New WCHA is dead

[mmf]

Re: New WCHA is dead

As far as the secret issue.....what were they supposed to do? Call up the Alaska AD and say "hey we are leaving the conference in two years to start a new conference with schools around us, you are not part of it, please don't tell the WCHA commish until we are ready to OK". The guy would have called the league the minute the call hung up.......

Why didn't they want the commish to know? Why didn't they go through the WCHA governance structure when they started this. Be upfront about it to the full WCHA Board and Management Council. Listen to what the UA* schools have to say. It would have been the professional way to go about it. It wouldn’t have changed anything but it would have been the right thing to do. UAA and UAF could have been out anyway, but that's not justification for this action, or else their list may be too short. But at least the secrete seven are now aware more than ever of the character of those they’re crawling into bed with.

It will be interesting to see which teams become the "Handmaids" of the new F-U* conference.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: New WCHA is dead

\Which I know sucks for their fans, but it also sucked for the fans of St. Louis University and Illinois-Chicago and Wayne State and Kent State and Northern Arizona and US International etc..... all programs that tried and couldn't support D-1 hockey for one reason or another and some of those programs were thousands of miles away on their own and guess what, it didn't work then either.

SLU hockey: 9 seasons
UIC hockey: 15 years
WSU hockey: 9 seasons
KSU hockey: 12 seasons
NAU hockey: 5 seasons
USI hockey: 8 seasons
Fair hockey: 6 in D-I; 22 in D-III
Fin hockey: 8 seasons
Iona hockey: 5 seasons in D-I; 22 in D-III

UAH hockey: 26 seasons in D-I (40 overall, counting club)
BGSU hockey: 50 seasons in D-I (39 at the time they turned it around)

Absolutely BG pulled itself out of the mire, and it definitely did its own damage to get there. That's true of UAH, but twice now people have **** down our throats and told us to go find another league, with their schools fans talking about "how great a fit that UAH would make to [insert league name here]".

UAH to Atlantic Hockey is probably a non-starter for those schools. They rejected UAH in 2013. They'll probably reject us in the end.

What are we supposed to do, hold biscuit fundraisers and rally up fans to stand in the park across from the arena, literal dozens of fans that a kind journalist in me made into a throbbing, raving crowd of hundreds? We have exactly two NHL alumni.

But no, we're to just take our life and say, "Hockey just wasn't supposed to make it down there."

GFM

 

[gfmorris]

Re: New WCHA is dead

Maybe the real problem is that all college hockey conferences have to have between 8 and 12 teams (practically speaking, not formally). That's not a wide enough range to allow any flexibility with conference alignments.

Given the length of the season, the travel gulf between schools east and west of the Allegheny > Ohio > Mississippi rivers, economic disparity, and no NCAA-mandated scheduling, yep, that's the problem, Bob.

GFM

 

[DrunkTrainPolka]

Re: New WCHA is dead

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/cevRS9J.png"></img>

amen...

 

[DrunkTrainPolka]

Re: New WCHA is dead

.
i am sorry. this sucks for UAH.

...and hell, i like yous!

it was a survival move. coulda maybe been done better. sure.

but really, you are not out... you can either be ****y about it, or be pro-active.

what the 'magnificent seven' did was nothing short of amazing for having the balls. needed to be done.

its these kind of moves that gets things moving... and maybe nothing changes in the end.

GO TECH GOLD!
.

 

[ticapnews]

Re: New WCHA is dead

Given the length of the season, the travel gulf between schools east and west of the Allegheny > Ohio > Mississippi rivers, economic disparity, and no NCAA-mandated scheduling, yep, that's the problem, Bob.

GFM

It's a shame your last name doesn't start with a Y...

 

[gfmorris]

Re: New WCHA is dead

.
i am sorry. this sucks for UAH.

...and hell, i like yous!

it was a survival move. coulda maybe been done better. sure.

but really, you are not out... you can either be ****y about it, or be pro-active.

what the 'magnificent seven' did was nothing short of amazing for having the balls. needed to be done.

its these kind of moves that gets things moving... and maybe nothing changes in the end.

GO TECH GOLD!
.

But I don't know how to save a program!

GFM

 

[Alaska Hockey]

Re: New WCHA is dead

Why didn't they want the commish to know? Why didn't they go through the WCHA governance structure when they started this. Be upfront about it to the full WCHA Board and Management Council. Listen to what the UA* schools have to say. It would have been the professional way to go about it. It wouldn’t have changed anything but it would have been the right thing to do. UAA and UAF could have been out anyway, but that's not justification for this action, or else their list may be too short. But at least the secrete seven are now aware more than ever of the character of those they’re crawling into bed with.

It will be interesting to see which teams become the "Handmaids" of the new F-U* conference.

I thought they want to go back to the new Chicken Chit H A

 

[aparch]

What are we supposed to do, hold biscuit fundraisers...

I'm in for a dozen. Who do I make the check out to?

But no, we're to just take our life and say, "Hockey just wasn't supposed to make it down there."

GFM

That's horsesh**. Southern hockey *does* work. Nashville and Dallas have proven that in the NHL. Atlanta was fu**ed over by their ownership group who couldn't even agree where to order lunch from. Gwinnett Gladiators are 10 years strong. The SPHL, ECHL, and CHL have all swung through and there have been stable South-Southeast teams in all those leagues.

UAH has done very well considering it was left for dead by the CCHA (which, I admit I agreed with at the time because the CCHA needed to get it's sh*t together (and we saw how that turned out)) but have been a welcomed addition in the new WCHA (but that's just my opinion).

It seems like the commitment is now there for UAH, just need to get earmarked funding to lock this down. I would love to see UAH in the New CCHA or WCHA 3.0 or GLIAC-HKY.

*Edit* For the record, I want UAA and UA_ to succeed as well and also be a part of the new league, but they seem to have a more difficult path after the legislative cuts.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: New WCHA is dead

I guess I gotta go up to TN and win that lottery...

GFM

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Which I know sucks for their fans, but it also sucked for the fans of St. Louis University and Illinois-Chicago and Wayne State and Kent State and Northern Arizona and US International etc..... all programs that tried and couldn't support D-1 hockey for one reason or another and some of those programs were thousands of miles away on their own and guess what, it didn't work then either.

I don’t have a polite way of saying what you can do with this opinion.

UAA, UA(F), and UAH _have_ been supporting D-I hockey. For decades.

Admittedly, attendance is down in all three as of late, but even in down years they draw more fans than about a quarter of the rest of the teams in the country, and in good times (not that long ago: I’ve tracked data back into the 90s) they could easily average 2000/night in Huntsville and around twice that at either Alaska school.

They can support hockey. The bigger problems in Huntsville and Anchorage have been owning their own rinks, and the economy in Anchorage and Huntsville.

All of those problems are solvable, it’s just a question of how long would it take and whether any of the parties involved (ranging from governments to universities to conference foes) will permit that.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: New WCHA is dead

\They can support hockey. The bigger problems in Huntsville and Anchorage have been owning their own rinks, and the economy in Anchorage and Huntsville.

Pardon? Our economy is doing well.

GFM

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Pardon? Our economy is doing well.

GFM

Brain fart. I had Anchorage and Huntsville on loop in my brain from the earlier sentence.

Economy in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

 

[davyd83]

Pardon? Our economy is doing well.

GFM

There was a Huntsville article published that included comments from a “source close to UAH Hockey.”. I couldn’t have agreed more with the source.

 

[The Rube]

Re: New WCHA is dead

'Member when the CCHA refused UAH b/c they thought BG was gonna fold. I 'member.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: New WCHA is dead

I never understood why anyone takes blame for the whole disaster besides the Big Ten. Everyone was generally happy with their situation including most of the Big Ten hockey fans, but they couldn't leave well enough alone.

All these other dominoes falling were inevitable. I don't really blame anyone in the NCHC and I don't blame the seven schools now except for the shady way they handled it.

Barry Alvarez is to blame but you can't lay the whole thing on the BTHC and none of it on the NCHC - none of which does anyone any good but it it makes you feel better have at it.

 

[bravohankins]

Re: New WCHA is dead

UAA, UA(F), and UAH _have_ been supporting D-I hockey. For decades.

Awesome....then I'm sure they have nothing to worry about.

The other conferences are already lining up to have such well supported programs in their conferences.
You should be glad...now the rest of us F-ing *** holes in Ohio and Michigan won't be holding you back from being truly successful up there.

And you UAA fans on your high horses. You know how many WCHA member schools they consulted about moving their home game to basically a HS rink.....zero. NOT A SINGLE ONE. They went straight to the league and got them to waive the 2,500 seat minimum, with 0% input from the other schools. That....from what I've heard was the last straw.

UAH has been warned for years to step up funding or get out.......didn't take it serious I guess.....they probably are now. They fund/build that new arena and they will be fine.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

I can't dispute the choices made by the devious 7. They each have the right to decide how to advance their program in the way they think best. Presumably, they have taken their action in a reasoned and responsible way taking the bylaws of their conference into consideration. It will have a huge impact on the Alaska programs and a lesser impact on UAH. However, I remain disappointed with the lack of communication and respect that they have shown the 3 "red-headed step children" that they abandoned. Communication shows respect. They have behaved poorly.

+1.

 

[DrunkTrainPolka]

Re: New WCHA is dead

But I don't know how to save a program!

GFM

personally i think UAH will end up being the 8th team.

who else is out there?

ASU? highly doubt that... they are just fine as an independent...

the AK teams will become one... UAF, the flagship institution.

but the dream pick, for a tech fan, would be UMD.

UAH i think would be a better fit for AHA...

but again, i think it will end up being the 8th team.

 

[altazo]

SLU hockey: 9 seasons
UIC hockey: 15 years
WSU hockey: 9 seasons
KSU hockey: 12 seasons
NAU hockey: 5 seasons
USI hockey: 8 seasons
Fair hockey: 6 in D-I; 22 in D-III
Fin hockey: 8 seasons
Iona hockey: 5 seasons in D-I; 22 in D-III

UAH hockey: 26 seasons in D-I (40 overall, counting club)
BGSU hockey: 50 seasons in D-I (39 at the time they turned it around)



GFM

You don’t think BGSU had their act together in the ‘80s when they had Jerry York behind the bench and were going to NCAA’s basically every year, including winning it all in ‘84 and one or two additional Frozen Four appearances??