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WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

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Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

gfmorris said:
Yeah, these are the problems that everyone has trying to start a program outside of the normal footprint. (I still don't fully understand how we pulled off the jump to varsity hockey.) UAHstatman has a piece together about the potential of Alabama trying to start a team, and it's a good one. The biggest problem to me is that the SEC teams would all want to jump together. ASU having a big donor to do this makes it awesome and gives us a chance for an amazing western expansion, but you're not going to see a Southern expansion anytime soon. Kennesaw tried to make the jump and failed. I think that the only two schools to give this a shot are Georgia and Georgia Tech, but the Thrashers leaving for the 'Peg really hurt those chances.

GFM
Click to expand...

From what I could gather from research over the summer, it sounded like UAH needed some more varsity sports to join the NCAA in 1986. Elevating hockey to varsity was relatively easy, because we had the facility (Von Braun Civic Center) that was I believe pulling 3,000-4,000 per game because of the success of the club team. I don't think the costs back in the '80s were large enough that you needed the big donor to start it up -- they just relied on the school and the boosters the club team had. (I don't think Title IX was as much a factor as it is today, and we also didn't have a pesky semi-pro team to battle for market share.) The timing was just right. No way it happens today or even 15 years ago.

Here's that Alabama piece I wrote. While a UAH-Alabama rivalry could be pretty interesting, I do have concerns on what it would mean for UAH in the long run. The part about the barriers a new program must face is nothing new to folks here. I mainly wrote this because there was a lot of tweets and talk of Alabama being the "next hockey school" after the Arizona State announcement, but there didn't seem to be much perspective on the things that keep prospective programs in even the more traditional hockey areas from pulling the trigger.
http://uahhockey.com/blog/2014/11/20/what-if-bama-went-varsity/
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

The only thing about ASU going NCHC is this. When they left the WCHA those schools decided that some programs just weren't good enough. They didn't play good enough hockey and they didn't draw like they thought they should. ( At Magness in particular) So funny to see them now saying to ASU, " We know your team is going to****k for a while, but you can come in anyway, just because you are a big school and you get lot's of publicity". Though I'm sure what they said two years ago and what they say now are completely different.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

KRACH...

1 Minnesota State 2181.0 .9210 4t 9-3-0 .7500 3.000 2 727.0
2 Nebraska-Omaha 1562.8 .8960 4t 7-2-1 .7500 3.000 3 520.9
3 Minnesota-Duluth 1355.9 .8839 19 9-5-0 .6429 1.800 1 753.3
4 Michigan Tech 1140.0 .8677 2 10-2-0 .8333 5.000 9 228.0
5 Minnesota 851.0 .8372 15 7-3-0 .7000 2.333 5 364.7
6 Bowling Green 828.9 .8343 4t 10-3-1 .7500 3.000 8 276.3
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

blackswampboy said:
KRACH...

1 Minnesota State 2181.0 .9210 4t 9-3-0 .7500 3.000 2 727.0
2 Nebraska-Omaha 1562.8 .8960 4t 7-2-1 .7500 3.000 3 520.9
3 Minnesota-Duluth 1355.9 .8839 19 9-5-0 .6429 1.800 1 753.3
4 Michigan Tech 1140.0 .8677 2 10-2-0 .8333 5.000 9 228.0
5 Minnesota 851.0 .8372 15 7-3-0 .7000 2.333 5 364.7
6 Bowling Green 828.9 .8343 4t 10-3-1 .7500 3.000 8 276.3
Click to expand...

After that it's a steep drop: Bemidji at 21 (thanks to a #4 SOS), a struggling Ferris State at #29, Northern at #33 (a third-worst SOS doesn't help here), Alaska at #38, Anchorage at #42, UAH at #50, and Lake Superior at #54.

GFM
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

gfmorris said:
After that it's a steep drop: Bemidji at 21 (thanks to a #4 SOS), a struggling Ferris State at #29, Northern at #33 (a third-worst SOS doesn't help here), Alaska at #38, Anchorage at #42, UAH at #50, and Lake Superior at #54.

GFM
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Don't worry, Northern. When Wisconsin starts winning some games (It's bound to happen, right? They'll be playing Bi6 teams soon), the SOS will push up, and you'll end up closer to where your record indicates you should be.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

purpleinnebraska said:
Don't worry, Northern. When Wisconsin starts winning some games (It's bound to happen, right? They'll be playing Bi6 teams soon), the SOS will push up, and you'll end up closer to where your record indicates you should be.
Click to expand...

We're getting there... Up to #47 this week :o
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

purpleinnebraska said:
Don't worry, Northern. When Wisconsin starts winning some games (It's bound to happen, right? They'll be playing Bi6 teams soon), the SOS will push up, and you'll end up closer to where your record indicates you should be.
Click to expand...
It's not like the KRACH actually matters.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

purpleinnebraska said:
You have to shake your head at a season where playing Wisconsin at a neutral site hurts your computer ranking.
Click to expand...

But at the same time, Bowling Green and MTU on the road are looking to be huge boosts... Bizarro World for sure :eek:
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

How much attention do the voters actually pay to teams? I have already said that MTU is a very good team but they haven't played the opponents that MSU has played and getting beat 2 times in their barn?

Do they simply look at record and vote based on that?
 
Chris Clark Fan Club said:
How much attention do the voters actually pay to teams? I have already said that MTU is a very good team but they haven't played the opponents that MSU has played and getting beat 2 times in their barn?

Do they simply look at record and vote based on that?
Click to expand...
What is baffling is that a few weeks back, Tech went to Ferris and swept, yet in the ensuing poll, Ferris finished ahead despite Tech's far better record. Now Mankato sweeps at Tech and sits behind them.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

So we're to December, and it's what:

1a Mankato
1b Tech
3 BG


4a Motte
4b Dahlström

6 Bemidji
7 Fairbanks*

8a Anchorage
8b Huntsville

10 Lake

The drop from BG to Ferris/Northern is pretty big. Both of those schools seem to live and die by their goalies and whether or not they get good goaltending that night. (I mean, 5GA on 26 SOG against Wisco? What the Motte?)

Bemidji comes in next because their schedule has been brutal of late. Fairbanks is up and down (see this weekend against Northern), and the postseason ban possibility still seems to be stirring them up.

Anchorage and UAH are tied up because they're both about 1:2 GF:GA in league play. The Chargers have had a tough schedule so far (playing all three of Tech, Mankato, and BG, though two at home), while the Seawolves have only faced Tech (in Houghton). I give the Seawolves the nod because of their non-conference efforts. UAH might sneak into the playoffs because of Alaska's postseason ban.

Lake Superior is, well, a trash fire right now. Yes, they have three league wins, putting them in sixth in the WCHA, but those are their only wins in 16 games so far, and those wins are an overtime win against each Alaska school and a 1-0 shutout of UAH on the road where one of the Chargers' three best forwards committed two major penalties in one game. They're going with two freshmen goalies, both of whom are north of 3.50 and at .900 or south. Chris Ciotti is banged up, and only Schmitt and Perfetto are consistently scoring for them. And, well ... Alex Globke is 1-2—3.

GFM
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

gfmorris said:
So we're to December, and it's what:

1a Mankato
1b Tech
3 BG


4a Motte
4b Dahlström

6 Bemidji
7 Fairbanks*

8a Anchorage
8b Huntsville

10 Lake

The drop from BG to Ferris/Northern is pretty big. Both of those schools seem to live and die by their goalies and whether or not they get good goaltending that night. (I mean, 5GA on 26 SOG against Wisco? What the Motte?)

Bemidji comes in next because their schedule has been brutal of late. Fairbanks is up and down (see this weekend against Northern), and the postseason ban possibility still seems to be stirring them up.

Anchorage and UAH are tied up because they're both about 1:2 GF:GA in league play. The Chargers have had a tough schedule so far (playing all three of Tech, Mankato, and BG, though two at home), while the Seawolves have only faced Tech (in Houghton). I give the Seawolves the nod because of their non-conference efforts. UAH might sneak into the playoffs because of Alaska's postseason ban.

Lake Superior is, well, a trash fire right now. Yes, they have three league wins, putting them in sixth in the WCHA, but those are their only wins in 16 games so far, and those wins are an overtime win against each Alaska school and a 1-0 shutout of UAH on the road where one of the Chargers' three best forwards committed two major penalties in one game. They're going with two freshmen goalies, both of whom are north of 3.50 and at .900 or south. Chris Ciotti is banged up, and only Schmitt and Perfetto are consistently scoring for them. And, well ... Alex Globke is 1-2—3.

GFM
Click to expand...

Interesting analysis, yet deemed unworthy due to a total lacking of semicolons.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

Freddie said:
Interesting analysis, yet deemed unworthy due to a total lacking of semicolons.
Click to expand...

Oh nuts. ;)

I guess we'll see with next year's schedule if the league uses the Thanksgiving break to ameliorate the travel fun associated with the UA schools in the league. If we keep getting stuck with games Thanksgiving weekend, our attendance is really going to lag given the Iron Bowl. However, it would be great for schools that have to do the Alaska double to get those games out of the way on one trip while not missing a lot of class time.

GFM
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

Freddie said:
Interesting analysis, yet deemed unworthy due to a total lacking of semicolons.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but he did utilize "ö"... I don't even know how to type that other than cut'n'paste. That made it seem even more important than a colon, err semi-colon.
Ryan J
 
gfmorris said:
Oh nuts. ;)

I guess we'll see with next year's schedule if the league uses the Thanksgiving break to ameliorate the travel fun associated with the UA schools in the league. If we keep getting stuck with games Thanksgiving weekend, our attendance is really going to lag given the Iron Bowl. However, it would be great for schools that have to do the Alaska double to get those games out of the way on one trip while not missing a lot of class time.

GFM
Click to expand...
You've basically got room for two schools per season to do the double dip. The Alaskas also like to do a couple each to the lower 48. Nobody wants to play at home during any of their breaks.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

I was really surprised to hear that the weekend before thanksgiving was the first weekend the was a full slate of WCHA games...

As for the MSU, MTU, BGSU comparison, you can have it however you want until more things shake out, hard to separate them other than to say everyone is currently behind the Mavericks.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

One thing I notice about our league vs other ones. When a coach from some other league gets on a radio show, they spend half their time advertising for how great their league is. They go on and on about what an honor it is to be in the league and how good the competition is and how no other league comes close to how competitive and high quality they are. Norm Basin did it this last week. Our guys actually think it's about hockey, and I'd like to see us advertise better.. Coach Hastings needs lessons on bragging.
 
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