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MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Attendance did indeed drop off sharply in Coach Markel's last years here as his teams never performed at a consistent higher level and the program's attendance does sadly seem based on team success and not school loyalty. Also home games on the same nights for OSU & the Blue Jackets draws off attendance as the Jackets arena is only a couple miles from OSU so if you pay big money for a NHL seat license then your choice for which game you're attending that night is made. The debate over a need for a smaller hockey only arena vs the Schott has been going on down here for a long time. I love my school but have no trust in who runs it. They would probably make a new arena too small for our needs and getting funding is another issue as there are no big money donors for hockey here like we have for football.
OSU is projecting that with the B1G conference now here hockey attendance will only grow and I think demographics support it. Our county between the 2001 & 2011 census grew by 100,000 and the surrounding counties as well. Hockey is growing dramatically in popularity here with the Blue Jackets spearheading that effort. If we have a competitive program I believe we can host 10,000 attendance B1G games in the next year or two with the games shown on the B1G network generating more interest as well. But if the new coach and team can't have winning seasons then forget about it.
 
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UMICH said:
I've never been to a hockey game in ohio nor will I. But seriously, how can you deny any of what I said (ok 523 people might be a slight exaggeration on how few people were there but I was doing it for affect). I recall Michigan games down there with 16,000 people, why such a drastic drop-off in attendance? ohio residents are seriously pathological about Michigan, not in the same way as sparty in that they do not care if they win and only if Michigan loses. ohio wants to win, but they also want Michigan to lose. I actually can respect that because you care about winning first and Michigan losing second, with sparty it's the other way around. I think that's percentage of tickets scanned versus seats in the arena would be a better judge because you do have a huge arena.
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One thing u probably couldn't see on TV was that the penalty box side was pretty full.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Hockeybuckeye said:
Attendance did indeed drop off sharply in Coach Markel's last years here as his teams never performed at a consistent higher level and the program's attendance does sadly seem based on team success and not school loyalty. Also home games on the same nights for OSU & the Blue Jackets draws off attendance as the Jackets arena is only a couple miles from OSU so if you pay big money for a NHL seat license then your choice for which game you're attending that night is made. The debate over a need for a smaller hockey only arena vs the Schott has been going on down here for a long time. I love my school but have no trust in who runs it. They would probably make a new arena too small for our needs and getting funding is another issue as there are no big money donors for hockey here like we have for football.
OSU is projecting that with the B1G conference now here hockey attendance will only grow and I think demographics support it. Our county between the 2001 & 2011 census grew by 100,000 and the surrounding counties as well. Hockey is growing dramatically in popularity here with the Blue Jackets spearheading that effort. If we have a competitive program I believe we can host 10,000 attendance B1G games in the next year or two with the games shown on the B1G network generating more interest as well. But if the new coach and team can't have winning seasons then forget about it.
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Seriously, you're blaming it on the Bluejackets? The state of Michigan has fewer people, two MAJOR D1 universities, the Red Wings, and Michigan has no problem filling its rink. Ok, it is markedly smaller than the Schott but we still draw more in numbers. Granted, the past few years we haven't been completely sold out but I believe that Michigan still averages 95% capacity...

sparty is a ghost town too (except when Michigan comes to town) so don't feel bad. Isn't it funny how Michigan brings people out? Basically anywhere Michigan goes people come out when we're there. If people hate you then you're doing something right...

So I guess ohio is doing something right a well, but not in all sports. You are clearly doing better than us in football currently and bouncy-ball is pretty even although I might even give you an edge there.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

We have a much smaller number of hockey fans than you do so Jacket games do bleed off OSU attendance. I won't argue that Michigan isn't more of a hockey state than Ohio because everyone knows you are. It's much more ingrained in your sports culture than here in Ohio so yes we DO have a lot of catching up to do. I was talking with Steve Piotrowski last night about Michigan hockey and how much I respect and admire Red Berenson and what he's achieved with your program so you see some Buckeyes really do know hockey! LOL!
 
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Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Hockeybuckeye said:
We have a much smaller number of hockey fans than you do so Jacket games do bleed off OSU attendance. I won't argue that Michigan isn't more of a hockey state than Ohio because everyone knows you are. It's much more ingrained in your sports culture than here in Ohio so yes we DO have a lot of catching up to do. I was talking with Steve Piotrowski last night about Michigan hockey and how much I respect and admire Red Berenson and what he's achieved with your program so you see some Buckeyes really do know hockey! LOL!
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Oh I know there are a couple. In fact I believe that I even met klbaum at Yost several years ago. But as you admitted, ohio has a long way to go. You also stated that you've been discussing the need for a smaller rink for years now but yes I believe playing in a mausoleum hurts you. But what can you do?
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

8058 in attendance tonight. Good crowd & atmosphere but not enough to motivate the team past Sparty. I still think we had more tonight because what few hockey fans Columbus has weren't at the Jackets tonight.
 
UMICH said:
Seriously, you're blaming it on the Bluejackets? The state of Michigan has fewer people, two MAJOR D1 universities, the Red Wings, and Michigan has no problem filling its rink. Ok, it is markedly smaller than the Schott but we still draw more in numbers. Granted, the past few years we haven't been completely sold out but I believe that Michigan still averages 95% capacity...

sparty is a ghost town too (except when Michigan comes to town) so don't feel bad. Isn't it funny how Michigan brings people out? Basically anywhere Michigan goes people come out when we're there. If people hate you then you're doing something right...

So I guess ohio is doing something right a well, but not in all sports. You are clearly doing better than us in football currently and bouncy-ball is pretty even although I might even give you an edge there.
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Get out of here yes michigan has all those teams u listed but they don't play in the same city as the college team. Naturally a nhl team will take fans away from a college team when they play on the same day at the same time.
 
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Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Tomorrow the Nittany Lions come into town for a pair. Last season was a split, the first game if I remember involved MSU taking the lead somewhat late into the third. The second game MSU was up 2-0 after one but it could have been 5-0 if not for missed chances, but those missed chances let PSU stay in the game and they came back to win 3-2. The only game of theirs I've seen so far this season was against Army, but that was the season opener so I'm sure much has changed since then.

As for MSU, we looked good last week from what I saw on BTN. Showed some semblance of offense and could have taken the first game had we not let OSU do whatever they want for the first two minutes of the 3rd.

With UM off and OSU playing Minnesota, this weekend is a perfect opportunity to move into third place, especially with the JLA and Munn games against UM next week.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

1st period was a lot of domination. 2nd and 3rd were a lot of missed opportunities and Hildy doing work. Still, a win is a win and we now find ourselves in 3rd place in the Big Ten.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Spartanforlife4 said:
1st period was a lot of domination. 2nd and 3rd were a lot of missed opportunities and Hildy doing work. Still, a win is a win and we now find ourselves in 3rd place in the Big Ten.
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What the what was Gdowsky barking at Anastos at the hand-shake? Because he lit into the ref for missing Hildy getting mugged/speared/tackled in the third?
 
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Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Our senior line was the only one that showed up last night. They had all 9 points. Good thing we have a top-echelon netminder!

This game got really interesting and worth the admission price from near the half-way point to the end of the second period - great chances on both sides, great saves, end-to-end skating.

There is no doubt in my mind the Penn State program will be fine.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

I didn't actually watch the handshake so I have no idea.

Also not sure why they stopped playing Shadows in the post-game.

PSU has improved a lot just in the last year. In 2013 when they came to Munn they were much rather looking to get the big hit to make up for the lack of play-making ability. Last night they were definitely settled into a system, and it's a little scary they worked that system so well with the guys they have now, let alone when they start getting recruits in the next couple years.

For MSU, we've played some great hockey since the Tech Comerica game. I think I said earlier that I was willing to wait until we got guys back from injury to start judging the job Anastos was doing, and now that the injured guys have gotten ample practice time the team looks much better. I'm a little disappointed in the freshman line, they definitely look like the fastest line when they're out on the ice but lately they haven't put anything together. Still, with Hildy we have a shot in any game.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Maybe they still do, but I haven't stayed around after the abbreviated fight song, followed by the full fight song, in order to hear it. If they do it takes so long to get to it that others I've talked to thought they stopped playing it too.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Break out the brooms for the first time in Big Ten history.

Like last night, a lot of missed opportunities. I don't now if Anastos told them to play conservative on the 5 minute major but it almost cost us. Also need more accuracy on one-on-ones because it seems like we're not even hitting within two feet of the net on some of them.

Haag looked incredibly out of it after that hit. Haven't seen any reports yet on what the injury is but it looked like a concussion from the way he was moving. Didn't necessarily look like he was favoring a side, just struggling to move. Would like to have him for the UM series because he can match their speed but if it is a concussion he will probably be out for at least next week.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Spartanforlife4 said:
Maybe they still do, but I haven't stayed around after the abbreviated fight song, followed by the full fight song, in order to hear it. If they do it takes so long to get to it that others I've talked to thought they stopped playing it too.
Click to expand...

Polydorus said:
I watched it on TV and could swear I could heard Shadows in the background when Anastos was being inteviewed after the game.
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Our alma mater now follows the 3 Stars presentation.

A whole-team effort tonight, as opposed to last night when it seemed to be all Hildebrand and one line doing the work. Big difference this evening looked to be at our defensive blue-line, where we had active sticks and kept PSU from getting easy entries.

Sure hope Haag is well. He may have more than got his bell rung - this is one of those nights somebody had better post a watch.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

According to Sunday's Lansing State Journal Haag was "available to play" after he returned from the locker room.
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Game was sold out as of yesterday. Possibility to break the all-time mark set in last year's game?
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

Good game, in a year two you'll be something to reckon with...
 
Re: MSU Spartan Hockey 2013-14: Sipping the hemlock again

My family had season tickets until I was about 12, and then including games from the last couple years, I'd say I've seen about 200+ games in my life and this is the first one I've walked out early on. Just an awful, awful game.
 
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