Re: Serious Ideas to Improve College Hockey
What changes would you make to college hockey to improve the product?
Here are 10 ideas that I would implement if I had the power:
1. Make major junior players who have played less than 20 MJ games eligible for college hockey. 95% percent of MJ players play for stipends far below the value of the financial aid college players get. Opening up the game would give more players and coaches more player development options, and I think it would improve access to talent.
2. Move the start of the college season back to Nov. 1. The season is too long right now. Get rid of the bye weeks and keep the same number of games.
3. Allow players to choose visors instead of full face masks. This would reduce stickwork and “cage courage” and allow a greater emphasis on skills.
4. Reduce the number of conference games by four, thus opening up more inter-league play, which will help create less insualr schedules and a more representative NCAA tourney selection.
5. While we’re on the subject of the NCAA tourney, I’d get rid of PWR and adopt KRACH as the team selection numerical reference. It’s just a better mousetrap.
6. I would like to see one of the national college hockey web sites become an aggregator of internet video feeds of games around the country into a single “dashboard” – allowing fans to pay a season, monthly or daily fee to watch many college games in one place. The schools would get a cut of the money for providing the feed, and the national site could keep the rest of the money to support their operations.
7. Cooperative scheduling would be cool to support those programs that have a hard time getting home non-league dates. In this scenario, ‘well off’ schools would offer one non-league road series to the co-op every few years to be played at schools that struggle to get home dates. The details of this would need to be worked out, but this would be a nice way helping those programs that can’t get visiting teams to travel to play them.
8. Harmonize instant replay and clock standards (e.g. displaying tenths of seconds) at all D-I schools. This might be a little expensive, but it’s not good to have differing standards.
9. Speaking of harmonizing, I would push for a deal where the NHL would contribute up-and-coming young officials to college hockey as part of their officiating development programs, as I believe they already do with Major Junior Hockey.
10. Increase roster size to 30 players, and push the NCAA to get back to 20 scholarships per team as it was prior to the cut to 18. Teams need more depth due to the nature of the game and the length of the season.
What changes would you like to see? (serious ideas preferred...)
1.I like giving the opportunity to MJ players, and I think they deserve the option, however I don't see the NCAA allowing it.
2. season shorter, YES. it needs to be shorter.
3.Visors, good idea, but like someone else said, is there a liability issue. I do think the stick work needs to be limited in some way.
4.Scheduling is a real issue and a key to growing the game in my opinion. Why not, since the level of play is pretty even across college hockey, allow points earned in a non league games, up to a certain point, to count in your league standings. Just an idea but worth talking about. Getting non league teams to remote locations is difficult. I don't know too many western teams jumping up and down to go to Clarkston, or St Lawrence for a game.
I do think that there needs to be ways to promote the game that use the clearing house idea.
5. I support Kratch 100%, I hate the cliff.
6. changing the clocks should be done.
7. Refs. a real problem. too much difference between refs within a league and between league interpretations of the rules. I am pretty sure the NCAA is paying attention to the problem. to me it's not the clutching and grabbing though that is a problem, it is the inconsistent application of the rules. There is also too much homing. teams in their home rink get too many calls or lack thereof.
8. Roster size. I'd be surprised if this could get done. I think the rosters are a good size. I'd be against upping the number of scholarships. I think it would mean the rich schools get more talent, maybe I';m wrong though.Yes the season is too long.
