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

[davyd83]

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

The reason the bigger money schools left was they didn't want the smaller schools holding them back and sharing their money. North Dakota didn't want to be on equal footing with Michigan Tech or Mankato when it came to the policy and decision making processes. As for the mid sized schools, you can rest assured that without the AmSoil Center and a national title and without revenue generating renovations to the NHC, that neither Duluth nor St Cloud would have been brought along.

 

[bigblue_dl]

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

The reason the bigger money schools left was they didn't want the smaller schools holding them back and sharing their money. North Dakota didn't want to be on equal footing with Michigan Tech or Mankato when it came to the policy and decision making processes. As for the mid sized schools, you can rest assured that without the AmSoil Center and a national title and without revenue generating renovations to the NHC, that neither Duluth nor St Cloud would have been brought along.

Exactly. Any other explanation is just some HUGE Mistake supporter trying, unsuccessfully, to save face.

 

[giwan]

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

Don't care anymore why they left, it's done, only the hate, vile and resentment are left.

Any tournament, or neutral site game, regardless of sport relies on; fans that travel well, interested alum in that area, or locals with some level of interest in the sport. You can see low attendance in any sport, college bball, lower level bowls in football, and hell I'd even have some doubts to the Super Bowl if it was not so corporate driven. It's already been discussed how the NCAA site choices were poor.

That being said which WCHA, (no more nWCHA) teams and locations fit a neutral site location? Example a fairly large alumni base for MTU in the metro Detroit area. How did Ferris travel for their NCAA run? I read about several buses heading down, did they do the same for their conference tourney?

A pet peeve I have always had is how the first round of a conference tourney is a best of three and then you go into the tourney for a one game elimination. Counter intuitive to me. It has been the reason I always believed a best of 3 the entire way thru made sense.

Side note, mCLOUD may not be the reason for the league split up, but he surely did not help the situation anymore then a band-aid does in stopping a femoral artery bleed.

 

[4four4]

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

The reason the bigger money schools left was they didn't want the smaller schools holding them back and sharing their money. North Dakota didn't want to be on equal footing with Michigan Tech or Mankato when it came to the policy and decision making processes. As for the mid sized schools, you can rest assured that without the AmSoil Center and a national title and without revenue generating renovations to the NHC, that neither Duluth nor St Cloud would have been brought along.

Same can be said about Miami and Western Michigan. So you are saying if none of the four schools upgrades their program we wouldn't be seeing the new conference formed?

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

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

Same can be said about Miami and Western Michigan. So you are saying if none of the four schools upgrades their program we wouldn't be seeing the new conference formed?

I was under the impression that the NCHC approached BC and BU first and foremost. When they declined to leave Hockey East, and then Notre Dame balked, that's when the charter members of the NCHC plucked the largest of the remaining WCHA and CCHA programs.

 

[bronconick]

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

I was under the impression that the NCHC approached BC and BU first and foremost. When they declined to leave Hockey East, and then Notre Dame balked, that's when the charter members of the NCHC plucked the largest of the remaining WCHA and CCHA programs.

This has been what I've always thought. They had the original 6 (5 WCHA+Miami) and they tried to get ND, and peel away the Boston schools so then the NCAA would basically be the Big Ten, the NCHC and everyone else. When that failed, then we and St. Cloud got phone calls. Otherwise, what's the point of making your league with "charter members" and then inviting more 2 months later? They were going down the list of their hopefuls. My school was already whoring itself out for whatever they could get so they knew we'd jump. If SCSU had said no, I suspect they would have asked BG next.

Not really sure why they thought BC would be interested, though. Outside of hockey, they run up epic travel costs in every other sport in the ACC. Why add hockey to that list?

 

[davyd83]

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

Same can be said about Miami and Western Michigan. So you are saying if none of the four schools upgrades their program we wouldn't be seeing the new conference formed?

I will say that Miam, where it already was in the world of college hockey, was certainly ready from an arena, financial commitment and quality of program status. Western only recently gave their program the financial boost that was needed, with a huge thanks to the departure of Judi Bailey from the President's chair. If Western had the same commitment to their hockey program that they did in 2006, they would still be in the CCHA. They were a D-I MAC school playing with a GLIAC school's support.

 

[giwan]

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

Not really sure why they thought BC would be interested, though. Outside of hockey, they run up epic travel costs in every other sport in the ACC. Why add hockey to that list?

Seriously they thought the Boston schools would move? I mean really, maybe I'm **** naive but I could not see them moving away from being East coast based.

 

[Jimjamesak]

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.

Yeah this "Alaska Plan" is a joke. I have the feeling both of us are being used to generate playoff revenue.

 

[bronconick]

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

The part where "Oh, if they finish 1-2, the 3 seed will get a bye to the conference semis" is even worse then the original suggestion.

And to paraphrase what Ciskie said on his blog today, if you're considering something this drastic for your postseason tournament to save on costs, you need to just plan on having all games played on campus sites until you're more financially set. No talking to the XCel Center or whoever.

 

[SCSU Euro]

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

Are you serious? Check WCHA rosters, there are plenty of USHL alum. Plus wouldn't be a bad idea for you guys to roll into town and make a name for yourself for recruiting purposes.

 

[MavsFan]

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

Are you serious? Check WCHA rosters, there are plenty of USHL alum. Plus wouldn't be a bad idea for you guys to roll into town and make a name for yourself for recruiting purposes.

We've also got kids from Canadian junior leagues. Should we rotate the tournament through Canadian cities? Seriously, you think USHL fans are going to support a WCHA playoff tourney because the teams have a few kids that USED to play in their towns? You think fans of teams that are located primarily in Michigan and Minnesota are going to want to travel to INDIANAPOLIS to watch?

There is simply no good answer to this whole thing, but taking it to states that don't even have WCHA schools is about the least feasible alternative.

 

[gfmorris]

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

Seriously, you think USHL fans are going to support a WCHA playoff tourney because the teams have a few kids that USED to play in their towns?

Beavers fans will vouch for the fact that the CHA played in USHL cities and got very little in the way of fan support. Admittedly, the CHA member schools were not name schools in college hockey, but you'd figure that really interested junior hockey fans would be interested to see what happens at the next level. They weren't, at least not in Kearney and Des Moines. I mean, there isn't much going on in Kearney...

GFM

 

[davyd83]

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

The part where "Oh, if they finish 1-2, the 3 seed will get a bye to the conference semis" is even worse then the original suggestion.

And to paraphrase what Ciskie said on his blog today, if you're considering something this drastic for your postseason tournament to save on costs, you need to just plan on having all games played on campus sites until you're more financially set. No talking to the XCel Center or whoever.

You and Ciskie, guys whose schools bailed being critical of how those you left behind are trying to remain solvent..

 

[bronconick]

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

You and Ciskie, guys whoe schools bailed being critical of how those you left behind are trying to remain solvent..

Sympathy for left behind WCHA schools that secretly voted to invite Miami and Notre Dame to replace Minnesota and Wisconsin before getting backstabbed by North Dakota and Denver: Not applicable.

Sympathy for NMU who leapt out of the CCHA months before it entered its final death throes and watched their own "left behinds" try to talk Canisius, Robert Morris and Niagara into re-forming College Hockey America 2.0: Also not applicable.

 

[bigblue_dl]

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

Sympathy for left behind WCHA schools that secretly voted to invite Miami and Notre Dame to replace Minnesota and Wisconsin before getting backstabbed by North Dakota and Denver: Not applicable.

Sympathy for NMU who leapt out of the CCHA months before it entered its final death throes and watched their own "left behinds" try to talk Canisius, Robert Morris and Niagara into re-forming College Hockey America 2.0: Also not applicable.

Maybe you should take your BS to the thread meant to talk about your school, or you can just go **** yourself, either way works.

 

[davyd83]

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

Maybe you should take your BS to the thread meant to talk about your school, or you can just go **** yourself, either way works.

It surely was a dirty offseason. Lot's of greasy dealings by all involved. Let's be honest about the WCHA, they wanted nothing to do with Ferris, LSSU or Bowling Green until it became apparent St Cloud was a strong candidate to bail as well. No one came out of the whole process with much honor intact. Bail before you get bailed on. Screw before you get screwed.

 

[moose97]

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

Beavers fans will vouch for the fact that the CHA played in USHL cities and got very little in the way of fan support. Admittedly, the CHA member schools were not name schools in college hockey, but you'd figure that really interested junior hockey fans would be interested to see what happens at the next level. They weren't, at least not in Kearney and Des Moines. I mean, there isn't much going on in Kearney...

GFM

This biggest issue in Kearney and DesMoines was that the USHL season was still going on, and those home teams (Tri City Storm and DesMoines Bucs) had road games that were just down the road (in Lincoln both times, IIRC). Some fans came to the play-in games, but bailed on the semis and championship games because they traveled to the USHL games. Plus, Kearney seamed like a basketball town. The high school was in the state tourney in Omaha that weekend and it was all any of the locals would talk about. Plus UNK (the Lopers) were in the D-II National Tourney, and that seemed like a big deal down there (6000 seat barn)

 

[stuckinwi]

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

Sympathy for left behind WCHA schools that secretly voted to invite Miami and Notre Dame to replace Minnesota and Wisconsin before getting backstabbed by North Dakota and Denver: Not applicable.

Sympathy for NMU who leapt out of the CCHA months before it entered its final death throes and watched their own "left behinds" try to talk Canisius, Robert Morris and Niagara into re-forming College Hockey America 2.0: Also not applicable.

Did you ever consider the smaller schools voted along with UND and Denver to avoid being seen as not like minded? All while they are plotting to leave anyways?

You tossed us overboard and now you're criticizing how we how swim.

There's going to be bad blood over this for years... And nothing any of the 3 conferences does will ever compare to the money maker that was the Final Five. No one wins here.

That said the Alaska rule is complete and utter BS. We're taking and guaranteeing an Alaska school a place at a tourney that will already have attendance woes? That is just dumb. No offense to the Alaskan fans.. but they aren't known for traveling.

 

[Squarebanks]

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

Lengthy article in the Anchorage rag today about the Alaska pairing. Cobb had some choice words about it. Also mentions that UAA will have a heftier financial burden on travel, and the 2015 F5 will be at the X.

http://www.adn.com/2012/06/16/2507972/wcha-puts-uaa-and-uaf-in-playoff.html