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NaCHCo 2.0

In preparation for the '24-'25 season, here is a great article for anyone traveling to Tempe, and I would add: The Coach House (bar) for an overwhelming sensory overload when the Christmas lights are up & on (most all the time),
Los Olivos for arguably the best Mexican food in Scottsdale & has been there since the 1940's, just a block from Old Town.
Rusty Spur - a ritzy dive bar with live music in Old Town.

https://www.gophn*****/2022/06/09/a-...ale-offerings/

May have to copy & paste link into a new search page.
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Sol Diablo said:
And the world keeps changing........
https://news.stthomas.edu/st-thomas-mens-hockey-to-join-the-nchc/
Click to expand...

As far as I could tell with St. Thomas is that they don't have a significant fan base. I know they seem to have money, but you never see much of a presence from them. I root for a really small school in LSSU and actually encounter Lake State fans here and there online and in the tight knit college hockey world. The playoff series Lake State had vs. them was surprising in how little interaction there was from the Tommies.

The old CCHA had some programs that would come and go thinking they could compete with better programs. Illinois-Chicago comes to mind as a good example. They rarely did much and were never very competitive against the powers of the conference of the era like LSSU, MSU, and UMich. St. Thomas feels the same way to me in the NCHC. I don't see how they compete over the long haul.

Just because the state of Minnesota likes hockey doesn't mean St. Thomas will succeed. Wayne State in Michigan thought that, too, being in a great hockey market. And they didn't last long either. I think St. Thomas is better situated than Wayne State, but I could see a world in 2038 or something where they fold after being in the basement of the NCHC for a decade.
 
lakersparty said:
As far as I could tell with St. Thomas is that they don't have a significant fan base. I know they seem to have money, but you never see much of a presence from them. I root for a really small school in LSSU and actually encounter Lake State fans here and there online and in the tight knit college hockey world. The playoff series Lake State had vs. them was surprising in how little interaction there was from the Tommies.

The old CCHA had some programs that would come and go thinking they could compete with better programs. Illinois-Chicago comes to mind as a good example. They rarely did much and were never very competitive against the powers of the conference of the era like LSSU, MSU, and UMich. St. Thomas feels the same way to me in the NCHC. I don't see how they compete over the long haul.

Just because the state of Minnesota likes hockey doesn't mean St. Thomas will succeed. Wayne State in Michigan thought that, too, being in a great hockey market. And they didn't last long either. I think St. Thomas is better situated than Wayne State, but I could see a world in 2038 or something where they fold after being in the basement of the NCHC for a decade.
Click to expand...

I concur with your assessment.
Maybe the other STU thing is possibly media market size being attractive to NCHC, although fractured among many sports, pro & college. And maybe it will be like ASU where there was a hard core small (club) hockey following and are just now, 10 years later, getting to the point of improved following. In our case getting the arena was a big help.
Stay tuned..........
 
lakersparty said:
As far as I could tell with St. Thomas is that they don't have a significant fan base. I know they seem to have money, but you never see much of a presence from them. I root for a really small school in LSSU and actually encounter Lake State fans here and there online and in the tight knit college hockey world. The playoff series Lake State had vs. them was surprising in how little interaction there was from the Tommies.

The old CCHA had some programs that would come and go thinking they could compete with better programs. Illinois-Chicago comes to mind as a good example. They rarely did much and were never very competitive against the powers of the conference of the era like LSSU, MSU, and UMich. St. Thomas feels the same way to me in the NCHC. I don't see how they compete over the long haul.

Just because the state of Minnesota likes hockey doesn't mean St. Thomas will succeed. Wayne State in Michigan thought that, too, being in a great hockey market. And they didn't last long either. I think St. Thomas is better situated than Wayne State, but I could see a world in 2038 or something where they fold after being in the basement of the NCHC for a decade.
Click to expand...

Comparing Wayne State to UST is laughable
 
moose97 said:
Comparing Wayne State to UST is laughable
Click to expand...

I don’t think it is. St. Thomas had 437 people in the building for an elimination game in the playoffs this past season.

That’s Wayne State level support.

https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=8887

Wayne State thought they could grow being in a hockey state and failed. If St. Thomas only has 437 people interested in playoff hockey, it’s not going to end well for them.
 
lakersparty said:
I don’t think it is. St. Thomas had 437 people in the building for an elimination game in the playoffs this past season.

That’s Wayne State level support.

https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=8887

Wayne State thought they could grow being in a hockey state and failed. If St. Thomas only has 437 people interested in playoff hockey, it’s not going to end well for them.
Click to expand...

Cool story. Tell me when Wayne State committed $175 million to building a rink? Or elevating the entire athletic department to D1?

Also, first round playoff attendance is always shit. Especially a game 3 that no one knew would happen or not until less than 24 hours ahead of time. Look at that Gopher playoff game how many years ago that had a scattered few hundred in attendance.
https://twitter.com/jzulgad/status/1104518429481025542?t=Q3ALQm7CcY5bl34RTHkdKQ&s=19
 
moose97 said:
Cool story. Tell me when Wayne State committed $175 million to building a rink? Or elevating the entire athletic department to D1?

Also, first round playoff attendance is always ****. Especially a game 3 that no one knew would happen or not until less than 24 hours ahead of time. Look at that Gopher playoff game how many years ago that had a scattered few hundred in attendance.
https://twitter.com/jzulgad/status/1...34RTHkdKQ&s=19
Click to expand...

They had 506 in Game 1. They have a lot of visions of grandeur but they don’t actually have a hockey fan base. Same as Wayne State.

I noticed you said nothing about me comparing them to UIC who is Division I and got kicked around for awhile by the old powers in the CCHA before they dropped hockey. That’ll be St. Thomas in the NCHC.

And yay the Tommies are getting a multipurpose arena built. That just means it will be easier to focus on basketball instead of the hockey program drawing Wayne State attendance numbers that will join the list of defunct programs.
 
lakersparty said:
They had 506 in Game 1. They have a lot of visions of grandeur but they don’t actually have a hockey fan base. Same as Wayne State.

I noticed you said nothing about me comparing them to UIC who is Division I and got kicked around for awhile by the old powers in the CCHA before they dropped hockey. That’ll be St. Thomas in the NCHC.

And yay the Tommies are getting a multipurpose arena built. That just means it will be easier to focus on basketball instead of the hockey program drawing Wayne State attendance numbers that will join the list of defunct programs.
Click to expand...

UIC dropped hockey because they went all in on basketball when they hired Jimmy Collins (I'm old enough to have seen UIC play against BG in the Slate and happened to be living in Chicago when the Collins hire went down). Comparing the Tommies with UIC isn't accurate.

I agree with a lot of your takes on this situation, but I think long term the Tommies will fill that arena. Rico has been on a mission from Day 1 to shove a hot one up Miami State's arse.
 
lakersparty said:
I noticed you said nothing about me comparing them to UIC who is Division I and got kicked around for awhile by the old powers in the CCHA before they dropped hockey. That’ll be St. Thomas in the NCHC.
Click to expand...

UIC is another absurd comparison. A market that didn't give 2 shits about hockey until almost 15 years after the Flames dropped the sport. They would be much more popular if they were playing currently with the 'Hawks success.
 
The Grand Forks Herald had an article today concerning the speed of acceptance of St. Thomas. I can't read the article by Schlossman, no subscription. Can anyone provide a summary?
 
Discount on NCHC.tv

Sun Devil Hockey Joins the NCHC
Today Sun Devil Hockey officially joins the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC)! We appreciate your support of Sun Devil Hockey as we embark on this exciting journey.

In honor of Sun Devil Hockey's addition to the NCHC, the conference is offering ASU fans a new member discount of 9.42% off an NCHC Annual Pass for the upcoming 2024-25 season using the code CHAPTERTWO to watch all games on NCHC.tv.

Annual Passes are good for twelve (12) months from the purchase date and will auto-renew on the purchase date at the original purchase price. Pricing will increase on Sept. 1 so get this discounted rate today!
 
lakersparty said:
I don’t think it is. St. Thomas had 437 people in the building for an elimination game in the playoffs this past season.

That’s Wayne State level support.

https://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=8887

Wayne State thought they could grow being in a hockey state and failed. If St. Thomas only has 437 people interested in playoff hockey, it’s not going to end well for them.
Click to expand...

It's important to note that it wasn't really an elimination game, as St. Thomas isn't eligible to play in the NCAA tournament yet. I don't expect to see much real buy-in from the fans until their new arena gets built, but I think they will be packing out that building once complete.
 
nodak651 said:
It's important to note that it wasn't really an elimination game, as St. Thomas isn't eligible to play in the NCAA tournament yet. I don't expect to see much real buy-in from the fans until their new arena gets built, but I think they will be packing out that building once complete.
Click to expand...

They lost that game, and because they did they were eliminated from the conference playoff. In what way do you not consider this an elimination game?
 
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