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Off-Season Entertainment: Expansion Fantasyland

Split-N

Split-N

All Hail
Despite the fact that it’s mid-June and the Stanley Cup Playoffs haven’t even reached the final round, it’s the lazy, hazy days of summer for the college hockey world with seemingly little to talk about except what might be going on with a certain coach of a certain program.

But let’s suspend reality for awhile and debate how much expansion involving which institutions would help grow the college game, make it more relevant, attract more fans, and bring national media coverage that extends beyond the Frozen Four.
For purposes of this discussion, everything is possible. Longstanding bugaboos like startup costs, Title IX compliance, and (IMO) pushback from entrenched hoops interests that don’t want in-season revenue-producing competition don’t exist. Same for impacts on existing conferences.

So, with that said, here is my expansion fantasyland:
Northeast: Rhode Island, Syracuse. (Either one would make a perfect 12[SUP]th[/SUP] team for HEA)

East: Navy (only Service academy left adrift); Rutgers, Maryland (would fill out the B1G nicely); Penn (visibility in the Philly area; Ivy company for Princeton)

Midwest: Nebraska, Iowa (See Rutgers/Maryland above); Iowa State (good fit for the CCHA?) North Dakota State (Why not? Especially with UND up the road and the Augies down the road). DQ: Illinois

West: Arizona (obvious reasons); UNLV ($$$$ and venues already there); Colorado (northern anchor for a Tucson/Phoenix/CO Springs/Denver/Boulder axis)​



We all know that nothing like this is likely to happen in our lifetimes but it should be fun discussing what might, should, or should not happen. Not to mention other opinions.
 
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I long thought that UAlbany would make a perfect fit for Hockey East. Would fit in well with the state schools, and they already play in the same bball conference as Maine, UNH, and Vermont. They used to be in the same conference as BU, so there are already some natural rivalries. Out of conference, obviously RPI and Union, and they play in the same bball conference as Quinnipiac. There is no on campus rink, but they might be able to use the MVP Arena (they would have to alternate a home schedule with Siena basketball in regards to rink availability). They are getting bigger but I think it could work at that place.
 
moose97 said:
And play where? There's no space to build a rink on campus & I can't see students making the half hour drive to Allstate Arena or the United Center.
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That’s the tricky bit. They just did a major renovation to their basketball arena, so the idea that they’d replace it with a dual-purpose facility is out the window.

There are plenty of community rinks in the northern shore burbs, so I guess if one were replaced with a 5,000 seat arena there are possibilities, but that’s not anything I’d say is super likely to happen.
 
The most likely things are:
  • Arizona/UNLV (club teams with access to and/or plans to build suitable arenas)
  • Whatever happens with the Northeast-10 teams (we saw Wodon claim St Anselm is considering options in one of his recent columns) now that Stonehill has moved on in a different way
  • I guess Simon Fraser? Maybe that’s dreamcasting on behalf of the Alaska schools, but that PNW area is what would help the Nanooks and Seawolves the most. Kind of a shame that the WHL has been in OR/WA for so long instead of the NCAA.
 
ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
The most likely things are:
  • Arizona/UNLV (club teams with access to and/or plans to build suitable arenas)
  • Whatever happens with the Northeast-10 teams (we saw Wodon claim St Anselm is considering options in one of his recent columns) now that Stonehill has moved on in a different way
  • I guess Simon Fraser? Maybe that’s dreamcasting on behalf of the Alaska schools, but that PNW area is what would help the Nanooks and Seawolves the most. Kind of a shame that the WHL has been in OR/WA for so long instead of the NCAA.
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University of Arizona just announced a new arena, not on-campus, doesn't state seating capacity but I suspect its maybe 2000+ (?)
https://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2022/04/s-new-ua-hockey-arena
 
Sol Diablo said:
University of Arizona just announced a new arena, not on-campus, doesn't state seating capacity but I suspect its maybe 2000+ (?)
https://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/arti...a-hockey-arena
Click to expand...

The article is remarkable for what it doesn't say. According to the story, the "iceplex" will include three rinks but doesn't mention if any of those will be a "stadium" rink.

Interesting that multiple references to "the Arizona hockey team" doesn't include the word "club." Be that as it may, Arizona, UNLV and a few others have the look and feel of varsity programs without being varsity programs.
 
Split-N said:
The article is remarkable for what it doesn't say. According to the story, the "iceplex" will include three rinks but doesn't mention if any of those will be a "stadium" rink.

Interesting that multiple references to "the Arizona hockey team" doesn't include the word "club." Be that as it may, Arizona, UNLV and a few others have the look and feel of varsity programs without being varsity programs.
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Here is a press release on the Mosiac Quarter, which clearly states Arizona will exclusive rights to the 3,000 seat stadium rink.

Here is a press release that clearly states the Arizona hockey team is a club team.

Sean
 
I have always been surprised that Wisconsin only has one D1 hockey school with Minnesota having 6 and Michigan having 7.
 
Sean Pickett said:
Here is a press release on the Mosiac Quarter, which clearly states Arizona will exclusive rights to the 3,000 seat stadium rink.

Here is a press release that clearly states the Arizona hockey team is a club team.

Sean
Click to expand...

So glad you have the time and wherewithal to drill down and find additional links. The context of my brief comment related exclusively to Arizona Wildcat article (https://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/arti...a-hockey-arena), which did not include any references to the articles you cited. That being said, nice to know that the plan includes a stadium rink, though it seems smallish (~3,000) for future D1 hockey purposes.
 
ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
Tell that to UConn...theirs is a new building seating 2,600.
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Surprisingly small in my view considering an undergrad population of ~19K. By comparison, the on-campus roundball venue is just under 9,900. A sidenote is that UConn hockey and basketball play a number of home games at the XLCenter, in Hartford, where hockey seems to consistently draw 5,000+.

By contrast, Arizona has about 36K undergrads and Tucson is a much bigger place than Storrs. So yeah. if they ever make the jump to varsity, 3,000 seats is small.
 
My expansion wishlist is for more schools that will fully fund the sport. College hockey needs to grow its middle class. Adding schools at the bottom who are only going to offer 4 or 5 scholarships and play at tiny high school type rinks isn't really doing much for the health of the sport.

Some of the new programs that are set to come aboard may fit the bill, but some of the rumored expansion/returning schools aren't really going to do much to increase the number of competitive teams.
 
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