Ohio State Buckeyes 2022-2023 ... The Drive For Duluth

[Hockeybuckeye]

I don't have details to share or know the whole story but I can accurately attest there have been discussions in the athletic department on the needs of our women's team. What will come of it time will tell.

[pgb-ohio]

The MuzzArena

Just Build It!

[Hockeybuckeye]

The MuzzArena

Just Build It!

Good one!

[pgb-ohio]

Good one!

See you at The Muzz. (winking emoticon here)

[ARM]

I've come around to the idea that there is no middle ground. Men need at least 6K, and the women need less than 3K. That's a gap that can't be bridged.

Subjectively, that may be true. When looked at objectively, of course it can be bridged. In your mind, ideally the women would play in a rink that's less than 3K, but it isn't like it would set the program back in some way if they played in an arena that seated 5K. UMD did that for years in the DECC, which was a dingy dump that looked like the lights had been dimmed to save on the electricity bill. I get that Columbus doesn't have the hockey history that a city like Duluth does, but Duluth's population is under 100K these days. If they can move from the DECC to a rink that seats 6.75K, it suggests that a rink that's a little too large doesn't have to be this huge negative that you think it is. UW won four national titles playing in the Kohl Center, and UM won one while Mariucci was home. UNH won a title in the Whit. It seems like too big works at least as often as too small does.

What if OSU's rink was going to be condemned and had to be replaced, and the men said if the women were playing in a new rink, they wanted to play in one, too. There's only money to build one rink. What size would you build that one rink, that might not be perfect for either, but would be a compromise size under those constraints? You're not going to be forced to build this imaginary rink, and maybe there isn't actually any funding identified to build anything, but I think it makes for a more interesting discussion than saying it's impossible and opting to continue to put an elite team on crappy ice.

[Hockeybuckeye]

See you at The Muzz. (winking emoticon here)

And at the Frozen Four hopefully!

[Hockeybuckeye]

What if OSU's rink was going to be condemned and had to be replaced, and the men said if the women were playing in a new rink, they wanted to play in one, too. There's only money to build one rink.

From what I heard today the women's programs has earned priority for an improved facility, the university feels the men have for the time being an adequate home and the lamenting of the fans won't sway them.
Now if some mega rich booster or alumnus offers to pony up the money then the men might be in included if that's what it would take to get the donation. Anybody bought any Powerball tickets lately?

[Lindsay]

What if OSU's rink was going to be condemned and had to be replaced, and the men said if the women were playing in a new rink, they wanted to play in one, too. There's only money to build one rink. What size would you build that one rink, that might not be perfect for either, but would be a compromise size under those constraints? You're not going to be forced to build this imaginary rink, and maybe there isn't actually any funding identified to build anything, but I think it makes for a more interesting discussion than saying it's impossible and opting to continue to put an elite team on crappy ice.

I think they’ve done this exercise already. The compromise number was too small for the men. They said given the venue sizes that were being floated they want to stay in the Schott because their attendance already exceeded the proposed number for a certain number of games a year. I Give them credit for being honest, or maybe they just really want a practice rink and are angling for that. Shortly thereafter the conversation about building a new rink was tabled; they cited costs in Columbus construction market. I think they used to talk about a new rink just north of the covelli center, now the website shows something attached to the Schott.

what I suspect the men really want/need (if they also are not going to get a perfectly sized rink built for them) is a practice rink that doesn’t include the occasional bus ride. This is a fine compromise as long as it is a practice rink with enough seats and atmosphere for the women’s team and fans. As you said in an earlier post - learn from Ridder, LaBahn, Pegula etc. Ohio State, even being attached to the Schott and being the men’s practice rink too, could have the best rink in the country.

I don’t think the men would agree to a game rink with less than 8k seats (picking a number) so if I engage in your hypothetical the women would be in a cavernous rink but they’d get to host frozen four, and assuming the Schott got fully taken over for non ice sports OSU would actually be a step backwards in rinks. Much as I love women’s sports do I think it’s fair to tell the men that a couple thousand of their fans will no longer be able to come to games because we are downsizing the rink? That doesn’t seem right either.

Does a really nice rink for the women with the right number of seats for the women, attached to the Schott that the men happen to practice in make the most sense? It feels like it to me.

[pgb-ohio]

Still catching up on all of the correspondence!

PGB thanks for accumulating all this!
wonder why Minn 2012 was so down. Nice to see the steady up tick at OSU.

Your very welcome; don't know -- maybe ask ARM; and yes indeed!

when they broadcast the Frozen Four last year inexplicably the cameras were on the same side as the fans so it looked even emptier. Bugged me… crowd is part of the production normally. I wonder if you all were on opposite side of the benches, for the perceived benefit of the players.

Most fans were seated behind the benches. So for better or worse, the players were staring at the empty seats. But hey, a lot of fans "had their back." Speaking for the OSU contingent, we certainly did!

Finally, it looked there was a "student section" at one end. Perhaps some Penn State students got their usual section, and were checking out the tournament?

Curious to see what Duluth does, hopefully they let people sit anywhere.

I believe they will. Not endorsing Ticketmaster, but using it as a source of information:

1. It looks like the public seats on both sides are selling well.
2. Obviously the participating team allotments aren't on the market yet. But the allotments will put fans in at least 4 additional sections. Can't tell from Ticketmaster where the 4 sections are located.
3. It appears that seating on both ends will be general admission.

Maybe I'm just a hopeless optimist, but I think this means that there will be a reasonable number of fans on all 4 sides of the ice sheet.

[osualum86]

Well, just for fun, I have hotel reservations in Duluth for the Frozen Four weekend. I do not have tickets for the games. Amsoil Arena seats I believe around 8,000, these games will not sell out, tickets WILL be available at the door.

In fact, I attended the 2012 finals in Duluth (Minnesota 4, Wisconsin 2) and purchased my tickets at the arena for both games. The final game featured Emily West scoring on a penalty shot to break a 2-2 tie with Sarah Erickson scoring the insurance goal. Hillary Knight earned my long lasting respect by being a completely gracious loser. She already had a couple of national championships herself but showed a lot of class by standing on the blue line during the presentation ceremony and clapping for the new champions. It was a great day to be a Gopher fan in Duluth.

So, tickets are not going to be your biggest problem.

But where will you stay? I have two nights in a lake front motel with lake view, very easy walking distance to the arena and to all of the food and beverage establishments of the Canal Park entertainment district. All of you Ohio people (note I refer to Ohio the state not the University) seem pretty confident you will be there (and why wouldn't you be, that is a mighty fine team) but probably do not realize that hotel accommodations could be a problem. I encourage you to look into a place to stay now, not on the Monday before the Friday semi-finals.

Meanwhile, as a Gopher fan I have done this lots of times (7, yes 7 time national champions) and know that even if you have a mighty fine team (which the Gophers most assuredly this time do have) sometimes you don't get there. But what is it that they say about a failure to plan?

So if by some chance the Gophers do not get there but Ohio State does . . . ?

I always plan ahead when it comes to room for the Frozen Four and made reservations months ago. Got the rooms on Priceline.com and I paid the extra for free cancellation. There is always that chance that you get upset in the quarterfinal. Us OSU fans are well aware of that, having had to go into 2 OT to get to the Frozen Four last season. Even though we outshot Quinnipiac 77-22 and I liked our chances at the time, there is always the possibility that the other team lights the lamp instead of your team.

[osualum86]

If we make it to Duluth, there will be an Ohio State allotment. Don't know if any of that will be made available to the public. As per my reply to MBTC: When I attend a FF, I purchase long before the 4 teams are determined. Perhaps osualum86 knows?

I am honestly not sure how that works as I have always bought my tickets ahead of time. I should probably do that this time around even though that will be money I will not be able to get back if we don't make it. If Ohio State is not there, I am not going to go watch four other teams. I will cancel the hotel rooms and just eat the cost of the tickets.

[osualum86]

I heard some things today while I was at the university that leads me to believe that the university is leaning towards leaving the men in the Schott and giving the women a new facility. No two separate hockey only arenas or a shared facility.

This has been my understanding of the situation. The men will stay at the Schott (with the curtain around the upper deck) and the new facility will strictly be for the women and possibly a practice facility for the men as plans called for it to be built off the southwest corner of the Schott. Those plans may have changed as that is what came out in late 2019 before the pandemic brought everything to a screeching halt. Some of us have thrown out numbers of how many seats we want in an arena. If we are talking about building something in the range of 1,500 - 2,000 - 2,500 seats, build an arena that seats 2,500 now as it will just cost more money down the road to expand. If I am not mistaken, it cost more money to expand Ohio Stadium in the late 1990s than it did to build it in the first place, so let's learn from history. It's good to look at numbers and see what we need, but it is also acceptable to have a little bit of foresight and just build it to allow for a little bit of growth from day one. Great discussion. I am enjoying all the different views and perspectives.

[osualum86]

The MuzzArena

Just Build It!

I vote for this. Heck yeah, let's name it after Coach!

[osualum86]

See you at The Muzz. (winking emoticon here)

Build it and they will come!

[osualum86]

Finally, it looked there was a "student section" at one end. Perhaps some Penn State students got their usual section, and were checking out the tournament.

Penn State's student section rooted for the other teams (Yale and UMD) in both of our games. Made it that much sweeter to win and watch them all slink out of there with their tails between their legs. Guess they didn't want to watch the trophy presentation.