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AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

S

schiegs

Registered User
USCHO Interview

Suspension of Canisius Player:
I have no problem with stiff penalties for egregious violations of rules, especially those that threaten player safety. However, this set of suspensions is completely arbitrary. Six games; the first four being immediate, and then two additional when Canisius travels to Colorado Springs in February? That is moving beyond commissioners discretion, and into area of unilateral authority and decisions. What if a commissioner is an alum of a certain program? Bias can creep in (or at least be claimed) if the commissioner has complete authroity to make up penalties along the way.

Non-Conference Play: Duh. I think it has been well established that on whole, the conference has the ability to "compete", but not necessarily win against other conferences.

Future Expansion, Four Unnamed Programs: I guess its a safe bet that UAH is one of the four. Unless someone has the skinny, I am all for idle speculation. Navy? Beyond that, it gets interesting. It would have to be either a new program (which can't be a D-III school anymore), or someone from another conference. I used to follow NCAA rules, but lost track. Can (new) D-II programs still play up?
Stonehill?
St. A's?
St. Michael's?
SNHU?

Merrimack? (Go ahead, pile on and tell me how ridiculous this is.)
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

I didn't see the hit or other details, so I won't comment on the length of suspension (although I agree they should be long). I don't recall seeing it before, but I really like the idea of the suspension being broken up so that the offending player doesn't play the next games against the same team. I have no problem with that. If it were just an arbitrary opponent, that'd be seriously questionable.

I believe the OOC winning percentage is significantly up so far this year ... when it is no longer at the bottom, the AHA has "arrived".

Teams ... hmmm .... UAH is an obvious one. I believe even DII teams have to move all sports up, so I doubt any of them. Some random guesses: Bowling Green, Western Michigan, Ferris State.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

RITProf said:
I didn't see the hit or other details, so I won't comment on the length of suspension (although I agree they should be long). I don't recall seeing it before, but I really like the idea of the suspension being broken up so that the offending player doesn't play the next games against the same team. I have no problem with that. If it were just an arbitrary opponent, that'd be seriously questionable.

I believe the OOC winning percentage is significantly up so far this year ... when it is no longer at the bottom, the AHA has "arrived".

Teams ... hmmm .... UAH is an obvious one. I believe even DII teams have to move all sports up, so I doubt any of them. Some random guesses: Bowling Green, Western Michigan, Ferris State.
Click to expand...

There is absolutely no secret that the AHA could add St. A's or that St. A's is interested in moving up to D1 for hockey. Their program draws exceptionally well and they have a class facility. Given the AHA's association with NE-10 programs and the NE-10's association with D1 hockey - MACK, UML, AIC, Bentley - I think it's safe to look at them as a good team.

Navy's been 5 years away from D1 for the past 10 years. Maybe now's the time?

URI is another name I've heard. Don't sleep on them as a shot in the dark team. With every New England state at the D1 level, they could elevate. Plus they have built in rivalries with Brown and PC.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

I had forgotten about the URI possibility. From a marketing perspective, they would fill in nice for UConn, taking over the "Generic Big State U" spot in the mix. Don't they have an on-campus facility already?
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

My problem with the hit is that the video seems to be locked up tighter than the watergate tapes. It should be out there for the public to see...

So we might wind up with a 15 team league when many conferences look like they may be at 8? This tells me that the AHA feels that other teams than UCONN are going to leave and the madness that started when Penn St announced their program will countinue... That is just my gut feeling...
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

Tom Naeger said:
My problem with the hit is that the video seems to be locked up tighter than the watergate tapes. It should be out there for the public to see...

So we might wind up with a 15 team league when many conferences look like they may be at 8? This tells me that the AHA feels that other teams than UCONN are going to leave and the madness that started when Penn St announced their program will countinue... That is just my gut feeling...
Click to expand...

Perhaps it stems back to the continued disappointment that the scholarship western teams have about what they can offer?
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

Tom Naeger said:
My problem with the hit is that the video seems to be locked up tighter than the watergate tapes. It should be out there for the public to see...

So we might wind up with a 15 team league when many conferences look like they may be at 8? This tells me that the AHA feels that other teams than UCONN are going to leave and the madness that started when Penn St announced their program will countinue... That is just my gut feeling...
Click to expand...

Being in talks with 4 teams does not mean 4 teams joining. We all assume UAH is one of these four, and there's only a 50/50 shot they join AHA, assuming they even remain afloat.

It's also no secret that RIT would likely jump ship to the ECAC as soon as the opportunity arose, and having a few buffer teams puts the AHA in a good position to absorb any such issues.
 
FlagDUDE08 said:
Perhaps it stems back to the continued disappointment that the scholarship western teams have about what they can offer?
Click to expand...

Can someone please explain how the AHA plans to compete at the D1 level when they only offers 12 scholarships? If there are 4 teams that want to find a new home or elevate to D1 might they want to join the 4 AHA teams that explored a new 18 scholarship conference leaving the Original AHa even less competitive.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

THEMICK said:
Can someone please explain how the AHA plans to compete at the D1 level when they only offers 12 scholarships? If there are 4 teams that want to find a new home or elevate to D1 might they want to join the 4 AHA teams that explored a new 18 scholarship conference leaving the Original AHa even less competitive.
Click to expand...

"Compete" on the ice in W's and L's....or "compete" in terms of a conference's long term economic viability, and therefore survivability? The CHA was an example perhaps the mirror image of AHA. That went well.
 
schiegs said:
"Compete" on the ice in W's and L's....or "compete" in terms of a conference's long term economic viability, and therefore survivability? The CHA was an example perhaps the mirror image of AHA. That went well.
Click to expand...

Compete both on and off the ice. The AHA has the worst attendance and is the least winningest of the conferences. The CHA failed because it had a lot of startup teams that were too geographically diverse and rivalries never developed limiting attendance while driving up travel costs. The CHA didn't fail because it gave 18 scholarships.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

THEMICK said:
Compete both on and off the ice. The AHA has the worst attendance and is the least winningest of the conferences. The CHA failed because it had a lot of startup teams that were too geographically diverse and rivalries never developed limiting attendance while driving up travel costs. The CHA didn't fail because it gave 18 scholarships.
Click to expand...

Doesn't change one unavoidable fact: For many (most?) of the AHA programs, its either a 12 scholarship confernce, or don't field a program. Even that formula was too much for a few programs (Fairfield, Iona). The higher the scholarship limit, the less competitive those limited resource teams will be. Eventually, each has a threshold at which they throw in the towel, and the sport shrinks in aggregate.

For those that want a high investment, max limit approach, there are other conference options available. The fact that those doors may not be as open as some wish does not make it AHAs responsibility to appease them, becoming something it was never intended to be. Every college sport needs a low-cost avenue via conference affiliation.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

RITProf said:
I believe even DII teams have to move all sports up, so I doubt any of them.
Click to expand...

A Division II team can play up to Division I in a sport that does not have a championship in Division II (NCAA Bylaw 20.8.2).
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

UAHStatman said:
A Division II team can play up to Division I in a sport that does not have a championship in Division II (NCAA Bylaw 20.8.2).
Click to expand...

In this case, I stand by my baseless rumors of St. Anselm, Stonehill, SHNU, and St. Michael's being in the mix. Particularly St. A's.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

UAHStatman said:
A Division II team can play up to Division I in a sport that does not have a championship in Division II (NCAA Bylaw 20.8.2).
Click to expand...

OK. I had thought that was trumped by the new "no play ups" legislation. Maybe that only applied to DIII (which, of course I heard more about around RIT).
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

RITProf said:
OK. I had thought that was trumped by the new "no play ups" legislation. Maybe that only applied to DIII (which, of course I heard more about around RIT).
Click to expand...

In this case, it would, because D-III hosts a championship. If for some reason that folded (like that's ever going to happen), then D-III could not only play up, but offer scholarships.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

FlagDUDE08 said:
then D-III could not only play up, but offer scholarships.
Click to expand...
I'm not so sure about that. The scholarship restriction is a D-III rule that is only "violated" by the grandfathered single sport play-ups (RPI, CC, Clarkson, SLU, Johns Hopkins, etc.). I could be wrong, but I don't think the play-up due to a lack of championships would do anything to void that rule for a full D-III school.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

Tom Naeger said:
My problem with the hit is that the video seems to be locked up tighter than the watergate tapes. It should be out there for the public to see...
Click to expand...

I've seen it, it's a clear violation (from behind) and, worse, the Canisius player elevates his arms and shoulders with the intent of driving his opponent's head into the glass. He succeeded, inflicting a serious concussion and actually breaking the helmet. Horrible hit and no place for it in the game. He's lucky to still be playing, and Michalke will be lucky if he ever plays again. Canisius whining about the suspension tells you a lot about their program.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

I have also seen a tape of the hit and it is egregious. I applaud the AHA for finally and publically taking action against this kind of play. There have been examples in the not so distant past that were not addressed at all, let alone appropriately, so I'm glad to see the league finally catching up with the efforts of other leagues to punish these types of hits.
 
Re: AHA Commissioner Interview. He said what?

Where's the link, guys?

And I was pretty surprised by Canisius' response, too. Usually those are pretty contrite press releases.
 
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