Dave Starman. Starman can be annoying too but he's a true college hockey guy.

Dave Starman is to the NCHC what Jack Edwards is to the Boston Bruins... both are the ultimate homers.
The only acceptable loss for an NCHC team according to Starman is to another NCHC team. If they lose to anyone else his analysis boils down to: "they didn't get the bounces they earned... they thoroughly out played them but just didn't get any breaks tonight... some nights you dominate the other team but just don't get a win..."

Save that stuff for a home team broadcast, not a national feed.

[MichVandal]

If there's a real indicator of the decline of college hockey it's the small problem that there are no regional threads to talk about the games, live. That was fun.

There are NO live posts about this MSU-ND game right now. Nor was there one for Denver- UMD. And I doubt there will be ones for the games tomorrow.

This used to be a very lively place to talk the games as they were happening. Now? Nothing. Nothing at all.

At best, there are some random posts here or one of the "my team got screwed" or "boring bracket talk" threads.

For all of the whining about the coverage, who wants to talk actual, live hockey?

[J.D.]

Talking about Jeff Jackson hockey is a big ask!

[Bronco]

If there's a real indicator of the decline of college hockey it's the small problem that there are no regional threads to talk about the games, live. That was fun.

There are NO live posts about this MSU-ND game right now. Nor was there one for Denver- UMD. And I doubt there will be ones for the games tomorrow.

This used to be a very lively place to talk the games as they were happening. Now? Nothing. Nothing at all.

At best, there are some random posts here or one of the "my team got screwed" or "boring bracket talk" threads.

For all of the whining about the coverage, who wants to talk actual, live hockey?

Twitter and other social media exist. We are the dinosaurs on message boards.

[ticapnews]

If there's a real indicator of the decline of college hockey it's the small problem that there are no regional threads to talk about the games, live. That was fun.

There are NO live posts about this MSU-ND game right now. Nor was there one for Denver- UMD. And I doubt there will be ones for the games tomorrow.

This used to be a very lively place to talk the games as they were happening. Now? Nothing. Nothing at all.

At best, there are some random posts here or one of the "my team got screwed" or "boring bracket talk" threads.

For all of the whining about the coverage, who wants to talk actual, live hockey?

Those conversations have moved to Twitter. Maybe TikTok, but I don't Tik...or Tok...or whatever you do on that platform.

[J.D.]

If I'm being honest, I like this new format from a TV perspective. Very little overlap in games. I took Thu/Fri off and went to Worcester yesterday. Watched Michigan game in between and got home to see end of Quinnipiac/St. Cloud. The being able to leave in between games and come back was a success. Still sucks seeing empty buildings though. Worcester won't be pretty tomorrow.

[MichVandal]

Twitter and other social media exist. We are the dinosaurs on message boards.

Call be a dinosaur, but IMHO, both of those suck. First of all it's freaking twitter and FB. Neither of which are well known for their privacy.

Second, has there ever been a FB get together at games, or a twitter hockey game at a tournament? This group is "small" enough to the point where many of us have actually met face to face.

Third, and most important, given that THIS is a college hockey board, the kind if people who would be participating are far, far more likely to be college hockey fans.

Like most other things, the mass social media systems makes things suck worse. Like the last two elections.

[MichVandal]

Those conversations have moved to Twitter. Maybe TikTok, but I don't Tik...or Tok...or whatever you do on that platform.

One other thing about those platforms- one has to know who to follow to actually have a conversation about a hockey game- as far as I know. Unless you can randomly find a ticker or a tweeter talking about a game. But even then, you are following an individual.

I'm not on either, and will not ever be. Nor the book of faces.

This group used to be filled with college hockey fans. Talk about decline of the sport.

[Drew S.]

One other thing about those platforms- one has to know who to follow to actually have a conversation about a hockey game- as far as I know. Unless you can randomly find a ticker or a tweeter talking about a game. But even then, you are following an individual.

I'm not on either, and will not ever be. Nor the book of faces.

This group used to be filled with college hockey fans. Talk about decline of the sport.

The biggest change here, and really across all sports, is that gen z isn’t anywhere close to as interested in sports as millennials were at the same age. There was a day when there were quite a few college students and kids in their 20’s posting here and there are hardly any now. I don’t think it’s that people have gone elsewhere, there just isn’t the interest there used to be.