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HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

nopuckluck said:
You could shoot a cannon thru Joe Louis at tonight's final. What gives? Last night at a suburban sports bar in Detroit not ONE of the 50 flat screens had any hockey. Meanwhile with no Minnesota teams at the WCHA Final in ST. Paul there are 20,000 packed into the Xcel to watch Denver vs. Nodak. Hey Detroit ... Pass the torch!
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Minnesota, the State of Hockey? You couldn't even keep the North Stars! What gives? Pass the torch!

Seriously...the differences between Michigan and Minnesota hockey culture have been discussed before. Minnesota had no NHL team until 1967, and a poorly run one from 1967-1993, so the high school and college games became king. Here, we've had the Wings since 1926, and could follow the NHL on Canadian TV long before American networks would touch it, so the NHL is the focus of attention. While college hockey is big on campus, and gets more attention in the Detroit than it used to (particularly in the Freep), the general public doesn't have more than a passing interest. I'm not questioning Minnesota's passion for the game just because you managed to lose an NHL team. Don't question ours just because the college game is much lower key here.

On the bright side, the argument for hockey supremacy bodes well for the future of the Michigan-Minnesota rivalry in the Big Ten...I've read that it was a big deal in the old-time WCHA, and I bet that it will become what Michigan-Ohio State is to Big Ten football.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

MichFan said:
Minnesota, the State of Hockey? You couldn't even keep the North Stars! What gives? Pass the torch!

Seriously...the differences between Michigan and Minnesota hockey culture have been discussed before. Minnesota had no NHL team until 1967, and a poorly run one from 1967-1993, so the high school and college games became king. Here, we've had the Wings since 1926, and could follow the NHL on Canadian TV long before American networks would touch it, so the NHL is the focus of attention. While college hockey is big on campus, and gets more attention in the Detroit than it used to (particularly in the Freep), the general public doesn't have more than a passing interest. I'm not questioning Minnesota's passion for the game just because you managed to lose an NHL team. Don't question ours just because the college game is much lower key here.

On the bright side, the argument for hockey supremacy bodes well for the future of the Michigan-Minnesota rivalry in the Big Ten...I've read that it was a big deal in the old-time WCHA, and I bet that it will become what Michigan-Ohio State is to Big Ten football.
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19K+. New record for attendance.
AA High School game. Was NOT the championship.

Try again, scooter.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

Brenthoven said:
19K+. New record for attendance.
AA High School game. Was NOT the championship.

Try again, scooter.
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But you've only made my point. 19,000+ for a Minnesota high school game, but the Wild only average 17,730 this year (16th in the NHL). It shows that your priorities are in a different place.

Meanwhile, the Wings are averaging 20,120 this year, 4th in the NHL, even though the economy is still in the doldrums here and Wings tickets are massively expensive.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

MichFan said:
But you've only made my point. 19,000+ for a Minnesota high school game, but the Wild only average 17,730 this year (16th in the NHL). It shows that your priorities are in a different place.

Meanwhile, the Wings are averaging 20,120 this year, 4th in the NHL, even though the economy is still in the doldrums here and Wings tickets are massively expensive.
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I'm talking the sport as a whole. You support your pro team. Whoopee. We support all levels, in fanatic fashion. So keep trying, Junior.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

Brenthoven said:
I'm talking the sport as a whole. You support your pro team. Whoopee. We support all levels, in fanatic fashion. So keep trying, Junior.
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Yes, you support the NHL fanatically, which is why the Wild are 16th in attendance, and 18th by percentage of capacity. Hockey hotbeds like San Jose and Washington fill more of their buildings. That's really rabid support you have there.

You Minnesotans crack me up.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

MichFan said:
Yes, you support the NHL fanatically, which is why the Wild are 16th in attendance, and 18th by percentage of capacity. Hockey hotbeds like San Jose and Washington fill more of their buildings. That's really rabid support you have there.

You Minnesotans crack me up.
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What part of "support as a whole" do you not understand? Check attendance, players in the sport, etc etc etc, at all levels. Then get back to me. Thank you. Next.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

Brenthoven said:
What part of "support as a whole" do you not understand? Check attendance, players in the sport, etc etc etc, at all levels. Then get back to me. Thank you. Next.
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2010-11 US Hockey registrations: 54,251 Michigan, 54,325 Minnesota. Pretty much dead even.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

Actually better yet. Tell me a state that outdraws the high school tourney, and/or the WCHA tourney at any time. If you want bonus points, make that proof consistently.

Some cities only have pro teams to live off of. So, again, have another shot at it. :D
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

104,173 at the Big House for one Michigan-Michigan State game blows away any WCHA tournament total weekend attendance, ever.

Not to mention that they'll not only sell out Michigan Stadium again for Wings-Leafs on January 1, but will easily sell out Comerica Park for a Wings-Leafs alumni game the same weekend, and probably for the GLI too. Top that.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

MichFan said:
104,173 at the Big House for one Michigan-Michigan State game blows away any WCHA tournament total weekend attendance, ever.

Not to mention that they'll not only sell out Michigan Stadium again for Wings-Leafs on January 1, but will easily sell out Comerica Park for a Wings-Leafs alumni game the same weekend, and probably for the GLI too. Top that.
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Those are gimmicks. Apples and oranges.

This thread is stupid.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

CCHA keeps the games at JLA a closely guarded secret. The sad facts are that unless Michigan is playing, JLA will not attract hockey fans. Even Sparty doesn't draw. Went to the NCAA Championship game several years ago. It was something like Colgate vs. RPI and I'll bet that there were't 2,000 fans there. Even if the CCHA or NCAA pours four times the normal advertising dollars into promoting these types of games, there is just too much competition for the hockey dollar in the Detroit metro area.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

FRICKER said:
CCHA keeps the games at JLA a closely guarded secret. The sad facts are that unless Michigan is playing, JLA will not attract hockey fans. Even Sparty doesn't draw. Went to the NCAA Championship game several years ago. It was something like Colgate vs. RPI and I'll bet that there were't 2,000 fans there. Even if the CCHA or NCAA pours four times the normal advertising dollars into promoting these types of games, there is just too much competition for the hockey dollar in the Detroit metro area.
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I am not sure which year you are referring to. In 1985 (more than a few years ago), RPI defeated Providence at the JLA, but attendance was listed as 16,282 (source 1985-86 RPI Media Guide). It couldn't be that far wrong.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

The marketing campaign for my team is better than the marketing campaign for your team!!!!
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

Ralph Baer said:
I am not sure which year you are referring to. In 1985 (more than a few years ago), RPI defeated Providence at the JLA, but attendance was listed as 16,282 (source 1985-86 RPI Media Guide). It couldn't be that far wrong.
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Maybe 1990? Combined attendance for the two semifinals and the finals is listed at 24,569, and I can see most of those numbers coming from the two games involving Wisconsin, and notsomuch the Colgate - Boston University semi-final.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

Agreed, that as a whole minnesota has more of a hockey culture, especially amatuer hockey, than Michigan. Having said that, Michigan supports NHL hockey better. If you listen to the radio here the Wings are a constant point of discussion, but not the whalers, or any of the universities, (but even here people still mispronounce Lidstrom constantly.)

As far as how this relates to a tournament, the final five is unique in college sports. It's a shame it's going away. All of the new leagues will have to come up with creative ways to handle their tourney's to keep up attendance. Holding it in Minnesota is one way to up attendance, no question.
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

The biggest part of the reason why it looks like we don't support NHL hockey is because we're sick of the fact that the Wild are a horse**** team. Why go watch the Wild when we can go watch a Minnetonka-Edina game, or go watch a top-10 Gopher team. It's really a no brainer. The Wild get their act together, and that attendance will be right back where it was 5 years ago.
 
bigblue_dl said:
The biggest part of the reason why it looks like we don't support NHL hockey is because we're sick of the fact that the Wild are a horse**** team. Why go watch the Wild when we can go watch a Minnetonka-Edina game, or go watch a top-10 Gopher team. It's really a no brainer. The Wild get their act together, and that attendance will be right back where it was 5 years ago.
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I agree. And considering the fact that the Wild are so brutal (4th to last in the entire league and 1 point out of 2nd to last), 16th in the league in average attendance at roughly 17,730 per game isn't really bad IMO. They're ahead of plenty of teams with records much better than ours:

<a href="http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance">http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance</a>
 
Re: HockeyTown? Ya gotta be kidding me

Couple of questions....

so- you get a raise for being hockeytown or denying it?

do you get more nookie if you are the state of hockey or try to illustrate that it's not?

Seriously- why does it even matter?

Michigan fans go to football over basketball over hockey, big deal. Detroit fans would rather see the Red wings, so what.

Minnesota fans like HS hockey over pro- sounds like Indiana and basketball- WHO CARES?

It's not as if you actually gain anything out of this argument.
 
alfablue said:
Couple of questions....

so- you get a raise for being hockeytown or denying it?

do you get more nookie if you are the state of hockey or try to illustrate that it's not?

Seriously- why does it even matter?

Michigan fans go to football over basketball over hockey, big deal. Detroit fans would rather see the Red wings, so what.

Minnesota fans like HS hockey over pro- sounds like Indiana and basketball- WHO CARES?

It's not as if you actually gain anything out of this argument.
Click to expand...

Youth hockey is a source of pride in Minnesota, but you're right, the monikers really don't matter.
 
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