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Utica University 2022-23: Is This The Year?

Russell Jaslow said:
Yes. Bob DeGregorio, retiring commissioner of AHA and CHA, has been consulting on this project. He has run into a lot of issues because those teams don't seem to be on the same page in terms of their wants and needs (my speculation -- a big part of this disagreement could be the amount of scholarships the teams want/don't want the league to allow).

Having said that, if Fishman thinks AHA is irrelevant, that potential new league (which could include a lot of the D2 teams in the current Northeast-10 conference) will make the AHA seem like Hockey East...
Click to expand...

Not much different than the UCHC if we are being honest. CUgrad summed it up best, the fans don't know nor do they care much about anything other than winning. The decision benefits the University as a whole. Many here think this is strictly a Utica Hockey decision, and although it was a factor, the school will benefit greatly from athletics jumping up to D2.
 
Russell Jaslow said:
Yes. Bob DeGregorio, retiring commissioner of AHA and CHA, has been consulting on this project. He has run into a lot of issues because those teams don't seem to be on the same page in terms of their wants and needs (my speculation -- a big part of this disagreement could be the amount of scholarships the teams want/don't want the league to allow).

Having said that, if Fishman thinks AHA is irrelevant, that potential new league (which could include a lot of the D2 teams in the current Northeast-10 conference) will make the AHA seem like Hockey East...
Click to expand...


We're in a rare state of agreement.

Been over it all before, yes... And I still just can't see any up-side to going D-1 in general, let alone going D-1 in an also-ran conference, or joining a newly-made, sure-fire, disaster of a conference.

If there's some mysterious revenue stream in the offing, sure... But if any AHA team pays for itself, I'll eat my hat. Utica out-draws all of them, and most of them by a country mile.

A head-scratcher, this notion of "upgrading".
 
WCHornet said:
You are correct, it was in Detroit. Still trying to figure out why I thought it was in Pittsburgh, other than because I was. I did watch it on TV though. At least I remembered it was 2010 on the day of my back surgery.
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Pittsburgh was the year Yale won it. I was there. Great atmosphere!
 
Russell Jaslow said:
An interesting note about that. A few years back, Hobart was going to give up the D1 experiment and move their lacrosse team back to D3. There was a huge outcry from the alumni base. The administration backed down, and kept the lacrosse team at D1.

I thought that was very interesting.
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Not to discuss this too much on a Utica hockey thread, but once you go D1, it is difficult to change your mind. The Hobart administration plan to transition back was not well executed and they abandoned the transition due to the "outrage" and from lacrosse alumni and the players/parents. The problem is going back to D3 after lacrosse exploded in national popularity because you'll never get back the edge you had in recruiting to a D3 program that did beat Syracuse and Cornell at times and won Championships in D3. I'm hoping the hockey program can take the place of the old lax success with Coach Taylor at the helm and we can generate some serious financial interest from donors.
With all of that said, I would prefer that Utica stay in D3 , win some playoff games and see you guys in the last game of the season in the future.
 
Bartman said:
Not to discuss this too much on a Utica hockey thread, but once you go D1, it is difficult to change your mind. The Hobart administration plan to transition back was not well executed and they abandoned the transition due to the "outrage" and from lacrosse alumni and the players/parents. The problem is going back to D3 after lacrosse exploded in national popularity because you'll never get back the edge you had in recruiting to a D3 program that did beat Syracuse and Cornell at times and won Championships in D3. I'm hoping the hockey program can take the place of the old lax success with Coach Taylor at the helm and we can generate some serious financial interest from donors.
With all of that said, I would prefer that Utica stay in D3 , win some playoff games and see you guys in the last game of the season in the future.
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Pretty much agree 100%.

Any putative D-1 hockey conference that has, say, a Stonehill on board is doomed to obscurity. Stonehill, and most every other program cited in the article on here, are completely irrelevant, even in D-3. (And I wouldn't expect Utica to fare well there, either.)

Still waiting for someone to explain to me why this makes a scintilla of sense, no matter how you slice it.
 
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JSicedog said:
Not much different than the UCHC if we are being honest. CUgrad summed it up best, the fans don't know nor do they care much about anything other than winning. The decision benefits the University as a whole. Many here think this is strictly a Utica Hockey decision, and although it was a factor, the school will benefit greatly from athletics jumping up to D2.
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Do you really think that UU would contend in any way at the D-1 level?

That's crazy talk.
 
JSicedog said:
You are thinking about this strictly from a towny fan perspective. The schools benefits significantly from this from a financial standpoint. Utica could go 0-25 and still probably draw 1,500 fans. Student attendance increased 250% the past 2 yesrs. We get it that you are a day 1, in the trenches of the ECAC west, and think your opinion holds all. Unfortunately you dont have a grasp on reality
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"Towny"..? What an AH comment. Not from anywhere near Utica. I've lived all over the world, but there's nothing wrong with people sticking put, wherever... Surely, you'll never leave Paris.

But *HELLO*, if the "townies" don't attend (and they won't, if UU has a lousy record vs. a bunch of obscure "D-1" teams) where's the money coming from? ESPN?

We're all waiting on your expert analysis.
 
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Fishman'81 said:
"Towny"..? What an AH comment. Not from anywhere near Utica. I've lived all over the world, but there's nothing wrong with people sticking put, wherever... Surely, you'll never leave Paris.

But *HELLO*, if the "townies" don't attend (and they won't, if UU has a lousy record vs. a bunch of obscure "D-1" teams) where's the money coming from? ESPN?

We're all waiting on your expert analysis.
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You were born in Toledo and lived in a submarine for 10 years. So I guess both could technically be true.
 
Fishman'81 said:
"Towny"..? What an AH comment. Not from anywhere near Utica. I've lived all over the world, but there's nothing wrong with people sticking put, wherever... Surely, you'll never leave Paris.

But *HELLO*, if the "townies" don't attend (and they won't, if UU has a lousy record vs. a bunch of obscure "D-1" teams) where's the money coming from? ESPN?

We're all waiting on your expert analysis.
Click to expand...

At least as far as I’ve seen the term used on this forum, “towny” refers to all local fans who are not students.

But, believe it or not, you and I mostly agree on this topic. A move to D1, especially as part of a new NEWHA-style frankenconference, would doom Utica to obscurity. I predict it would take Utica 6-10 years to start consistently making a splash even at the conference level (RIT was competitive in Atlantic Hockey - at the time a scholarship-limiting conference - in just their 2nd DI year, and won the conference in their 5th year, making their remarkable run to the Frozen Four, but have had several sub-.500 seasons since then, and have never truly been relevant outside of AHA besides those 2 games in 2010… and I would wager that RIT’s quick build to the D1 level is the exception, rather than the rule). I’d be happy to be proven wrong, though, and would gladly cheer on the Pioneers in Division I.

But to your point, RIT’s quick ramp-up is really the ONLY recipe for success in this transition. If it takes 6-10 years to break the .500 mark on a full season, the local fans who become accustomed to success will gradually stop coming. Of those who stick around, many will eventually be put off by the less energetic atmosphere when that arena is less than half full. And those dwindling crowds make it more difficult to recruit players to build for future success, creating a sort of negative feedback loop perpetually holding Utica down in the cellar of Division I.
 
CARDS_rule_the_Burgh said:
At least as far as I’ve seen the term used on this forum, “towny” refers to all local fans who are not students.

But, believe it or not, you and I mostly agree on this topic. A move to D1, especially as part of a new NEWHA-style frankenconference, would doom Utica to obscurity. I predict it would take Utica 6-10 years to start consistently making a splash even at the conference level (RIT was competitive in Atlantic Hockey - at the time a scholarship-limiting conference - in just their 2nd DI year, and won the conference in their 5th year, making their remarkable run to the Frozen Four, but have had several sub-.500 seasons since then, and have never truly been relevant outside of AHA besides those 2 games in 2010… and I would wager that RIT’s quick build to the D1 level is the exception, rather than the rule). I’d be happy to be proven wrong, though, and would gladly cheer on the Pioneers in Division I.

But to your point, RIT’s quick ramp-up is really the ONLY recipe for success in this transition. If it takes 6-10 years to break the .500 mark on a full season, the local fans who become accustomed to success will gradually stop coming. Of those who stick around, many will eventually be put off by the less energetic atmosphere when that arena is less than half full. And those dwindling crowds make it more difficult to recruit players to build for future success, creating a sort of negative feedback loop perpetually holding Utica down in the cellar of Division I.
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Hate to agree, but I do.

You'd think that the RIT experience would amount to a cautionary tale, but apparently it doesn't.

I can imagine three scenarios:

!. Utica can join the Frankensteins, and be a biggish fish in an ignored puddle.. Then, play two years there in order to be ignored yet again.

2. And, God forbid, that hot mess will be gifted an AQ, as though D-1 needs yet another sacrificial lamb in their tournament. (The BS AQ's degrade the fan experience, and fly in the face of equity. The whole selection calculus should be straight PW, end of story.)

3. Just as sadly, Utica becomes a Canisius, a Mercyhurst, a Bentley, or another fill in the blank irrelevant D-1 backwater.

I see no sense in any of it.
 
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