Re: Ohio State 2015-2016 Season
I would add to this that there is a lack of passion because for the past couple seasons, we haven't put a winning hockey team on the ice. Athletics are a results-based endeavor and if they aren't, let's quit keeping score and give out participation trophies.
Except that this comment clearly reflects a passion for the program! And you post regularly.
The question, if I understood Hockeybuckeye's post correctly, is where are all the other posters -- positive, negative, objective, whatever.
I am a hockey fan and was aware of what happened in Florida, but it's hard for me to get excited about an underachieving program that is now sitting in 5th place in the BIG Ten out of six teams. The success in Florida caused me to ramp the expectations up, and unfortunately, the team hasn't matched that performance yet, at least not for two games in a row as it did down there.
If you're not in the top 5% of Buckeye Hockey fans, I have no idea who is. And again, you easily pass the "passion test."
It is also difficult when you see a program that was a club sport not that long ago pass your program up in a mere three or four seasons (Penn State is clearly ahead of us, that's not even a debate at this point). I am sure some will disagree with me and that is fine, we're all OSU Hockey fans here.
Penn State has a better resume this year, no doubt about it. And of course Saturday's win doesn't change that. But last year, I felt we had bragging rights over PSU at the end of the season. And that was definitely the case in prior years. One year doesn't constitute a trend.
In sizing up Penn State's prospects in the years just ahead, I'd make a nervous comparison with how Northern Michigan started out. (I'm doing this 100% from memory, so I'll apologize in advance if some of the particulars are a little off.) Anyhow, when Rick Comley launched the D-1 Wildcats around 1976, he recruited a terrific core group of players up front. In 1980, they were part of a 5 team NCAA tournament. The program continued to contend throughout the 80's, ultimately winning a National Title in 1991. Since then they've kind of fallen back to the middle of the pack, but I think you'd say they've been a solid program throughout their history. If that's the track Penn State is on, maybe it will be challenging to keep up in the short term. By all accounts they do have a great building and a great coach. But I don't think such inequality is a foregone conclusion. I still foresee a nice rivalry between the two programs. The immediate question for PSU is how will they do once the "Original Nits" are graduated and gone?
For those who disagree, though, what should our expectations be for this program? At what point should we expect to have a winning hockey program or possibly make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament?
This isn't Football; we aren't in position to simply reload and contend nationally every year. In hockey, other schools have that advantage. We're a bit of an underdog. At the same time, I don't accept that we're a have-not. Speaking only for myself:
1. Buckeye Hockey should always be respectable; and should contend for conference championships on a "regular" basis. At the same time, this program is going to have some rebuilding years. To suggest otherwise isn't realistic.
2. All six of B1G Hockey schools need to ramp it up and do much, much better in non-conference play. As a conference, we should be getting at least two at-large teams into the NCAA tournament every year. Meaning 2-3 teams should qualify annually. Getting only a single autobid team into the tournament is a major disappointment as far as I'm concerned.
3. Putting those thoughts together, I'd say that every OSU player should have the opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament at some point during their years as a Buckeye. I also like to think that in the long term scheme of things, special years like '98 will come along a bit more frequently. Meaning the team has a chance to do some real damage in the tournament, not just be happy to be there.
My two cents.
