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

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

gfmorris said:
It was time. I will not be participating in any of the "bring it back" groups. I do not have the time or energy to expend that I did in 2011.

I know that a lot of people — a lot of people — are really upset here. I'm only upset for the young men who agreed to make the trek to Alabama to play hockey and go to school and our coaches.

You can chuck all the spears that you want at the school. I get it. But at the end of the day, we as a fan base did not show enough interest in giving and attendance to the games. I point a finger at myself: I haven't given to the school in five years, and because of extensive weekend work commitments, I haven't been at a game in two full seasons. That may be why I'm not as upset about this as many folks are.

The school may have heard from the nCCHA schools that they weren't going to get in. "But Atlan—" UAH WAS NEVER GETTING INTO ATLANTIC HOCKEY. Ever. Ever. It was nCCHA or bust. Even though we can all chuck spears at LSSU and FSU —*and the other five schools need to think long and hard about expansion on almost any corner, because those two small, public schools could be reamed by pandemic stuff just like UAH was — the money just wasn't there.

Blame EJ Brophy. Blame Bob Altenkirch retiring (he would have canceled the program in this space). Blame Mack Portera. Blame the boosters for running Doug Ross off. Blame the VBC and the Havoc and whoever.

Downtown got better. UAH Hockey got way worse.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

GFM <— signing off for a while, perhaps forever.
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With rumors still circulating from CHN about more schools closing up shop, my ******* could cut a diamond in half as a Laker fan.

And sorry to hear about the program, Geof. I always enjoyed watching the Chargers come to town, even if they were a bit scrappy the last few years, and ya'll produced one of my favorite non-Laker players. If this is your final sendoff, then thank you for all you've done here on the forums (and off) over the years. Your posts have been some of the most insightful - period.
 
Deman said:
With rumors still circulating from CHN about more schools closing up shop, my ******* could cut a diamond in half as a Laker fan.

And sorry to hear about the program, Geof. I always enjoyed watching the Chargers come to town, even if they were a bit scrappy the last few years, and ya'll produced one of my favorite non-Laker players. If this is your final sendoff, then thank you for all you've done here on the forums (and off) over the years. Your posts have been some of the most insightful - period.
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I wouldn’t say it’s likely, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that the WCHA implodes a year ahead of schedule.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

Squarebanks said:
I wouldn’t say it’s likely, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that the WCHA implodes a year ahead of schedule.
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There has to be pretty big concerns over UAA, UAF, LSSU, and FSU right now...and thats just in the existing WCHA.
 
Shirtless Guy said:
There has to be pretty big concerns over UAA, UAF, LSSU, and FSU right now...and thats just in the existing WCHA.
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Thought I read something on these boards a few years back that Ferris did some sort of fundraising and ended up with enough cash to keep things going. Is this right? Is this half or 1/4 right? Zero right?
 
Shirtless Guy said:
There has to be pretty big concerns over UAA, UAF, LSSU, and FSU right now...and thats just in the existing WCHA.
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I guess I just don’t see the sports problem with LSSU. Lake State doesn’t have football so hockey doesn’t depend on football revenue to exist. Basketball also does little there. Its athletics budget is smaller, but they don’t have the worries some other programs would have losing revenue on other sports. Lake State hockey is the money-maker there and if fans are allowed by the time hockey comes around, the program will be OK I would imagine. Plus they are losing at least one flight now not having UAH on the schedule so that actually saves them money.

The worry at Lake State is more about enrollment than anything else. It’s much smaller than the school would want, and with the Canadian border closed that is alarming since they pull students from the larger Canadian Soo.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

Squarebanks said:
I wouldn’t say it’s likely, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that the WCHA implodes a year ahead of schedule.
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That and the Corona Cancelled H A could be gutshot before they pretent to start the buses.
 
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TalonsUpPuckDown said:
Thought I read something on these boards a few years back that Ferris did some sort of fundraising and ended up with enough cash to keep things going. Is this right? Is this half or 1/4 right? Zero right?
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I understand UAH did such about 10 years back & saved their program but had not heard such about Ferris.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

lakersparty said:
I guess I just don’t see the sports problem with LSSU. Lake State doesn’t have football so hockey doesn’t depend on football revenue to exist. Basketball also does little there. Its athletics budget is smaller, but they don’t have the worries some other programs would have losing revenue on other sports. Lake State hockey is the money-maker there and if fans are allowed by the time hockey comes around, the program will be OK I would imagine. Plus they are losing at least one flight now not having UAH on the schedule so that actually saves them money.

The worry at Lake State is more about enrollment than anything else. It’s much smaller than the school would want, and with the Canadian border closed that is alarming since they pull students from the larger Canadian Soo.
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The school itself has had it's fair share of budget concerns over the last few years. Enrollment has been declining, a number of layoffs and 'reorganizing' has been going on, and outside of the season before last, the team hasn't exactly been steller, though somehow attendance numbers have increased.

I'm sure we're not out of the woods yet, but I'm not as concerned as I'm sure the Alaska school supporters are. I did, however, email Dr. Paitson to see if there was any possibility, in light of the UAH closure, to see if the department, or the school, would be willing to issue a statement concerning the program.

That's not to say they can't go back on it - I mean, the Chargers were introducing their freshman a couple weeks ago on social media, but at least it would help us fans feel a little better.
 
Deman said:
The school itself has had it's fair share of budget concerns over the last few years. Enrollment has been declining, a number of layoffs and 'reorganizing' has been going on, and outside of the season before last, the team hasn't exactly been steller, though somehow attendance numbers have increased.

I'm sure we're not out of the woods yet, but I'm not as concerned as I'm sure the Alaska school supporters are. I did, however, email Dr. Paitson to see if there was any possibility, in light of the UAH closure, to see if the department, or the school, would be willing to issue a statement concerning the program.

That's not to say they can't go back on it - I mean, the Chargers were introducing their freshman a couple weeks ago on social media, but at least it would help us fans feel a little better.
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I wouldn’t worry about the hockey program unless fans aren’t allowed when hockey starts up. Bill Crawford was asked about the health of Laker Hockey just a few months ago by the CHN guys and he said it was fine. Granted that was before this situation, but the Lakers’ athletic program isn’t having trouble from any accounts.

The worry, like you mentioned, has been on the university side. They need to attract more students.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

gfmorris said:
So long, and thanks for all the fish.

GFM <— signing off for a while, perhaps forever.
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Please don't go. At least not forever. Your insights have always been welcomed.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

I'm guessing UAH dropping hockey was quite unexpected to the WCHA league office. If there were any rumblings of the Chargers folding, they probably would of put off releasing the 2020-21 league schedule.
 
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Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

can someone explain how LSSU enrollment is bad yet their acceptance rate is ~60%...if they're not getting enough students, why aren't they accepting more students? If enrollment is truly the problem I would expect a much higher acceptance rate for admissions.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

Shirtless Guy said:
can someone explain how LSSU enrollment is bad yet their acceptance rate is ~60%...if they're not getting enough students, why aren't they accepting more students? If enrollment is truly the problem I would expect a much higher acceptance rate for admissions.
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If they accept more students just to get a higher enrollment, they will end up with a lower quality student body. Michigan already has Northern, we don't need two schools with standards that low.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
MTUHuskies said:
If they accept more students just to get a higher enrollment, they will end up with a lower quality student body. Michigan already has Northern, we don't need two schools with standards that low.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
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You misspelled Central.
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

MTUHuskies said:
If they accept more students just to get a higher enrollment, they will end up with a lower quality student body. Michigan already has Northern, we don't need two schools with standards that low.
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Technically, NMU is in Upper Wisconsin (or Upper Missouri as CNN calls it), but you still make a valid point.

<img width=700 src="https://townsquare.media/site/46/files/2020/05/EX6pBP5XkAIOnMV.jpg">
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

Boosters and Alumni have made a last ditch effort to save the team by this Friday. A GoFundMe has been started, and they have already raised $37,000.
Need $500,000 by Friday

GO UAH CHARGERS HOCKEY!!!
 
Re: WCHA 2020-21: We Can Do Better than Two Bids and Eight Teams Exiting

It's gonna have to breach $150-200k today to have a shot, based on what I've seen of most crowdfunding efforts. Best of luck. I'm skeptical.

GFM
 
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