The New WCHA (2013-14)

[scsutommyboy]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Yes, I have been to a game there, it sucked for hockey. There are places to tailgate in St. Paul.

I will agree to disagree with you on this one. they have 8,000 seats on the lower bowl and all of them have a good view of the ice and half way up in the upper deck on the sides are fine as well. It gets a little far away for my liking but you can at least see the entire sheet of ice. The Target Center can move the ice up and down and that is why the site lines are decent. A place liek the Kohl center sucks in the lower bowl and is far worse. now don't get me wrong it is not the X, but it is not horrible either.

 

[stuckinwi]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Right, but what's open on Championship weekend?
Soo Locks? Nope, they didn't open until this week. So no boat tours. And no boats to watch either.
Valley Camp Ship Museum? Doesn't open till mid-May.
Tower of History? Doesn't open till mid-May
River of History Museum? Doesn't open till mid-May.
Water Street Historic Block? Doesn't open till mid-June.
George Kemp Marina? Again, not open till mid-May.

There isn't a fu**ing thing "touristy" to do in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan or Canada until May.

I wasn't thinking about the timing... my bad. Yup. The Soo would suck. Although you can still eat at the Antlers.

 

[aparch]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

I really think for this league it's of utmost importance to be the big fish in a small pond. Going to a major metro area is a HUGE mistake in my opinion. If you go to Chicago, MSP, Detroit or Milwaukee your are going to get overshadowed by many, many other events. Hold it in a small town that where it's going to be the big ticket. My personal preference would be to have it at the conference champion's venue. I know travel concerns enter in here, but let's be honest, how many people from our schools are going to make this a yearly, planned event? My guess is that contingent is very small.

What you're all missing here is the marketing ability and alumni fan-bases that these Universities use events like this for. NMU was especially good at sponsoring an Alumni reception every year the 'Cats were at JLA for the Championship. Michigan Tech does similar (without maybe a big party like NMU) for the Resch center. The Universities also use it as a marketing and recruitment tool for general campus admissions.

The ability to showcase the crown jewel of the league in such locations are what make the leagues special. Would anyone have given two sh**s about driving to Big Rapids for the CCHA Tournament? Would Duluth have been such a big draw for the Final Five?

No, but fans will want to make a weekend in St. Paul or Detroit. Players will want to be a part of it if they can play where the NHL does. How many players get a little wide-eyed when they skate onto the ice at JLA or Xcel Center for the first time in such big games, fans or not?

 

[Bale]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

What you're all missing here is the marketing ability and alumni fan-bases that these Universities use events like this for. NMU was especially good at sponsoring an Alumni reception every year the 'Cats were at JLA for the Championship. Michigan Tech does similar (without maybe a big party like NMU) for the Resch center. The Universities also use it as a marketing and recruitment tool for general campus admissions.

The ability to showcase the crown jewel of the league in such locations are what make the leagues special. Would anyone have given two sh**s about driving to Big Rapids for the CCHA Tournament? Would Duluth have been such a big draw for the Final Five?

No, but fans will want to make a weekend in St. Paul or Detroit. Players will want to be a part of it if they can play where the NHL does. How many players get a little wide-eyed when they skate onto the ice at JLA or Xcel Center for the first time in such big games, fans or not?

Is it really that big of a draw when you've got 3000 people in an 18000 seat arena? Maybe it is and I'm naive. It seems to me that kids would rather play in front of a full house than an almost empty arena. i would think the same would go for alumni. That's just the impression that I would have if MSU invited me to a suite for an alumni event, but then I'm a bit cynical about those types of things.

I just find it hard to believe that it would be financially feasible to pull something like that off. I admit, I'm a bit jaded after seeing the Final Five in St. Paul, so I'm comparing it to the crown jewel of college hockey.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Has UAH formally applied yet?

The University has had contacts with all nine member schools as the Presidential, AD, and head coach levels. I do not know if a formal application has been made or if there's a period to open one. I expect that we'll know more after Tampa. I have left the hockey people alone the last few weeks. They have enough to do without putting up with my incessant questions.

Also, as davyd83 noted, competition with the Havoc for ice time is the big problem. We just had a tractor pull in town, but I think the TV advertisements told me that it was the first one since 2004. [I'm not in the target demographic.] Also, there hasn't been junior hockey in Huntsville since 2000-01 with the Junior C Huntsville Tornado, owned by and named after the same team interests that ran an SEHL team before taking a year off for whatever reasons at the time. That team restarted and has since been renamed after being sold. The SPHL Havoc are part-owned by the entity that runs the Von Braun Center. You can see how well that's worked out for us in the past, but we've been told that it'll be better going forward because they know that they're at risk of losing revenue from our home games if they kill the goose that laid the hockey golden egg in Huntsville.

GFM

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Not officially, although others have whined about the size of the facility and how "empty" it would be.

Allstate Arena gets my vote. Only if the WCHA can use the pyrotechnic show before the championship game.

Lets make it a complete spectacle and have pyrotechnics during the game.

 

[davyd83]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

The University has had contacts with all nine member schools as the Presidential, AD, and head coach levels. I do not know if a formal application has been made or if there's a period to open one. I expect that we'll know more after Tampa. I have left the hockey people alone the last few weeks. They have enough to do without putting up with my incessant questions.

Also, as davyd83 noted, competition with the Havoc for ice time is the big problem. We just had a tractor pull in town, but I think the TV advertisements told me that it was the first one since 2004. [I'm not in the target demographic.] Also, there hasn't been junior hockey in Huntsville since 2000-01 with the Junior C Huntsville Tornado, owned by and named after the same team interests that ran an SEHL team before taking a year off for whatever reasons at the time. That team restarted and has since been renamed after being sold. The SPHL Havoc are part-owned by the entity that runs the Von Braun Center. You can see how well that's worked out for us in the past, but we've been told that it'll be better going forward because they know that they're at risk of losing revenue from our home games if they kill the goose that laid the hockey golden egg in Huntsville.

GFM

Keith Jeffries has just a little pull there! Cherney almost killed Huntsville Pro hockey, which may have been a good thing for UAH, althought there doesn't seem to be much crossover between the minor pro crowd and the college hockey crowd. Almost like 2 separate worlds.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Ok, if Vegas isn't going to work (but please, lets find a way to make Grand Garden Arena work!), lets give Huntsville a spot in the league and have them host the league championship in Nashville! NashVegas!

 

[aparch]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Lets make it a complete spectacle and have pyrotechnics during the game.

For those who haven't seen a Chicago Wolves game at the Allstate Arena:
Here's the in-arena intro video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHhf2dB6GmI
Here's the view from the stands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBFTvMufpOY

 

[manurespreader]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Every arena has it's up's and downs. I would hope the big wigs get a proposal going from every arena they think might work and compare the plusses and minuses.
As far as the passports. Yes might be a problem for the students, but I wonder if it is as big as you say.You do get the whole year to apply for one after all. The plusses are that it would be full, ( VERY big plus), it would be near a member school which would help them financially, and it would get quite a bit of publicity for the league. There's as much to do in the Soo as there is in Green Bay, and it's more centrally located if you ask me. I Like the Resch, and isn't the Target center olympic size ice? I'd be against that.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

The Soo sucks. Some ***** bartender threatened to kick us out of the bar the one time I was there for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Not going back.

 

[Squarebanks]

Ok, if Vegas isn't going to work (but please, lets find a way to make Grand Garden Arena work!), lets give Huntsville a spot in the league and have them host the league championship in Nashville! NashVegas!

Nashville would be fun. It's a great place to visit, and it's about the best NHL city in the South.

Since there's so much debate about where to have it, why not pick several locations, have the tournament at each spot over several years, and see what works best?

Or, set a schedule where each school gets to host for a year, regardless of finish. I.e. year one Marquette gets it, year two Bowling Green/Toledo, year three Fairbanks, etc. That way everybody gets a chance and it's known over a year ahead of time where it will be.

Just an idea.

 

[giwan]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Every arena has it's up's and downs. I would hope the big wigs get a proposal going from every arena they think might work and compare the plusses and minuses. As far as the passports. Yes might be a problem for the students, but I wonder if it is as big as you say.You do get the whole year to apply for one after all. The plusses are that it would be full, ( VERY big plus), it would be near a member school which would help them financially, and it would get quite a bit of publicity for the league. There's as much to do in the Soo as there is in Green Bay, and it's more centrally located if you ask me. I Like the Resch, and isn't the Target center olympic size ice? I'd be against that.

Passports for players would not be the issue, but for fans it might. If you find out late your team will be there, (and late is relative) you may not have the time to go. Some states offer a special drivers license which can be cheaper and faster. Fans may wish to stay on US Soo side and bridge traffic can really be long and I mean hours long.

 

[davyd83]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Every arena has it's up's and downs. I would hope the big wigs get a proposal going from every arena they think might work and compare the plusses and minuses.
As far as the passports. Yes might be a problem for the students, but I wonder if it is as big as you say.You do get the whole year to apply for one after all. The plusses are that it would be full, ( VERY big plus), it would be near a member school which would help them financially, and it would get quite a bit of publicity for the league. There's as much to do in the Soo as there is in Green Bay, and it's more centrally located if you ask me. I Like the Resch, and isn't the Target center olympic size ice? I'd be against that.

Don't believe that just because they are Canadian that they will watch any hockey.

 

[Squarebanks]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

The other ironic thing about all this tournament talk is that in terms of actual member cities that could host, Anchorage would be the best option. It is, I believe, the biggest metro area in the new league. It has the right-sized arena,, plenty of major hotel accommodations that are relatively empty this time of year, good food/beer, etc.

There's just the pesky issue of it being a six hour flight from 80% of the league.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

The other ironic thing about all this tournament talk is that in terms of actual member cities that could host, Anchorage would be the best option. It is, I believe, the biggest metro area in the new league. It has the right-sized arena,, plenty of major hotel accommodations that are relatively empty this time of year, good food/beer, etc.

There's just the pesky issue of it being a six hour flight from 80% of the league.

If there was some way to pre arrange travel, without know which teams have to go up there until a week prior, I think Anchorage would be a good choice.

 

[davyd83]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

If there was some way to pre arrange travel, without know which teams have to go up there until a week prior, I think Anchorage would be a good choice.

Right now a flight to Anchorage from Marquette, leaving one week from today...only $1,176!

 

[Squarebanks]

If there was some way to pre arrange travel, without know which teams have to go up there until a week prior, I think Anchorage would be a good choice.

Pre-arranging travel is easy enough. UAF and UAA pre-book blocks of seats for road trips months ahead of time. WCHA could do the same if it were inclined. The issue would be the cost of travel. Let's say the league pre-books 160 seats to ANC, departing from either MSP or O'Hare at a negotiated roundtrip cost of $400 per seat, that's still $64,000. Obviously that number goes down if an Alaska school participates, but it's still a financial hit.

It also gives you an idea of how much the Nanooks and Seawolves spend on travel every year.

 

[DB Cooper]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

Don't believe that just because they are Canadian that they will watch any hockey.

I do, because I am, and we will. I was at an atom houseleague girls hockey game a few days ago with about 500 other fans, and quite a few, me incuded, had no relatives playing.

The international bridge is no big deal in terms of time delay most of the time, especially if it is not summer, but it could be a problem that they won't let americans with felony convictions cross. (Insert insult of rival team here)

 

[giwan]

Re: The New WCHA (2013-14)

I do, because I am, and we will. I was at an atom houseleague girls hockey game a few days ago with about 500 other fans, and quite a few, me incuded, had no relatives playing.The international bridge is no big deal in terms of time delay most of the time, especially if it is not summer, but it could be a problem that they won't let americans with felony convictions cross. (Insert insult of rival team here)

I and other teams I know have been on that bridge waiting to get back to the states for over 2 hours.