Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

[LordofBrewtown]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

But if Quinnipiac leaves, I'd vote for the Ivies peeling off first and foremost. The possibility of a 20 game schedule and playing the same team on back to back nights, the rivalries would be intense and a blast.

I've never understood why the Ivies don't peel off. Just maintain a scheduling agreement with the other ECAC teams to fill everyone's schedule/not have to worry about home games. Now those (former) ECAC schools are guaranteed 2 auto bids. Seems like a no-brainer.

If they do that, ECAC can add RIT to go to 7 teams even if HE stays at 11. That puts RIT with the other Liberty League schools (could almost rename the ECAC the Liberty League).
That keeps the Atlantic at 10, Ivy 6, ECAC/Liberty 7, and HE 11. Eastern region is relatively unchanged, and can easily handle any new teams (several options).

Regarding Big10, if ASU would join, I hope they keep the # of conference games at 24, even if its not a complete round robin. 28 is too many. I'm happy at 7 teams, the 4 game round robin works nicely, and looking at this years schedule, teams already had some late bye weeks, so the odd number of teams really shouldn't be that big of a deal (especially with ASU out there).

The only remaining question is if the NCHC schools (or specifically Miami and Western) come to their senses and just go back to the old WCHA and CCHA. If the old CCHA remained, I'm not sure Notre Dame would be going to the Big10.
I think the West is better off overall if they go back to the Old WCHA (CC,DEN,NoDak,Omaha, BSU,MSU,SCSU,UMD,Tech,Anch) and CCHA (NMU,LSSU,FSU,WMU,Miami,BG,Hunt,AK). ASU in either.

 

[J.D.]

Mike McMahon ‏@MikeMcMahonCHN 21m21 minutes ago
Notre Dame will owe Hockey East $250,000 as an exit fee, per league bylaws.

What is bertagna's buyout?

 

[J.D.]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

Somebody was talking about not wanting huge changes in the east. If hockey east were to add quinnipiac and the ecac added a team from Atlantic hockey...i wouldn't consider those huge changes. The "huge" changes will come from nchc/wcha down the line. Eastern hockey is still as stable as ever.

 

[J.D.]

Does Arizona State join Big 10?

Does UCONN go with ND?

HEA replacement short list:

1. Quinnipiac
2. Holy Cross
3. RPI
4. URI (big donor needed)

Can't tell if serious about uconn. Why would the big ten want uconn hockey?

 

[scoreboard]

Conventional wisdom says that schools in the same conference in other sports might want to stick together whenever they can. The only exceptions out east:

- Merrimack and Quinnipiac not being in AHA with the other MAAC and NE-10 (respectively) schools.
- RIT not being with the other Liberty League teams in ECAC
- The Patriot League teams (Army, BU, Holy Cross, Colgate) being all over the place

Everyone else is in the same conference as their primary conference foes, if they have any that play college hockey.

Obviously, Merrimack and Quinnipiac aren't taking "demotions" to AHA any time soon, and there's really only a thin connection in the Patriot League (BU doesn't have football, and Army obviously has their own football arrangements). I doubt it matters too much to Holy Cross and Colgate if they're playing hockey with or without each other.

If we go by "conventional wisdom" and factor in who is actually a good college hockey program, the most logical conclusion is: Quinnipiac to HE; either Holy Cross or RIT to ECAC; AHA does nothing. That or nobody does anything.

Best post on this thread. Top choice would be QU. Would they be interested? They are on the top of their game and the ECAC is very competitive now. Time will tell what Hockey East does. I do not believe they would ever replace Notre Dame with Bentley.

 

[acohen527]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

Don't count Bentley out. We plan to break ground on the new rink in the next few months, completed and ready for the 2017-2018 season. Max French and Jayson Argue also have the potential to be top 5 players in the NCAA at their positions, and the rest of our team is relatively young. We also have top 5 scorers from both the BCHL and NAHL coming in for 2016-2017, Jonathan Desbiens and Ryner Gorowsky.

I expect there to be serious consideration of Bentley for the spot, if not a spot in ECAC.

Edit: Also, 5/6 of Bentley's OOC games this season were vs. Hockey East teams, two of which were held at the JAR (a very rare occurrence). This was the most of any AHC team this season.
Home and Away vs. NEU, Home vs. MMack, Away @UNH and Away @ BU.

 

[Split-N]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

...Northeastern running them out of their own barn may have been the final nail in the divorce.

Who in his right mind thought we'd be saying that? And BTW, NU and ND could conceivably end up playing for a ticket to Tampa in the Cincy regionals.

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

....But then the Tigers wouldn't get to beat up on the Atlantic on their Blue Cross Arena home ice advantage.

Atlantic Hockey is a cost containment league and RIT is the only team that draws, it's simple economics. Also Rochester is the most centrally located metropolitan area that as a suitable rink for the league championship (at least when RIT's in it).

That being said as much as I like being a big fish in a small pond, in order for RIT's program to grow much beyond what it has already achieved we will need to move. ECAC is the most logical fit due to the geography and their academic similarities with the non-Ivy schools in the league. I'd be excited about going to HE as well but that seems like a pipe dream at best, and frankly I do think we fit better in ECAC.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

Don't count Bentley out. We plan to break ground on the new rink in the next few months, completed and ready for the 2017-2018 season. Max French and Jayson Argue also have the potential to be top 5 players in the NCAA at their positions, and the rest of our team is relatively young. We also have top 5 scorers from both the BCHL and NAHL coming in for 2016-2017, Jonathan Desbiens and Ryner Gorowsky.

I expect there to be serious consideration of Bentley for the spot, if not a spot in ECAC.

add the scholarships....

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

For grins, if we follow the "teams in primary conferences band together" logic, it's entirely possible to gain a few conferences out of this:

HE stays as is, mostly. Maybe gains Quinnipiac, maybe not. Whatever.

Ivies break off from ECAC (I know, they'll probably never actually do it and so on and so on, but its at the least perfectly feasible)

RIT and Holy Cross join their Liberty/Patriot brethren in ECAC (other than Army and BU, but you know...).

RMU, SH, Can, Nia, Army, Air Force stick together.

Bentley and AIC either stay in AHA with the other six or all of D-II schools that are still playing D-III schedules* (all of whom are in the NE 10 with Bentley and AIC) go D-I and join up.

* Which... seriously, I don't get the point. They have nothing to play for, since they're ineligible for the D-III tourney. How could it possibly make that much of a difference for them to just play D-I and not offer scholarships? Presumably I'm missing something with those schools.

Not kidding, I can be convinced of how wrong I am by the fans of the Ivies and AHA/NE10 why this will never happen, but from a 10,000 ft view, it doesn't take a whole lot of maneuvering to get to 5 conferences out east.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

I've never understood why the Ivies don't peel off. Just maintain a scheduling agreement with the other ECAC teams to fill everyone's schedule/not have to worry about home games. Now those (former) ECAC schools are guaranteed 2 auto bids. Seems like a no-brainer..

scheduling. without a conf concrete need there will always be wandering eyes with ooc spots. (and sore losers)

 

[Tater]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

Can't tell if serious about uconn. Why would the big ten want uconn hockey?

Just joking, referring to UConn's desire to go to Big Ten in football.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

Right now, I am in the "Get Q or stay at 11 teams" camp.

Can someone remind me again why it is so bad to have an odd number of teams? Hockey East had 9 teams for about 10 years (approx. 1995-2005) and seemed to do just fine.

it does open up 2 ooc games. mookie would love that. (of course maine would have to schedule a 6th game vs uhn and uvm each, but it is what it is)

 

[Sean Pickett]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

add the scholarships....

And a women's team. I believe has been a requirement to join the ECAC in the past, so why not Hockey East?

Sean

 

[Dutchman]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

Would the problem be solved if URI upgraded their program (Club.D-III) and joined HE?

Joe Augustine is in his 28th season as Head Coach at the University of Rhode Island. He brings more than 35 years of experience to the Rhode Island Hockey program both as a player and as a coach. Under Augustine, Rhode Island has enjoyed a 558-246-51 record, two ESCHL regular season, two ESCHL Playoff championship and one ACHA National Championship in 2006. Augustine won back-to-back ACHA Men’s Division I Coach of the Year honors in 2004-05 and 2005-06, and was the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year in 2003-04. He has acted as an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2006 World University Games in Turin, Italy. Coach Augustine was selected as the head coach for Team USA for the World University Games in Harbin, China where Team USA came in 7th place in 2009. It’s best finish at the time.

The URI Men’s Ice Hockey team competes in the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL). Teams in the ESCHL include University of Delaware, West Chester University, Lebanon Valley College, Rutgers University and SUNY Stony Brook University. Each team plays each other four times which makes the ESCHL one of the top leagues in the country. URI Hockey plays against some NCAA Division III opponents as well as other top ACHA teams in the country. The season begins in September and concludes in March which includes practicing four times a week, two games per weekend all adding up to about 40 games in total. Any interested athletes should contact Head Coach Joe Augustine directly by email at urihockey@hotmail.com.

 

[J.D.]

Right now, I am in the "Get Q or stay at 11 teams" camp.

Can someone remind me again why it is so bad to have an odd number of teams? Hockey East had 9 teams for about 10 years (approx. 1995-2005) and seemed to do just fine.

That was 24 league games. Problem now with 11 is it's either 20, 30 or unbalanced sched.

 

[scoreboard]

it does open up 2 ooc games. mookie would love that. (of course maine would have to schedule a 6th game vs uhn and uvm each, but it is what it is)

Be nice.... UNH now does it for the wins against Maine. they need as many as they can get.

 

[LordofBrewtown]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

scheduling. without a conf concrete need there will always be wandering eyes with ooc spots. (and sore losers)

That was the idea behind the scheduling agreement. Just rotate the teams from the "other half" you play each year. Put it in writing for X # of years, and if someone drops a program, you merge again. Besides, at this point, the teams are really the 6 Ivies (pretty tied to each other), and if the QU/RIT change happens, 5 Liberty League teams (pretty tied together) and Colgate. I'm not sure there's as much of the wandering eye/threat to change conferences for these schools, given academics and other similarities, as there are for other schools.

 

[Sean Pickett]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

it does open up 2 ooc games. mookie would love that. (of course maine would have to schedule a 6th game vs uhn and uvm each, but it is what it is)

Hoceky East teams already play 12 non-conference games a season, there really is no need for another 2.

Sean

 

[LordofBrewtown]

Re: Notre Dame leaves Hockey East for Big 10

That was 24 league games. Problem now with 11 is it's either 20, 30 or unbalanced sched.

Is the unbalanced schedule really that big of a deal? Maybe I'm just used to it from the Badgers WCHA days. Yes, all things being equal, I'd prefer a balanced conference schedule. But, since all conferences decide their auto bid via the tournament anyway, the regular season is just for conference seeding, and the unbalanced schedule isn't likely to affect things much (maybe 2 teams swap a place).

Seems like a small concern vs getting your conference membership fit (school geography, enrollment, rink size, etc) right.