Mike McMahon says:
May 2, 2012 at 12:12 pm
The non-conference schedule will always be a debate. Truthfully, bigger schools don’t want to come to Lawler. That’s how it will always be. I know they’ve tried partnering with some bigger HE schools to bring teams in for two games (one there, one at Lawler) and some seem receptive but it’s still early in those stages.
The bigger schools, especially the bigger Midwest schools, don’t want to come East, period. They would much rather pay a team $50,000 to come in for two games at their place, and not return the trip.
And, while I understand the desire to play the “bigger” schools, I’ve always been a proponent of scheduling a non-conference schedule that you think you can do well with. When it comes to the Pairwise, going 6-1 against ECAC and AH schools is going to always be better than going 3-4 against WCHA and CCHA “bigger” schools. It’s beneficial to win NC games, because if you do well enough in Hockey East, the league will always be strong enough to put you in good shape for a NCAA berth.
Two years ago – and I don’t remember the exact teams – but I took four of Merrimack’s NC wins and changed them to one win and three losses against teams that were “better” and the result was squeaking into the NCAAs as the No. 15 seed. Instead of being a No. 2 in Manchester, they would likely have been a No. 4, headed out West.
So, to sum it up, the problem with bigger schools are:
1) They don’t want to come.
2) They won’t come.
3) Is it really beneficial to play them? I’m not sure it is.