Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

[KaMiGo]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

According to a previous post the writer said Poltuny wants to bring OSU, MSU & Minnesota to Marquette to play the Cats in non-conference play.... What about ND, PSU & Michigan???? NMU already plays Wisconsin.... NMU plays (6) non-conference games in 2017-18 with NMU vs LSSU (Away & Home), Wisconsin @ NMU (In GB), NMU @ UNO.... What about scheduling (2) Big 10 schools instead of LSSU & UNO so all (6) of NMU's non-conference games would be against Big 10 schools???? This would really help out NMU with the RPI and Pairwise rankings and would also help NMU with strength of schedule plus these Big 10 teams would draw large crowds at The Berry so it's a great situation for NMU all the way around if Poltuny can pull off this kind of scheduling off.... It's good to see that he wants to do it!!!!!!!!!!!

I understand the thought process and would love to see more equitable scheduling, but what incentive does a B1G team have to schedule bottom-half WCHA teams as 1-for-1?

What do teams like Wisconsin want? They want MONEY! How do they get money? By hosting games at home.
What do teams like Northern Michigan want? They want MONEY! How do they get money? By taking guarantees from big schools to play on the road.

Sure, everyone can talk about wanting to build strength of schedule, and that plays a small roll, but big schools want to play at home so that they can make money. At the end of the day, what is going to be good for Northern Michigan's strength of schedule would probably drag down the strength of schedule for all of the teams that they play. If all of those B1G teams that you mention play NMU and sweep or split (as you could expect from the difference in players recruited) it doesn't do anybody much good.

The reality is that NMU is at a disadvantage when it comes to scheduling. They can either try to get 1 for 1 deals which might happen with some of the lower half teams of the ECAC or AHA. Or they can accept that the driving forces of the current hockey market would demand that they play 2 for 1 deals with B1G or NCHC schools.

Wisconsin playing at the BEC would probably move the needle in Marquette. There would probably be a surge in ticket sales for that weekend.
When NMU comes to Wisconsin and plays in the Kohl Center it doesn't do anything for the Wisconsin fans. Those are usually some of the lowest attendance numbers of the year. Sure, recent years have had those games early in the season when hockey sales are usually low, but the name on the jerseys plays into it to.

This is where the hockey scheduling landscape is right now. You can love it, you can hate it, but you can't expect it to change much without some sort of watershed event.

 

[DonorRoomDrinker]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

So what you are saying is that Potulny is barking up the wrong tree with his desire to play Big 10 teams in non-conference???? You have at least give him some credit for trying to get some 1 for 1's with Big Ten schools to provide some new interest in NMU Hockey again after the slumping attendance and mediocre win/loss records as of late....

Granted that it would be easier for him to offer 2 for 1's but at least he's going to try and get 1 for 1's so I like his equality approach.... With Potulny being aggressive about non-conference scheduling and not afraid to play the bigger schools shows that he wants to move the NMU Hockey program forward and make it a program that will be respected around the NCAA again and it should also help him with recruiting as well....

On the subject of Big Ten schools having no incentive to come to Marquette to play NMU.... They have to schedule somebody in their non-conference games so why not NMU who is close by geographically for Big 10 schools like MN, WI, MSU, UM and it would promote regional rivalries as well.... NMU has a long-standing hockey tradition, has a nice hockey facility with The Berry and would draw nice crowds there vs Big 10 schools so NMU does have something to offer as opposed to the Big 10 scheduling all their non-conference games against other small schools....

The Big Ten has to play somebody in non-conference so why not NMU???? If Potulny can get Minnesota to come to Marquette maybe the other Big 10 schools will follow so I see his efforts to schedule them as a good thing.... Playing LSSU and UNO in non-conference just isn't doing NMU any good in my view....

Minnesota's 2017-18 Non-Conference Schedule

@ Minnesota-Duluth (1 game)
vs Union/Michigan Tech (1 game)
@ North Dakota (2 games)
vs Clarkson (2 games)
vs Harvard (2 games)
vs Army (2 games)
@ St. Cloud State (1 game)
vs St. Cloud State (1 game)

 

[davyd83]

So what you are saying is that Potulny is barking up the wrong tree with his desire to play Big 10 teams in non-conference???? You have at least give him some credit for trying to get some 1 for 1's with Big Ten schools to provide some new interest in NMU Hockey again after the slumping attendance and mediocre win/loss records as of late....

Granted that it would be easier for him to offer 2 for 1's but at least he's going to try and get 1 for 1's so I like his equality approach.... With Potulny being aggressive about non-conference scheduling and not afraid to play the bigger schools shows that he wants to move the NMU Hockey program forward and make it a program that will be respected around the NCAA again and it should also help him with recruiting as well....

On the subject of Big Ten schools having no incentive to come to Marquette to play NMU.... They have to schedule somebody in their non-conference games so why not NMU who is close by geographically for Big 10 schools like MN, WI, MSU, UM and it would promote regional rivalries as well.... NMU has a long-standing hockey tradition, has a nice hockey facility with The Berry and would draw nice crowds there vs Big 10 schools so NMU does have something to offer as opposed to the Big 10 scheduling all their non-conference games against other small schools....

The Big Ten has to play somebody in non-conference so why not NMU???? If Potulny can get Minnesota to come to Marquette maybe the other Big 10 schools will follow so I see his efforts to schedule them as a good thing.... Playing LSSU and UNO in non-conference just isn't doing NMU any good in my view....

Minnesota's 2017-18 Non-Conference Schedule

@ Minnesota-Duluth (1 game)
vs Union/Michigan Tech (1 game)
@ North Dakota (2 games)
vs Clarkson (2 games)
vs Harvard (2 games)
vs Army (2 games)
@ St. Cloud State (1 game)
vs St. Cloud State (1 game)

Do you not think NMU has attempted to get Big 10 schools in the building? Under their previous coaches, Michigan and MSU have refused even swaps of games. It appears Attempts have been made to get Penn State to come here. They have balked as well. As for geography, Marquette is three hours further by bus from Ann Arbor than the schools than the schools in Buffalo are. Michigan can schedule Miami, Bowling Green, Western or Ferris far easier than NMU. May as more schools refuse 2 for 1's as NMU has, the Big 10 schools will soften their stance. We'll see if Mel gives Tech the even swaps that Red refused to give him.

 

[Huskiefan906]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

Mel wanted to play up and he did very well considering having to play on the road.
I personally do not see Tech and UM anymore except at the GLI. It is too personal to continue. Plus, Mel knows the results that occurred in Houghton. That little WCHA team kicked the **** out of the Larkin led Wolverines...

 

[davyd83]

Mel wanted to play up and he did very well considering having to play on the road.
I personally do not see Tech and UM anymore except at the GLI. It is too personal to continue. Plus, Mel knows the results that occurred in Houghton. That little WCHA team kicked the **** out of the Larkin led Wolverines...

Too personal?

 

[DonorRoomDrinker]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

So is NMU now considered to be the "armpit" of college hockey with nobody wanting to come to Marquette to play the Cats???? It will be a sad day if it has come to that.... Maybe being a Top 20 program again will change that perception.... As I previously stated, NMU may have a good connection with Notre Dame as NMU AD Forrest Karr is a Hockey alumni from ND and former LSSU coach Jeff Jackson is the coach at ND so this may work in NMU's favor for getting a non-conference 1 for 1 with them and NMU coach Potulny played and coached at Minnesota so NMU may have a chance at scheduling Minnesota and/or Notre Dame in the future.... I realize that NCAA D1 College Hockey these days is made up of "have's & have not's" and NMU may be at the bottom of the totem pole and a bottom feeder compared to many other schools but that's not a reason to give up hope.... Maybe it's just positive thinking on my part but I applaud Potulny for at least wanting to give it the "old college try"....

2017-18 Notre Dame Hockey Non-Conference Games

vs Alabama-Huntsville (2 games)
vs Denver (2 games)
vs Sacred Heart (2 games)
vs Nebraska-Omaha (2 games)
@ RPI (2 games)

 

[aparch]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

Maybe you haven't noticed (and judging by the armpit comment you haven't), but the UP as a whole is pretty geographically isolated from the rest of college hockey. NMU benefitted from it's connections (UNO being a former CCHA mate and long-standing rival to NMU, WMU because of Facca/Shyiak, Wisco because of the agreement between Mike Eaves and Walt Kyle). LSSU scheduled ECAC opponents. MTU was able to use Mel to leverage Michigan's first trip to Houghton since before the Ma Bell AT&T anti-trust breakup in the 80's.

It's a P.I.T.A to get to Houghton, The Soo, and even MQT from other points in the hockey world, and MQT has the largest fu**ing airport in the UP! It's cheaper to ride on a travel bus for 10+ hours for games than it is for tickets for a connecting flights to their destination out of Minneapolis, Chicago O'Hare, or Detroit.

We've been made pretty aware of this when the NCHC said: "We're forming a new WCHA, minus Anchorage and Houghton." When Grand Forks, Duluth, and Kalamazoo are easier destinations than Houghton or MQT, you're made aware (if you weren't) of the geographical quagmire the UP can be.


And if Forrest Karr hasn't been able to negotiate a series with Notre Dame in the last six years, I'm going to doubt they'll schedule NMU ever again.

For all the talk that tOSU had about making late fall bus trips to NMU as team building experiences, and the rich history that tOSU and NMU share, once they went B1G, they made sure they never needed Bridge Tokens ever again.


Ideally, I'd like to see tOSU, WMU, ND, Wisco, Minn, and a few others on a rotational basis. Never going to happen unless the WCHA once again becomes the premier league, or NMU is in conference that would play those schools more.



And yes, kudos and good luck to Potulny for working to schedule non-conference opponents that would benefit the PWR and are willing to play 1-for-1's.

(Which is what the last guy was also doing. )

 

[davyd83]

Maybe you haven't noticed (and judging by the armpit comment you haven't), but the UP as a whole is pretty geographically isolated from the rest of college hockey. NMU benefitted from it's connections (UNO being a former CCHA mate and long-standing rival to NMU, WMU because of Facca/Shyiak, Wisco because of the agreement between Mike Eaves and Walt Kyle). LSSU scheduled ECAC opponents. MTU was able to use Mel to leverage Michigan's first trip to Houghton since before the Ma Bell AT&T anti-trust breakup in the 80's.

It's a P.I.T.A to get to Houghton, The Soo, and even MQT from other points in the hockey world, and MQT has the largest fu**ing airport in the UP! It's cheaper to ride on a travel bus for 10+ hours for games than it is for tickets for a connecting flights to their destination out of Minneapolis, Chicago O'Hare, or Detroit.

We've been made pretty aware of this when the NCHC said: "We're forming a new WCHA, minus Anchorage and Houghton." When Grand Forks, Duluth, and Kalamazoo are easier destinations than Houghton or MQT, you're made aware (if you weren't) of the geographical quagmire the UP can be.


And if Forrest Karr hasn't been able to negotiate a series with Notre Dame in the last six years, I'm going to doubt they'll schedule NMU ever again.

For all the talk that tOSU had about making late fall bus trips to NMU as team building experiences, and the rich history that tOSU and NMU share, once they went B1G, they made sure they never needed Bridge Tokens ever again.


Ideally, I'd like to see tOSU, WMU, ND, Wisco, Minn, and a few others on a rotational basis. Never going to happen unless the WCHA once again becomes the premier league, or NMU is in conference that would play those schools more.



And yes, kudos and good luck to Potulny for working to schedule non-conference opponents that would benefit the PWR and are willing to play 1-for-1's.

(Which is what the last guy was also doing. )

NMU played a one off at Western for a paycheck a few years ago and was supposed to also get a swap, but once Rob Facca left, WMU never followed through despite numerous requests by NMU.

 

[giwan]

NMU played a one off at Western for a paycheck a few years ago and was supposed to also get a swap, but once Rob Facca left, WMU never followed through despite numerous requests by NMU.

FYI it's not like these 'paychecks' are really worth much. We're not talking D1 football checks

 

[davyd83]

FYI it's not like these 'paychecks' are really worth much. We're not talking D1 football checks

The one from Western more than covered the travel and expenses for the weekend. The checks from North Dakota and Penn State were very nice, relatively speaking. There is however, a slightly different level of pay for a weekend series that draws a total of 7,000 fans pay an average of $15 a ticket in Kalamazoo vs 100,000 in Ann Arbor.

 

[DonorRoomDrinker]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

Recent NMU-Wisconsin non-conference games???? It's a shame that this non-conference series is being discontinued as per a previous post on USCHO.com....

2005 @ Madison (1 game)
2006 @ Green Bay (2 games)
2009 @ Madison (2 games)
2011 @ Madison (2 games)
2012 @ Green Bay (2 games)
2013 @ Madison (2 games)
2014 @ Green Bay (2 games)
2015 @ Madison (2 games)
2016 @ Green Bay (2 games)
2016 @ Madison (2 games)
2017 @ Green Bay (2 games)

 

[davyd83]

Recent NMU-Wisconsin non-conference games???? It's a shame that this non-conference series is being discontinued as per a previous post on USCHO.com....

2005 @ Madison (1 game)
2006 @ Green Bay (2 games)
2009 @ Madison (2 games)
2011 @ Madison (2 games)
2012 @ Green Bay (2 games)
2013 @ Madison (2 games)
2014 @ Green Bay (2 games)
2015 @ Madison (2 games)
2016 @ Green Bay (2 games)
2016 @ Madison (2 games)
2017 @ Green Bay (2 games)

NMU wanted to continue, but Wisconsin chose not to renew, although it did extend the series because we moved to trip to Madison to last year. Therefore we get this year's series in Green Bay. The team played 2 games at Madison in 2005-06, beating Wayne State 6-2 in the opener of the Badgers Holiday Tourney.

 

[aparch]

NMU and Wisconsin have quite the past together, as NMU was invited to the Badger Showdown in 1993-94, 1997-98, 2002-03, and 2005-06.

The Badgers discontinued the tournament after 2010.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

Maybe you haven't noticed (and judging by the armpit comment you haven't), but the UP as a whole is pretty geographically isolated from the rest of college hockey. NMU benefitted from it's connections (UNO being a former CCHA mate and long-standing rival to NMU, WMU because of Facca/Shyiak, Wisco because of the agreement between Mike Eaves and Walt Kyle). LSSU scheduled ECAC opponents. MTU was able to use Mel to leverage Michigan's first trip to Houghton since before the Ma Bell AT&T anti-trust breakup in the 80's.

It's a P.I.T.A to get to Houghton, The Soo, and even MQT from other points in the hockey world, and MQT has the largest fu**ing airport in the UP! It's cheaper to ride on a travel bus for 10+ hours for games than it is for tickets for a connecting flights to their destination out of Minneapolis, Chicago O'Hare, or Detroit.

We've been made pretty aware of this when the NCHC said: "We're forming a new WCHA, minus Anchorage and Houghton." When Grand Forks, Duluth, and Kalamazoo are easier destinations than Houghton or MQT, you're made aware (if you weren't) of the geographical quagmire the UP can be.


And if Forrest Karr hasn't been able to negotiate a series with Notre Dame in the last six years, I'm going to doubt they'll schedule NMU ever again.

For all the talk that tOSU had about making late fall bus trips to NMU as team building experiences, and the rich history that tOSU and NMU share, once they went B1G, they made sure they never needed Bridge Tokens ever again.


Ideally, I'd like to see tOSU, WMU, ND, Wisco, Minn, and a few others on a rotational basis. Never going to happen unless the WCHA once again becomes the premier league, or NMU is in conference that would play those schools more.



And yes, kudos and good luck to Potulny for working to schedule non-conference opponents that would benefit the PWR and are willing to play 1-for-1's.

(Which is what the last guy was also doing. )

*applause*

I can see where this is going, man. And regardless of our W-L records, we're all screwed.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

I understand the thought process and would love to see more equitable scheduling, but what incentive does a B1G team have to schedule bottom-half WCHA teams as 1-for-1?

What do teams like Wisconsin want? They want MONEY! How do they get money? By hosting games at home.
What do teams like Northern Michigan want? They want MONEY! How do they get money? By taking guarantees from big schools to play on the road.

Sure, everyone can talk about wanting to build strength of schedule, and that plays a small roll, but big schools want to play at home so that they can make money. At the end of the day, what is going to be good for Northern Michigan's strength of schedule would probably drag down the strength of schedule for all of the teams that they play. If all of those B1G teams that you mention play NMU and sweep or split (as you could expect from the difference in players recruited) it doesn't do anybody much good.

The reality is that NMU is at a disadvantage when it comes to scheduling. They can either try to get 1 for 1 deals which might happen with some of the lower half teams of the ECAC or AHA. Or they can accept that the driving forces of the current hockey market would demand that they play 2 for 1 deals with B1G or NCHC schools.

Wisconsin playing at the BEC would probably move the needle in Marquette. There would probably be a surge in ticket sales for that weekend.
When NMU comes to Wisconsin and plays in the Kohl Center it doesn't do anything for the Wisconsin fans. Those are usually some of the lowest attendance numbers of the year. Sure, recent years have had those games early in the season when hockey sales are usually low, but the name on the jerseys plays into it to.

This is where the hockey scheduling landscape is right now. You can love it, you can hate it, but you can't expect it to change much without some sort of watershed event.

I'm a UAH fan replying because it's germane to WCHA schools in general.

The only thing that will stop the 2-for-1s is for many/most of the small schools to stop taking them. Big Ten schools have up to 14 NC dates to fill, and there aren't many NC dates with schools out east. NCHC schools are in the same boat, but both of those conferences are continuing to snipe about travel costs.

It would take WCHA, AHC, and ECAC all agreeing to no 2-for-1 non-conference deals. The three conferences need to work together anyway on a scheduling alliance before they go from obscurity to irrelevance.

GFM

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

The Goofs don't even want to come to Bemidji, which is a four hour bus ride from campus. Gonna be hard to get them to come to the UP, I believe.

 

[DonorRoomDrinker]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

POSSIBLE 2017-18 NMU HOCKEY LINES

1ST LINE

G - Jr. Atte Tolvanen (6'0" 190lbs)

D - Sr. Jordan Klimek (5'11" 175lbs)

D - Jr. James Vermeulen (6'2" 190lbs)

F - Sr. Robbie Payne (5'11" 195lbs)

F - So. Darien Craighead (6'1" 170lbs)

F - Sr. Zach Diamantoni (5'10" 170lbs)

2ND LINE

G - Jr. Atte Tolvanen (6'0" 190lbs)

D - So. Rylan Yeremko (6'3" 205lbs)

D - So. Philip Beaulieu (5'10" 195lbs)

F - Jr. Troy Loggins (5'9" 160lbs)

F - Jr. Adam Rockwood (5'10" 165lbs)

F - So. Demico Hannoun (6'0" 195lbs)

3RD LINE

G - Jr. Atte Tolvanen (6'0" 190lbs)

D - Jr. Connor Frantti (6'6" 205lbs)

D - Jr. Ryan Black (5'9" 170lbs)

F - So. Luke Voltin (6'0" 195lbs)

F - Jr. Denver Pierce (5'11" 195lbs)

F - Sr. Filip Starzynski (5'9" 180lbs)

 

[moose97]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

So, here's a thing. I started reading USCHO in, oh, 1997, right after I finished up at NMU (on the "old" message board). Now, I've got a daughter who's a Jr in HS who has scheduled a campus visit to NMU the first home hockey weekend (and says Northern is her first choice). So, yeah. Can't wait to see campus again!

 

[davyd83]

So, here's a thing. I started reading USCHO in, oh, 1997, right after I finished up at NMU (on the "old" message board). Now, I've got a daughter who's a Jr in HS who has scheduled a campus visit to NMU the first home hockey weekend (and says Northern is her first choice). So, yeah. Can't wait to see campus again!

Fantastic! Please stop by and sit in!

 

[DonorRoomDrinker]

Re: Northern Michigan University 2017 Off-Season. Zihuatanejo.

You won't recognize the NMU campus with all the new buildings!!!!!!!!!!!