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Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

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Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

giwan said:
Toronto to hockey is like NY to all the pro sports. They can easily handle and fill two ice arenas. Speaking of ice arenas Mac has a leaky roof?
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I'd ask donor permission to dip into the scoreboard fund to fix that before the new scoreboard is purchased.

Or just throw a little duct tape over it and call it good; it's what we usually do. :p

It used to be that the Sabres had a fair number of Canadian fans who were sick of waiting years for Leafs tickets (not to mention a competitive Leafs team). Wonder if that's still true.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
I'd ask donor permission to dip into the scoreboard fund to fix that before the new scoreboard is purchased.Or just throw a little duct tape over it and call it good; it's what we usually do. :pIt used to be that the Sabres had a fair number of Canadian fans who were sick of waiting years for Leafs tickets (not to mention a competitive Leafs team). Wonder if that's still true.
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Seem to remember reading there was something being done on the roof that was part of the ice plant expenditure but never stated exactly what. Did they drill holes for reinforcing and attachment points for the new scoreboard and forgot to cover the holes? Either way in winter they'll be ice plugs.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

giwan said:
Seem to remember reading there was something being done on the roof that was part of the ice plant expenditure but never stated exactly what. Did they drill holes for reinforcing and attachment points for the new scoreboard and forgot to cover the holes? Either way in winter they'll be ice plugs.
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The roof maintenance was for the rest of the SDC.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
It used to be that the Sabres had a fair number of Canadian fans who were sick of waiting years for Leafs tickets (not to mention a competitive Leafs team). Wonder if that's still true.
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I forget where I read it (ah, who needs facts on this message board ;)) that due to the increased border crossing security after 9/11, that Buffalo had less Canadian ticket holders for the Sabres and Bills. The Bills, to cater to that market, usually play a game once a year in Toronto.


Toronto's prior ownership was a lot like Dollar Bill Wirtz was with the Blackhawks, in that they didn't want any competition near their city. Dollar Bill was instrumental in getting the Blues in St. Louis to create a six hour away rival, but repeatedly blocked Milwaukee from getting an NHL team. Bit of trivia, the Bradley Center was built to woo the Blues away.
 
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Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

giwan said:
Toronto to hockey is like NY to all the pro sports. They can easily handle and fill two ice arenas. Speaking of ice arenas Mac has a leaky roof?
Click to expand...

No doubt that Toronto metro could support two NHL teams, however Leafs management doesn't want to give fans another option. Imagine the horor if the other team was actually *gasp* successful. They like holding all the cards in the deck.

As for the Mac roof they can do antying they want but DON'T PAINT IT AGAIN. During the last renovation, they painted the insde of the roof and all the structural steel with a cream colored paint and within months it was falling off and drifting down onto the ice surface. Cool temps? Humitidy? Poor surface prep? I don't know what the problem was but it was a huge mess for many years. Nearly every time we took the ice someone was picking up chunks of paint off the ice at some point.

Ryan J
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

aparch said:
IDollar Bill was instrumental in getting the Blues in St. Louis to create a six hour away rival, but repeatedly blocked Milwaukee from getting an NHL team. Bit of trivia, the Bradley Center was built to woo the Blues away.
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This is somewhat true. The Bradley Center, opened in 1988, was built in part to attract an NHL franchise, however it was Pettit's intension of securing an expansion franchise not moving an existing team. However he balked at the expansion price tag and a team never arrived. Milwaukee withdrew their bid for an NHL team in October of 1990 "saying the venture was economically unsound and would produce a non-competitive team." The Blackhawks management also lobbied hard to block a Milwaukee franchise saying that that area was part of their market.
In a bit of irony, the first game ever played at the Bradley Center was not the Milwaukee Wave (indoor soccer), Milwaukee Bucks (NBA) or Milwaukee Admirals (IHL now AHL) but rather an NHL preseason game (Oilers and Blackhawks - Oct 88). The next NHL franchises instead went to Tampa and Ottawa. While a few other NHL games have been played in MKE, there has never been serious thought of an NHL franchise other than from this MKE based "reporter" who also states the UW-MKE is joining the WCHA. Must have some real great contacts to get the facts for that story.
http://www.theonlineclarion.com/spo...ld-consider-relocating-to-one-of-three-areas/
It’s arguable that not only is there a hockey culture in Wisconsin, but a winning one as well. Not to mention, UW-Milwaukee is expanding their athletic program to have a team in the WCHA.
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In my opinion, hockey IS growing in WI but MKE is not ready to support an NHL franchise. Just a few years ago they couldn't even sell out the Bradley Center for the Calder Cup finals when the Admirals made their first run at an AHL championship. If you can't draw fans for the big games at $10 a seat in the upper deck, good luck getting folks to shell out NHL type dollars 40+ times a year during the regular season. The only way MKE gets NHL demand is the longterm success of the Hawks and Chicago becomes a new Toronto with thousands of fans looking for NHL tickets, but no available seats.

Ryan J
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

JohnsonsJerseys said:
In my opinion, hockey IS growing in WI but MKE is not ready to support an NHL franchise. Just a few years ago they couldn't even sell out the Bradley Center for the Calder Cup finals when the Admirals made their first run at an AHL championship. If you can't draw fans for the big games at $10 a seat in the upper deck, good luck getting folks to shell out NHL type dollars 40+ times a year during the regular season. The only way MKE gets NHL demand is the longterm success of the Hawks and Chicago becomes a new Toronto with thousands of fans looking for NHL tickets, but no available seats.

Ryan J
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With the Bucks in town, they'll never get an NHL team. There is only so much money to spend in the area, and the Brewers benefit from drawing fans from Madison, Green Bay, Wausau, etc. because you're guaranteed a baseball game, even if there are storms forecast.

Hockey would be a tougher draw, especially when competing with the Bucks for the casual winter entertainment dollar *. Chicago is a fickle market, and there aren't going to be enough "pi**ed off with the Blackhawks and lack of tickets" fans in the Northern suburbs/Kenosha/Racine area to have solid sales. Chicago isn't Toronto, in that if the team starts to suck hard again, the fans will jump back aboard the Bears and Bulls. I don't think that if Chicago became Red Wings -esque in their playoff performance, that you would see Milwaukee even remotely in talks to get an NHL team.


* Let's not get into the breakdown of how many pure hockey fans and pure basketball fans wouldn't switch to the other sport to support it. Those are the non-overlapping Venn diagram areas.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

aparch said:
With the Bucks in town, they'll never get an NHL team. There is only so much money to spend in the area, and the Brewers benefit from drawing fans from Madison, Green Bay, Wausau, etc. because you're guaranteed a baseball game, even if there are storms forecast. Hockey would be a tougher draw, especially when competing with the Bucks for the casual winter entertainment dollar *. Chicago is a fickle market, and there aren't going to be enough "pi**ed off with the Blackhawks and lack of tickets" fans in the Northern suburbs/Kenosha/Racine area to have solid sales. Chicago isn't Toronto, in that if the team starts to suck hard again, the fans will jump back aboard the Bears and Bulls. I don't think that if Chicago became Red Wings -esque in their playoff performance, that you would see Milwaukee even remotely in talks to get an NHL team. * Let's not get into the breakdown of how many pure hockey fans and pure basketball fans wouldn't switch to the other sport to support it. Those are the non-overlapping Venn diagram areas.
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I do not think even the casual fan is the same one that sees a Bucks game vs a hockey game. They almost seem to be the antithesis of each other.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

GLI Tech fans - those of us who are cheap and tend to gather around the band in JLA Sections 203/202. Any thoughts where we might sit this December at Comerica?
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

I usually bring quite a number of people.( 8-10.) But some of them will not do well for two full games if it is really cold. So I am looking to make sure the wind is blocked. We might be able to deal with it as long as there is no wind but otherwise no. So that's my primary criteria. if it snows or worse rains, we can deal with that.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

ColoToot said:
But they haven't been broadcasting the last years.

They seem to think that three year old Poker tourneys are a better draw then a live hockey game.
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Oh well. There's no way I'm going there for it. At Comerica? No thanks. And I don't have any interest in supporting the tournament when they invite Western Michigan - Denver - Western Michigan 3 years in a row.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

I heard today that Ben Storm has been offered a full ride to St. Cloud ... C'mon MTU we need to wrap him up!!!
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

Hatch_man said:
I heard today that Ben Storm has been offered a full ride to St. Cloud ... C'mon MTU we need to wrap him up!!!
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I'm in favor of giving offers to Keweenaw kids who are capable of playing D1 hockey, but fit Mel's uptempo system. Does Storm fit Mel's new philosophy, or does he have the skills where he could (primarily skating ability)?
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
I'm in favor of giving offers to Keweenaw kids who are capable of playing D1 hockey, but fit Mel's uptempo system. Does Storm fit Mel's new philosophy, or does he have the skills where he could (primarily skating ability)?
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Im pretty sure MTU is interested...
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

We can recruit him all we want, but in some cases being close to home can be a disadvantage. Some kids want to get away from home for college, and if that's the case, all we can do is wish him well. I know that I didn't want to be close to home for college, the 6 hour drive was about perfect for me.
 
Re: Michigan Tech Offseason Thread

bigblue_dl said:
We can recruit him all we want, but in some cases being close to home can be a disadvantage. Some kids want to get away from home for college, and if that's the case, all we can do is wish him well. I know that I didn't want to be close to home for college, the 6 hour drive was about perfect for me.
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It was 10 hours for me, so yeah, I totally agree.
 
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