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UConn to apply to Hockey East

Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

theprofromdover said:
I don't trust Uconn to follow through on any construction promises they make. Look at the problems Maine, UHN, Lowell, Zoomass and Vermont have in getting funds. I'll be happy with 11 until they obtain financing and break ground on a campus rink.
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On the other hand, this is a LARGE state university with resources. Look at how quickly they went from an also-ran in the old Yankee Conference in football to a legitimate D1 school. This is not like some school like Merrimack that I would imagine does not have the resources to build a state of the art arena. UConn could do it if they make the commitment.
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

ericredaxe said:
If they can sell beer at the XL Center then I'm all for it... but crowds of 3000ish are going to feel pretty small in an arena that seats 15K+
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But that doesn't matter, right? Look at the regionals... (heh heh - reference to that "other" thread) :D
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

Link to today's New Haven Register story:
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/03/29/sports/doc4f737782574a5156940471.txt

"One idea that has been discussed is for the Huskies to play Hockey East conference games against larger programs like Boston College, Boston University, Maine, New Hampshire and Notre Dame in Hartford, with the others played on campus."

Forget the NHL, it failed 12 years ago in a better economy. The AHL team can hardly survive there. I would travel to Hartford to see Uconn play the above-mentioned teams. It would not make sense to play every game there, it would be better to fill the rink on campus than play in an almost-empty HCC, and wouldn't hurt the AHL attendance too much.
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

css228 said:
For now. Not in the long run when as a conference of small name schools there's no big draws to fill the stadiums. We still have some traditional power programs in the ECAC to get everyone excited. The new WCHA doesn't really.
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Cornell and who else? In the past 10-15 years, no other school in the ECAC has been consistently in contention for NCAA trips to the point that they could be considered a traditional power. I could maybe see Union being considered one a decade from now if they keep this up.

css228 said:
In 5-10 years, the new WCHA will be as irrelevant, or worse off, than ECAC Hockey.
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I figure that they will end up being comparable conferences. Generally good for 1-2 NCAA bids each year, and a FF trip for a member school about once a decade.
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

chickod said:
On the other hand, this is a LARGE state university with resources. Look at how quickly they went from an also-ran in the old Yankee Conference in football to a legitimate D1 school. This is not like some school like Merrimack that I would imagine does not have the resources to build a state of the art arena. UConn could do it if they make the commitment.
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Uconn could probably do well like in football if BC, BU, and Maine bolted for the ACC.

You see what I'm saying here?
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

AdamBC said:
Gotta be honest, Campbell Soup Arena doesn't impress me and the Rent and XL aren't owned by UConn. So your only on-campus venue is lack-luster; while the practice facilities may be impressive, Joe Sixpack Fan isn't watching the games from them.
I guess those are personal preferences, but Gampel is a very tough place to play and compares favorably with anything BC or UMass has. I've been to Gampel and Conte for basketball and I'll take Gampel any day of the week. the football facilities on campus are as good as you'll find...and while Joe Sixpack may not use them, as you say, they have absolutley aided in recruiting which translates into stuff that ol' Joe does see. the Rent is great for tailgating and the sight lines are very good.


Jim, why would we be worried about this proposal? Most of our players come from MA and I doubt we'll lose recruiting battles to UConn. I say as long as UConn commits to building an on-campus arena that matches the level of Agganis, and will provide the full scholarship level, I say they should be a part of Hockey East.

I'm with you on the on-campus arena. BC is always worried about UCONN...go back and read some of the comments from their radio guy when UCONN upgraded its football team...

Hockey is a different fan base from HandEgg/BouncyBall, while BC gets up for Notre Dame in football, we'd rather kick the tar out of BU on the ice and the Notre Dame hockey games aren't as big a deal.
Absolutely agree with this. But read some of the comments here (claver comes to mind) and elsewhere from BCfans. While I don't expect UCONN-BC to ever approach BC-BU, an unlying hate is a good thing for athletics in my opinion.


Depends how persuasive the new AD is.
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Yup!
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

Brian Gentry said:
Once again I am forced to agree with Rover.
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I may have to rethink my position in light of this development! ;)

Two other thoughts: 1) if any team is going to play its home games in a casino, it'll be Boston College for obvious reasons (thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week). 2) The NHL isn't going to Hartford because the city is a sh !t hole and nobody wants to spend time in it. However, a temporary arrangement until and on campus facility is built seems reasonable enough. Just load the construction contract with plenty of incentives to finish early so the team can get the hell out of Hartford.
 
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Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

lmg6841 said:
I can tell you as an avid Tiger fan, we want better competition. You guys are a great league and we know it, we just need the cards to play in our favor with a spot opening up in the ECAC and we'll be all over. I recall that earlier this summer RIT declined an invitation from the WCHA in hopes of an ECAC spot.
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I'm with aparch.... HUH???
I never heard any such story or even rumor about any sort of RIT-WCHA connection..
What did happen was that the AHA-4 (NU, RMU, MC nka MU, and CC) had meetings about joining the last couple teams left in the old CCHA (BGSU and Ferris, if I remember correctly). When some on here assumed RIT was involved, it was posted that they declined to participate in any discussions about joining a western conference.
IMHO, they don't feel joining a "remnant" conference that is full scholarship is a viable choice at this time. Until they are able to offer scholarships, AHA is their most logical home.... that is unless the ECAC were to have an opening where RIT would be the 8th no-scholarship member and be able to play in a much better geographically fit league for them. Not to mention that their entire D-III athletic department just moved to the Liberty League with RPI, Clarkson, Union, and St. Lawrence.
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

TigerFan86-87 said:
I'm with aparch.... HUH???
I never heard any such story or even rumor about any sort of RIT-WCHA connection..
What did happen was that the AHA-4 (NU, RMU, MC nka MU, and CC) had meetings about joining the last couple teams left in the old CCHA (BGSU and Ferris, if I remember correctly). When some on here assumed RIT was involved, it was posted that they declined to participate in any discussions about joining a western conference.
IMHO, they don't feel joining a "remnant" conference that is full scholarship is a viable choice at this time. Until they are able to offer scholarships, AHA is their most logical home.... that is unless the ECAC were to have an opening where RIT would be the 8th no-scholarship member and be able to play in a much better geographically fit league for them. Not to mention that their entire D-III athletic department just moved to the Liberty League with RPI, Clarkson, Union, and St. Lawrence.
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RIT geographically is a ridiculous fit for the ECAC; academically and athletically, I've heard they'd much rather have Holy Cross as a travel partner for Union than RIT. Rochester is in the middle of nowhere, and a two-hour or three-hour trip between travel partners uisnt' far fetched. It's 2 hours between Colgate and Cornell, for example, given the directions and bus treks (helloooooo silos).

Also, there's an element of RIT that, for the most part, some in ECAC don't want to touch. RIT is essentially RPI with a less-rich history at the D1 level. Everyone knows RIT thinks its better than the rest of the AHA and wants out, that it wants the scholarship investment and the new rink and to seamlessly fit into another conference. But geographically, ROchester doesn't fit with anybody, especially the WCHA or the old CCHA.

Of course RIT fans think the world starts and stops with them since, yes, they have been good as of late. But Rochester and the fact that the AHA championship is played at BCA is just a fact that RIT isn't going anywhere.
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

Jim said:
Yeah, great example...BC has been oh so successful in the ACC...
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With the exception of this past year, BC has actually been really competitive in the ACC since joining. Their football team has gone to 2 conference championships, men's soccer became a national power and has gone to four consecutive tournaments, winning 1 ACC title, men's basketball has gone to a Sweet Sixteen and qualified for the national tournament more often than they haven't, and the baseball team went to the national tournament for the first time in 2009 since the 1960s (and the only reaosn why they were 2-and-screw in that was because they played a 26 inning game in the firs tgame, then turned around less than 16 hours later and played another game with no pitching and fatigue. Texas had a day off).

And women's basketball holds wins over national powers like Duke and FSU within the last couple years. It's unfair to judge them on last year's collapse in football and this year's struggles in pretty much everything.

So while you hate on BC, the fact remains that they have been pretty good. Also, their profile is clearly high enough for this forum to become less about UConn joining Hockey East and more about BC-bashing.
 
Re: UConn to apply to Hockey East

Humanoid said:
RIT geographically is a ridiculous fit for the ECAC; academically and athletically, I've heard they'd much rather have Holy Cross as a travel partner for Union than RIT. Rochester is in the middle of nowhere, and a two-hour or three-hour trip between travel partners uisnt' far fetched. It's 2 hours between Colgate and Cornell, for example, given the directions and bus treks (helloooooo silos).
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Not that it would necessarily shake out this way, but it is less than 2 hours between RIT and Cornell, and between Colgate and Union (and relatively easy drives). In comparison, Holy Cross-Union as travel partners seems ridiculous. Even RIT-Union is a perfectly reasonable set of travel partners give the straight shot down the thruway (a little over 3 hours).

Rochester is no where near the middle of nowhere; it just looks that way from Mass. ... we're actually just on the edge of nowhere. ;)

I won't get into the academic fit, as it is really impossible to define, but your suggestion that RIT is just the same as RPI would and that some in the ECAC don't want to touch RIT because of that implies that the ECAC wants RPI out. I find that difficult to believe. Personally I'd prefer to see RIT in an ECAC that includes RPI.
 
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