The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

[mtu_huskies]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Did the WCHA playoff tournament announcement offer any info on future TV coverage of the event?

 

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Did the WCHA playoff tournament announcement offer any info on future TV coverage of the event?

There lies another aspect of where to play the tournament. To get TV coverage, whichever station is going to produce wants to know in advance where it is going to be. Saves them a lot of time from having to throw logistics of the broadcasts together on short notice. Also, I know the Xcel is, and I am assuming Van Andel is as well, already "wired" for broadcasting. No running cables all over the arena, they can just plug in and go.

It was always kind of fun watching CBS Sports (College Sports at that time) set up for broadcasting the CHA Championship game. As soon as that last semifinal was done, their crew was into the arena running spools of wire all over the place, setting up camera platforms and everything else that goes into the production. Having a "wired" arena is going to make that much easier on a TV Production crew.

 

[purpleinnebraska]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Yep. I am. And I think the actual numbers from the USCHO boxscores will backup my theory.

How convenient you ignored the sponsorship aspect. Or just how the WCHA is going to be able to book flights and hotel rooms and rink times for these teams.

There is a lot more logisitics, and I'd venture that a host school was discussed, but sponsorship and money likely kept a neutral site the best option.

Agreed. The Mankato experience was that the playoffs drew more than 1000 less per game than the regular season average. The only comparably small crowd we had in the last 4 months was for a non-conference game when the students were on Christmas break AND the Vikings-Packers playoff game was the same night. And we STILL drew fewer than that for our first home playoff series in 5 years. Why? No idea, but I see no facts to support that home-ice conference tourneys are going to be well attended.

Let's just admit it - the Final Five was a really cool, unique event, with great atmosphere and phenomenal attendance. We're not going to duplicate it. If something grows organically that somewhat approaches that level, great. But the best minds in the conference can't plot anything that will match it, unless they stumble on it accidentally.

 

[MavsFan]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Agreed. The Mankato experience was that the playoffs drew more than 1000 less per game than the regular season average. The only comparably small crowd we had in the last 4 months was for a non-conference game when the students were on Christmas break AND the Vikings-Packers playoff game was the same night. And we STILL drew fewer than that for our first home playoff series in 5 years. Why? No idea, but I see no facts to support that home-ice conference tourneys are going to be well attended.

Certainly a part of it was that it was spring break.

 

[MavHockey14]

Certainly a part of it was that it was spring break.

And the fact that they didn't give students free tickets have most of them no incentive to come back, either.

 

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

And the fact that they didn't give students free tickets have most of them no incentive to come back, either.

You can blame the University for that if you want but I assume because it was playoffs, Minnesota State would have been required to write a check to the WCHA for every ticket they gave away as if they had collected that money. I'm guessing that wasn't in MSUM's plan. It's pretty easy to give away tickets when you just write off the lack of ticket revenue, but to actually have to give someone else the money you didn't collect...thats an issue.

 

[Bale]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Certainly a part of it was that it was spring break.

I think that's the case across the country. Add to that it's not on the schedule until a week beforehand so if you don't know that there is going to be hockey games that weekend, a lot of people are going to make other plans.

 

[BGFan]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Do you think NCAA athletes get a room to themselves? Do you think the arena there at BG is going to flinch at holding an extra weekend open because it might impact an "open skate" or a "beer league" game? Do you think the open skate or beer league game wouldn't easily go forward when BG is eliminated in the first round anyway? None of your points are valid.

Seriously? There are at least 2 high school teams that utilize the arena on a regular basis, the club team, and a multitude of youth hockey teams to go along with your condescending list. We have a single sheet of regulation ice, and a smaller multi-purpose sheet that doubles as a curling rink that is not suitable for 5 on 5 play beyond the younger youth teams. Scheduling becomes a nightmare. You are, obviously, a ****** who knows nothing about the other schools in your league beyond the non-facts that you've made up in your own little mind.

 

[BG_Falcons]

Seriously? There are at least 2 high school teams that utilize the arena on a regular basis, the club team, and a multitude of youth hockey teams to go along with your condescending list. We have a single sheet of regulation ice, and a smaller multi-purpose sheet that doubles as a curling rink that is not suitable for 5 on 5 play beyond the younger youth teams. Scheduling becomes a nightmare. You are, obviously, a ****** who knows nothing about the other schools in your league beyond the non-facts that you've made up in your own little mind.

This. Also the BGSU Ice Arena is jointly owned by the University and community which causes another dynamic to deal with.

 

[Almington]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

You can blame the University for that if you want but I assume because it was playoffs, Minnesota State would have been required to write a check to the WCHA for every ticket they gave away as if they had collected that money. I'm guessing that wasn't in MSUM's plan. It's pretty easy to give away tickets when you just write off the lack of ticket revenue, but to actually have to give someone else the money you didn't collect...thats an issue.

I always received first round playoff tickets at the student price when I was at UW (~30% of a regular ticket), I have a hard time believing that UW would ahve written a check to the conference for the full ticket price for all the student tickets sold.

I suspect that the issue is that SOMEONE at MSUM is paying the athletic department for those student tickets (through activity fees of one type or another), it wouldn't surprise me if they would have to pay the conference for ALL of the student tickets that would be "sold" regardless if they were used or not. The student organization(s) may have turned down the opportunity to pick-up for tickets for students because they determined that it was not worth the ~5k to 10k that they would have had to shell out knowing that most of the students were not even on campus to use those tickets. The university may have been able to offer discounted student tickets on an individual basis, but the idea may not have even crossed their minds with everything else that had to be done to prepare to host the series.

 

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

I always received first round playoff tickets at the student price when I was at UW (~30% of a regular ticket), I have a hard time believing that UW would ahve written a check to the conference for the full ticket price for all the student tickets sold.

I suspect that the issue is that SOMEONE at MSUM is paying the athletic department for those student tickets (through activity fees of one type or another), it wouldn't surprise me if they would have to pay the conference for ALL of the student tickets that would be "sold" regardless if they were used or not. The student organization(s) may have turned down the opportunity to pick-up for tickets for students because they determined that it was not worth the ~5k to 10k that they would have had to shell out knowing that most of the students were not even on campus to use those tickets. The university may have been able to offer discounted student tickets on an individual basis, but the idea may not have even crossed their minds with everything else that had to be done to prepare to host the series.

I'm sure they were allowed to charge less to students. I always wondered how the free tickets in Houghton would have worked out if we actually made playoffs. I know when I was student and had season tickets before they became free, I paid for the 3 playoff games and then had to ask for a refund when we didn't earn home ice...

 

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

I'm sure they were allowed to charge less to students. I always wondered how the free tickets in Houghton would have worked out if we actually made playoffs. I know when I was student and had season tickets before they became free, I paid for the 3 playoff games and then had to ask for a refund when we didn't earn home ice...

At UND we never had playoff tickets included with the student packages. I think most of that had to do with the first weekend falling on spring break, since if we had a home series over Thanksgiving or Christmas those weren't included either.

 

[BGFan]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

This. Also the BGSU Ice Arena is jointly owned by the University and community which causes another dynamic to deal with.

Where did you hear that one? It is wholly owned by the universtity, the community has no stake in the facility. The oddity of the ice arena is that it isn't considered a sports facility since classes are also taught there. Given that, maintenance and upkeep costs come out of the general fund as opposed to the athletic fund.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Where did you hear that one? It is wholly owned by the universtity, the community has no stake in the facility. The oddity of the ice arena is that it isn't considered a sports facility since classes are also taught there. Given that, maintenance and upkeep costs come out of the general fund as opposed to the athletic fund.

Hah, I bet that goes over like a fart in church with the academics.

 

[BG_Falcons]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Where did you hear that one? It is wholly owned by the universtity, the community has no stake in the facility. The oddity of the ice arena is that it isn't considered a sports facility since classes are also taught there. Given that, maintenance and upkeep costs come out of the general fund as opposed to the athletic fund.

Dammit, my bad, that's what I meant. It's part of the Department of Recreation and Wellness, not Athletics like the other facilities are.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Is the travel party for basketball teams even 10 people (players, coaches, trainer)?

From direct experience of having worked the 2011 NCAA D-I men's basketball South Regional: 20; most schools broke that down to 15 players, three coaches, and two trainers. To your point, hockey would take 23-24 student athletes, three coaches, two trainers, and an equipment guy or two. That's 30, and as you note, the equipment outlay has zero comparison. You can pack up a basketball locker room in a half-hour with player support — and I've seen it happen because said South Regional used all for of our basketball locker rooms and gave teams from the first two games less than an hour to be out. You can't do it that quickly with hockey.

I'm surprised that y'all still respond to Donald after all of these years. I've figured out pretty quickly that his line of thinking doesn't make any sense to me, and I've never seen that any arguing that I or anyone else have been able to change him very much. Why not killfile him and move on with life?

Oh wait, message boards like drama. [I know, I've run one for over a decade.]

GFM

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Hah, I bet that goes over like a fart in church with the academics.

Ha. This makes me imagine what Carl Dassbach's poutrage over Mel's salary would be like if he was still teaching.

 

[MavHockey14]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

Thoughts I quickly threw together now that our season is no more....


24 wins this year, double the total from last year, and a school record. We'll look to improve on that next year.

Returning Scoring: (School year is current)

Pos Year GP G A Pts. PEN PIM GWG PPG
Matt Leitner F So 41 17 30 47 18 47 2 6

J.P. Lafontaine F So 41 9 26 35 7 25 1 4

Zach Lehrke F Jr 41 8 17 25 14 50 1 3

Zach Palmquist D So 41 7 18 25 10 20 0 4

Johnny McInnis F Jr 41 13 9 22 6 12 5 3

Dylan Margonari F Fr 38 10 9 19 10 20 2 1

Chase Grant F Jr 41 7 12 19 23 46 4 4

Teddy Blueger F Fr 37 6 13 19 16 40 2 1

Josh Nelson D Jr 34 5 9 14 8 16 0 4

Brett Knowles F Fr 40 5 9 14 11 33 2 0

Bryce Gervais F Fr 41 8 5 13 13 26 2 1

Max Gaede F So 41 1 10 11 4 11 1 0

Jon Jutzi D Fr 41 1 8 9 4 19 0 0

Brett Stern D So 37 2 6 8 10 20 0 0

Taylor Herndon F Fr 12 1 3 4 0 0 0 0

Nick Buchanan D Fr 24 0 1 1 2 4 0 0

Charlie Thauwald F So 1 0 0 0 2 4 0 0

Stephon Williams G Fr 35 0 0 0 2 7 0 0

J.P. Burkemper F Jr 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 0

The Mavericks return 78.7% of their scoring. The biggest loss is losing Eriah Hayes, a 20 goal scorer who had 13 on power play. If the Mavericks ca get somebody to step up and evolve, much like Hayes did this year, good things await this team next year. On paper, this team should likely be better than the squad that set a school record in wins.

This may be the best Mavericks team we've ever had here, on paper of course. This should give us a good opportunity to get into the big dance and have a chance to win the school's first NCAA tournament game. A lot of that hinges on staying healthy, as well.

The nation's #5 PP will need to fill the void left by Eriah Hayes, but he is the only player they lose from their two PP units.

Hopefully the Penalty Kill can improve a little bit, as it was just a bit better than 83% this year.

 

[manurespreader]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

A number of issues that need to be addressed fairly soon. I would guess by the end of the coaches meetings May 1-5.

to wit:
1. Is the WCHA going to do a better job of promoting itself. Specifically social media coverage.
2. given the chances of a Roku channel or some other streaming set up, which is going to cost money, will fans buy it.
3. Which team is the favorite and which teams will contend and more importantly why?
4. Will the league do well in it's non con games.
5. Will the rules change much, IE will we be stuck with a shootout, and where will the refs come from.
6. Who will coach in Anchorage and will they be better this year?
7. Will there be any league personnel changes?
8. Are any teams doing rink renovations.
9. Which team has the top recruiting class?

among others.

 

[gfmorris]

Re: The New WCHA 3, Revenge of the Sieve (2013-14)

A number of issues that need to be addressed fairly soon. I would guess by the end of the coaches meetings May 1-5.

to wit:
1. Is the WCHA going to do a better job of promoting itself. Specifically social media coverage.
2. given the chances of a Roku channel or some other streaming set up, which is going to cost money, will fans buy it.
3. Which team is the favorite and which teams will contend and more importantly why?
4. Will the league do well in it's non con games.
5. Will the rules change much, IE will we be stuck with a shootout, and where will the refs come from.
6. Who will coach in Anchorage and will they be better this year?
7. Will there be any league personnel changes?
8. Are any teams doing rink renovations.
9. Which team has the top recruiting class?

among others.

A. Probably not, but if they'd hire me, they'd do better.
B. It has to run as a loss leader for a few years: low introductory rates, pushing to get good feedback, rapidly innovating, etc.
E. PLEASE NO SHOOTOUT.
H. Huntsville is not. Everything that was done here was done two seasons ago. We desperately need a new locker room, and it would be nice if the VBC would work with us on renovating the visiting locker room, but we're having to raise that money ourselves.

GFM