Caustic Undertow
Don't read this message. Really.
First, a preface: I love college hockey. I tell my daughters stories about college hockey. I love the fans, the atmospheres, the road trips. I have watched a fair amount of Major Junior hockey in my time and I find it to be good but college hockey to be a superior product overall, and a far better focus of attention. I want college hockey to grow and I want Major Junior to recede a bit in importance, and whenever a college recruit jumps to the CHL I gnash my teeth.
All that said, we are about to enter into our annual rite of spring, the <b>Decidedly Underwhelming First Two Rounds of the NCAA Tournament</b>. Millions of fans across the country will neglect to fill out brackets, forget to watch on tv (if they get it) or not bother to stream the games over the internet. Millions of fans will not hear Barry Melrose not know what he is talking about when he tries to analyze a college game, and will not watch games played in front of thousands of people who did not bother to travel to the regionals.
College Hockey has a playoff problem.
It's not a Frozen Four problem; the Frozen Four is a marvelous event that has a dedicated, rabid base of fans who will always attend, solid organization, stable finances, and a product that competes with and beats the CHL's crown jewel, the Memorial Cup.
But College Hockey does not have a good playoff system.
<b>Conference playoffs</b>
It's hard to even know what the "playoffs" are. Are they one-weekend best-of-three conference series that rarely produce upsets and even more rarely produce important results? Among the most shocking playoff results ever happened this year as Bowling Green defeated Northern Michigan and top CCHA seed Ferris State on the road in games that were seen by zero people on television and perhaps 10-12,000 paid fans *total*. Congratulations, BG; your reward is to have hundreds of people watch you lose twice at the Joe.
Conference playoffs produce nice events like the Final Five, but the early rounds are little more than academic exercises. They are not pivotal or decisive. Michigan has made it to the Joe <b>24 years in a row</b>. This is not a symptom of a challenging, worthwhile playoff structure.
<b>The NCAA Hockey Tournament</b>
Or are the "playoffs" this weekend? Good seats are available in Green Bay to watch Michigan and Cornell fans, perhaps a couple thousand of them, trade witty chants that won't be loud enough to be heard on television. Denver and Ferris will also play and few will watch. Empty seats will be everywhere.
The regional system is dreadful. Occasionally a regional lucks out and draws a lot of fans--and the rest of the fans scream in consternation as their higher-seeded team winds up "earning" a road game. Numerous top seeds have seen their seasons end in front of a rowdy audience of enemy fans. The alternative is a truly neutral site, which is so neutral that nobody can come to the game.
<b>The adversary has this right</b>
In our perpetual game of tug-of-war with the CHL, the Playoff Problem is a black eye on our sport. All but a small handful of Major Junior teams make the playoffs, which means virtually all players are guaranteed at least one, full, seven-game series a year. Some of them wind up being short, brutal affairs, but at least two of the losses were in front of the home fans. Good teams go on long, NHL-like playoff runs involving travel, running story lines, rivalries, and crackling action.
Players grow up dreaming of playing in 7-game series in the NHL, and they get a nice facsimile of the experience before they even turn 20. I've been to OHL playoff games, and they are wonderful. Genuinely good hockey with genuinely good atmosphere. It's a major checkmark in the CHL box.
<b>This is the most important time of the year?</b>
On Friday Ferris State and Denver will play the most important game of their season, and they'll be lucky if 2000 people in the arena actually care about the result. The atmosphere will completely bely the gravity of the game they are playing, and will be dwarfed by even average home regular season games. What a let-down for Denver, which just played three intense games at the Final Five in front of over 10,000.
Worse, the winner will turn around the very next day and play Michigan or Cornell. Suppose it's Michigan vs. Denver: A matchup with history. A matchup with exciting match ups and great players. In sum, a matchup that is <b>worth talking about</b>.
But we won't talk about it, because we won't have time. The Regional schedule turnaround means that there is barely time to debrief from the previous game and begin to address the next one; great story lines are ignored, anticipation is killed, and the first-round win is devalued by preventing fan bases and players from appreciating it. Ferris State has one NCAA tournament win, and 24 hours after that win their season was over.
<b>Time for Change</b>
We need a new system. A system that provides excitement, anticipation, and real fan participation. A system that rewards teams for making the postseason. A system that does not punish high seeds for not having the luck to be hosting their own regional. A system that showcases our sport instead of embarrassing it.
I am not advocating for a Major Junior-type system. I believe it is possible, within the traditions and framework of college sports, to produce a much better system for the tournament than the one that currently exists. This post is not dogmatic about what that option is, but if you were to ask, I would say this: Play the games at the home sites of the high seeds.
Other options may be floated and may work. What is clear is that the system we now have does not work, not even close. It is hurting our sport. It needs to change. College Hockey has a playoff problem. Fix it. Change the Tournament.
All that said, we are about to enter into our annual rite of spring, the <b>Decidedly Underwhelming First Two Rounds of the NCAA Tournament</b>. Millions of fans across the country will neglect to fill out brackets, forget to watch on tv (if they get it) or not bother to stream the games over the internet. Millions of fans will not hear Barry Melrose not know what he is talking about when he tries to analyze a college game, and will not watch games played in front of thousands of people who did not bother to travel to the regionals.
College Hockey has a playoff problem.
It's not a Frozen Four problem; the Frozen Four is a marvelous event that has a dedicated, rabid base of fans who will always attend, solid organization, stable finances, and a product that competes with and beats the CHL's crown jewel, the Memorial Cup.
But College Hockey does not have a good playoff system.
<b>Conference playoffs</b>
It's hard to even know what the "playoffs" are. Are they one-weekend best-of-three conference series that rarely produce upsets and even more rarely produce important results? Among the most shocking playoff results ever happened this year as Bowling Green defeated Northern Michigan and top CCHA seed Ferris State on the road in games that were seen by zero people on television and perhaps 10-12,000 paid fans *total*. Congratulations, BG; your reward is to have hundreds of people watch you lose twice at the Joe.
Conference playoffs produce nice events like the Final Five, but the early rounds are little more than academic exercises. They are not pivotal or decisive. Michigan has made it to the Joe <b>24 years in a row</b>. This is not a symptom of a challenging, worthwhile playoff structure.
<b>The NCAA Hockey Tournament</b>
Or are the "playoffs" this weekend? Good seats are available in Green Bay to watch Michigan and Cornell fans, perhaps a couple thousand of them, trade witty chants that won't be loud enough to be heard on television. Denver and Ferris will also play and few will watch. Empty seats will be everywhere.
The regional system is dreadful. Occasionally a regional lucks out and draws a lot of fans--and the rest of the fans scream in consternation as their higher-seeded team winds up "earning" a road game. Numerous top seeds have seen their seasons end in front of a rowdy audience of enemy fans. The alternative is a truly neutral site, which is so neutral that nobody can come to the game.
<b>The adversary has this right</b>
In our perpetual game of tug-of-war with the CHL, the Playoff Problem is a black eye on our sport. All but a small handful of Major Junior teams make the playoffs, which means virtually all players are guaranteed at least one, full, seven-game series a year. Some of them wind up being short, brutal affairs, but at least two of the losses were in front of the home fans. Good teams go on long, NHL-like playoff runs involving travel, running story lines, rivalries, and crackling action.
Players grow up dreaming of playing in 7-game series in the NHL, and they get a nice facsimile of the experience before they even turn 20. I've been to OHL playoff games, and they are wonderful. Genuinely good hockey with genuinely good atmosphere. It's a major checkmark in the CHL box.
<b>This is the most important time of the year?</b>
On Friday Ferris State and Denver will play the most important game of their season, and they'll be lucky if 2000 people in the arena actually care about the result. The atmosphere will completely bely the gravity of the game they are playing, and will be dwarfed by even average home regular season games. What a let-down for Denver, which just played three intense games at the Final Five in front of over 10,000.
Worse, the winner will turn around the very next day and play Michigan or Cornell. Suppose it's Michigan vs. Denver: A matchup with history. A matchup with exciting match ups and great players. In sum, a matchup that is <b>worth talking about</b>.
But we won't talk about it, because we won't have time. The Regional schedule turnaround means that there is barely time to debrief from the previous game and begin to address the next one; great story lines are ignored, anticipation is killed, and the first-round win is devalued by preventing fan bases and players from appreciating it. Ferris State has one NCAA tournament win, and 24 hours after that win their season was over.
<b>Time for Change</b>
We need a new system. A system that provides excitement, anticipation, and real fan participation. A system that rewards teams for making the postseason. A system that does not punish high seeds for not having the luck to be hosting their own regional. A system that showcases our sport instead of embarrassing it.
I am not advocating for a Major Junior-type system. I believe it is possible, within the traditions and framework of college sports, to produce a much better system for the tournament than the one that currently exists. This post is not dogmatic about what that option is, but if you were to ask, I would say this: Play the games at the home sites of the high seeds.
Other options may be floated and may work. What is clear is that the system we now have does not work, not even close. It is hurting our sport. It needs to change. College Hockey has a playoff problem. Fix it. Change the Tournament.
