While I don't harbor much nostalgia for those epic showdowns with Mankato or Bemidji, the same way I did on the men's side with schools like North Dakota and Denver, I'd still hate to see women's college hockey flipped on its head like the men were, all in the pursuit of the almighty $$$.
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Michigan Getting a Women's Team?
- Thread starter Hockeybuckeye
- Start date
Hockeybuckeye
Well-known member
You are correct about regular season games but only because the WCHA contracted with them to carry the games. I would add they wouldn't have the national championship game regardless of it being two Big Ten schools playing as it's the NCAA's baby
Yes, they did have an OSU vs Wisconsin game on. In February. When a bunch of kids from both squads were at the Olympics. To quote Homer Simpson.. "D'oh!"
robertearle
Well-known member
BTN had the broadcast rights to the NCAA Women's Final Four for the three years, 2017-through-2019.
Women's Frozen Four to air on Big Ten Network
The NCAA and Big Ten Network announced today they have reached a four-year agreement to broadcast the Women’s Frozen Four on BTN.
www.ncaa.com
Hockeybuckeye
Well-known member
Nice!BTN had the broadcast rights to the NCAA Women's Final Four for the three years, 2017-through-2019.
Women's Frozen Four to air on Big Ten Network
The NCAA and Big Ten Network announced today they have reached a four-year agreement to broadcast the Women’s Frozen Four on BTN.
Russell Jaslow
Registered User
You bring up some excellent points. Ones I've often thought about before. I do think some ECAC schools, based on tradition and history, will at times be able to keep up, but otherwise it will be tough. After experiencing Pegulla Arena for the first time, the first thought that popped in my head is if Penn State were in the same conference as the Big Ten teams (doesn't have to be a Big Ten conference itself), they would be able to recruit at the same level and become a power. That arena is a great recruiting tool. The only thing holding them back is the conference they are in.
Windchill11 -- you cannot at all compare the men's history and extrapolate that to the women. It's a whole different recruiting situation, especially with age of incoming freshmen. With the ability for the men to bring in older freshmen from junior hockey, it's no wonder other teams can keep up with those teams which recruit a lot of top flight young talent who only stick around for a year or two. And the other conferences are so different. Hockey East women have rarely had a national contender while the ECAC consistently has and is home of the only Eastern team which won it all. The complete opposite of the men. Then, you have that whole NEWHA situation. I'm with Lindsay, a Big Ten women's conference will make those teams even more dominant.
wildfire -- No way a Big Ten conference will let Syracuse in with that wretched rink. And before you say what about Ohio State, a Big Ten conference would have no choice in letting OSU in.
Windchill22
Active member
I hoped it would be so absurd to be comical. I believe I have failed.
Russell Jaslow
Registered User
I must admit, I quickly scanned it as I was concentrating on responding to Lindsay. Re-reading it, I definitely now see the absurdity of it. Well done. Seriously.
BadgerInMN
Member
I'd selfishly hate it, as I love getting to have four to six (when the Bemidji weekend works out) league series I can drive to with the kids from the Twin Cities.
I get all the reasons why B1G men's hockey is a thing...but it has really fallen pretty flat with me as a fan. Seven teams feels one short of a proper league, even more so because one is ND that just plays separate sports in different conferences for convenience and doesn't feel like it belongs. 24 vs. 28 conference games also seems just a bit too few.
Amd when I still lived in WI, I could have been excited by a potential weekend road trip to Houghton, Grand Forks, Mankato. Definitely no desire to drive to Columbus or East Lansing (been there, done that for other sports). It was kind of fun having the B1G schools split between the WCHA and CCHA, and seeing if they matched up in March/April.
I get all the reasons why B1G men's hockey is a thing...but it has really fallen pretty flat with me as a fan. Seven teams feels one short of a proper league, even more so because one is ND that just plays separate sports in different conferences for convenience and doesn't feel like it belongs. 24 vs. 28 conference games also seems just a bit too few.
Amd when I still lived in WI, I could have been excited by a potential weekend road trip to Houghton, Grand Forks, Mankato. Definitely no desire to drive to Columbus or East Lansing (been there, done that for other sports). It was kind of fun having the B1G schools split between the WCHA and CCHA, and seeing if they matched up in March/April.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
It's really not a priority anymore with move to a la carte tv viewing to get on the main big big 10 channel anymore. All you have to do is get Big 10 plus and you can see every single Big 10 team's hockey game. It's quite remarkable.
A big 10 women's hockey conference would be a huge mistake.
A big 10 women's hockey conference would be a huge mistake.
The most likely scenario would be that Michigan State gets a team first which would drag Michigan to add one. That would force a BIG 10 conference creation based on their bylaws I believe. Still the probability is low.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
That is my understanding as well. Just imagine the mess if USC and Oregon added D1 hockey teams. There's already a lot of complaining about the travel for non-revenue sports. It's really stupid to have a conference spanning with width of the country.
I’m just salty because I already have the channel! Don’t want to also pay for the plus.
Would be a mess if the random b1g schools out west added teams of course.
Just feels like the non B1G wcha teams operate in a shadow. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe they like it this way. They have nice rinks maybe ONE DAY there will be enough talent so they can challenge the big schools too.
Windchill I got a kick out of it. You know some media would analyze it that way, lol!
There fear should be that schools like Mankato, St. Cloud and Bemidji pull out of D1 if the B10 forms a conference. These are not true D1 schools and their men's team used to play at the D2/D3 level long ago.
ARM
Fan of chipmunk-like mascots.
To some extent, the WCHA has the three Big Ten teams, UMD, and the others. I feel that the St. Thomas story hasn't really been written yet, as its footing is unique in the league. While UND was around, they were a lot like UMD, except that they never won anything. UM and UW fans know the taste of losing something that we really wanted thanks to UMD. Some of the tOSU fans remember those days, but if they hang around long enough, the Bulldogs will eventually remind them. UMD still has a more storied trophy case compared to the one in Columbus. Even though the 'Dogs played for the NCAA title in 2022, they haven't finished first in anything since 2010, unless I'm forgetting something.
As for the rest, had Bemidji defeated UW in the 2015 WCHA final, then IMO, that would have been the greatest accomplishment in the history of the league. Forget UW winning in 2023 after starting the NCAAs as a road team or UMD's threepeat, or UM's perfect season. If you can win anything with the hurdles that BSU has, especially with a first-year coach, that would be hard to top.
Russell Jaslow
Registered User
To meet Title IX requirements, you have to play one sport up in each gender in these situations. It doesn't have to be the same sport. So, these schools can't drop women's hockey back down to D2/D3 without also dropping the men's programs or moving a different women's sport up to D1.