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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

If I recall, way back in the dark ages when BG won the championship in 1984, the first round games were held at campus sites as a home series. They were two game total goals series with the higher seeded team getting home ice. I'm not sure why they can't do something like this again (maybe a best of 3 as opposed to a total goals) before moving to neutral sites.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

BGFan said:
If I recall, way back in the dark ages when BG won the championship in 1984, the first round games were held at campus sites as a home series. They were two game total goals series with the higher seeded team getting home ice. I'm not sure why they can't do something like this again (maybe a best of 3 as opposed to a total goals) before moving to neutral sites.
Click to expand...

The problem here is that not every market is set up for a bunch of teams and fans to come storming into town on a moment's notice. Unless schools start holding open blocks of hotels for such occurrences, that's just untenable. Looking at WCHA schools, it's really only UAA, UAH, and BGSU that could host on short notice, given that Anchorage and Huntsville are sizable metropolitan areas and BG is close to Toledo.

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

gfmorris said:
The problem here is that not every market is set up for a bunch of teams and fans to come storming into town on a moment's notice. Unless schools start holding open blocks of hotels for such occurrences, that's just untenable. Looking at WCHA schools, it's really only UAA, UAH, and BGSU that could host on short notice, given that Anchorage and Huntsville are sizable metropolitan areas and BG is close to Toledo.

GFM
Click to expand...
You're missing my point. There would only be two teams involved at each site; the higher seeded home team and their opponent (notice the semi-colon). Basically there would be eight sites in the first round (unless buys are awarded), all campus sites, after which the games are moved to neutral sites. This would be similar to to the league championship playoffs where the first rounds are played on home ice, but this would be on a national scale.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

BGFan said:
You're missing my point. There would only be two teams involved at each site; the higher seeded home team and their opponent (notice the semi-colon). Basically there would be eight sites in the first round (unless buys are awarded), all campus sites, after which the games are moved to neutral sites. This would be similar to to the league championship playoffs where the first rounds are played on home ice, but this would be on a national scale.
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Then you actually get the opposite problem of the larger venues like the Kohl Center having to keep another weekend open for the possibility of hosting a playoff series.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

BGFan said:
If I recall, way back in the dark ages when BG won the championship in 1984, the first round games were held at campus sites as a home series. They were two game total goals series with the higher seeded team getting home ice. I'm not sure why they can't do something like this again (maybe a best of 3 as opposed to a total goals) before moving to neutral sites.
Click to expand...

From 1977 until 1991, the NCAA tournament used on-campus sites.

Starting in 1977, there was a single on-campus play-in game to accommodate the winner of the CCHA in the field. This was replaced in 1981 when the tournament expanded to 8 teams, with four on-campus first round series played as a two game total goal format. When the tournament expanded to 12 teams in 1988, both the first and second rounds were at campus sites as two game total goal series. In 1989, the format was changed to a best-of-3. All those went away with the start of 6-team regionals in 1992.

If that history lesson teaches you one thing about the format of the NCAA tournament, it's that it has been changed a lot over the years.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

Shirtless Guy said:
Then you actually get the opposite problem of the larger venues like the Kohl Center having to keep another weekend open for the possibility of hosting a playoff series.
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The number of venues and locations for the second round would remain the same so I'm not sure what your argument is.

What you're gaining is almost guaranteed sellouts at all venues in the first round as long as they don't go overboard with the ticket prices, especially for the students.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

BGFan said:
The number of venues and locations for the second round would remain the same so I'm not sure what your argument is.

What you're gaining is almost guaranteed sellouts at all venues in the first round as long as they don't go overboard with the ticket prices, especially for the students.
Click to expand...

But every venue in college hockey would theoretically need to never schedule another event for that weekend in hopes of hosting an NCAA playoff series, add that to the conference tournament for most schools and thats two weekends of lost revenue for venues that must keep 6 evenings tied up in potential games. Now that's likely not a big deal to schools like Minnesota and North Dakota that expect to host and the venues aren't used for much other than hockey but Mankato has concerts, Kohl Center in madison has basketball games and gets very busy that time of year hosting high school basketball games, etc.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

BG Fan, I'm sure you remember the couple times that Ohio State hosted a first round CCHA playoff series - at the old 1000 seat rink, because the Schott was booked for HS basketball. Imagine that happening a couple times over. The multi-purpose buildings are in it to make money, and they do that by booking guaranteed dates. That's why Shirtless rightly points out that this proposed system is inherently flawed.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

Shirtless Guy said:
But every venue in college hockey would theoretically need to never schedule another event for that weekend in hopes of hosting an NCAA playoff series, add that to the conference tournament for most schools and thats two weekends of lost revenue for venues that must keep 6 evenings tied up in potential games. Now that's likely not a big deal to schools like Minnesota and North Dakota that expect to host and the venues aren't used for much other than hockey but Mankato has concerts, Kohl Center in madison has basketball games and gets very busy that time of year hosting high school basketball games, etc.
Click to expand...
One of the disadvantages of multi-purpose venues. I guess it comes down to a choice. Is it better to host an NCAA playoff in lieu of what was scheduled, find another venue, or forfeit the opportunity to host?

No solution is ever ideal and it's always a hit or miss as to whether a pre-scheduled venue for the first round will sell. Toledo was disappointing last year because there were no schools in the area that made it. BG was the host school and had we made it to the playoffs last year along with, say, Michigan things would have been very different. But if you always have the first round at campus sites you never have that problem.
 
John J. MacInnes said:
BG Fan, I'm sure you remember the couple times that Ohio State hosted a first round CCHA playoff series - at the old 1000 seat rink, because the Schott was booked for HS basketball. Imagine that happening a couple times over. The multi-purpose buildings are in it to make money, and they do that by booking guaranteed dates. That's why Shirtless rightly points out that this proposed system is inherently flawed.
Click to expand...
EVERY system will be flawed. The question is, would this system have more/worse flaws than the current one?
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

pdt1081 said:
EVERY system will be flawed. The question is, would this system have more/worse flaws than the current one?
Click to expand...

Considering that they already scrapped this system to use the current one, I think you can find the answer.
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

John J. MacInnes said:
BG Fan, I'm sure you remember the couple times that Ohio State hosted a first round CCHA playoff series - at the old 1000 seat rink, because the Schott was booked for HS basketball. Imagine that happening a couple times over. The multi-purpose buildings are in it to make money, and they do that by booking guaranteed dates. That's why Shirtless rightly points out that this proposed system is inherently flawed.
Click to expand...

That's one of the reasons that OSU has been pondering the idea of building a new facility for hockey only. (Who knows if it will ever happen, though.) Multi-purpose venues suck. They're expensive to operate, and scheduling is a nightmare. Not to mention the ice quality can be an issue if the events are scheduled too closely together... But that's beside the point, I know.

No matter what, though, all systems have inherent flaws. As I stated in my previous post, last year's Toledo venue was a bust because there were no area schools in the tournament. The best solution is to find one with the least flaws but makes the most money (an NCAA "must have").

Any ideas how many schools this would affect?
 
Re: WCHA 2014-15: Semi-colons make things seem important

NMU Box score....

Attendance: 897

Is this real? Is the weather that bad? Woooooooooow.
 
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