Hockeyguy1424
New member
Sixteen new bodies coming in, remember last years team was seniors and grad students. I think that Covid year has been used up now. This team will be interesting, get them in and start to get together.
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Utica Hockey more D1 speculation less Fish/Nubs d-baggery
- Thread starter UCAlum32
- Start date
Hockeyguy1424
New member
I meant 15.
Theres 17 new bodies. 16 skaters 1 goalie
Fishman'81
Black Bear since D-2
bakdraft21
Well-known member
buckle up here we go...............
Its already been raised and is in place. Anyone close to the community knows the fundraising has been an ongoing thing the past year.
Russell Jaslow
Registered User
Yes. Because of a loophole -- there is no D2 men's hockey. If there were, then they could not do this. If there is no D2 sport, and you are a D2 institution, you are allowed to play that sport up to D1 with no restrictions.
Russell Jaslow
Registered User
Not my problem. I was merely correcting an assumption lakont55 made about needing to be D1 in all sports to play hockey at D1.
Whether Utica can afford D1, D2, or D3 or where the money is coming from, I don't give a crap.
Oh come on, what's wrong with an Empire Hockey Conference? Eastern D3 hockey is trying to keep pace with D1 football realignments, why shouldn't Eastern D1 hockey follow suit?
And it wouldn't be that bad of a conference.
Russell Jaslow
Registered User
Because the ECAC schools will never leave a conference that has Ivy League schools in it, as long as they can maintain the ECAC.
PrezdeJohnson09
Proud supporter of Osmirwich hockey
Anybody that is a current senior is the last group that has the covid-year eligibility. All the true seniors came in 2020-21, which was the season that never really was and didn't have a national tournament at all.
Fishman'81
Black Bear since D-2
Seems to me that no one is addressing the point here, which is assessing the pros and cons of Utica moving to the AHA.
My take:
1. Utica won't be a cheap date for an entire family anymore. That goes to attendance.
2. Utica will definitely take their lumps in the AHA, at least early on, and from the likes of a Bentley, a Canisius, a Mercyhurst... The AHA is composed of no-name teams, just as is the UCHC, but Utica won't beat that group of no-names. That goes to attendance as well.
3. Utica recruits superbly at the D-3 level, but I absolutely expect that to go away for the foreseeable future once they go to the AHA. Hell, Utica's best recruits over the past years- some of whom turned out to be D-3 All Americans- were D-1 cast-offs, including a few from the AHA.
4. The Aud is a fancy D-3 venue, but there are many other fancier venues in D-1. I certainly don't see that rink luring guys away from the top programs on the basis of the barn. (Or the town, for that matter.)
I could go on and on, but not tonight. Still, I haven't heard a coherent peep regarding why this move might possibly be a good idea.
My take:
1. Utica won't be a cheap date for an entire family anymore. That goes to attendance.
2. Utica will definitely take their lumps in the AHA, at least early on, and from the likes of a Bentley, a Canisius, a Mercyhurst... The AHA is composed of no-name teams, just as is the UCHC, but Utica won't beat that group of no-names. That goes to attendance as well.
3. Utica recruits superbly at the D-3 level, but I absolutely expect that to go away for the foreseeable future once they go to the AHA. Hell, Utica's best recruits over the past years- some of whom turned out to be D-3 All Americans- were D-1 cast-offs, including a few from the AHA.
4. The Aud is a fancy D-3 venue, but there are many other fancier venues in D-1. I certainly don't see that rink luring guys away from the top programs on the basis of the barn. (Or the town, for that matter.)
I could go on and on, but not tonight. Still, I haven't heard a coherent peep regarding why this move might possibly be a good idea.
1. True
2. Disagree. Top 15 D3 teams could go to the AHA tomorrow and be fine
3. Why would a kid go to Mercyhurst, Niagara, RMU, AIC over Utica? Schools like Bentley and Holy Cross I could see for the academics, and Army/Air Force for obvious reasons. The pool to recruit from becomes a lot larger as a D1 school.
4. There aren't many, if any, fancier in the AHA.
It is great for the city and school to have a D1 team. That outweighs your opinion that they might be a .500 team for a couple of years and the ticket prices will increase. The Aud is packed when an Oswego or Hamilton play there. Imagine a BU or Cornell coming to play?
Fishman'81
Black Bear since D-2
4. And imagine a BU or a Cornell hammering Utica 9-1? How's that going to play in terms of local interest? (As if BU would make that trip for a "bad" win. I doubt that Cornell would, either. Utica would have to go to them for the payday, and get obliterated in the process.) The venues are much nicer elsewhere. It's comparing apples to oranges to rate the Aud against the more modern arenas in D-1.
3. Why would a good recruit settle for the AHA in the first place? Actual NHL prospects don't. Aside from the silly AQ, the AHA wouldn't have garnered a berth but once or twice in the past 20 years.
2. Of course a few D-3 programs could be *somewhat* competitive in the woeful AHA. But where does that get you? Certainly not a D-1 PW berth.
1. Yup.
One needs only look as far as the RIT experiment, which was a complete flop, to see what's down the road for UU. Utica won't be a legit D-1 team in hockey, any more than it was in hoops when NBA HOFer Larry Costello was hired to guide the basketball program.
Not rooting against that miracle happening, but I'm fairly sure that it won't. (Very sure, actually.)
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PrezdeJohnson09
Proud supporter of Osmirwich hockey
RIT experiment a complete flop?
I vehemently disagree there. The men’s program has been very successful all things considered with the D1 move.
How many AHL and NHL players has RIT had since joining D1? Way more than when they were D3.
The Frozen Four appearance alone made that move worth it. New arena that they pack.
RIT "experiment" a "complete flop"? They made a FROZEN FOUR for the love of Pete. This now surpasses your Utica is a "perennial national power" comment for level of stupidity that has passed through your fingertips.
Go watch UNE score again when it matters.
Fishman'81
Black Bear since D-2
If memory serves, RIT has garnered exactly one FF appearance over the past 23 years, and it was sent packing immediately thereafter. I couldn't find the attendance info on this dying site, but IIRC, RIT averaged around 700 people last season.
The rest of the sports there I have no idea about,and that is kinda my point. You could ask 1000 people on the street about RIT, and 999 wouldn't even know where it is located... And I live 2 hours from Rochester.
Going D-1 and gleaning next to nothing via the process is what I was talking about. And I still haven't read anything to change my mind. Pretty sure that Utica going there won't change the ongoing calculus, either.
You are only off by about 2,000 fans, they averaged 2,752 last year. The D1 move is the right move for the school and city.
Lord_Zubin
Puck Flattsburgh!!!
RIT averages 2700 paid attendance putting them 29th out of 60 teams and #1 in the AHA. Good luck figuring out what actual attendance is maybe review some highlights on youtube. I will admit AHA definitely has the worst attendance across all of D1 Hockey. Seems to me like RIT should get the hell outta the AHA https://www.uscho.com/stats/attendance/division-i-men/2022-2023/
That one FF is equal to or more than 19 teams from conferences other that AHA and some pretty big historical names on that list like Cornell, Western Mich, Lake State, BG, Clarkson and more. We get it. You dont want to see UU go DI because they will no longer be the bigger fish in the smaller pond, but I believe it will bring a benefit to the entire community of Utica (I am in Utica quite often, several times a year) and have family in the area. I have attended many UC/UU games at the aud. The city loves its hockey and gong to DI will be a positive move.