The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

[Greenbayguy]

I have a feeling it will be at Paul and detroit...

You could always rotate between USHL cities/rinks. Green Bay, Sioux Falls, Indianapolis, etc. The X or Joe, with the upper bowl curtained off really ruins the atmosphere.

It's too bad the conferences played musical chairs and the WCHA was left standing. But the Final Five just won't generate "big market" interest. Maybe the should venue at the league champions home rink.

 

[MavsFan]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

You could always rotate between USHL cities/rinks. Green Bay, Sioux Falls, Indianapolis, etc.

Yeah, let's hold it in a series of cities that have absolutely no connection to the league. Brillliant!

 

[stuckinwi]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

Yeah, let's hold it in a series of cities that have absolutely no connection to the league. Brillliant!

You mean like Minneapolis and Detroit?

 

[MavsFan]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

You mean like Minneapolis and Detroit?

Did you see me calling for Minneapolis and Detroit?

 

[Jimjamesak]

Source? I know it was discussed but last I heard it never got past idea stage.

God I hope not. It basically has the ability to screw over everybody. There is so much stupid in the idea it's amazing. Apparently everybody is broke.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

You mean like Minneapolis and Detroit?

Unlike the other two leagues, there isn't a great city for this tourney.

What about Marquette? Its the largest town in the UP...which seems to be ground zero for the conference as much as any. Beyond that or Duluth or Green Bay, I think you suck it up and just go with Detroit/Mpls.

 

[davyd83]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

"[BGSU AD Greg] Christopher also said UAH is prepared to assist league members with the cost of travel, like the Alaska schools already do."

There you go. It's in print.

GFM

That is a very positive thing and one that, in my opinion, is an absolute necessity for UAH to have any chance to be accepted into the WCHA. I could also see where they would just swap expenses with the Alaska schools, with the Alaska teams paying their own travel to Huntsville and UAH doing the same going to Anchorage and Fairbanks. In reality, the travel aid would probably only need to go to Bemidji, Mankato, Tech, NMU, LSSU and maybe a partial subsidy for Ferris, who could do a second day bus trip the way NMU currently does to Ohio State and Miami. All of those are in the 13 hour range when you ad in meal stops. Bowling Green could also make a second day trip, going as far as Cincinnati or Louisville on Wednesday night and finishing on Thursday. Another thing that will be critical for UAH is securing 7 or 7:30 starting times. That will take some cooperation from Steve Maples, Exec Director at the Von Braun Center and Keith Jeffries who owns the Huntsville Havoc and formerly ran the VBC.

 

[giwan]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

That is a very positive thing and one that, in my opinion, is an absolute necessity for UAH to have any chance to be accepted into the WCHA. I could also see where they would just swap expenses with the Alaska schools, with the Alaska teams paying their own travel to Huntsville and UAH doing the same going to Anchorage and Fairbanks. In reality, the travel aid would probably only need to go to Bemidji, Mankato, Tech, NMU, LSSU and maybe a partial subsidy for Ferris, who could do a second day bus trip the way NMU currently does to Ohio State and Miami. All of those are in the 13 hour range when you ad in meal stops. Bowling Green could also make a second day trip, going as far as Cincinnati or Louisville on Wednesday night and finishing on Thursday. Another thing that will be critical for UAH is securing 7 or 7:30 starting times. That will take some cooperation from Steve Maples, Exec Director at the Von Braun Center and Keith Jeffries who owns the Huntsville Havoc and formerly ran the VBC.

Fully agree. I asked if UAH would be offering any type of assistance for travel early on guess someone was listening.

 

[aparch]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

Apparently everybody is broke.

Grand Forks beat writer tweeted similar thoughts. Apparently this was a big concern of the NCHC schools, and what was one of the multiple wedges that were driven between the Like Minded Schools and the WCHA castaways.

Seems it's being denied by some reports, but it wouldn't have leaked if it wasn't thought up (or being given some thought).

It is an intriguing idea to minimize first round travel costs to/from Alaska, and it guarantees a trip for an Alaska school at the crown jewel championship event. Although six/seven games against each other every year would get awfully tiring.

 

[UpNorthHockey]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

I can't see any scenario where a neutral ice site is going to get anything but pathetic attendence for the nWCHA. In the past, when Tech, NMU, LSSU, Bemidji and Ferris have made their respective league tourneys in the hockey meccas of MN/SP/Detroit, they've had at most a few hundred fans each, including locals, show up. I just can't see more than 2000 seats being sold for a nWCHA Final Five at any neutral site, regardless of where it is. Still, the complexity of trying to work out a tourney at team arenas seems to take that option off the table. Some arenas are too small, some are too far, who gets home ice, how to split revenue, etc. With Resch off the table, my vote is for the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

 

[davyd83]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

I can't see any scenario where a neutral ice site is going to get anything but pathetic attendence for the nWCHA. In the past, when Tech, NMU, LSSU, Bemidji and Ferris have made their respective league tourneys in the hockey meccas of MN/SP/Detroit, they've had at most a few hundred fans each, including locals, show up. I just can't see more than 2000 seats being sold for a nWCHA Final Five at any neutral site, regardless of where it is. Still, the complexity of trying to work out a tourney at team arenas seems to take that option off the table. Some arenas are too small, some are too far, who gets home ice, how to split revenue, etc. With Resch off the table, my vote is for the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

I like the Bradley as well, but that whole "too big" thing comes in to play, but if they are talking with either the XCel or the Joe, then the Bradley fits. Good arena, great town, plenty of activity around the arena, relatively central location are all positives.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

Another thing that will be critical for UAH is securing 7 or 7:30 starting times. That will take some cooperation from Steve Maples, Exec Director at the Von Braun Center and Keith Jeffries who owns the Huntsville Havoc and formerly ran the VBC.

After nearly losing the program, everyone involved on that side of things has rearranged priorities.

Fully agree. I asked if UAH would be offering any type of assistance for travel early on guess someone was listening.

I figured that we would, but I was wholly unwilling to say that we would just in case that we would not. I haven't asked because I don't want to know.

GFM <-- with a big mouth.

 

[manurespreader]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

I would agree with shirtless on the alaska teams, as long as they are not both in the top 5 it would save a ton of money for them to play. However if they are both top five I would be against it.
I was surprised by the 28 game schedule as I thought it might be 24.
I think the playoff picture will straighten itself out soon enough and I don't think long term the Resch is totally out. ( lets say UP is right and we get say 2500 fans. will that break even?) Truthfully, even though Toledo is pretty far, it's a very nice facility and might draw, who knows. There are a lot of alumni from various schools within 100 miles of it. It all depends on the financial package.
I'm hopeful for Huntsville.
I'd like to see the offices move and maybe they will, and I'd like to see the staff modernized.

 

[davyd83]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

I would agree with shirtless on the alaska teams, as long as they are not both in the top 5 it would save a ton of money for them to play. However if they are both top five I would be against it.
I was surprised by the 28 game schedule as I thought it might be 24.
I think the playoff picture will straighten itself out soon enough and I don't think long term the Resch is totally out. ( lets say UP is right and we get say 2500 fans. will that break even?) Truthfully, even though Toledo is pretty far, it's a very nice facility and might draw, who knows. There are a lot of alumni from various schools within 100 miles of it. It all depends on the financial package.
I'm hopeful for Huntsville.
I'd like to see the offices move and maybe they will, and I'd like to see the staff modernized.

To have a 24 game schedule would leave 12-14 non conference games to fill. Not many of the Big 10 teams wil be willing to make even trades in games with the smaller schools. At best it's go to Michigan State twice, with State coming your way once. The same can be said for Denver, CC and North Dakota. You could very well play as many as 10 road games non conference in some seasons.

 

[Bale]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

Grand Forks beat writer tweeted similar thoughts. Apparently this was a big concern of the NCHC schools, and what was one of the multiple wedges that were driven between the Like Minded Schools and the WCHA castaways.

Seems it's being denied by some reports, but it wouldn't have leaked if it wasn't thought up (or being given some thought).

It is an intriguing idea to minimize first round travel costs to/from Alaska, and it guarantees a trip for an Alaska school at the crown jewel championship event. Although six/seven games against each other every year would get awfully tiring.

The problem with the assertion that was made is that the situations with the old WCHA and the new WCHA are COMPLETELY different. I understand that there were philosophical differences when it comes to financial matters, but the financial realities changed when the NCHC schools left. We lost 3 very profitable programs from the conference and 3 very big draws to a conference tournament when they left. The conference tourney still would have been just fine. Now you're left with some of the least profitable programs to start with and (probably) the most spread out conference from a travel standpoint. To compare those two situations is stacking the deck for the sake of making an argument. There very well may be some valid arguments to make, but this isn't indicative of anything. I would argue that this is proving the new economic reality of everything and this kind of move would likely only be made if it were the difference between making money and losing money for a program. It's not a matter of making $100,000 and making $80,000, it's more likely that you're talking about a program making $10,000 and losing $10,000. I think this is a matter of a NCHC supporter saving face and using this as a reason when it's not actually indicative of anything.

 

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

The problem with the assertion that was made is that the situations with the old WCHA and the new WCHA are COMPLETELY different. I understand that there were philosophical differences when it comes to financial matters, but the financial realities changed when the NCHC schools left. We lost 3 very profitable programs from the conference and 3 very big draws to a conference tournament when they left. The conference tourney still would have been just fine. Now you're left with some of the least profitable programs to start with and (probably) the most spread out conference from a travel standpoint. To compare those two situations is stacking the deck for the sake of making an argument. There very well may be some valid arguments to make, but this isn't indicative of anything. I would argue that this is proving the new economic reality of everything and this kind of move would likely only be made if it were the difference between making money and losing money for a program. It's not a matter of making $100,000 and making $80,000, it's more likely that you're talking about a program making $10,000 and losing $10,000. I think this is a matter of a NCHC supporter saving face and using this as a reason when it's not actually indicative of anything.

Realistically, this is a chicken and the egg type problem. Did the NCHC teams leave primarily for future financial concerns? Or, did the nWCHA have financial issues because the NCHC teams left? The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. That being said, McLeod looks like a buffoon that doesn't know what's going on...

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/b...e-McLeod--UPDATED-.html#.T9vXn_sxVZw.facebook

Information provided by WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod may not have been accurate concerning the league playoff structure. According to a source, Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage would receive a first-round bye if either wins the WCHA regular season title. McLeod told The Mining Journal otherwise, that both will meet in the first round no matter what and that the next highest seed not from Alaska would receive a bye. Here is how McLeod explained it:

McLeod: "Let's just say Anchorage and Fairbanks are 1 and 2. Well they're going to play. You know what I mean? So who gets the bye? We got to take a closer look at it. Right now, it would be No. 3. You know what I mean?"

The source asked not to be named because the league told all coaches, athletic directors and presidents to let the league office handle inquiries.

 

[Bale]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

Agreed, it is somewhere in the middle. Too many nchc bobos immediately pointed to this as proof that they had to make this move. I just think it's grabbing at straws to save face. I think when all is said and done, this deal gets scrapped.

 

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

Agreed, it is somewhere in the middle. Too many nchc bobos immediately pointed to this as proof that they had to make this move. I just think it's grabbing at straws to save face. I think when all is said and done, this deal gets scrapped.

Agreed, although I wouldn't necessarily characterize it as grabbing at straws...just making a faulty argument that doesn't need to get made. I hope you are right about the deal getting scrapped. It's a joke that a D-1 conference would allow this "Alaska Plan" and is completely unfair to everyone in the league, including the Alaska schools.

 

[Goon]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

Realistically, this is a chicken and the egg type problem. Did the NCHC teams leave primarily for future financial concerns? Or, did the nWCHA have financial issues because the NCHC teams left? The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. That being said, McLeod looks like a buffoon that doesn't know what's going on...

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/b...e-McLeod--UPDATED-.html#.T9vXn_sxVZw.facebook

Well said, I just think that McLeod is a buffoon and is one of major reason UND, DU, UNO, C.C. and UMD left the WCHA. I also think that SCSU saw this as well and that is why they tried to get into the NCHC so hard when they first didn't.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: The New WCHA 2, The Electric Boogaloo (2013-14)

Well said, I just think that McLeod is a buffoon and is one of major reason UND, DU, UNO, C.C. and UMD left the WCHA.

Ya...that's why they left.