Ok Penn State....but who is next???

[ScottM]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

The University of Phoenix. They already have a stadium.

 

[thebrain]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

The University of Phoenix. They already have a stadium.

Would they fly students from all of their campuses to play in games?!

 

[wsp67326]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

I love to see that Penn State will be joining Div 1 hockey but adding another northern team is not going to change much.

Talking from a perspective of growing the game.....when are we going to see southern Div 1 teams? There are NHL teams in the south and the grassroots programs in Texas, California and even Florida are seeing NHL prospects arise from these states but to take it to the next level we need to see Div 1 teams in the south.

No matter what happens as of now, the best US athletes will always play football and baseball. This is a major fact due to no southern US div 1 hockey teams. I don't know why the NHL, US Hockey or US College hockey has not put a bigger push forward on this.

Texas has the most professional teams in any state (upwards of 10) and still no Div. 1 College Hockey program. People are looking for answers to keep Atlanta, Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas etc in the league. Well, there is your answer folks. Figure it out!!

Considering the shaft UAH has gotten, why would any team from the South try? Unless there were, as you allude to, at least 5 or 6 ready to make the attempt all at once (and set up their own conference), there just isn't any reason for any Southern schools to do that. Penn State is being given the red-carpet treatment (for obvious reasons) with this announcement. UAH, with a pretty good history and a penchant for at least providing competitive teams for a twelve years, gets, in essence, nothing. I expect the only reason other programs have agreed to include them in their schedule next year is because UAH is "hosting" the 2012 Frozen Four (albeit in Tampa). Money talks, clearly. But those of us who want to see college hockey thriving, everywhere, can see the writing on the wall. So, bully Penn State... I'll remember the time in 1984 when UAH beat you for the Club Hockey National Championship. Might not mean much to some folks, but it was a vivid memory of my high school years, at least.

 

[ScottM]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Would they fly students from all of their campuses to play in games?!

No. They would use Blackboard for a complete online experience. Naturally, this will require some adjustments among players and fans, but I'm sure it will work itself out.

 

[blockski]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

For the record, Notre Dame tried about three years ago to schedule Northern Michigan for the Allstate Arena, but the Arena rent couldn't be negotiated to a point that Notre Dame liked. I had also been told that Wisconsin tested the waters at the Allstate about ten years ago, but again, nothing since then.

The only thing that's come close is the hastily assembled Shillelagh Tournament that Notre Dame needed to find a home for once the Lightning Tourney in Tampa Bay got cancelled. It's been an okay event (went to the Championship game last year with ND vs UND), but the turnout isn't enough to make anyone excited about college hockey in Chicagoland.

Maybe more local marketing would help improve it, I don't know. But you'd think if there was enough interest in it that Northwestern, DePaul, NIU, or even UIC would be sick of having Notre Dame continue to use their backyard for Division 1 hockey...

I think Wisconsin and Notre Dame played one game there several years ago. It was a Friday night at Allstate and a Saturday night in South Bend (or the other way around), I think.

That said - the New York Times had a piece on Indiana and the aftermath of firing Bob Knight, 10 years later. It reminded me that IU fans aren't too fond of Assembly Hall for IU hoops, and there was talk of building a new arena on campus. If they were to make it a multi-purpose arena with ice capabilities, then that goes a long way toward solving IU's issues and would explain why they've been involved in the speculation.

EDIT:

IU looking to replace Assembly Hall: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6695408

 

[Beer Pong Horn]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

I think Wisconsin and Notre Dame played one game there several years ago. It was a Friday night at Allstate and a Saturday night in South Bend (or the other way around), I think.

That said - the New York Times had a piece on Indiana and the aftermath of firing Bob Knight, 10 years later. It reminded me that IU fans aren't too fond of Assembly Hall for IU hoops, and there was talk of building a new arena on campus. If they were to make it a multi-purpose arena with ice capabilities, then that goes a long way toward solving IU's issues and would explain why they've been involved in the speculation.

EDIT:

IU looking to replace Assembly Hall: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6695408

Any thoughts on converting Assembly Hall into an arena? They wouldn't need 17,000 seats, so they could remove the balcony (box seats?), the far-back seats (expanded concourse?), and the courtside seats (Olympic ice, and ice-making equipment underneath).

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Kane is from Buffalo (so why not UB?)
Gionta is from Rochester (as is Reasoner)

And honestly, outside of the rare Gionta, Callahan, or Reasoner, the Rochester area (NY state's Section Five) H.S. hockey is a wasteland. Most of the few elite players from the area play at most one or two years of H.S. hockey before leaving to play for prep schools in N.E. or juniors in Canada.

Buffalo is a different story. Seems like they have much better hockey talent production than Rochester.

I don't know about Syracuse's talent pipeline much outside of Tim Connolly.

Since when does a school have to recruit players from their backyard?..especially NY H.S.? Answer: They don't.

Geographically, recruiting to Syracuse isn't any harder than recruiting to say Cornell, Miami or RPI...you recruit the midwest, Ontario and British Columbia. Along the way, you might find a few local nuggets in Central/Western NY, the EJHL , etc. A quick glance at SU women's (which is D1) incoming freshman class proves my point: 4 from Minnesota, 2 from Massachusetts, 2 from Ontario, 1 Alberta, 1 local.

The real question is there any Ath. Dept and Alumni interest in adding M's hockey??

 

[cycledown]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

The floodgates have opened, there are several candidates out of Big-Ten country that could go. Now other schools in the BT will try to cordinate a better effort towards the next level.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Syracuse won't get a men's hockey team, or at least have one that does well. The Crunch aren't even selling all that well (5300 out of about 6000 on average); that's what happens in a squeakball town. The same thing will happen in the southern colleges.

Drawing attendance comparisons to D1 and AHL is pointless...two different animals. College hockey fans are mainly students and former students, with a few hockey nuts and locals mixed in. 'Cuse already has a growing D1 women's puck team. We're talking about filling a 3500-4000 seat on-campus rink, not downtown at the War Memorial on a snowy Wed. night.

The real question --is there any Ath. Dept interest in pursuing the idea.

 

[sbkbghockey]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Drawing attendance comparisons to D1 and AHL is pointless...two different animals. College hockey fans are mainly students and former students, with a few hockey nuts and locals mixed in. 'Cuse already has a growing D1 women's puck team. We're talking about filling a 3500-4000 seat on-campus rink, not downtown at the War Memorial on a snowy Wed. night.

The real question --is there any Ath. Dept interest in pursuing the idea.

The one nice thing about 'Cuse is that even though they don't have a ready-to-go rink like some schools they could go DI anytime and use the War memorial for a few seasons before moving into a nice new 4,000-seat on-campus arena.

 

[bigmrg74]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Any thoughts on converting Assembly Hall into an arena? They wouldn't need 17,000 seats, so they could remove the balcony (box seats?), the far-back seats (expanded concourse?), and the courtside seats (Olympic ice, and ice-making equipment underneath).

That could happen. Having a separate arena for Hockey and Basketball does make scheduling things easier, and what you are proposing wouldn't be much different than what Michigan did with Yost, which was their track and field building for a long time, along with hosting basketball as well before it was converted into an ice arena. And given that they really wouldn't need the ice until they get a team together, they could take their time to get everything they would want or need done to the building.

 

[tnlong]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

... I'll remember the time in 1984 when UAH beat you for the Club Hockey National Championship. Might not mean much to some folks, but it was a vivid memory of my high school years, at least.

That would be March 1983 I think. I remember the game-winner (with very little time left in regulation) hitting the P.S. goalie in the chest and rolling in slow motion down his arm and into the net.

 

[huskyfan]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Illinois
Navy
Iowa

 

[blockski]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Any thoughts on converting Assembly Hall into an arena? They wouldn't need 17,000 seats, so they could remove the balcony (box seats?), the far-back seats (expanded concourse?), and the courtside seats (Olympic ice, and ice-making equipment underneath).

I guess the building has some serious structural issues to address regardless of the end use (leaky roof, aging systems, etc). The whole decision on building a new arena would be predicated on the fact that it would be just as expensive to renovate Assembly Hall as it would be to build new. And, once you build anew, you can integrate hockey from the get-go.

 

[Patman]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Illinois
Navy
Iowa

Navy spent their money on tennis courts which happened to have a hockey rink next to them... neat trick for spending money donated specifically for a hockey rink.

 

[HoosierBBall_GopherHockey]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

The problem with Indiana building an arena for basketball and hockey (multi-purpose I suppose it is called) is that they are going to make the arena huge in terms of seats. 15,000+ for sure for their basketball games. Even if IU starts winning national titles in college hockey, I do not see them putting more than 5,000 people in that building (think Ohio State). Not saying they would not go ahead and do it anyways, but the atmosphere will likely suck in that arena for hockey.

Now reading the article blockski posted, it looks like they are proposing an 18,000 person arena. That is about what Assembly Hall is now. Having watched a couple games from Assembly Hall, both in the lower bowl, it was an amazing view. I could see why the the upper levels would have sucked though and why they want a new arena.

 

[Gibber]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Wait, Penn State is going D1? Why haven't I heard this before??!

 

[Beer Pong Horn]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

The problem with Indiana building an arena for basketball and hockey (multi-purpose I suppose it is called) is that they are going to make the arena huge in terms of seats. 15,000+ for sure for their basketball games. Even if IU starts winning national titles in college hockey, I do not see them putting more than 5,000 people in that building (think Ohio State). Not saying they would not go ahead and do it anyways, but the atmosphere will likely suck in that arena for hockey.

Now reading the article blockski posted, it looks like they are proposing an 18,000 person arena. That is about what Assembly Hall is now. Having watched a couple games from Assembly Hall, both in the lower bowl, it was an amazing view. I could see why the the upper levels would have sucked though and why they want a new arena.

Makes sense that they should make a purpose-built building, for the same reason it makes sense for Minnesota to have separate buildings for separate sports: they don't want interference with their cash cows. Hopefully if Indiana ever decides to make the leap, they'll take heed of Notre Dame's new arena.

 

[4four4]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Wait, Penn State is going D1? Why haven't I heard this before??!

Probably because Inside college hockey and USCHO are both saying it is a done deal.

 

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Re: Ok Penn State....but who is next???

Wait, Penn State is going D1? Why haven't I heard this before??!

I must have missed it too. I've been following the Thornton trade rumors...