Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

[GO-4-EXCELLENCE]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

great to see a school like Bemidji joining the WCHA - let the (newfound) rivalries begin!!

i loved heading up the International Hockey Tournaments up there and hockey camps, too! they were so much fun. i remember the few years i was up there the Russian teams pwned!!

anywho, about the stadium, how checked the BSU hockey website and it looks like it's going to be a pretty sweet arena. however, i thought it would have been upwards of 10,000 seats or so...?

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Brendan Cook, Blaine Jarvis, Cody Bostock, Riley Weselowski and injured Luke Erickson won the CHL Championship last night with a 4-3, 2OT, win over the Allen Americans. Cook and Jarvis each had goals, and for 5-hole, former Purple Eagle Les Reaney, was named playoff MVP.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

anywho, about the stadium, how checked the BSU hockey website and it looks like it's going to be a pretty sweet arena. however, i thought it would have been upwards of 10,000 seats or so...?

You do realize how big Bemidji is, right?

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

You do realize how big Bemidji is, right?

I was thinking the same thing Better to have a full arena with a waiting list of people, than a half full arena and no one waiting to get in.

IIRC, 4500 to 4700 seats would be around 10% of the population of the "economic region". I could be wrong on that though, but that seems to be sticking in my mind.

 

[moose97]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

anywho, about the stadium ... however, i thought it would have been upwards of 10,000 seats or so...?

The rink is going to push 5000 seats from what I hear.

You do realize how big Bemidji is, right?

Officially, the city of Bemidji is at 13,059. However, you also need to realize how small the city limits are compared to how big the "Bemidji area" is. As an example, I live about half a mile north of the BSU campus, and the city limits are a block further north. There are currently several collar townships that have between 500 and 4500 resedents each. You can safely put the "Bemidji area" as approching a population of 30,000 (heck, two of them - Bemidji township and Northern township - total 7500 alone. Grant Valley, Frohn, Turtle River and Eckles townships are another 4700). Bemidji has chosen to not be a Hibbing type-town (ever been there? You see the city limits sign ~ 5 miles out), but rather a small core of the community (although there is a plan to annex (PDF) several parts of these townships in the next 10 years).

Then you can throw in what is considered the "Bemidji reatil sales area," (80 miles out) and you're up to 80,000 (and before someone says, "no one comes from 80 miles to Bemidji," I can't tell you how many times I've been at the mall on the weekend and seen Warroad, Roseau, Northome, Cass Lake-Bena or Laporte, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley and the like HS letter jackets).

Just commenting because most folks see the 13,000 on the sign and assume that's all that is in the area...

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Thanks for the numbers Moose! Looks like my mind was a little fuzzy....

 

[gfmorris]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Officially, the city of Bemidji is at 13,059. However, you also need to realize how small the city limits are compared to how big the "Bemidji area" is. As an example, I live about half a mile north of the BSU campus, and the city limits are a block further north. There are currently several collar townships that have between 500 and 4500 resedents each. You can safely put the "Bemidji area" as approching a population of 30,000 (heck, two of them - Bemidji township and Northern township - total 7500 alone. Grant Valley, Frohn Turtle River and Eckles townships are another 4700). Bemidji has chosen to not be a Hibbing type-town (ever been there? You see the city limits sign ~ 5 miles out), but rather a small core of the community (although there is a plan to annex (PDF) several parts of these townships in the next 10 years).

Then you can throw in what is considered the "Bemidji reatil sales area," (80 miles out) and you're up to 80,000 (and before someone says, "no one comes from 80 miles to Bemidji," I can't tell you how many times I've been at the mall on the weekend and seen Warroad, Roseau, Northome, Cass Lake-Bena or Laporte, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley and the like HS letter jackets).

Just commenting because most folks see the 13,000 on the sign and assume that's all that is in the area...

To amplify: Bemidji is in southern Beltrami County. Let's give the benefit of the doubt that Bemidji's influence stretches to Clearwater County and Hubbard County, which are southwest and south of Beltrami, respectively. Combine those numbers as of the 2000 Census, and you get 66,449.

GFM <-- pretty good with Wikipedia.

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

In BSU Recruit news:

Bismarck 5, St. Louis 3. BSU Defenseman recruit Sam Rendle with the hat trick.

http://nahl.stats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=1238387

Traverse City 5, Wenatchee 4. BSU forward recruit Jeff Jubinville, who was named an All NAHL forward, had an assist while defenseman recruit Kyle Brodie was kept off the scoreboard.

http://nahl.stats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=1238388

Bismarck 1-0
Traverse City 1-0
Fairbanks 0-0
Wenatchee 0-1
St. Louis 0-1

The Robertson Cup is a round robin tournament between five teams with the top two teams playing for the title at the end of the round robin. Each team gets one off day during the tournament.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

The rink is going to push 5000 seats from what I hear.


Officially, the city of Bemidji is at 13,059. However, you also need to realize how small the city limits are compared to how big the "Bemidji area" is. As an example, I live about half a mile north of the BSU campus, and the city limits are a block further north. There are currently several collar townships that have between 500 and 4500 resedents each. You can safely put the "Bemidji area" as approching a population of 30,000 (heck, two of them - Bemidji township and Northern township - total 7500 alone. Grant Valley, Frohn Turtle River and Eckles townships are another 4700). Bemidji has chosen to not be a Hibbing type-town (ever been there? You see the city limits sign ~ 5 miles out), but rather a small core of the community (although there is a plan to annex (PDF) several parts of these townships in the next 10 years).

Then you can throw in what is considered the "Bemidji reatil sales area," (80 miles out) and you're up to 80,000 (and before someone says, "no one comes from 80 miles to Bemidji," I can't tell you how many times I've been at the mall on the weekend and seen Warroad, Roseau, Northome, Cass Lake-Bena or Laporte, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley and the like HS letter jackets).

Just commenting because most folks see the 13,000 on the sign and assume that's all that is in the area...

And with all of the population, a 10,000 seat arena like was mentioned earlier, would still be overkill. I think Bemidji is building an arena that is the perfect size for the school, community and general area. There was no reason to make it bigger than what they did.

 

[moose97]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

And with all of the population, a 10,000 seat arena like was mentioned earlier, would still be overkill. I think Bemidji is building an arena that is the perfect size for the school, community and general area. There was no reason to make it bigger than what they did.

And I didn't mean to imply that a 10,000 seater would be a good idea. Just trying to clarify the actual population in the area...

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Matt Dalton and the Reading Royals are on the verge of the Kelly Cup finals as they lead Cincy 3-0.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=217699

 

[GO-4-EXCELLENCE]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

You do realize how big Bemidji is, right?

actually, if you read my post you would know the answer to this. i've played hockey up there many times. many times. not to mention my father was/is an alumn there.

moreover, i said "around" 10,000 (i was thinking 7 to 8,000 to exact.) the reason being, it *can* be a money maker - i.e. tournaments (not just local, but international - think WJ, etc.)

along with this, Bemidji promote itself as a place to host hockey events, and, at the same time work in the "tourist/atttraction" side of things as the town has a fair amount of history to sell.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

actually, if you read my post you would know the answer to this. i've played hockey up there many times. many times. not to mention my father was/is an alumn there.

moreover, i said "around" 10,000 (i was thinking 7 to 8,000 to exact.) the reason being, it *can* be a money maker - i.e. tournaments (not just local, but international - think WJ, etc.)

along with this, Bemidji promote itself as a place to host hockey events, and, at the same time work in the "tourist/atttraction" side of things as the town has a fair amount of history to sell.

Because, yeah, it makes sense for the second-smallest WCHA member school to have the fifth-largest rink.

GFM

 

[moose97]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Because, yeah, it makes sense for the second-smallest WCHA member school to have the fifth-largest rink.

GFM

Well, Geof, the smallest member school does currently have the 4rd largest rink. Remember that CC's enrolment is less than 2000, and they've got a 7300 seat building (which will become the 5th-largest next year with UNO's rink becomming the largest)... Did you perhaps mean second-smallest market?

As it sits, BSU will likely have slightly more seats than MTU (4200) and slightley less than Minnesota State (4832). Very appropriate, based on market-size.

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Day two of the NAHL Robertson Cup Finals is in the books.

St. Louis 4, Traverse City 1. No BSU recruits in action.

Fairbanks 3, Wenatchee 2. BSU Recruit Jeff Jubinville was held off the scoreboard while Kyle Brodie did not play.

Bismarck 1-0
Fairbanks 1-0
Traverse City 1-1
St. Louis 1-1
Wenatchee 0-2

Day three schedule is St. Louis vs. Fairbanks and Bismarck vs. Traverse City.

 

[moose97]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

actually, if you read my post you would know the answer to this. i've played hockey up there many times. many times. not to mention my father was/is an alumn there.

moreover, i said "around" 10,000 (i was thinking 7 to 8,000 to exact.) the reason being, it *can* be a money maker - i.e. tournaments (not just local, but international - think WJ, etc.)

along with this, Bemidji promote itself as a place to host hockey events, and, at the same time work in the "tourist/atttraction" side of things as the town has a fair amount of history to sell.

Well, I made my thoughts on the size being appropriate already, but just wanted to address the World Junior point. Last time the WJ was in Grand Forks, they used Thief River Falls' ~ 3500 seat "little Ralph" for the "B" site. The big problem there was hotel space. TRF didn't have enough, and teams bussed over the day of game - not an ideal situation.

I have long felt that Bemidji would be a better option (although, obviously, the John Glas never would have been considered) if the WJ'rs ever returned to Grand Forks. Bemidji has a good amount of hotel space already, plus there are talks of two new hotels being built in the South Shore development (one next to the current closest hotel - the Hamption Inn, and another attached to the BREC itself). This, plus it's all four lane (and less than 2 hours) between the two (note that Regina and Saskatoon was 3 hours drive for the 2010 event).

I think the biggest obstacle would be that Ralph was responsible for both the GF and TRF facilities, and the management would prefer to use the TRF building again.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Well, Geof, the smallest member school does currently have the 4rd largest rink. Remember that CC's enrolment is less than 2000, and they've got a 7300 seat building (which will become the 5th-largest next year with UNO's rink becomming the largest)... Did you perhaps mean second-smallest market?

Wouldn't Bemidji be the smallest WCHA market overall? I guess I was mentally discounting CC's enrollment by saying, "Yeah, but they're on the Front Range in a medium-sized city."

GFM

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Well, I made my thoughts on the size being appropriate already, but just wanted to address the World Junior point. Last time the WJ was in Grand Forks, they used Thief River Falls' ~ 3500 seat "little Ralph" for the "B" site. The big problem there was hotel space. TRF didn't have enough, and teams bussed over the day of game - not an ideal situation.

I have long felt that Bemidji would be a better option (although, obviously, the John Glas never would have been considered) if the WJ'rs ever returned to Grand Forks. Bemidji has a good amount of hotel space already, plus there are talks of two new hotels being built in the South Shore development (one next to the current closest hotel - the Hamption Inn, and another attached to the BREC itself). This, plus it's all four lane (and less than 2 hours) between the two (note that Regina and Saskatoon was 3 hours drive for the 2010 event).

I think the biggest obstacle would be that Ralph was responsible for both the GF and TRF facilities, and the management would prefer to use the TRF building again.

The Glas probably would have been okay since Dwyer Arena on Niagara's campus is the "B" site when the WJC are in Buffalo this year. Dwyer seats fewer than the Glas and has bench seating.

I would agree that since TRF and GF are the same company, that was probably the biggest factor.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

The Glas probably would have been okay since Dwyer Arena on Niagara's campus is the "B" site when the WJC are in Buffalo this year. Dwyer seats fewer than the Glas and has bench seating.

:holding tongue about what he thinks of the Dwyer:

GFM

 

[moose97]

Re: Bemidji State offseason, WCHA, BREC here we come!

Wouldn't Bemidji be the smallest WCHA market overall? I guess I was mentally discounting CC's enrollment by saying, "Yeah, but they're on the Front Range in a medium-sized city."

GFM

The Houghton micropolitan area (see? I can Wikipedia too ) is listed as 38,000. That's taking the population of both Houghton and Keweenaw Counties. And even if you add Baraga and Ontonagon Counties (the next closest two) to Houghton's total, those each have only 8,700 and 7,800 respectivly (a total of 54,500).

As you pointed out, Bemidji could do the same thing (combine Counties rather than townships) and come up with 66,500. And that doesn't touch NW Cass County (27,000 in the whole thing, but it stretches south to near Brainerd), with Cass Lake ~15 miles away or NW Itasca Cty. (44,500) - around 25 miles away. You could even make a claim that Grand Rapids (about an hour east) is in the fan drawing area - heck, GR is closer to Bemidji than Duluth, and BSU has played several games in either GR (CHA Tourney) or nearby Coleraine (Serratore is from there).

The Glas probably would have been okay since Dwyer Arena on Niagara's campus is the "B" site when the WJC are in Buffalo this year. Dwyer seats fewer than the Glas and has bench seating.

I would agree that since TRF and GF are the same company, that was probably the biggest factor.

Yeah, but Dwyer has that nice club area and much newer locker-rooms.


I'll steal one of GFM's things here:

Moose
==> can't believe I'm defending Niagara's POS barn...