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Minnesota Cup

Re: Minnesota Cup

People still don't understand several key points:

1. The two games the Gophers are using for this tournament are coming out of the school-mandated 20 home games the team plays every year.
2. They will not use these two games to play at a venue with less capacity than Mariucci.

Therefore, the likelihood of the Gophers visiting other Minnesota campuses isn't increased or diminished by this tournament. If this tournament doesn't happen, the Gophers play those two games at Mariucci and still have the same number of road non-conference games available.

So, the issues of this tournament and whether the Gophers play on the road in Minnesota are mutually exclusive.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

state of hockey said:
Their team can't sell out their own barn after winning an NC and they blame the visiting team's fans for not travelling?

You just can't make this crap up. Hilarious.
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tUMD sold out UAH and MTU. UAH had one fan: Brandusky. The Gophers used to be a big draw, but I guess not anymore, and their fanbase is getting lazier and lazier as far as road tripping and traveling.

Bronzebacks said:
If the WCHA would have stayed together minus UW & UM, things would have been far better off. I think UW and UM would have been more willing to work with the WCHA teams. In my opinion, there was a huge over reaction to the situation. But this is where we are.

The WCHA Final Five was arguably the best tournament in college hockey. A huge part of that is the location of the tournament and the love of the game in Minnesota. Anyone who thinks that a MN Cup style tournament will not be successful, underestimates the support of college hockey in this state.

Bottom line, the Gophers did not start this mess. But despite the surplus of pessimism, they are taking measures that will benefit all of the Minnesota's D1 hockey programs. Are they looking out for themselves at the same time? Hell yes! Why wouldn't they?

P.S. They will travel to instate NC games for a very simple reason. $$$. They will have NC games to fill and these will offer very cheap trips for their program. Just do not expect to have them in your building every year.
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Do you really think they will travel to in-state NC games? The whole point of this tournament was that they wouldn't have to. They've stated that. The best anyone could expect would be if the Gophers visited the odd team out of the tournament, and that is only speculation.

I don't know why you're looping UWM in. They're not involved in this tournament. I don't know what they're doing other than trying to play UND. At least they're not trying to wrap their arrogance up as benevolence.

Of course the Gophers want to look out for themselves. But 1. tUMD's AD should be looking out for tUMD (likewise the other 3 schools), not looking out for what's best for the Gophers. Negotiate. Don't capitulate. 2. The Gophers' now lame-duck AD stated that they wanted to continue to play the other MN schools and maintain those relationships. Maturi didn't have to say that, but once he stated that intention, it seems pretty disingenuous to offer a "solution" that doesn't benefit the other MN schools and preserve what little "rivalry" was there at all.

Bronzebacks said:
This may be true. However, the Minnesota Hockey Showcase was in addition to the WCHA Final Five. Now that the Final Five will be no more, I think we will see many of the fans that attended that tournament on a regular basis will be filling the seats for the new tournament. I could be wrong, but I am pretty convinced the parties involved will knock this out of the park.
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You are very optimistic considering 1. this has already happened and been a joke 2. this tournament would not involve UND, whose fanbase makes up a large percentage of the Final Five attendance 3. Gopher fans only show up to Gopher games at the Final Five, so tUMD vs BSU or MSUM vs SCSU or whatever would be deader than dead as far as atmosphere. Ever been to the Friday or Saturday (yes I know this doesn't exist anymore) afternoon game at the Final Five? If it doesn't involve the Gophers or UND, it is comprised of 1. UND fans from out of town who came to see hockey 2. die-hard Final Five fans 3. homeless people looking for warmth 4. one UAA fan 5. the Tech band. 6. anywhere from 0-3000 fans of the teams involved, depending on who's playing.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

4four4 said:
The Gopher hockey program needs to make money to help fund a BCS Division one football program curretnly no other school in the state of Minnesota has a BCS athletic program. The Wall Street Journal currently shows us the Minnesota Gophers program is worth $148.3 million dollars. It is worth than all the Minnesota state hockey schools combined. If hockey, bb, or fb don't make money the school will have to cut programs. Which is why the Gophers have to continue to make money in hockey. The Gophers have to look out for their own interests. They only care so much about the other Minnesota schools.
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Here is what I said:
I agree with everything said here. Asking Minnesota to play one road series per year against another MN team isn't asking too much. And if they aren't willing to do that, why bother with them? They are gaining 8 non-conference games. This tournament plus one road series and they would still be making more than they were in the WCHA.

Here is what you said:
In Minnesota's defense they have to make money or the school will have to drop other athletic programs.

SCSU men's hockey is under just as much pressure to make money as the U of M hockey team, if not more, because the SCSU hockey team subsidizes every other sport that SCSU has. It doesn't matter how much the U of M athletics program is worth compared to the other schools. Your argument is like saying Sprite is under more pressure to make money than 7-Up because Coca-Cola is bigger than Pepsi. It doesn't make any sense.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

Buying tickets, yes
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.

Hey! this is a good sign.....

The smaller MN schools will need to get on board with this. It is in their best interest in so many different areas. Visibility of their programs, recapturing some revenue lost from the Final Five, recruitment of local players, continuing rivalries, promoting college hockey as whole, etc.

Would I rather have the old Final Five? Probably, but that is not an option.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

Bronzebacks said:
.

Hey! this is a good sign.....

The smaller MN schools will need to get on board with this. It is in their best interest in so many different areas. Visibility of their programs, recapturing some revenue lost from the Final Five, recruitment of local players, continuing rivalries, promoting college hockey as whole, etc.

Would I rather have the old Final Five? Probably, but that is not an option.
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The teams and AD's seem onboard. Its the fans who have their panties in a bunch over it.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

JF_Gophers said:
The teams and AD's seem onboard. Its the fans who have their panties in a bunch over it.
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Correction....a very vocal majority have their panties in a bunch. The vast majority of people that I've spoken with support this kind of arrangement.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

Runninwiththedogs said:
Ever been to the Friday or Saturday (yes I know this doesn't exist anymore) afternoon game at the Final Five? If it doesn't involve the Gophers or UND, it is comprised of 1. UND fans from out of town who came to see hockey 2. die-hard Final Five fans 3. homeless people looking for warmth 4. one UAA fan 5. the Tech band. 6. anywhere from 0-3000 fans of the teams involved, depending on who's playing.
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Now wait a minute, Biddy has a home in Crystal.

Bale said:
Correction....a very vocal majority have their panties in a bunch. The vast majority of people that I've spoken with support this kind of arrangement.
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Hmmmmm, something is wrong with this statement, I can't quite put my finger on it though.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

Tipsy McStagger said:
Here is what I said:
I agree with everything said here. Asking Minnesota to play one road series per year against another MN team isn't asking too much. And if they aren't willing to do that, why bother with them? They are gaining 8 non-conference games. This tournament plus one road series and they would still be making more than they were in the WCHA.

Here is what you said:
In Minnesota's defense they have to make money or the school will have to drop other athletic programs.

SCSU men's hockey is under just as much pressure to make money as the U of M hockey team, if not more, because the SCSU hockey team subsidizes every other sport that SCSU has. It doesn't matter how much the U of M athletics program is worth compared to the other schools. Your argument is like saying Sprite is under more pressure to make money than 7-Up because Coca-Cola is bigger than Pepsi. It doesn't make any sense.
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IMO, it makes sense from Minnesota's POV they should make dang sure everything works in their favor or they should move on. Like SCSU they have to look out for number 1 which is why they left for the new league.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

4four4 said:
IMO, it makes sense from Minnesota's POV they should make dang sure everything works in their favor or they should move on. Like SCSU they have to look out for number 1 which is why they left for the new league.
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Minnesota didn't have a choice but to move to the new "league". No choice at all. If there was a real choice involved I'm betting they would have stayed right where they were.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

ScoobyDoo said:
Minnesota didn't have a choice but to move to the new "league". No choice at all. If there was a real choice involved I'm betting they would have stayed right where they were.
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I am talking about SCSU leaving the "new" WCHA for the NCHA league. I also agree Minnesota didn't want to leave for the Big Ten.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

Priceless said:
Maturi out as Gophers athletic director
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Joel was AD at DU when they selected Gwozdecky as coach, so for that and resurrecting the the DU hockey program he will be fondly remembered.

He was on board when the Gophers won two hockey NC's but they jury is still out on his role in the BigTen saga.

The new AD is going to be dripping with football DNA and the Gopher hockey fans are going notice some changes. I'm guessing its going to be a bumpy ride.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

dggoddard said:
Joel was AD at DU when they selected Gwozdecky as coach, so for that and resurrecting the the DU hockey program he will be fondly remembered.

He was on board when the Gophers won two hockey NC's but they jury is still out on his role in the BigTen saga.

The new AD is going to be dripping with football DNA and the Gopher hockey fans are going notice some changes. I'm guessing its going to be a bumpy ride.
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Depends if he is a Minnesotan otherwise you might be on to something.
 
dggoddard said:
Joel was AD at DU when they selected Gwozdecky as coach, so for that and resurrecting the the DU hockey program he will be fondly remembered.

He was on board when the Gophers won two hockey NC's but they jury is still out on his role in the BigTen saga.

The new AD is going to be dripping with football DNA and the Gopher hockey fans are going notice some changes. I'm guessing its going to be a bumpy ride.
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Hahaha.... Hockey rules at the U of M. Way more fan pressure for the hockey team to succeed.
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

4four4 said:
Depends if he is a Minnesotan otherwise you might be on to something.
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Best you could hope for is that the new AD will have ties to Sconnie or the Big Ten. If they bring in an SEC type who chews tobacco, look out. :D
 
Re: Minnesota Cup

mnstate0fhockey said:
Don't have to. No AD at Minnesota has ever ignored hockey. No AD at Minnesota would ever be allowed to ignore hockey. There really isn't anything more to discuss.
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Given how many things the University has done over the past few years to ruin the atmosphere and drive away season ticket holders, they'd be better off if Maturi had ignored hockey.
 
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