An open an honest proposal for the WCHA final five

[Almington]

Re: An open an honest proposal for the WCHA final five

Denver would draw 7-8,000 for the WCHAs, and up to 16,000 if DU were in the finals. Hell, half of North Dakota's fan base lives here in Co. after leaving North Dakota. More money than Houghton, but less than St. Paul.

I know that, but I wonder how many of the WCHA fans would take the trip to Denver the ever ~10 or so that the X hosts the F4 knowing that they won't have the same travel costs associated with going to the F4.

But I do recognize that the leading factor in all the decisions is how to make the largest profit for the league.

For me as a fan, it would be a nice once in a decade type of trip.

[UMDBulldogHockeyIsKing]

Re: An open an honest proposal for the WCHA final five

You want to remove the home-ice advantage for the Gophers?

Hold it in Hinckley. Build a 19k arena next to Grand Casino, and then we could all meet up at Tobie's between games.

[Bakunin]

Re: An open an honest proposal for the WCHA final five

For me as a fan, it would be a nice once in a decade type of trip.

That's why they can (and should) bid for the F4 on a regular basis. If they're in the regular rotation with St. Paul and Boston, that'd be ideal.

[Mike Rane]

Re: An open an honest proposal for the WCHA final five

Here's a five year rotating plan:

New DECC
Bradley Center
Target Center
Pepsi Center
Omaha Civic Center

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: An open an honest proposal for the WCHA final five

I felt it appropriate to steal SCSU's icon for this because we all know UND fans, like their hockey team, are cheap losers that have to be cheap to win.

It seems to me in the little time I've spent following the game of college hockey and the WCHA that one fallacy immediately springs to mind every playoff time, and that is the belief that the Xcel energy center is a 'neutral' site. Yes, thats right, a mere stones throw from the UMTC campus, this venue somehow remains a 'neutral' location. Every school that competes in the final five save one (well, not counting this year) has to travel to the arena, some as little as 70 miles, some as much as 1,000 miles (UAA doesn't count). Then there's the team that can ride their bikes to the arena. Who thought that would be neutral? Even the pep band has to make a day of the drive down.

Therefore I propose an alternative. There is one arena within the WCHA that will likely never see its team in the Final Five, so I propose we do it there. That location? the MacInnes Ice Arena. We know that the Huskies would never play in the tourney, and the arena itself is nicely located on the UP, far enough out in the booneys that every team in the tournament would more or less have to take at least a half if not a full day to get there, and the pep band wouldn't even have to go anywhere!

It makes perfect sense.

You do realize that the first year they try this, Tech makes the Final Five, right?