What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Binghamton University announcement

I heard at the Lake Placid ECAC tournament that the FPHL Binghamton Black Bears will be out and the NCAA Binghamton Bearcats will be in at the Visions (Federal Credit Union) Veterans Memorial Arena in downtown Binghamton starting 2024-25.
 
jericho said:
If true, Binghamton and Utica would be a good fit for the ECAC, without disrupting the travel partners. RPI-Union, Harvard-Dartmouth, Yale-Brown, Q-Princeton, SLU-Clarkson, Cornell-Colgate, Bingo-Utica. Maybe. Or split off into an ECACNY and an ECACNE (including Cornell in NE because of the Ivies).
Click to expand...

1) If the ECAC is going to split at all, it will be the Ivies who completely break away and form their own AQ conference. They are not going to bother with a two-division ECAC and dilute their AQ chances.

2) How do the academics of Binghamton (I know they are hard to get into) and Utica compared to the rest of the ECAC? That makes a difference to the ECAC members. They rejected Niagara when they applied because they were not up to the other ECAC member institutions academic standards.
 
nodak651 said:
How long will Sacred Heart and RIT stick around in Atlantic hockey, now that RIT can offer schollarships and Sacred Heart has their new arena? If Utica and Binghampton are going to invest in hockey, while both already have good arenas, can anyone else see them starting a new league at some point with the likes of Miami and potentially a few others in Atlantic Hockey that may be interested in playing at a higher level, such as maybe Army and Navy?

I think that there will be a lot of movement once the moratorium ends, and Stonehill/LIU could find spots in Atlantic Hockey if the above happens. Could also explain why we haven't yet seen an informal conference start yet with the independent schools.
Click to expand...

Army and Air Force will absolutely not split up. In fact, if Navy ever creates a varsity program, they have said all three must be in the same conference.

I'm sure RIT would love to get into the ECAC, but as of now, I don't see the ECAC expanding. Only replacing. And who in the ECAC is leaving and to where (assuming the Ivies never go their own way)?
 
ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
I haven’t seen anyone say that they would play in the Memorial Arena, where the AHL teams played in town, but… where else would they play?

If there are huge sums of cash for a new rink, you’d think that would’ve been part of the announcement of a plan to make an announcement.
Click to expand...

Their AD is talking about playing in Elmira or Cortland if they have to -- which ... gulp

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/04/14_Binghamton-Closing-In-on-.php
 
Russell Jaslow said:
Army and Air Force will absolutely not split up. In fact, if Navy ever creates a varsity program, they have said all three must be in the same conference.

I'm sure RIT would love to get into the ECAC, but as of now, I don't see the ECAC expanding. Only replacing. And who in the ECAC is leaving and to where (assuming the Ivies never go their own way)?
Click to expand...

Sorry I meant Air Force instead of Navy. :/ Brain fart.
 
Scuttlebut about Navy to D1 has been floating for years but that ship never sails. Navy already has a successful ACHA D1 club team and a venue that can easily be brought up to D1 standards. No clue what's holding Navy back, but it must be something other than money.
 
Last edited:
nodak651 said:
How long will Sacred Heart and RIT stick around in Atlantic hockey, now that RIT can offer schollarships and Sacred Heart has their new arena? If Utica and Binghampton are going to invest in hockey, while both already have good arenas, can anyone else see them starting a new league at some point with the likes of Miami and potentially a few others in Atlantic Hockey that may be interested in playing at a higher level, such as maybe Army and Navy?

I think that there will be a lot of movement once the moratorium ends, and Stonehill/LIU could find spots in Atlantic Hockey if the above happens. Could also explain why we haven't yet seen an informal conference start yet with the independent schools.
Click to expand...

Word on the street is Sacred Heart wants in the hockey east and they’re still mulling a suitable 12th member since Notre Dame left
 
I’m sure they do want that, but is the new arena really enough to make it a possibility?

That 12th spot is a valuable piece of real estate, and it’s hard to imagine spending it on a team just because of a new arena (that would be 4th smallest in the conference) when there isn’t yet any proof that they can draw fans into it.

The spectre of Notre Dame might fool some people, but it’s not like they can easily clear that 12th spot up once it’s been filled.
 
ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
...That 12th spot is a valuable piece of real estate, and it's hard to imagine spending it on a team just because of a new arena...The spectre of Notre Dame might fool some people...
Click to expand...

The dream has been that either Syracuse (which already has a CHA women's program) or Rhode Island would fill that 12th HEA spot but nobody's holding their breath. Both have had plenty of chances to make the jump and wealthy alums of both schools have reportedly had checkbooks at the ready for years. Title IX and/or entrenched basketball interests have been cited as insurmountable obstacles.

That leaves Sacred Heart and Holy Cross. The former has nice new digs but it's not a brand name and it's drawing power remains unknown. OTOH, Holy Cross is an established name in New England and is much closer geographically to the HEA core. But the on-campus Hart Center isn't going to cut it as a D1 venue, which leaves competing for dates at the downtown DCU Center, a couple of miles from campus. Not a good situation.

There have been recurring rumors about Quinnipiac joining the fray but why on earth would it ever want to exchange a perennially dominant position in the ECAC to slug it out with the likes of BC/BU/NU/UMass/PC/UConn, etc., etc.?

BTW, everyone knew that HEA was only a temporary home for Notre Dame until the age-old beef between ND and the B1G over football money could be settled.
 
Last edited:
My guess is hockey east would want Quinnipiac but does Quinnipiac really want Hockey East. My answer is no. They can make the NCAAs year in and year out via ECAC hockey.
 
iowabasedtraveler said:
I, for one, thought the Black Bears would be shut out of their Binghamton home, but I was wrong…

https://www.wbng.com/2023/07/27/bing...ugh-2026-2027/
Click to expand...

Having the lease isn't a surefire guarantee they won't be displaced by a Binghamton U. team(s). Especially when it comes to the FPHL where there's always a ton of variables on whether teams will be around year to year, and in quite a few cases make it through a season. Also having a lease in place hasn't stopped cities in the past from abruptly kicking low level minor league teams such as the FPHL from their venues before.
 
mk80 said:
Having the lease isn't a surefire guarantee they won't be displaced by a Binghamton U. team(s). Especially when it comes to the FPHL where there's always a ton of variables on whether teams will be around year to year, and in quite a few cases make it through a season. Also having a lease in place hasn't stopped cities in the past from abruptly kicking low level minor league teams such as the FPHL from their venues before.
Click to expand...

There are enough dates available for both. Seventeen or so dates for the college team and twenty-eight for an FPHL team are easily accomodated over the winter. IIRC UM-L and the Lowell AHL team (which played more dates than the Federal league) co-existed quite a while. Utica currently shares an arena with an AHL team. Two open questions that remain to be answered are a location for the Bingo women's team and whether a semi-pro minor league team will survive once there is an alternative in the market.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top