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Big Ten > NCHC

Re: Big Ten > NCHC

SteveO said:
I guess it's difficult for me to understand the Gopher bashing over the NSC. The North Star Cup was initiated by Don Lucia and the University of Minnesota AD. While the hope was the NSC would be Minnesota’s version of Michigan’s GLI or Boston’s Beanpot, neutral site attendance and fan interest never quite reached the levels expected. Various times and dates were tried. Why would anyone think that fan interest would change simply because of campus site locations. IMHO that would result in even more attendance issues.
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I disagree on your attendance comment.

I think Duluth, St Cloud, Mankato, or Bemidji would have a full house if you bring three other fanbases together. It would certainly help Mariucci attendance. Hard to say how much but I'd venture to guess it would be better than the half(or less) full we are seeing currently. Filling the X was just not doable.
 
Re: Big Ten > NCHC

dogs2012 said:
Because previous results prove that to be factually incorrect? I refuse to believe that attendance would be a problem if you play these games in a 5k-8k arena vs. an 18k arena, and hometown fans can buy tickets and go. With the cup being in St. Paul, the tourney was really relying on alumni living in the metro area to buy tickets. Moving it to a home arena allows opposing fans to plan and travel to a different city to play, allows student sections of that team to buy tickets and go, and shrinks the size of the arena itself. Perception is also a big part of it, even if attendance is the same, the perception of a full arena is much more appealing for those who care about TV viewership.
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It was a corporate decision of the five schools involved to discontinue the NSC. Their decision was based on longitudinal attendance data, not opinions. They discussed campus sites and teams expressed little interest.
 
Re: Big Ten > NCHC

SteveO said:
It was a corporate decision of the five schools involved to discontinue the NSC. Their decision was based on longitudinal attendance data, not opinions. They discussed campus sites and teams expressed little interest.
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That's what they stated publicly, but it isn't the reason I've heard. UMTC didn't want to be involved in the tourney if it couldn't be hosted at either a neutral site or at Mariucci every year. The rest of the teams, when asked if they wanted to keep the current format, showed little interest. I've heard Duluth was very interested in hosting, the DAHA (Duluth Amateur Hockey Association) reports that it generates around 4.7 million in economic boost from the tourneys they host, and UMD hopped right on that. It would be a great success if they had host cities, I feel very confident about that.

I'm not trying to put all the onus on UMTC here, Duluth and other cities could have done a better job of making their pitch. But I don't think it's fair to say it was a "corporate decision". It was a UMTC decision that the other schools had to live with. And here we are...
 
SteveO said:
I guess it's difficult for me to understand the Gopher bashing over the NSC. The North Star Cup was initiated by Don Lucia and the University of Minnesota AD. While the hope was the NSC would be Minnesota’s version of Michigan’s GLI or Boston’s Beanpot, neutral site attendance and fan interest never quite reached the levels expected. Various times and dates were tried. Why would anyone think that fan interest would change simply because of campus site locations. IMHO that would result in even more attendance issues.
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Lucia was more than fair in scheduling the MN schools, both home and away. Of all the things he deserves to get bashed about, his efforts in promoting MN D1 hockey isn’t one of them.
 
Re: Big Ten > NCHC

A tournament with just Bemidji, Duluth, Mankato and St. Cloud that rotated through each school would be fun. Do it over the holidays, maybe first weekend of January. Would think students would be back by then. Alternate NCHC vs WCHA matchups each year in the first game, hope to avoid the inter-conference matchups in round 2 but if they happen, so be it. Better competition than most of the current holiday tournaments and less travel. Host school gets majority ticket allocation, visitors have up until a month prior to the games to sell theirs, unused goes back to host school. Maybe do a deal for local youth hockey if needed. Get FSN to televise all games. Keep current series rotation in place with Gophers outside of this. Seems like a win for all Minnesota D1 schools.
 
Re: Big Ten > NCHC

Well last weekend was quite a turn of events. All the upsets in the Big 10 pretty much exploded the Pairwise. Are we going with parity? Not sure how a team that lost to St. Lawrence and Ferris State at home is only 2 points back from the conference leader.

Highly unlikely #15 in Pairwise gets in the big tournament. But it's entirely possible any team can win the Big 10 tournament, so I'll assume two teams get in.

NCHC not only has 4 in the top 10 but 3 in the top 4. Doubt it stays that way but it sure looks like there will be 4 teams getting in the NCAA's.
 
SCSUBlackandRed said:
Well last weekend was quite a turn of events. All the upsets in the Big 10 pretty much exploded the Pairwise. Are we going with parity? Not sure how a team that lost to St. Lawrence and Ferris State at home is only 2 points back from the conference leader.

Highly unlikely #15 in Pairwise gets in the big tournament. But it's entirely possible any team can win the Big 10 tournament, so I'll assume two teams get in.

NCHC not only has 4 in the top 10 but 3 in the top 4. Doubt it stays that way but it sure looks like there will be 4 teams getting in the NCAA's.
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Still 4 teams in the top 10 of the pairwise as Ohio St is the only team from the big ten. I agree 2 should make it from the big ten unless Ohio St wins the tourney and the pair wise stays the way it is now. If a team other than the 4 in the top 10 wins the NCHC tourney there could be 5 teams in the tourney.
 
Re: Big Ten > NCHC

icehawk said:
Still 4 teams in the top 10 of the pairwise as Ohio St is the only team from the big ten. I agree 2 should make it from the big ten unless Ohio St wins the tourney and the pair wise stays the way it is now. If a team other than the 4 in the top 10 wins the NCHC tourney there could be 5 teams in the tourney.
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Yep. Ohio State should hold on to a #1 seed but the only way another B1G team is getting in is by winning their tourney. I mean it's mathematically possible either Notre Dame or Penn State can move up in PWR but both are pretty much playing .500 hockey right now. That won't move them up to #12 or better where you'd want to be safe from upsets.

The four from the NCHC aren't a lock to be in but they are pretty much a lock to be in. Just have to play .500 or slightly better and they should all stay above #12. SCSU and UMD should end up as #1 seeds. Thought Denver could have hung there too but not looking that way now. The only other NCHC team with a real chance to win their conference tourney is UND and they have been so inconsistent, I really don't see them being able to string four wins together against the top teams in the conference. While still having a shot at home ice in the tourney, I'm not seeing it. That makes it even tougher.
 
Re: Big Ten > NCHC

icehawk said:
Still 4 teams in the top 10 of the pairwise as Ohio St is the only team from the big ten. I agree 2 should make it from the big ten unless Ohio St wins the tourney and the pair wise stays the way it is now. If a team other than the 4 in the top 10 wins the NCHC tourney there could be 5 teams in the tourney.
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Will 1 of those 5 be UND? If not you can at least live vicariously through them.
 
Re: Big Ten > NCHC

icehawk said:
I doubt it but thanks for your concern. I’ll be in Fargo for the regional if they are there or not.
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Bigger question, how many UND fans make the trip to St. Paul if the team doesn't make the Frozen Faceoff? I'm sensing that event is going to have pretty sparse attendance without them... probably look a lot like any of the B1G tourneys before they moved back on campus.
 
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