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Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

Patman said:
http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-huskies/hc-web-rentschler-hockey-20100526,0,7713770.story

This is being spun up by Howard Baldwin. If you know my stance with UConn hockey you'll know that i'm not terribly optimistic but we'll see how it goes... I'm probably on the hook to attend this game as the date will be set far enough in advance.
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sorry, but a big yawn for that. i can't understand why UConn and Syracuse are not big players in D1 hockey, but they aren't. i guess they have bigger fish to fry...............if they wanted to i bet it wouldn't take too long to be in the mix with the big guys, just like football at UConn, from no where, seemingly they matter now, quickly:eek:
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

sterlippo1 said:
sorry, but a big yawn for that. i can't understand why UConn and Syracuse are not big players in D1 hockey, but they aren't. i guess they have bigger fish to fry...............if they wanted to i bet it wouldn't take too long to be in the mix with the big guys, just like football at UConn, from no where, seemingly they matter now, quickly:eek:
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I'm not going to bother to rehash this... I spent five years of my 20s at UConn... it ain't happening.
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

GoNU5 said:
Any idea/rumor of who they might play?
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Probably someone in league, as I am reasonably sure all the non-con games UConn has for the year have already been accounted for (although I can only confirm 5 at this moment: 1 @ Maine, 1 @ Union, 2 @ RPI's tournament and the winner of Princeton-Niagara in the UConn hockey classic, as the first round of that event is typically scheduled to be a league game for UConn).

In all likelihood, it'll be whoever UConn was going to play on that date anyway, just transferred from Frietas to Rentschler.
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

If they wanted to draw a crowd then I'd say go for UMASS. BC played an outdoor game to recently. East Hartford isn't to far away from the UMASS campus and UMASS seems to have a decent following. Only other teams that I think might draw well for it are Army and maybe Air Force. Actually I would be in favor of Army or Air Force hosting an outdoor game against each other.
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

Maybe UConn should invite Penn State or Syracuse to play the outdoor game.
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

CHFAN222 said:
If they wanted to draw a crowd then I'd say go for UMASS. BC played an outdoor game to recently. East Hartford isn't to far away from the UMASS campus and UMASS seems to have a decent following. Only other teams that I think might draw well for it are Army and maybe Air Force. Actually I would be in favor of Army or Air Force hosting an outdoor game against each other.
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UConn doesn't have hockey fans, so people will show up on name value. UMass is largely ignored by UConn fans, BC will bring in people, maybe a western team like Michigan, but BC is the big one for them. Frankly, this is a terrible idea.
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

Jeez, that is going to be a disaster. Maybe they can get the Wolfpack involved? Could they sell enough tix with those two opponents to even break even for the cost of doing this?
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

MarkEagleUSA said:
According to the article there's an outdoor rink at Rentschler Field (which I wasn't aware of myself).
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Really? Am I just blind or something?

Sterlippo: You're right, there is a 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance BC does this for them. And if it's Sacred Heart, I think the question at hand would be are there more people in the stands or on the ice. This is a massive disaster waiting to happen unless they plan to also secretly return the Whalers to the ice that night.
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

Maybe this event will be where they announce their intention to move the Mens team up to HE...
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

sterlippo1 said:
if it ain't happening, why are they bothering with an outdoor game at all?:confused:
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I have to imagine... and this is my working theory... is this is a "hey, look at me" thing for Howard Baldwin hoping to tap into the hockey fans in the area. I think the general issue is that Hartford struggles to be something beyond a moderate sized town and this is an example of them wanting to reach out. I wouldn't look at this as a "UConn" event but rather a "Hartford" event.

I think this exercise is silly personally... but if they want to do it... hell, let them.
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

Nick Papagiorgio said:
Jeez, that is going to be a disaster. Maybe they can get the Wolfpack involved? Could they sell enough tix with those two opponents to even break even for the cost of doing this?
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This isn't a UConn-centric event. This is basically Howard Baldwin putting up some cash that he doesn't particularly mind throwing down a toilet and doing a giant "Connecticut likes hockey, now please consider us for an NHL team again" festival. Success or failure is all on Baldwin on this one, and he's got enough cash that he doesn't consider it a problem to pony up.

UConn's just getting an invite because it's an easy two events to put in the schedule. The more events that can be scheduled makes the cost per event considerably lower, which is probably why Rentschler is even considering it without a guarantee for an NHL matchup (even though they've not been particularly shy at putting out feelers for off-season events; concerts, US soccer, lacrosse, etc.), and increases the chance that any single event can make a small to modest profit for Rentschler.
 
Re: Plans for UConn hockey outdoor game

MarkEagleUSA said:
According to the article there's an outdoor rink at Rentschler Field (which I wasn't aware of myself).
Click to expand...

slurpees said:
Really? Am I just blind or something?
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Nope, you're not blind. Re-reading the article led me here where it was apparently first announced. Sounds like it will be a temporary rink.

kingdobbs said:
This isn't a UConn-centric event. This is basically Howard Baldwin putting up some cash that he doesn't particularly mind throwing down a toilet and doing a giant "Connecticut likes hockey, now please consider us for an NHL team again" festival. Success or failure is all on Baldwin on this one, and he's got enough cash that he doesn't consider it a problem to pony up.
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In the current economic climate and with the state's finances the way they are, if this is going to happen it had better be done with private funding. There would be a lynch mob marching into Hartford if any public funds were going into a venture such as this.

That said, I just don't see how a UConn vs. anybody would be the main event. Maybe as an undercard (or afterthought?), but no way would it be #1. I don't even think a tourney with all the Connecticut D1 men's teams (UConn, Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac and Yale) would be a big enough draw.
 
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