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Hockey East 2020-2021
- Thread starter jjmc85
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Darius
Go 'cats!
Anyone else notice there are 4 league games, 3 on TV tomorrow? Only Providence/CT the least compelling is not televised. UNH/BC is always fun to watch. BU/UML is usually a good battle and NU has more than a decent shot going to Amherst. There are also 2 B1G games on TV tomorrow. Good viewing practice for the 1st round of the NCAAs which ESPN is televising(?).
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
WIS has set the odds on UConn marching to its first Lamoriello Trophy on the UNH thread just now.
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2021/03/16_Sacred-Heart-Breaks-Ground.php
Sacred Heart following through. They didn't have a good year this year to build off of last year but HE should be looking for a 12th member. Could allow LIU to slide into Atlantic Hockey. Says they are opening the building against BC. Maybe HE waits it out to see how it goes.
Sacred Heart following through. They didn't have a good year this year to build off of last year but HE should be looking for a 12th member. Could allow LIU to slide into Atlantic Hockey. Says they are opening the building against BC. Maybe HE waits it out to see how it goes.
I would much, much prefer hockey east get rid of a team or two. The league desperately needs to get back to each team playing other teams in the league three times.
I don’t think anyone is getting kicked out and I don’t think anyone is gonna voluntarily leave anytime soon. Also no offense to them but I would hold out for someone other than Sacred Heart right now. I don’t know who that would be. If anyone is wait and see it’s probably Holy Cross. They’re following a similar path that UConn did by having their women’s program in the conference first. They also are more of a name brand program in New England anyway.
Kick Uconn out? In all honesty it's unlikely a team leaves but would be nice to have happen. I definitely would not add another team. The way I look at it is I would much rather have a couple of more games versus BU, BC, UNH, Northeastern, and Providence versus a couple games against Holy Cross or Sacred Heart. UVM has been in the league close to 20 years now and I still can't get very excited about playing them.
The only way a team would ever leave is if they are basically waving the white flag on competing. Perhaps Maine? I kid...
Both the ECAC and Atlantic Hockey are full. Didn't Merrimack just go D1 in hoops? I know BU hoops switched to Patriot League but it would take one of these programs giving up. I am just telling you I know York has said it and I have to believe the league wants it...they want an even number of teams. That doesn't mean you rush into anything but Sacred Heart following through on their rink and being in the New England footprint makes them a program to watch.
Both the ECAC and Atlantic Hockey are full. Didn't Merrimack just go D1 in hoops? I know BU hoops switched to Patriot League but it would take one of these programs giving up. I am just telling you I know York has said it and I have to believe the league wants it...they want an even number of teams. That doesn't mean you rush into anything but Sacred Heart following through on their rink and being in the New England footprint makes them a program to watch.
Or, Bentley, which has competed well against HEA teams, especially Northeastern, and Bentley has a nice fairly new rink.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
I like the way you think on this.
Well, we did see Northern Indiana Community College leave the league a few years ago.
League members (almost?) never get kicked out, the ones who leave either do so of their own volition, or with a few others to join another league OR start their own new league with others. It's how Hockey East started 35+ years ago. HEA has already set the precedent of going up to 12 teams for a few years with NICC. Frankly, I was happy when it was a 10 team league too. But unless someone else drops, that's not gonna happen. And I don't see anyone dropping or changing leagues from the current league membership. It's WAY more likely we'll see HEA going back to 12 teams at some point. Then the question is, who is the #12 team, and (perhaps most importantly) why? NICC was always a good "who", not such a good "why" for HEA.
In their wettest of wet dreams, I'm sure HEA would love to have #12 be a New York metro team, but there have never been any obvious candidates there. Nor does it seem likely it would happen anytime in the foreseeable future either. So assuming HEA remains a New England proposition, you look around at ECAC or AHA programs that are away from saturated HEA markets, and it kind of leads you to Southern CT, especially now that UConn is (sadly) in the mix. Holy Cross arguably also works since HEA does have a void in between the Boston and Springfield markets, and (last time I checked) Worcester was still the second biggest city in New England. And HC is already a member of the women's HEA, so most likely it's HC.
IF HEA does go back to 12 teams, they can still hit the old 27 league games target if they split it into two divisions, play 3 games per season against 5 divisional rivals (15) and 2 games/season against 6 non-division members (12). But one can only imagine the free-for-all that would break out when figuring out which programs went to which divisions. All out war, dissatisfied members, and (probably in less than 5 years) another break-out league to carve HEA in half (or close).
So there are no easy answers. Unless of course UConn just left, and Commish PR pulled up the drawbridge afterwards to close up the castle. Letting them join in the first place was what unbalanced things to begin with, whose dumb idea was that?!?
For anyone who thought Hockey East did the best they could:
https://twitter.com/bcinterruption/status/1372533296849125379?s=19
Lol. Great start for Steve Metcalf! Ya, let's consult with ADs instead of coaches who actually know about the PWR etc
https://twitter.com/bcinterruption/status/1372533296849125379?s=19
Lol. Great start for Steve Metcalf! Ya, let's consult with ADs instead of coaches who actually know about the PWR etc
Split-N
All Hail
Daydreaming out loud here but I could see a new league forming around LIU and SHU IF (repeat IF) the rumors about Navy wanting to make the jump have any substance. If you start off with LIU, SHU, and Navy, then Army would surely move over. And if things ever gets that far, would Princeton want to make the jump to a more geographically friendly conference? And if Princeton breaks off from the ECAC for economy of travel purposes, does SHU neighbor Yale follow suit? Last time I looked, there was no Ivy Hockey Conference so are all of the Ivies somehow obligated to be in the same non-Ivy conference for non-Ivy sports--like hockey? And would other ACHA programs around and south of NYC follow Navy (hello Rutgers/Penn/Villanova/Hofstra)?
So far as HEA goes, I think it may still have dreams of Syracuse or URI as a 12th team.
Nothing more than a daydream but maybe fodder for the off-season forums.
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That is fantastic. Good for them!
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