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LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

I could see Minnesota State joining the NCHC along with Arizona State soon. Speaking of ASU, what the hell is the holdup in joining a conference?
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

The travel distance is killing the WCHA . On another note who knows what is going to happen to the Alaska teams as the state debates their existence .
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

giwan said:
Oh it's very much the case, especially with their fans.
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I'm thinking more in terms of those in charge of the program, not their fans. I'm fine with Minnesota State continuing on in the WCHA but I can understand why they feel the NCHC is a better fit for them. There would still be some long road trips, but they would be able to play St Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota every year and those would be more natural rivals for them.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

LSSULaker889294 said:
I could see Minnesota State joining the NCHC along with Arizona State soon. Speaking of ASU, what the hell is the holdup in joining a conference?
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Probably their arena situation. I know they came out with plans for a new arena about a year or so ago but I haven't followed their timetable and progress for actually building it. The NCHC (or Big Ten) are likely wanting to see real progress before taking in ASU as a member.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

Bill said:
Probably their arena situation. I know they came out with plans for a new arena about a year or so ago but I haven't followed their timetable and progress for actually building it. The NCHC (or Big Ten) are likely wanting to see real progress before taking in ASU as a member.
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I just did a little searching, and there aren't any new articles since late last year, but it looks like Third Quarter 2019 for all their arena projects, looking at being done sometime in 2021.

Generally I've been in favor of the idea that nobody has accepted ASU because of their arena situation, but with them making the tournament, I wonder if that will change the minds of either the NCHC or B1G.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

Bill said:
I'm thinking more in terms of those in charge of the program, not their fans. I'm fine with Minnesota State continuing on in the WCHA but I can understand why they feel the NCHC is a better fit for them. There would still be some long road trips, but they would be able to play St Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota every year and those would be more natural rivals for them.
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How exactly is it better for them? Bigger crowds? Maybe Less travel ok but they play the other MN schools as is.

Truly believe they will all of a sudden get better recruits? HA! They are winning and getting in the tourney as it is and then losing. At best they will be 4th in that league.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

giwan said:
How exactly is it better for them? Bigger crowds? Maybe Less travel ok but they play the other MN schools as is.

Truly believe they will all of a sudden get better recruits? HA! They are winning and getting in the tourney as it is and then losing. At best they will be 4th in that league.
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Better league rivalries, especially with St Cloud and UMD, and even UND. Yeah they play the other MN schools now, but not 4 times a season. No, their overall record wouldn't be as great in the NCHC but I think they're willing to live with that. They are a good enough program that I think they can do better than 4th in the NCHC, at least some of the time. Plus the NCHC gets 3 or 4 teams in the NCAA tourney most years. I didn't say anything about better recruits and I don't think that's an issue with them as far as wanting to join the NCHC goes.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

Bill said:
Better league rivalries, especially with St Cloud and UMD, and even UND. Yeah they play the other MN schools now, but not 4 times a season. No, their overall record wouldn't be as great in the NCHC but I think they're willing to live with that. They are a good enough program that I think they can do better than 4th in the NCHC, at least some of the time. Plus the NCHC gets 3 or 4 teams in the NCAA tourney most years. I didn't say anything about better recruits and I don't think that's an issue with them as far as wanting to join the NCHC goes.
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Speaking as an MSU fan, this is much more what I hear of being the case. It's not that the WCHA is a bad conference, it's that there is little interest from casual fans when talking about the current teams in the league. It's not an insult on the schools, it's just that there are no natural rivals and there likely won't be. Yes, we have Bemidji as an in-state team, but we don't really have much connection with them either (at least not like we do with SCSU, UMD or to a lesser extent UND). My greatest fear with this program is that when we hit a low spot and aren't winning, cause it will happen at some point, there won't be enough interest for the team to keep it financially successful. I'm at every home game and I can tell you without a doubt, that there just isn't the same buzz in the air that there used to be. Maybe it's just a lack of familiarity, but I can tell you that there is more buzz in the air for SCSU, UMD, and MN than any conference game outside of the Conference Championship game. It's not about thinking we're better than the conference, it's about a lack of excitement because no one knows the teams we play...and I suspect it's the same for the casual fans of all of the other teams in the league when we come in. We aren't God's gift to the conference either, we're a D2 school that most of the fan bases don't know. That's not the case with the majority of the NCHC.

Will it happen? I'm not sure. I'm not even sure I care. I like the direction the WCHA is headed in. It took longer than I had hoped, but there are some bright spots in the league. The top half of the league is very good and it is generally good hockey to watch.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

Bale said:
Speaking as an MSU fan, this is much more what I hear of being the case. It's not that the WCHA is a bad conference, it's that there is little interest from casual fans when talking about the current teams in the league. It's not an insult on the schools, it's just that there are no natural rivals and there likely won't be. Yes, we have Bemidji as an in-state team, but we don't really have much connection with them either (at least not like we do with SCSU, UMD or to a lesser extent UND). My greatest fear with this program is that when we hit a low spot and aren't winning, cause it will happen at some point, there won't be enough interest for the team to keep it financially successful. I'm at every home game and I can tell you without a doubt, that there just isn't the same buzz in the air that there used to be. Maybe it's just a lack of familiarity, but I can tell you that there is more buzz in the air for SCSU, UMD, and MN than any conference game outside of the Conference Championship game. It's not about thinking we're better than the conference, it's about a lack of excitement because no one knows the teams we play...and I suspect it's the same for the casual fans of all of the other teams in the league when we come in. We aren't God's gift to the conference either, we're a D2 school that most of the fan bases don't know. That's not the case with the majority of the NCHC.

Will it happen? I'm not sure. I'm not even sure I care. I like the direction the WCHA is headed in. It took longer than I had hoped, but there are some bright spots in the league. The top half of the league is very good and it is generally good hockey to watch.
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Don't much care either way. College hockey doesn't get any better than the attendance and the atmosphere for the Bowling Green game a couple of weeks ago. And while I do think attendance would be better in the NCHC, I also think there's a tendency to forget that when we were terrible, we weren't packing the place for a Denver or CC matchup. Definitely all in for SCSU, UMD, UNO and NoDak, but the rest of the conference doesn't really stir the blood.

But would we get better recruits in the NCHC? Yes. Consider that every team in the NCHC had at least one NHL draft pick on their roster this year. Our conference had 7 total, which is the same number UMD had on their roster, and one less than NoDak had. If you're advising a young kid with NHL potential, you're going to steer that kid to the place he'll get the best competition every game. Even at a school like Miami or CC, you're going to be playing big games against top notch competition every week. People advising the high end talent are going to push those kids towards the NCHC, HE, or the Big 10 schools -ANY school in those conferences- before they're going to advise a kid to go to the WCHA. Just think back to our WCHA days. We weren't a contender, but we still got guys like Blueger and Backes to come to Kato, because it was the best competition in college hockey.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

Nick Kossoff has signed an ATO with the Manchester Monarchs (ECHL).
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

Yesterday marked the 25 year anniversary of the Lakers 3rd and most recent NCAA Championship. I remember watching the game on TV with my Mom.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

purpleinnebraska said:
Don't much care either way. College hockey doesn't get any better than the attendance and the atmosphere for the Bowling Green game a couple of weeks ago. And while I do think attendance would be better in the NCHC, I also think there's a tendency to forget that when we were terrible, we weren't packing the place for a Denver or CC matchup. Definitely all in for SCSU, UMD, UNO and NoDak, but the rest of the conference doesn't really stir the blood.

But would we get better recruits in the NCHC? Yes. Consider that every team in the NCHC had at least one NHL draft pick on their roster this year. Our conference had 7 total, which is the same number UMD had on their roster, and one less than NoDak had. If you're advising a young kid with NHL potential, you're going to steer that kid to the place he'll get the best competition every game. Even at a school like Miami or CC, you're going to be playing big games against top notch competition every week. People advising the high end talent are going to push those kids towards the NCHC, HE, or the Big 10 schools -ANY school in those conferences- before they're going to advise a kid to go to the WCHA. Just think back to our WCHA days. We weren't a contender, but we still got guys like Blueger and Backes to come to Kato, because it was the best competition in college hockey.
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Sorry comparing NHL draft picks via conference is foolish as a comparison. Sure CC and Miami play big games and lose and what? CC will always follow Denver or fold. What did Miami get out of the NCHC? Nothing. Same can be said for Omaha. You really feel the mavs can do better than 4th in the NCHC yet can't get out of their own way entering a tourney? There's a reason they are called fans for fanatic. Rose colored glasses.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

LSSULaker889294 said:
Yesterday marked the 25 year anniversary of the Lakers 3rd and most recent NCAA Championship. I remember watching the game on TV with my Mom.
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My wife and I were at the game. Nice and easy game to watch. The Lakers were on their game that night and BU wasn't on theirs.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

giwan said:
Sorry comparing NHL draft picks via conference is foolish as a comparison. Sure CC and Miami play big games and lose and what? CC will always follow Denver or fold. What did Miami get out of the NCHC? Nothing. Same can be said for Omaha. You really feel the mavs can do better than 4th in the NCHC yet can't get out of their own way entering a tourney? There's a reason they are called fans for fanatic. Rose colored glasses.
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Is comparing NHL draft picks via conference a foolish comparison because it disproves your point? Seriously, it's absolutely ludicrous to think the NCHC isn't getting better recruits than other leagues. To just ignore the reality of that because it doesn't fit your narrative is stunning.

Could we finish 4th or better? Coach Hastings coached one year in the old WCHA. We tied for 4th in the 12 team league. Also, every hockey genius on these boards was mocking SCSU, "the girl who only got asked out after other girls said no" and how they would finish last in the NCHC. I think we'd be competitive. There would be more down years than we've have recently, but the up years would have a lot higher potential as well.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

I went up to Grand Rapids and watched a little of the US National U16 and U18 championship tournaments today. Lot of coaches and assistant coaches there scouting. I saw Damon and Zack there; Mike may have been there also but I didn't see him (they're using 3 ice sheets in 2 venues so I could have missed him). Also saw Joe Shawhan and Andy Murray there among coaches I recognized. A fun event and it was free.
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2019 off-season thread

I am going with U of Mass to win it all this year. Nice to see a new team in the finals.
 
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