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WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

J

JohnsonsJerseys

Michigan Tech Fan
Well it is March 1st and two teams, the Alabama Huntsville Chargers and the Ferris State Bulldogs, are already making their tee times and putting together their plans for the 2020-21 season. Here are some story lines we will be watching this season:
  • Will UAF, UAA or UAH win the MacNaughton Cup (regular season champion) and hold it ransom for a spot in the CCHA?
  • Will UAF, UAA or UAH win the Super Sticky Sauer Syrup Cup (playoff champion) and hold it ransom for a second spot in the CCHA?
  • Will all 10 teams leave the WCHA to join the CCHA and then wonder what the heck just happened?
  • Will the two Alaska schools secure the two two seeds for the playoffs and hold the entire conference hostage in Alaska for three weeks?
  • Will the 70th Anniversary of the WCHA actually be celebrated by the league?
  • Will the departing teams find a web developer who can take them into the 21st Century?
  • Is the universe finite or infinite? (Geof, can you take this one?)
  • How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?

Feel free to post** the questions you need answered during the 2020-21 season and the answers as they are uncovered...
** Questions may also be emailed in .pdf or .doc format to WCHA-Questions@yahoo.com
 
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Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

UAFIceAngel said:
I totally missed this is for next season and not for playoffs hahaha I need more sleep
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Completely understandable. Some would say the management of the WCHA has been asleep for more than a decade with what has happened during that time span. They allowed an amazing hockey conference to make itself completely irrelevant in under a decade by not listening to its member schools... twice.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
Well it is March 1st and two teams, the Alabama Huntsville Chargers and the Ferris State Bulldogs, are already making their tee times and putting together their plans for the 2020-21 season. Here are some story lines we will be watching this season:

  • Will UAF, UAA or UAH win the MacNaughton Cup (regular season champion) and hold it ransom for a spot in the CCHA?
  • Will UAF, UAA or UAH win the Super Sticky Sauer Syrup Cup (playoff champion) and hold it ransom for a second spot in the CCHA?
  • Will all 10 teams leave the WCHA to join the CCHA and then wonder what the heck just happened?
  • Will the two Alaska schools secure the two two seeds for the playoffs and hold the entire conference hostage in Alaska for three weeks?
  • Will the 60th Anniversary of the WCHA actually be celebrated by the league?
  • Will the departing teams find a web developer who can take them into the 21st Century?
  • Is the universe finite or infinite? (Geof, can you take this one?)
  • How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?

Feel free to post** the questions you need answered during the 2020-21 season and the answers as they are uncovered...
** Questions may also be emailed in .pdf or .doc format to WCHA-Questions@yahoo.com
Click to expand...

Since this is mostly about the three castaways...

I think UAF will be pretty good next season, again. Our top 4 point getters are all slated to return, and Grigals should be able to step up in net with Martinsson graduating. That said, losing 10 seniors to graduation is a big hole to fill, especially from a leadership standpoint. My hunch is that Max Newton is likely to get the C next season, and next year’s squad will have even more of a chip on their shoulder than they did this season.

I’d expect UAA to continue to improve, too. They’re a young team that is well coached and figuring out how to win. Mankato will most likely sweep them out of the building next weekend, but the playoff experience will be invaluable. And don’t totally sleep on UAA...they kept Mankato on the ropes in Anchorage. Wouldn’t be surprised if one of those games this weekend is closer than people expect.

UAH...eeesh. I’ll let one of their people tackle that one.
 
Squarebanks said:
Since this is mostly about the three castaways...

I think UAF will be pretty good next season, again. Our top 4 point getters are all slated to return, and Grigals should be able to step up in net with Martinsson graduating. That said, losing 10 seniors to graduation is a big hole to fill, especially from a leadership standpoint. My hunch is that Max Newton is likely to get the C next season, and next year’s squad will have even more of a chip on their shoulder than they did this season.

I’d expect UAA to continue to improve, too. They’re a young team that is well coached and figuring out how to win. Mankato will most likely sweep them out of the building next weekend, but the playoff experience will be invaluable. And don’t totally sleep on UAA...they kept Mankato on the ropes in Anchorage. Wouldn’t be surprised if one of those games this weekend is closer than people expect.

UAH...eeesh. I’ll let one of their people tackle that one.
Click to expand...

You don’t think S. Jandric will get the C??
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

Squarebanks said:
UAH...eeesh. I’ll let one of their people tackle that one.
Click to expand...

Woo boy.

It appears Mike Corbett plans some serious roster changes. After the finale on Saturday: "We’ve got to get our guys to understand what this commitment thing is. Just our entire program. Get people to understand that it’s a privilege to play. ... We’ve got too many guys in this room taking it for granted, and it bothers me. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be around that. We have to clean that up. Everybody has a different button that needs to be pushed. And when you’re with them as much as we are, you understand what that button is, and if you can’t find that button, it’s time to move on. It’s time to find players who are going to represent this university the way we need them to represent it." https://uahhockey.com/blog/2020/02/29/season-ends-with-loss-to-bowling-green/

Will Corbett still be around to make changes? We don't know yet. It feels like there's a lot of anger is going on right now fresh off this awful season. From what I gathered, UAH may be getting close to naming its new permanent athletics director. Will that new AD make a quick decision? What if it's interim AD Cade Smith, who has seen what's been going on in person already for the past year? If they do make a change, would they go with assistant coach Lance West, who would bring some continuity and showed what he can do recruiting and coaching in Fairbanks?

Will any of the commitments have coming in bring the leadership that Corbett said the team lacked this season? Will Josh Latta be the go-to guy for that leadership, or at least continue to develop and be the go-to guy for scoring? Will Mark Sinclair get a chance to be one of the elite goaltenders in this league if they can play better on defense? Can we get a power-play goal once in a while?

UAH will be putting together a proposal to join the CCHA, and as I understand it has not ruled out trying for Atlantic if they are willing to listen this time.

Anyway, we have so many questions right now and I have no answers yet. It feels like one answer will lead to another like dominoes. That's all I got.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

UAHStatman said:
UAH will be putting together a proposal to join the CCHA, and as I understand it has not ruled out trying for Atlantic if they are willing to listen this time.
Click to expand...
I still feel the the best possible scenario to keep UAF, UAA and UAH viable in college hockey is for UAH to end up in Atlantic Hockey. Hockey East and the ECAC are legit bus leagues and I don't see any way that they have an interest in either AK school joining them. Heck, they gripe about a two hour bus ride being "brutal" travel.

This leaves the CCHA and NCHC as logical landing places for ONE of the two remaining teams each (Gee didn't we just have this a few years ago under different names??). I don't know if the NCHC has the stones to admit that their conference isn't the great powerhouse they think they are and admit an AK school with ASU. For all their ego the facts are that CC can't win and is downsizing their new rink to one that is about 1/3 the size of their old one, Miami is still a dumpster fire and half of the NCHC conference is likely to finish with overall records at 0.500 or below. Again I believe there is a slim chance the CCHA picks up ONE of the AK teams, and almost no chance the NCHC does the same, but we will see.
 
JohnsonsJerseys said:
...I don't know if the NCHC has the stones to admit that their conference isn't the great powerhouse they think they are and admit an AK school with ASU. ...
Click to expand...
<img src=https://i.imgur.com/rV9Anet.gif>
I mean, I love to sh** on the NCHC whenever I get a chance to, but even I can't argue against their results these last five years.
2015: Six tournament teams, half the Frozen Four field.
2016: Four tournament teams, half the Frozen Four field. National Champions.
2017: Four tournament teams, half the Frozen Four field, National Champions.
2018: Three tournament teams, one Frozen Four team, National Champions.
2019: Three tournament teams, half the Frozen Four field, National Champions.

[Narrator]*Meanwhile at the hall of college justice*[/narrator]
2015: Two tournament teams, both eliminated in regional semi-finals (one by the hands of the NCHC).
2016: One tournament team, eliminated in regional final by NCHC.
2017: One tournament team, eliminated in regional semi-final by NCHC.
2018: Two tournament teams, both eliminated in regional semi-finals (one being NCHC)
2019: Two tournament teams, both eliminated in regional semi-finals (one being NCHC)

Yep. The NCHC is a terrible conference and is in dire need of adding ASU and UAA to their schedule for the PWR help.
 
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JohnsonsJerseys said:
I still feel the the best possible scenario to keep UAF, UAA and UAH viable in college hockey is for UAH to end up in Atlantic Hockey. Hockey East and the ECAC are legit bus leagues and I don't see any way that they have an interest in either AK school joining them. Heck, they gripe about a two hour bus ride being "brutal" travel.

This leaves the CCHA and NCHC as logical landing places for ONE of the two remaining teams each (Gee didn't we just have this a few years ago under different names??). I don't know if the NCHC has the stones to admit that their conference isn't the great powerhouse they think they are and admit an AK school with ASU. For all their ego the facts are that CC can't win and is downsizing their new rink to one that is about 1/3 the size of their old one, Miami is still a dumpster fire and half of the NCHC conference is likely to finish with overall records at 0.500 or below. Again I believe there is a slim chance the CCHA picks up ONE of the AK teams, and almost no chance the NCHC does the same, but we will see.
Click to expand...

Let’s call a spade a spade here...the new CCHA is the Bowling Green show. They have made it abundantly clear they do not want to travel to Alaska, nor are they much interested in anything that involves airborne transport. Maybe I’ll eat my words eventually but I really don’t see it happening. And frankly, I think the UAF Administration is fine with that. The travel subsidies we pay for some of these teams that are in BFE MI/MN/OH are backbreaking...back in the old CCHA days it was easier to swallow because our barn would fill up for a Big 10/Notre Dame game. Now, not so much. I think we can handle a few years of independence, but I believe UAF’s ultimate goal is to be a part of a true western league. Whether or not Oregon, Washington, UNLV, some of the Cali schools ever make that plunge is to be seen.

I hope UAH finds a landing spot, either with the 7 or the Atlantic league. I know they’ve been included in new conference discussions, but frankly they’d be a big outlier. At least UAF and UAA have each other basically next door. I am confident UAF and UAH will play each other frequently after the conference breaks up.

NCHC...my wild pie in the sky idea is to approach them and say that we get it you don’t want us as a full member, but can you at least give us a scheduling agreement for six or eight games a year? We already play one or two NCHC teams a season as it is, and they’ve been willing to travel to AK. The travel isn’t too bad, especially for the Colorado schools or St. Cloud. Anchorage is connected nonstop to Denver and MSP, and Fairbanks is only 45 minutes beyond ANC.

But I don’t see the NCHC listening to us or UAA on membership anytime soon, if ever. They might give UAF the time of day since we have been on better footing than UAA for a while now, but UAA would pretty much have to move back to Sullivan Arena to even get a passing glance from them. Just not likely, even if it makes the most sense for us geographically.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

Welcoming LSSU, UAF, UAA and NMU to the off season party. And then there were four... I'm predicting MTU and BSU will be here next Monday.
And continue...
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

John J. MacInnes said:
Because the best thing about Fairbanks...is leaving
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Assuming you can actually leave. The 10+ flights a day don't do you much good when your team can't book seats on them. At least the boys got to check out the salt springs yesterday (or whatever they're called). And we brought our third trip this season to the college hockey travel wonderland on ourselves, no one to blame but us. They've spent...what...6 days total in Fairbanks this trip? But thank the lord we'll never have to do the Alaska triple again.
 
TalonsUpPuckDown said:
Assuming you can actually leave. The 10+ flights a day don't do you much good when your team can't book seats on them. At least the boys got to check out the salt springs yesterday (or whatever they're called). And we brought our third trip this season to the college hockey travel wonderland on ourselves, no one to blame but us. They've spent...what...6 days total in Fairbanks this trip? But thank the lord we'll never have to do the Alaska triple again.
Click to expand...

Ok.
 
TalonsUpPuckDown said:
Assuming you can actually leave. The 10+ flights a day don't do you much good when your team can't book seats on them. At least the boys got to check out the salt springs yesterday (or whatever they're called). And we brought our third trip this season to the college hockey travel wonderland on ourselves, no one to blame but us. They've spent...what...6 days total in Fairbanks this trip? But thank the lord we'll never have to do the Alaska triple again.
Click to expand...

Do you expect the Airlines to hold 25-30 seats available because you may or may not come?

I’ve been up there 11 times, (plus 5 times to Anchorage, 2 trips included both) and yes, it’s a long and sometimes difficult trip. But it’s certainly well worth it. Had a great Two week trip last year. Fairbanks was outstanding this year and can’t wait to get to Anchorage next year. How many times have you been there Talons?
 
davyd83 said:
Do you expect the Airlines to hold 25-30 seats available because you may or may not come?

I’ve been up there 11 times, (plus 5 times to Anchorage, 2 trips included both) and yes, it’s a long and sometimes difficult trip. But it’s certainly well worth it. Had a great Two week trip last year. Fairbanks was outstanding this year and can’t wait to get to Anchorage next year. How many times have you been there Talons?
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He's referencing the fact that Bowling Green wasn't able to get a flight out of Alaska until today. They are going straight to Bemidji by way of Minneapolis.
 
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