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Hockey East 2020-2021

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J.D. said:
If? He was directly quoted as saying BU. BC didn't have any games scheduled that they decided not to play. If you're saying individual schools are in charge of reaching out and scheduling these on the fly games, that just adds to the point that Hockey East has no clue what they are doing. If Hockey East wanted BC to play additional games and BC declined i would think that would get out. That hasn't been reported.
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Should be noted after this weekend, Vermont and BC would have played eight games. Vermont was shut down for a month due to COVID issues. While BC was the third Hockey East program this year to play a game on November 27th.

Just nuts and the commish should be out in front of these issues as UMass will have played 14 games before next weekend.
 
J.D. said:
This has gotten ridiculous. Carvel clearly talking about BU (he MENTIONED BU) yet this has turned into a referendum on BC and why they haven't played in a few weeks when they weren't scheduled to play and nothing has been reported about BC turning down games after being approached by the league or other teams. So if you want to start an inquest, start with Hockey East. Considering they are absolutely clueless, I doubt you will get very far.
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BU and BC purposely do not schedule games over Christmas break because they always assume their best players will be on junior team
If BC was asked to play and declined it is their right. Many teams let players go home for holidays
 
But if you look back over the last 20 years, BC has routinely played during the WJC (not every year Zlax!). I do remember Quinn taking the approach of avoiding games during the WJC. If that is something BC will be doing going forward it would be a shift from what York is used to doing. But ultimately you're right. You can do whatever you want with your NC schedule. Now, if it came out that Hockey East wanted BC to jam in some league games over the past month and BC declined that's at least a discussion to be had. But that hasn't been reported.
 
J.D. said:
...The lack of information from Hockey East has been astounding.
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I find myself reluctant to pile onto the commish or the league office simply because there is neither precedent nor a "playbook" for how to operate a league under the circumstances Mr. Metcalf and staff find themselves in. Given the inherent unpredictability of the virus and varying institutional policies, scheduling "on the fly" is the hand that the league has been dealt and it would appear that bad hand is being played as well as it can be. The schedule may not be balanced and it may be uneven, but at least games are being played. Personally, I'll be happy to see the league get a full season in, no matter what it looks like and I could care less how playoffs are structured and seeded so long as there are playoffs and an eventual champion.

So far as lack of information goes, it seems difficult to provide accurate information in advance when you don't know what's happening on the various campuses day-to-day or even hour-to-hour. FWIW, I found the latest changes to the NU schedule posted to the HEA website even before I heard of them through backchannels. Personal opinion but I think HEA is doing the best it can with what it has to work with.

It will be interesting to see how things go with the second half of the NCHC season, now that it no longer has its first half bubble.
 
I agree it's a difficult situation but when they agreed to play i thought every school was on the same page. Instead it appears to be every school has their own book. Obviously different city and state guidelines come into play, I just think they could have done a better job in releasing details on the plan to play and providing more info as to why exactly games are being called off. It seems like sometimes you get details and other times everyone is wondering why the game was called.

If they did that maybe we wouldn't see Carvel sniping at BU. From the start this has not been the unified venture I anticipated.
 
J.D. said:
...when they agreed to play i thought every school was on the same page. Instead it appears to be every school has their own book...
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Every school was indeed on the same page (I think) when they agreed to play but stuff happens. As I said in my previous post, things change on the various campuses day-to-day-and even hour-to-hour. When the scheduled UConn series got pulled out from under Northeastern because of issues at UConn, it's obvious that Jim Madigan quickly got on the phone with Scott Borek (and maybe others) and Merrimack Round 2 came to be. If the schools didn't "have their own book" and all schedule changes had to be made by the league office, then there likely would be no games at all for either NU or Mack this weekend. So I'm actually OK with scheduling "on the fly" and every school having its own book. It's the hand we've been dealt.

As for not knowing why a scheduled series gets cancelled, there is only one reason and one reason only. And it does not need to be spelled out by the league or anywhere else. I seriously doubt Mike Cavanaugh feared Northeastern so much that he would cancel the scheduled series on a whim.
 
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Every school is not on the same page because there seems to be a different set of rules for teams even within the same city. I wasn't expecting that, but then again, nothing was ever spelled out in that regard. Not every series is being called off for the EXACT same reason. Obviously it's COVID related but when everyone has their own set of rules it makes it that much tougher to get a season in. I was just expecting a more coordinated effort.

If the league isn't even assisting with the on the fly changes and it's simply up to each school to figure out their own schedule, that is not helpful in any way. And it's absolutely not obvious that coaches are calling each other to add games without the league being involved. Maybe it's happening but i haven't seen that reported either.. All of this shapes my opinion that despite it being a difficult situation I think Hockey East could be doing a better job.
 
Split-N said:
Every school was indeed on the same page (I think) when they agreed to play but stuff happens. As I said in my previous post, things change on the various campuses day-to-day-and even hour-to-hour. When the scheduled UConn series got pulled out from under Northeastern because of issues at UConn, it's obvious that Jim Madigan quickly got on the phone with Scott Borek (and maybe others) and Merrimack Round 2 came to be. If the schools didn't "have their own book" and all schedule changes had to be made by the league office, then there likely would be no games at all for either NU or Mack this weekend. So I'm actually OK with scheduling "on the fly" and every school having its own book. It's the hand we've been dealt.

As for not knowing why a scheduled series gets cancelled, there is only one reason and one reason only. And it does not need to be spelled out by the league or anywhere else. I seriously doubt Mike Cavanaugh feared Northeastern so much that he would cancel the scheduled series on a whim.
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Merrimack and Lowell was canceled so that helped get the Warriors and Huskies both being available.
 
Well, at least BU finally played a game ... it was nice seeing it played at Walter Brown Arena, too.

Blast from the Past
 
J.D. said:
Every school is not on the same page because there seems to be a different set of rules for teams even within the same city...I was just expecting a more coordinated effort...And it's absolutely not obvious that coaches are calling each other to add games without the league being involved...
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Of course there are different sets of rules for member teams regarding game scheduling for the simple reason that it's the institutions, not the league, that calls the shots. And none of those institutions are going to take policy direction--especially about scheduling during a pandemic--from any athletic league. So yes, not every school is going to be on the same page. It's the way things are in this unprecedented season.

And I didn't mean to imply that the league office is sitting back and letting coaches schedule independently. The league office at least has to ratify any ad hoc arrangements that may be made between coaches and is likely actively stepping in to create matchups when unexpected on-campus pauses disrupt the published schedule.

All the more reason I'm reluctant to criticize the commish and staff given the hand they've been dealt.
 
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It's not about taking directions from an athletic league. The whole idea is that you would think medical experts were involved when the league agreed to play. I thought it would be an agreed upon baseline for when to play, when to postpone etc. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

As for the league stepping in to help create games. I agree with that. You would never just leave it up to coaches. So if the league approached BC about playing or another school reached out and BC declined, there may be a story there. But nobody knows if that happened. And as someone else pointed out it was still during semester break/Christmas so who even knows if the players were sent home, etc. All to say that BC not playing for a few weeks is a non-issue.
 
Split-N said:
Of course there are different sets of rules for member teams regarding game scheduling for the simple reason that it's the institutions, not the league, that calls the shots. And none of those institutions are going to take policy direction--especially about scheduling during a pandemic--from any athletic league. So yes, not every school is going to be on the same page. It's the way things are in this unprecedented season.

And I didn't mean to imply that the league office is sitting back and letting coaches schedule independently. The league office at least has to ratify any ad hoc arrangements that may be made between coaches and is likely actively stepping in to create matchups when unexpected on-campus pauses disrupt the published schedule.

All the more reason I'm reluctant to criticize the commish and staff given the hand they've been dealt.
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Just out of cusiosity, how many persons constitute the commish and staff. Does anyone know?
 
J.D. said:
If? He was directly quoted as saying BU. BC didn't have any games scheduled that they decided not to play. If you're saying individual schools are in charge of reaching out and scheduling these on the fly games, that just adds to the point that Hockey East has no clue what they are doing. If Hockey East wanted BC to play additional games and BC declined i would think that would get out. That hasn't been reported.
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Why do you think it would have been reported? Just look at BU and how they keep quite about the COVID outbreak that hit their men's team. Several times during both telecasts it was mentioned that the team had just restarted practices last week and had only had 4 before the game on Friday. It was also mentioned that they had had no practices for the previous month (i.e., since BU announced the pause on 3 December). You can argue whether or not BU should have reported how many cases of COVID the team eventually had or how poorly they contained it, but t appears that they did a good job of keeping the outbreak quite.

Sean
 
Sean Pickett said:
Why do you think it would have been reported? Just look at BU and how they keep quite about the COVID outbreak that hit their men's team. Several times during both telecasts it was mentioned that the team had just restarted practices last week and had only had 4 before the game on Friday. It was also mentioned that they had had no practices for the previous month (i.e., since BU announced the pause on 3 December). You can argue whether or not BU should have reported how many cases of COVID the team eventually had or how poorly they contained it, but t appears that they did a good job of keeping the outbreak quite.

Sean
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There is a lot of this going on. It is amazing how many positives have happened in Tier 1 folk. Still no standard for testing or response for what happens, each team has a different protocol. You are at the mercy of what ever team you are playing that week (some teams have better plans and protocols than others). There have been a lot of positives and the how/why/when has been suppressed. I am pretty sure no one has accurate stats but it would be very interesting to look at from a Public Health standpoint.
 
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