The end of leagues as we know?

[bronconick]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Hey, you never know. The extra cash that will come in from the fact that hockey is now on the Big Ten Network after being divided 12 ways might be enough for Barry to buy an extra burrito from Taco Bell to stuff his fat face.

 

[SCSU Euro]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

The theory is that all this talk may be just smoke blown to get McLeod thrown out. Anyone think maybe its all smoke blown by schools like MN who gave some misleading info to make DU and UND the bad guys? Now if the whole thing turns out to be rumor upon rumor upon rumor with no base, everyone's on record as saying, "MN, Mich, UW, yeah... they're fine, we hate Notre Dame, UND and DU."

 

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

You really think I'm not upset with the B1G mistake schools? **** them all mn, wi, du, cc, und, uno, and UMD are dead to me if mtu is left behind for the sake of nothing tangible.

 

[SJHovey]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

The BTHC will be seen every where in North America. A Gopher, BADger, Sioux network would only be seen in your own community which helps recruiting.

People, including me, are watching the Sioux play while sitting in a location thousands, if not tens of thousands of miles away. All you need is a computer and a subscription to a stream of the game.

As technology improves, that is the future that schools like Texas, Notre Dame, etc..., already see. Not some conference television channel.

 

[manurespreader]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Well I do not buy this B. ***t that only the super conference is committed to hockey and that everyone else is riding along. Please don't insult the rest of us.

I don't see BSU riding along, Tech is certainly committed and has spent a ton on money, St Cloud is spending money too.So how is this not a commitment.

That commitment stuff is just an excuse for some other agenda.

 

[dggoddard]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Well I do not buy this B. ***t that only the super conference is committed to hockey and that everyone else is riding along. Please don't insult the rest of us.

The WCHA & CCHA seem to have imploded for any one of a thousand reasons. Many poor decisions were made along the way that led us to this point.

Schools didn't upgrade their programs fast enough, build fancy arenas, hire big name coaches, fire incompetent coaches fast enough, recruit well enough, sell enough tickets, Title IX, Big Ten rules, Terry Pegula, Penn State, Wisconsin, Barry Alvarez, Minnesota, Michigan, DU, UND, UNO, Notre Dame, Duluth, CCHA, Bruce McLeod, Minnesota legislators, Unbalanced scheduling, Bloated conferences, Drinking ban at TCF Stadium, Air Force, CHA disbanding, Wayne State, Findlay, Bemidji State, apathetic fans, stupid AD's...

You name it. There's plenty of blame to go around.

 

[SCSU Euro]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

The WCHA & CCHA seem to have imploded for any one of a thousand reasons. Many poor decisions were made along the way that led us to this point.

Schools didn't upgrade their programs fast enough, build fancy arenas, hire big name coaches, fire incompetent coaches fast enough, recruit well enough, sell enough tickets, Title IX, Big Ten rules, Terry Pegula, Penn State, Wisconsin, Barry Alvarez, Minnesota, Michigan, DU, UND, UNO, Notre Dame, Duluth, CCHA, Bruce McLeod, Minnesota legislators, Drinking ban at TCF Stadium, Air Force, CHA disbanding, Wayne State, Bemidji State, apathetic fans, stupid AD's...

You name it. There's plenty of blame to go around.

ABSOLUTELY FALSE. BSU, SCSU, and if they get left behind (which some of the reports have them doing so) tUMD have upgraded, but some of the funding came from the state, which has been known to stall (know what the MN gov't looks like right now?). They've hired as big of coaches as they've been able to. Think any of them have said, "We have this money to upgrade our facilities, but let's wait on it"? Nobody's said, "We could land this hall of fame coach, but let's go with this run-of-the-mill guy. And I don't think Sandelin is a huge name, but he's got a **** NC now, doesn't he? That is ridiculous to say... the fact that some of the mid-level schools competed as well as they have is a testament. I know its changed and since I think its reversed (after we had that 0-6 season against them) but 5 years ago we had a better all-time winning percentage against Minnesota than WISCONSIN did, and that's with us being a whipping boy when we first came into the league.

To say the teams that get left behind did it to themselves is more arrogance than I'd expect from a **** Gopher fan.

 

[mcfarljd]

The WCHA & CCHA seem to have imploded for any one of a thousand reasons. Many poor decisions were made along the way that led us to this point.

Schools didn't upgrade their programs fast enough, build fancy arenas, hire big name coaches, fire incompetent coaches fast enough, recruit well enough, sell enough tickets, Title IX, Big Ten rules, Terry Pegula, Penn State, Wisconsin, Barry Alvarez, Minnesota, Michigan, DU, UND, UNO, Notre Dame, Duluth, CCHA, Bruce McLeod, Minnesota legislators, Drinking ban at TCF Stadium, Air Force, CHA disbanding, Wayne State, Bemidji State, apathetic fans, stupid AD's...

You name it. There's plenty of blame to go around.

You forgot Findlay

 

[dggoddard]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

You forgot Findlay

I'll add it.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

If this comes to pass, this really blows for UAA, BSU, MSUM, MTU, SCSU, UA(F), BGSU, FSU, LSSU and NMU. Really, honestly blows. They all deserve better.

Could they survive as a combined leftovers conference? Probably not without dropping at least two or three of them. At least they'll have the Alaska exemption working for them.

 

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Here are my thoughts...

I don't like the idea of a "Super League", and for many of the same reasons I disliked the idea of the BTHC. It goes against decades of tradition, changes the landscape of college hockey and puts a lot of pressure on a bunch of smaller programs. It's important to remember (and it has been mentioned in this thread already) that the B1G was in a completely different situation with a ton of history before having enough teams to create a hockey conference. This "Super League" is springing up as a reaction to the BTHC and has no history, and its only goal seems to be to try and rake in as much money as possible and attempt to compete with the B1G. Hopefully the schools involved in this can at the very least keep this on the back burner and research further the potential effects of what they are doing. If they do that, I think the schools might very well realize that they are probably better off where they are currently. As it is, it certainly appears that the momentum is behind its formation, so there may be little or nothing to do about it at this point. Given that, if it happens, I will hope for the best (WCHA/CCHA are able to survive, UAH finds a home in one of those two conferences, and new schools are encouraged to join those leagues growing the sport to 65+ programs and the NCAA Tournament stays at 16 teams). However, I fear for the worst (WCHA/CCHA combine, UAH is left out in the cold, as time goes the WCHA/CCHA conference dwindles to a half dozen teams barely making it, the sport shrinks to <50 teams and the NCAA Tournament drops back to 12 teams).

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

If the BHHC forms, and the WCHA and CCHA try to stay alive, they'll need to have UAH join the CCHA and have someone (anyone) form a program in the midwest to join the WCHA- just to have the requisite 6 teams in their conferences. Even then, they'll still all be on thin ice.

 

[MavsFan]

Nobody's said, "We could land this hall of fame coach, but let's go with this run-of-the-mill guy.

Mankato did. Blais was available and interested; they re-signed Jutting.

 

[dggoddard]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

If the BHHC forms, and the WCHA and CCHA try to stay alive, they'll need to have UAH join the CCHA and have someone (anyone) form a program in the midwest to join the WCHA- just to have the requisite 6 teams in their conferences. Even then, they'll still all be on thin ice.

My guess is that they'll try and form an eight team league with travel containment being a leading prerequisite for membership.

An eight team league means 28 conference games and they will only have to find a few non-conference tilts.

If I were SCSU's AD and the Super League forms as mentioned today in USCHO, I'd call up Joel Maturi and say, "If we form a 6 team Minnesota-Michigan league; Will the Big Ten Schools agree to play us eight times a year [four home & four away]?

If Joel says, "The Big Ten can't do that."

Then they would be smart to form an eight team league.

 

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

If the BHHC forms, and the WCHA and CCHA try to stay alive, they'll need to have UAH join the CCHA and have someone (anyone) form a program in the midwest to join the WCHA- just to have the requisite 6 teams in their conferences. Even then, they'll still all be on thin ice.

Minnesota State - Moorhead would be a good choice for the WCHA. They might look at Minot State as well or Lindenwood if they would like to get to 8 teams.

 

[bigmrg74]

Hey, you never know. The extra cash that will come in from the fact that hockey is now on the Big Ten Network after being divided 12 ways might be enough for Barry to buy an extra burrito from Taco Bell to stuff his fat face.

May that extra burrito be the one that let's him pull a mr. Creosote.

 

[Bale]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Mankato did. Blais was available and interested; they re-signed Jutting.

This is neither here nor there, but I know for a fact that the administration felt their hands were tied. Jutting just came off of COTY honors and had his "big recruiting class" building up after a big run and they couldn't sign a one-year contract due to MNSCU bylaws. I'm not saying it was a good choice, but they would have had to pay almost double for Blais and we don't know for sure that he was interested in MSU. It's not exactly deciding to forgo a HOF coach for financial reasons. It was for the right reasons, but turned out to be a horribly wrong decision.

 

[BC/HE]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

I'm glad to see you're still ****ing on 60+ years of history. Good luck making a 12 team NCAA tournament.

A 12 team tournament would be likely if more than a couple of schools closed shop.
Assuming all the rest of the west combined for another conference there would be 6 conferences (HEA, AHA, ECAC, BTHC, Western Elite(at least that's who they think they are) and WCCHA(Western & Central so they both keep their names). 6 autobids so only 6 at large. Upsets in conference tourneys could make it very hard to get in then. What is everyone thinking? No NCAA's invite means no success. Many of these break off teams will hardly ever get there. The elite few are fooling a lot of teams to get them to go along. Of course if you don't go you will look foolish but it may be better for your program in the long run as tournament bids will come a lot easier if you don't go. Ironically, the split would leave every conference with 3 or 4 ex-NCAA champs except Atlantic Hockey. Perhaps it would actually level the competition rather than lump it. As we have seen the one game elimination has made the tournament upset very possible if not probable. Being one of 12 will make it anyone's trophy and the goal will be to be one of the 12. Only a fool would take his chances with a group of 7 other heavy hitters to get one of those spots.

 

[komey1]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Your bias is showing; RIT is the only one that would benefit from this. The only way this would EVER possibly happen is if the Ivy League decided to break off from the ECAC. The only reason the Ivy League would break off from the ECAC, at least from what I can see, is if they weren't very successful in terms of conference standings and automatic tournament bids. Last I checked, they are, so why would they break away? If you were to look the other way, the 6 non-ivies in the league have dependence on the ivy league in terms of recruiting, name recognition within the league, and at this point, strength of schedule (the 5th caller with an EZAC joke that makes me laugh gets a cookie). The only reason a non-ivy would break off from the ECAC is to go to Hockey East, and the only way that bird is coming back is if Notre Dame tries to join Hockey East. Unless Notre Dame tries to get into Hockey East, I foresee no changes to the eastern look when it comes to leagues.

I would love to see the Liberty League, or a similar (NyPenn?) league. However, t would mean the non-Ivies thinking that they can fare better without the Ivies. At this stage, I don't see that as likely.

 

[4four4]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

I still blame "Big Barry" at Wisconsin. If he wouldn't have gotten all money hungry at the possible $$$$ that MAY come in from the Big Ten Television Network, the Big Ten probably wouldn't have inforced the by-law about six teams playing a sport (the Big Ten brass hadn't really been saying much). But, the TV money gets split and even the schools that don't have hockey will probably get a cut of the $$$$. What a way to make a few extra $$$$, ride the coat tails of the six schools playing the sport.

"Sure, here are six votes for you Barry, even though we don't offer the sport." signed-Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern.

You can say that about other Big Ten sports that only have 6 to 8 teams playing. This conference is all for one and one for all.

Teams in college hockey hockey generally schedule home and home non-conference agreements. If you are bringing in a cupcake without a recriprocal game you may kick in for their hotel or a small airplane subsidy.

Tell that to the University of Minnesota.