BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

[Riz]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

At least in my experience, it was the complete opposite. My buddy and I got shoulder bumped by UND fans as we were walking through the concourse, taunted by little kids, and just straight up cursed/sworn at. I don't doubt that they are probably more hostile toward Gopher fan than other fanbases though.

I'm sure it was because you were a Gopher fan. That doesn't make it ok though. I do know how you feel; I've been sworn at, had popcorn thrown at me, and some of my family members and friends have been scared to return to World Arena where Colorado College plays in the early to mid 2000s. There was even one game where fans were throwing cans and bottles on the ice because of what they thought was a missed call late in the 3rd period. That fan base has chilled quite a bit ever since their team has gone down the toilet though. The students don't even go to the games at World Arena anymore. They still draw a good crowd, but it is very relaxed compared to 10-15 years ago.

Not sure if this holds true between Grand Forks and St. Paul/Minneapolis but Denver and Colorado Springs are truly two completely different worlds politically and that did fuel some of the hatred in my opinion.

 

[MGoBlueHockey]

If Sparty & UM get kicked on Thursday, the BIG 6 may have trouble drawing a better crowd at the Joe than the 4400 sellout they'll have at the WCHA Final in Houghton. And I'm talking actual butts in seats. Not tickets distributed.

General admission tickets for the upper level are now $13 if you use the code UM online.

Read as: tickets down to $13. No one with a brain is spending a lot of money on tickets to this. There won't be enough people to enforce the seating.

The MSU/OSU game is gonna be a ghost town. 4:30 on a Thursday.

 

[Pirateasaur]

General admission tickets for the upper level are now $13 if you use the code UM online.

Read as: tickets down to $13. No one with a brain is spending a lot of money on tickets to this. There won't be enough people to enforce the seating.

The MSU/OSU game is gonna be a ghost town. 4:30 on a Thursday.

4:30?! I thought it was 5:30 so I am taking off work an hour early so I can hit the gym and still see most of the game. What could possibly be their reason to make it 4:30? Are they trying to get ****ty attendance and tv ratings?

 

[MGoBlueHockey]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

4:30?! I thought it was 5:30 so I am taking off work an hour early so I can hit the gym and still see most of the game. What could possibly be their reason to make it 4:30? Are they trying to get ****ty attendance and tv ratings?

It's varied. Last year it was 5pm at Saint Paul, in Detroit it was at 4:30 last time around and the first one was at 3pm.

I'm so glad this format is gonna be ceased. Once this thing is over, it will be one extra nail in the CCHA's coffin as far as playing league playoffs in Detroit goes.

Just let it die already. It's never coming back. We're stuck with this homogenized crappy league forever.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

If Sparty & UM get kicked on Thursday, the BIG 6 may have trouble drawing a better crowd at the Joe than the 4400 sellout they'll have at the WCHA Final in Houghton. And I'm talking actual butts in seats. Not tickets distributed.

I don't even think the MSU/UM game had 4400 the last time it was in Detroit. I think I was one of less than a thousand there for the early OSU/Minnesota game.

 

[MGoBlueHockey]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

I don't even think the MSU/UM game had 4400 the last time it was in Detroit. I think I was one of less than a thousand there for the early OSU/Minnesota game.

The OSU/PSU game was one of the most surreal things I've ever watched. Wasn't there, but I was watching on TV. It was the first game of the tournament.

You heard the notoriously loud Joe goal horn and then DEAD SILENCE when it stopped.

 

[davyd83]

It's varied. Last year it was 5pm at Saint Paul, in Detroit it was at 4:30 last time around and the first one was at 3pm.

I'm so glad this format is gonna be ceased. Once this thing is over, it will be one extra nail in the CCHA's coffin as far as playing league playoffs in Detroit goes.

Just let it die already. It's never coming back. We're stuck with this homogenized crappy league forever.

I think in many ways, David vs Goliath was good for Goliath too. It was part of what made college hockey unique. And at the Joe, Northern & Western brought more fans than Minnesota or Wisconsin.

How will the Big Ten adjust their format? 1 & 2 ger byes the first week? Best of 3 first & second weeks, with a 1 game championship?

Enjoy the last weekend at the Joe.

 

[SteveO]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

My buddy and I got shoulder bumped by UND fans as we were walking through the concourse, taunted by little kids, and just straight up cursed/sworn at.

Those little kid taunts always leave a deep emotional scar. ...and then there was a fight and a hockey game broke out?

 

[MGoBlueHockey]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

I think in many ways, David vs Goliath was good for Goliath too. It was part of what made college hockey unique. And at the Joe, Northern & Western brought more fans than Minnesota or Wisconsin.

How will the Big Ten adjust their format? 1 & 2 ger byes the first week? Best of 3 first & second weeks, with a 1 game championship?

Enjoy the last weekend at the Joe.

7 team tournament next year (Notre Dame joins as affiliate member

Best of 3 first round at higher seed arenas: 2v7, 3v6, 4v5

1 hosts single-elim semifinals and championship game the next weekend.

Basically a mini-CCHA playoff but no Joe Louis.

 

[davyd83]

7 team tournament next year (Notre Dame joins as affiliate member

Best of 3 first round at higher seed arenas: 2v7, 3v6, 4v5

1 hosts single-elim semifinals and championship game the next weekend.

Basically a mini-CCHA playoff but no Joe Louis.

Thanks!

 

[D2D]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

7 team tournament next year (Notre Dame joins as affiliate member

Best of 3 first round at higher seed arenas: 2v7, 3v6, 4v5

1 hosts single-elim semifinals and championship game the next weekend.

Basically a mini-CCHA playoff but no Joe Louis.

Wow, HUGE reward for finishing first in the regular season:

> Bye in first round (rest!)
> Home ice (and crowd) in the semi's and championship game

And I assume #1 plays the lowest seeded team that advances to the semi's?

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

I don't dislike any fan base other than some of the jerks in Colorado Springs for Colorado College. Now that their team sucks, they've chilled a lot though.

From my perspective I think the same could be said about Miami! At least their online fans.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Wow, HUGE reward for finishing first in the regular season:

> Bye in first round (rest!)
> Home ice (and crowd) in the semi's and championship game

And I assume #1 plays the lowest seeded team that advances to the semi's?

I still can't imagine what the conference would do if Ohio State was #1 and the Schott is being used for high school tournaments and the B1G is forced to hold their championship in the old 800 seat barn if the Blue Jackets home ice wouldn't be available. Would they dare even show that on the B1G Network?!

 

[D2D]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

I still can't imagine what the conference would do if Ohio State was #1 and the Schott is being used for high school tournaments and the B1G is forced to hold their championship in the old 800 seat barn if the Blue Jackets home ice wouldn't be available. Would they dare even show that on the B1G Network?!

Do they really need an arena as large as the Schott for high school tournaments that same weekend? And isn't there another mid-sized arena in the greater Columbus area? As always, a packed smaller venue is much preferred over a mostly empty NHL-sized facility.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Do they really need an arena as large as the Schott for high school tournaments that same weekend? And isn't there another mid-sized arena in the greater Columbus area? As always, a packed smaller venue is much preferred over a mostly empty NHL-sized facility.

OSU is ALL about the money they get for leasing the Schott and the B1G told OSU & Wisconsin they're OK with both the school's honoring their HS contracts.
Other than Nationwide Arena, the Blue Jacket's ice, and OSU's old building, the only other arena in town that can have ice is the State Fairground Coliseum and when I say it's an old barn I actually mean it's an old barn!
They hold horse & livestock showings in it. The Charleston Chiefs would have too much class to play there!
Back in 1966 Columbus had their first NHL game with the Columbus Checkers playing the Chicago Blackhawks in an exhibition and the yahoos at the coliseum didn't know you had to take the dirt up before laying down the ice. Let's just say it was a fiasco of Biblical proportions!

 

[D2D]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Well fortunately, I guess, the odds of OSU finishing first in the B1G regular season remain pretty low....for the time being. But given the new playoff format they really do need to develop a plan for when OSU hosting becomes a realistic scenario.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Well fortunately, I guess, the odds of OSU finishing first in the B1G regular season remain pretty low....for the time being. But given the new playoff format they really do need to develop a plan for when OSU hosting becomes a realistic scenario.

Yeah, was just speaking hypothetically of course.
We're going lose a lot of our top talent to graduation so who knows how good we'll be next season?

 

[John J. MacInnes]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

At the MHSAA hockey finals last weekend in Plymouth, the Detroit Sports Commission was in the USA Hockey Arena offering free tickets to the Big Ten tournament. All you had to do was walk up to the table and say you wanted 4, and they handed them right to you no questions asked. In the two games I attended we stood right next to the table, and I can't remember more than 10 people who even approached the display, let alone took the ticket offer. There was a rubber-banded stack of at least 1000 tickets just sitting there next to the poor forlorn attendant, who must have thought he was a leper the way people were avoiding him.

 

[alfablue]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

At the MHSAA hockey finals last weekend in Plymouth, the Detroit Sports Commission was in the USA Hockey Arena offering free tickets to the Big Ten tournament. All you had to do was walk up to the table and say you wanted 4, and they handed them right to you no questions asked. In the two games I attended we stood right next to the table, and I can't remember more than 10 people who even approached the display, let alone took the ticket offer. There was a rubber-banded stack of at least 1000 tickets just sitting there next to the poor forlorn attendant, who must have thought he was a leper the way people were avoiding him.

What I've complained about a few times- those tables were not set up in ANY B1G rink, ever. Offer tickets to people who don't really care, ignore the fans of the teams that are going.

It's almost as if the intention was to make the system fail.

At least the CCHA had people at rinks, they showed the trophy off. They could have done a better job making Detroit more appealing (and it is).

In the last 3 weeks of the season, camp people out at the 6 B1G rinks. Done.

Drove me crazy that they spent zero effort promoting it.

 

[Nowheresville]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

7 team tournament next year (Notre Dame joins as affiliate member

Best of 3 first round at higher seed arenas: 2v7, 3v6, 4v5

1 hosts single-elim semifinals and championship game the next weekend.

Actually, that's not quite right. It will actually be a 3 weekend tournament, with no neutral site games.

The first weekend is best of 3, with the 1 seed getting a bye, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5.

The second weekend is single elimination at the 1 seed and the highest remaining seed. So 4@1 and 3@2 if the high seeds win.

The third weekend would be low seed at high seed.


Personally, I think that's pretty moronic. Yes, you'll have home crowds, but if you're the 1 seed, you'll be getting warmed up for the NCAA by playing 2 games in 3 weeks. It could be even worse, the 1 seed could have an off week right before the conference playoffs start (quite possible with a 7 team league and the difficulty of scheduling a nc game in late February), lose their single elimination game, and literally play 1 game in the month before the NCAA tournament.

And it certainly makes it more likely that that we'll see exactly what Ohio State does if they have to host a game, although I think the potential conflicts are one of the reasons the semi finals will be single elimination.