Atlantic Hockey Summer News

[AFHockeyFan]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

our taxes at work

Here's the return you're getting on your investment:
http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/042210aac.html

And, Air Force uses scheduled military training flights by transport aircraft for a number of their trips, enabling units to train and cadets to see the military aviation world up close.

But for AFA, it really doesn't make much difference, does it? Their travel costs are high whether they play all Western or all Eastern teams in this conference.

True, but it does make a difference when you make that trip (and incur that expense) for ONE game. And all the "west" teams can agree that the current divisions make them less competitive as they beat each other up while the "east" teams feed on cupcakes. I would much rather see the "pod" system outlined above, where you still play two-game series on weekends.

Between the scheduling issues and scholarship concerns, it may not be long until the AHA splits into two auto-bid conferences. I know we tried that with the CHA, but a geographically-focused conference (like the AHA West, with RM, MH, Can, Nia., RIT and AF) with established and successful teams would be much more stable than the scattered CHA with several programs on life support.

 

[schiegs]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Is that our taxes at work, or are the athletic teams at service academies funded by booster clubs and / or donors?

Its been awhile, but when I was a season ticket holder for Army football, they published that 80% of athletic funding came from foundation money. Also, I believe that coaches salaries were paid 100% by the foundation, keeping them from being govt. employees subject to compensation disclosure. But that has been awhile.

 

[schiegs]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

True, but it does make a difference when you make that trip (and incur that expense) for ONE game. And all the "west" teams can agree that the current divisions make them less competitive as they beat each other up while the "east" teams feed on cupcakes. I would much rather see the "pod" system outlined above, where you still play two-game series on weekends.

While the one game trips should certainly be addressed, the disproportionate travel costs involved for Air Force were a known quantity when they asked to join the league a few years back.

 

[AFHockeyFan]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

While the one game trips should certainly be addressed, the disproportionate travel costs involved for Air Force were a known quantity when they asked to join the league a few years back.

Yep, and no one in the program has a problem with the travel costs. (The publicity from the three tournament appearances alone has more than covered that. And the players actually enjoy the trips back East (longer flights = more time away from the zoo, more sleep on the flights, etc.) But it's not fair to make Mercyhurst, Bobby Mo, Niagara, Canisius and RIT pony up for a long trip for one game, while the other six teams don't have too.

It's just a PITA for coaches, staff, etc., to go through all the hassle and only get one game. At least that's what Frank thinks:
http://www.gazette.com/sports/force-101223-air-record.html
And, when Air Force joined the league, all the weekend series were two games.

 

[komey1]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

While I like the idea of getting an extra non-conference game in order to better test the better teams, the one game weekends are tough. It could be resolved better if whomever made the schedule set up travel partner type schedules, so that you could play Canisius and Niagara on the same weekends for 1 game each. This would open up more weekends to play the new non-conference game. As it is, RIT gets to play a game on 1/1/11 in order to get their Merrimack game.

 

[5hole]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Although terms "were not disclosed", it sounds like Burkie gets at least another four years on The Ridge.

http://www.purpleeagles.com/sports/mhockey/release.asp?release_id=12291

 

[d4rksabre]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Although terms "were not disclosed", it sounds like Burkie gets at least another four years on The Ridge.

http://www.purpleeagles.com/sports/mhockey/release.asp?release_id=12291

Good for Burke! He's done a good job with NU, no reason to fix what ain't broke.

 

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Between the scheduling issues and scholarship concerns, it may not be long until the AHA splits into two auto-bid conferences. I know we tried that with the CHA, but a geographically-focused conference (like the AHA West, with RM, MH, Can, Nia., RIT and AF) with established and successful teams would be much more stable than the scattered CHA with several programs on life support.

In another thread, I jokingly suggested the West steal Army and SHU (or even pick up UAH), secede from the AHA, and take the auto-bid with them. It would be a decently competitive conference. Splitting into two, 6-team conferences for two bids may not happen any time soon. As we've seen in the doomed-from-the-start CHA (which really wasn't meant to be a permanent "conference" to begin with), the 6- (and 5- and 4-, for that matter) team model isn't sustainable long term.

 

[komey1]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

I don't know if an AHA "West"/CHA would be appealing to a Sacred Heart. They would have a much easier time making the NCAAs with the "East".

I would be concerned about adding UAH to the west only for travel considerations. The teams could be making trips to Colorado and Alabama. Travel is the big reason the Alaska schools are in seperate conferences.

 

[burgie12]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

I don't know if an AHA "West"/CHA would be appealing to a Sacred Heart. They would have a much easier time making the NCAAs with the "East".

I would be concerned about adding UAH to the west only for travel considerations. The teams could be making trips to Colorado and Alabama. Travel is the big reason the Alaska schools are in seperate conferences.

Without six members, there is no guarantee for an auto-bid. The CHA's existed only for continuity's sake. Pulling Army into the West (which makes sense from a competitive standpoint), reduces the East to five teams. Would Sacred Heart want to stay in that "conference"?

Yes, UAH would be a hassle, but when they submitted their bid for the CCHA, they did include a travel subsidy for visiting teams. I would be shocked if they didn't include travel money to be brought into the West. And, from a personal point of view, I'd rather see a team that cared about its hockey program continue, rather than descend into anonymity / disbandment. And, let's just ignore that that's exactly what this proposal is doing to AIC, Bentley, UConn, and Sacred Heart.

 

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

I don't know if an AHA "West"/CHA would be appealing to a Sacred Heart. They would have a much easier time making the NCAAs with the "East".

Like Burgie said, if the West were to "steal" away Army, the East wouldn't have an auto-bid anyhow. Let the flailing, unsupported Eastern programs figure out what they want to do with themselves on their own.

And despite popular assumptions to the contrary, Huntsville, Alabama isn't really all that far away. I know that it is an outlier to the rest of the college hockey landscape, but Alabama is NOT Alaska. Heck, it's not even Colorado Springs, for that matter. I know the NCAA says that "a flight is a flight", but in this case it isn't. I don't know the flight schedules or connections to get to Huntsville, but since it is only between an 11 and 14.5 hour drive from every team in the AHA West except AFA, I can't imagine the flight times are all that unbearable. (btw: by way of comparison, Air Force is a 25.5 hour drive and Anchorage is a 73 hour drive from Rochester ). When you look at it, if the AHA West were its own conference, They would be the best geographic fit for UAH of all the conferences, hands-down.

 

[mar7967]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Like Burgie said, if the West were to "steal" away Army, the East wouldn't have an auto-bid anyhow. Let the flailing, unsupported Eastern programs figure out what they want to do with themselves on their own.

I don't think you will see this...HOPEFULLY the AHA has enough sense to know what is good for college hockey...and leaving 4 or 5 teams to "figure out what they want to do with themselves" is not. It is a possibility down the road to split into two conferences of 6 (and UAH can join too if they dont find a home somewhere else), but I dont think anyone would want 7 and 5...or 7 and 6 with Army in the west and UAH in the east.

 

[LtPowers]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Why are we even discussing leaving AIC, Bentley, UConn, and Holy Cross to fend for themselves?


Powers &8^]

 

[schiegs]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Let the flailing, unsupported Eastern programs figure out what they want to do with themselves on their own.

Laughably stupid comment.

 

[burgie12]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Let the flailing, unsupported Eastern programs figure out what they want to do with themselves on their own.

No. Let's ignore it. Like I said originally.

When you look at it, if the AHA West were its own conference, They would be the best geographic fit for UAH of all the conferences, hands-down.

AHA West or CCHA. Hands parallel.

I don't think you will see this...HOPEFULLY the AHA has enough sense to know what is good for college hockey...and leaving 4 or 5 teams to "figure out what they want to do with themselves" is not.

Right on. But, all of these hypotheticals are just thrown out there crazily. I hope that you don't believe that DeGregorio is actually paying attention to this. A thirteen-team two-division (real divisions, not these crappy ones) conference might almost make some sense.

 

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Laughably stupid comment.

This spoken by a supporter of a D-I team that AVERAGES 387 fans per game, including a whopping 402 fans for a PLAYOFF game. I sit here longing for a day in the future when my team can get a bigger arena so that they can do better than averaging "only" just under a sellout (2100 cap) per game, while there are programs in this conference that only break 500 maybe two or three times a year.
It may bother you, because you are one of a very few that care about Bentley hockey. But the fact remains (and we all know it) that there are certain programs in this conference that are barely (if at all) supported by their schools ($, facilities, fans) and in no way close to the way a Division I program should. These are the programs that are D-I because they have no other options. I meant the comment as no insult to true hockey fans of these schools like yourself. I honestly wish for your sake that the situation were better for these programs. But facts are facts. Until the schools step up and put forth an effort, those programs are simply existing. So in my estimation they are doing nothing to enhance the current or future state of college hockey as a whole. I know others are paranoid about simply the total number of D-I schools playing and think that a team leaving is some kind of a tragedy. But whether there are 59 D-I programs with 5 unsupported ones or 54 programs doesn't really make much of a difference, except that we may lose our precious 16 team tournament field some day.

 

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Right on. But, all of these hypotheticals are just thrown out there crazily. I hope that you don't believe that DeGregorio is actually paying attention to this.

I'm not an idiot who sits on here thinking people that matter actually are paying any heed to what I'm flapping my gums about. Yes, this is all hypothetical and most likely never going to even be considered. It's the off-season. We've got time to mull over possibilities whether realistic or not.

 

[schiegs]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

This spoken by a supporter of a D-I team that AVERAGES 387 fans per game, including a whopping 402 fans for a PLAYOFF game. I sit here longing for a day in the future when my team can get a bigger arena so that they can do better than averaging "only" just under a sellout (2100 cap) per game, while there are programs in this conference that only break 500 maybe two or three times a year.
It may bother you, because you are one of a very few that care about Bentley hockey. But the fact remains (and we all know it) that there are certain programs in this conference that are barely (if at all) supported by their schools ($, facilities, fans) and in no way close to the way a Division I program should. These are the programs that are D-I because they have no other options. I meant the comment as no insult to true hockey fans of these schools like yourself. I honestly wish for your sake that the situation were better for these programs. But facts are facts. Until the schools step up and put forth an effort, those programs are simply existing. So in my estimation they are doing nothing to enhance the current or future state of college hockey as a whole. I know others are paranoid about simply the total number of D-I schools playing and think that a team leaving is some kind of a tragedy. But whether there are 59 D-I programs with 5 unsupported ones or 54 programs doesn't really make much of a difference, except that we may lose our precious 16 team tournament field some day.

So......why did RIT et al join a conference with such horrible programs? Why didn't they start their own wonderful conference of "true" hockey programs? CHA would have jumped at the opportunity to have RIT. You could then be playing in a conference with a series of schools that basically mimics what you espouse. It seems odd that such a rich, popular, powerhouse program would join us low-lifes instead.

 

[RITProf]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

So......why did RIT et al join a conference with such horrible programs? Why didn't they start their own wonderful conference of "true" hockey programs? CHA would have jumped at the opportunity to have RIT. You could then be playing in a conference with a series of schools that basically mimics what you espouse. It seems odd that such a rich, popular, powerhouse program would join us low-lifes instead.

Because the ECAC turned us down!

Actually, I would say the conference is a great fit for RIT, now and for some time into the future. I think the ECAC is the only other possibility and that's not likely to happen without some shakeup (like ECAC and AHA joining forces and then reforming 3 conferences). DI hockey has already raised our university profile and it doesn't hurt us at all to be associated with the schools in the AHA. I don't have a problem with any school that wants to field a DI team, but it would be nice to see real commitments from the schools, on-campus arenas (perhaps with a minimum size), etc. that would result in the good fan support. For years, I heard that RIT couldn't be in DI because our arena was too small ... maybe that was true for some conferences, and if that's so and the AHA was the only conference that would let us in, then we owe the AHA a lot for that opportunity (and for giving us the momentum top get that bigger arena). I hope Bentley and others can do the same.

 

[kingdobbs]

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

It may bother you, because you are one of a very few that care about Bentley hockey. But the fact remains (and we all know it) that there are certain programs in this conference that are barely (if at all) supported by their schools ($, facilities, fans) and in no way close to the way a Division I program should.

And in the meantime, you can keep growing a fat record that looks rather good in the tournament selection criteria by keeping us around.

We don't spend money, you get free wins. Everyone's happy!