Big Ten Hockey Conference

[moose97]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

they did it before, without any trouble, and why couldn't they play a tournament? there is nothing stopping the Big Ten teams from scheduling themselves for all OOC games as a Big Ten tourney, now is there? and, if they so wanted, I bet they could get the WCHA and CCHA to go along with a few scheduling tweaks, or else lose the teams. Do you really think that the CCHA wouldn't' accommodate the Big Ten for almost any request?

Even with no scheduling tweaks, it could be easily accomplished:

1) Maintain the current College Hockey Showcase (UMinn/UW alternate hosting UMich/MSU)
2) Set up CHS 2.0 with UMinn/UW alternating hosting PSU and OSU
3) Designate the first UMinn/UW game as counting in the Big 10 standings
4) do the same for CCHA Big 10 games

There you go. Sure, it's just one game, but it does the job. With scheduling tweaks (20 game conference schedules - 2 vs. each team in the conference, or you could do 22 where it was 2 vs. everyone and 2 more vs. a "designated rival"), you could easily have OOC games between each of the CCHA and WCHA members, and for UMinn/UW, that would still leave 4-8 OOC games to schedule besides Big 10 games...

 

[moose97]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

if they can line up the schedule during the regular season they'd just have to have the final regular weekend be an OOC tournament... Top 4 at the home of the #1 seed, standard tournament format, 2 games... 5v6 at #5 two game series.

Why would they need a tourney? All a "Big 10 Championship" would mean in this format would be a banner - just like the Ivy League. It's not like the Big 10 would get an AQ under this set-up...

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

I wouldn't have a problem with a big ten trophy, I just want NOTHING to do with a BTHC

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

if they can line up the schedule during the regular season they'd just have to have the final regular weekend be an OOC tournament... Top 4 at the home of the #1 seed, standard tournament format, 2 games... 5v6 at #5 two game series.

Could be done, but you would want the Big Ten teams to all play earlier in the season so that they could sort out who will play where, and have a chance to get tickets and make the arrangements they would need. I would think they would want at least a month of a heads up for this perhaps?

 

[blockski]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Poster over on Gopher Puck Live says Notre Dame is going to also play in the BTHC.

http://www.gopherpucklive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=9262&start=450#p313095

That will not happen. If it does, it won't be a BTHC, it will be a new superleague akin to the old WCHA.

Say, the 6 Big Ten schools plus ND, NoDak, DU and CC?

I think the prospect of that is highly unlikely.

 

[diddlypoo]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Do your own research. I don't have the time.

Basically the Gophers are tacking huge surcharges onto their best seats and expanding the areas that will have to pay the fees. There was speculation from Gopher fans that many wouldn't renew their tickets with the team not playing well in recent seasons.

With the BTHC on the horizon, I'm guessing many won't give up seats that have been held for years.

Reach.

And Wisconsin's pricing power won't go up -- if anything it goes down. UND is a more poplular game than any of the CCHA b10 teams will be. Tickets to additional "buy games" will need to be sold for less or attendance will lag (not unlike the football game pricing.) If season ticket holders are forced to buy 3 or 4 more games per season against lousy teams, their numbers may actually decline.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

I think Almington's scenario is a very good possibility. I could definitely see PSU replacing UNO in the CCHA for a handful of seasons before the actual BTHC forms. Another interesting tidbit to note is I read in the strib today that two unnamed Big Ten schools have expressed interest in forming D-I teams since the Penn State announcement (link: http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/103185109.html?page=2&c=y)
Exerpt from the article:
Perhaps the person most pleased outside Happy Valley with Penn State's announcement was Paul Kelly, executive director of College Hockey Inc., the education and marketing arm of Division I hockey.

"This is terrific," he said. "We've worked very closely with the folks at Penn State to help assist them. We've strongly encouraged this. And the rumblings Penn State was exploring hockey triggered other inquiries to us."

Kelly said he has discussed starting hockey programs with two other Big Ten schools that he would not identify.

Let the speculation begin on who those schools are (the Starman article mentions Indiana and Illinois as possible candidates but doesn't tie them to any meetings with anyone).

 

[CHFAN222]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

That will not happen. If it does, it won't be a BTHC, it will be a new superleague akin to the old WCHA.

Say, the 6 Big Ten schools plus ND, NoDak, DU and CC?

I think the prospect of that is highly unlikely.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the B10 only allow full B10 members into it's conferences. It would never allow a say a football,baseball, whatever only school?

 

[Happy]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Why would they need a tourney? All a "Big 10 Championship" would mean in this format would be a banner - just like the Ivy League. It's not like the Big 10 would get an AQ under this set-up...

nothing like the Ivy league, because You forgot the Big Ten network. they would want two or three weekends of playoff hockey to put on TV, with all they hype and pomp they can whip up. And, they would want some kind of championship game, after all, who wouldn't?

 

[4four4]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the B10 only allow full B10 members into it's conferences. It would never allow a say a football,baseball, whatever only school?

Exactly.

If you are not a full time member with all sports you are not a member of the Big Ten.

 

[cycledown]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Exactly.

If you are not a full time member with all sports you are not a member of the Big Ten.

Thats been my opinion all along....this Notre Dame stuff and all the other schools that might hypothetically come into the conference is crazy. Its for conference members only.

 

[SLCPunk]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Once the BTHC comes to be as conference, all bets are off in terms of the survivors, IMHO. Don't think that the survivor schools are just going to sit there and take it.

Don't be surprised if other schools from various conferences come together to put up a rival for the big 10.

I don't think the BT has ruled out taking a few from the WCHA. Illinois, Purdue, Iowa and Nebraska are probably no-gos. Northwestern's probably the best bet to get to eight along with Indiana, but they both have years to go before making it happen. NoDak would be first in line (Bucky and the Gophers aren't going to want to lose that rivalry), followed by DU, Duluth and SC.

On another note, to all the posters here who laughed me off this board (never happen, they said) two years ago regarding the BTHC, I'm just going to say: Told you so.

 

[SLCPunk]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

That will not happen. If it does, it won't be a BTHC, it will be a new superleague akin to the old WCHA.

Say, the 6 Big Ten schools plus ND, NoDak, DU and CC?

I think the prospect of that is highly unlikely.

I think you're forgetting $$ rules the day. Bucky and the Gophers LOVE the rivalry with NoDak and since hockey still is a sport most people couldn't care less about, the conference might be willing to make some concessions. NoDak would be a shoe-in and might survive even after IU or Northwestern could build programs. Everyone else in the WCHA would be expendable for size/travel issues.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

How many times do we have to say it? Jeebus. The Big Ten will NOT accept anything but full members.

 

[Driftryder]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Even with no scheduling tweaks, it could be easily accomplished:

1) Maintain the current College Hockey Showcase (UMinn/UW alternate hosting UMich/MSU)
2) Set up CHS 2.0 with UMinn/UW alternating hosting PSU and OSU
3) Designate the first UMinn/UW game as counting in the Big 10 standings
4) do the same for CCHA Big 10 games

There you go. Sure, it's just one game, but it does the job. With scheduling tweaks (20 game conference schedules - 2 vs. each team in the conference, or you could do 22 where it was 2 vs. everyone and 2 more vs. a "designated rival"), you could easily have OOC games between each of the CCHA and WCHA members, and for UMinn/UW, that would still leave 4-8 OOC games to schedule besides Big 10 games...

I like this scenario.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Even with no scheduling tweaks, it could be easily accomplished:

1) Maintain the current College Hockey Showcase (UMinn/UW alternate hosting UMich/MSU)
2) Set up CHS 2.0 with UMinn/UW alternating hosting PSU and OSU
3) Designate the first UMinn/UW game as counting in the Big 10 standings
4) do the same for CCHA Big 10 games

There you go. Sure, it's just one game, but it does the job. With scheduling tweaks (20 game conference schedules - 2 vs. each team in the conference, or you could do 22 where it was 2 vs. everyone and 2 more vs. a "designated rival"), you could easily have OOC games between each of the CCHA and WCHA members, and for UMinn/UW, that would still leave 4-8 OOC games to schedule besides Big 10 games...

You win the thread.

 

[Priceless]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

nothing like the Ivy league, because You forgot the Big Ten network. they would want two or three weekends of playoff hockey to put on TV, with all they hype and pomp they can whip up. And, they would want some kind of championship game, after all, who wouldn't?

Yes, because there's a dearth of college sports in early March. I'm sure the BTN would much rather show a BTHC series instead of the Big Ten bouncy ball tournament.

 

[blockski]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the B10 only allow full B10 members into it's conferences. It would never allow a say a football,baseball, whatever only school?

How many times do we have to say it? Jeebus. The Big Ten will NOT accept anything but full members.

You guys need to read what I wrote more closely.

Yes, the Big Ten will not accept partial members. That's not what this would be - it would be a new superconference that just so happens to include all the Big Ten schools - more or less like the WCHA used to be prior to the defection of Michigan, Michigan State, and Notre Dame. It would not be called the BTHC, it would be something like the original WCHA was.

I don't know why anyone would advocate for this. This would be worse for the small schools than a straight-up BTHC would be. The Big Ten schools wouldn't get to fully utilize their stature and monopoly of the BTN, since they'd have to share the proceeds (and, presumably, control) with the non-members. So, the BT would want to keep that power and control, which makes it unlikely that the non-members would agree to do so.

Hence, it is highly unlikely that this would happen. If it did, you could call the superconference many things, but it would not be called the Big Ten.

 

[blockski]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

Even with no scheduling tweaks, it could be easily accomplished:

1) Maintain the current College Hockey Showcase (UMinn/UW alternate hosting UMich/MSU)
2) Set up CHS 2.0 with UMinn/UW alternating hosting PSU and OSU
3) Designate the first UMinn/UW game as counting in the Big 10 standings
4) do the same for CCHA Big 10 games

There you go. Sure, it's just one game, but it does the job. With scheduling tweaks (20 game conference schedules - 2 vs. each team in the conference, or you could do 22 where it was 2 vs. everyone and 2 more vs. a "designated rival"), you could easily have OOC games between each of the CCHA and WCHA members, and for UMinn/UW, that would still leave 4-8 OOC games to schedule besides Big 10 games...

That's the right idea, but I don't think it's enough games. The current Showcase set up is a real pain - not many of the Big Ten schools are truly close enough together for a travel partner arrangement like you see out east.

Instead, I'd argue that you'd see this:

• Penn State to the CCHA
• WCHA and CCHA reduce their conference schedules to 22 games (one 2-game series against every team, slightly unbalanced season in terms of home/away) or 24 games (same thing as above, just 4 games against designated rival)
• WCHA BT schools schedule OOC series with CCHA BT schools -8 games each for MN and WI, 4 games each for the CCHA schools.
• Count the games within conference against fellow BT schools in the BT standings.

It would be better if you had 3 teams each in the WCHA/CCHA, but hey.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Big Ten Hockey Conference

That's the right idea, but I don't think it's enough games. The current Showcase set up is a real pain - not many of the Big Ten schools are truly close enough together for a travel partner arrangement like you see out east.

Instead, I'd argue that you'd see this:

• Penn State to the CCHA
• WCHA and CCHA reduce their conference schedules to 22 games (one 2-game series against every team, slightly unbalanced season in terms of home/away) or 24 games (same thing as above, just 4 games against designated rival)
• WCHA BT schools schedule OOC series with CCHA BT schools -8 games each for MN and WI, 4 games each for the CCHA schools.
• Count the games within conference against fellow BT schools in the BT standings.

It would be better if you had 3 teams each in the WCHA/CCHA, but hey.

All of those scenarios(and others that have been proposed) sound great to those of us who know college hockey and who would approach this with the fans in mind as well as worrying about old rivalries and smaller schools.

Nothing that the Big Ten has ever done leads me to believe that they will do anything other than what benefits their member schools the most.

One thing that the Big Ten schools have is $ and they won't need travel partners.

I believe that there will be a 6 team BTHC sooner than later. I just don't see Delaney & Co. losing any sleep over the fate of WMU or LSSU or Mankato or anyone else. I also doubt that they care even a little about the rivalries with the Sioux. The Big Ten will just leave it up to each member to choose their non-con rivals.

IMHO, none of these power/revenue sharing ideas is going to happen. The BTHC will immediately become the most powerful entity in college hockey based on name recognition and the network. It also doesn't hurt that they have several of the most storied programs(along with the Gophers ) in history playing in the conference.

6 teams, 1 conference. Count on it...

whether any of us like it or not.