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WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

Someone in this thread had previously mentioned that most of the BIG schools simply don't travel very well regardless of where they're playing. Then throw in the fact their teams are often playing hoops at the same time (Wisconsin, Sparty, Ohio State, etc). The BIG schools are so far apart geographically that there isn't going to be a solution to their conference tournament in the future, period. The NCHC at Target Center seems to do OK as long as UND makes it and the WCHA did OK in Grand Rapids as well. Let the BIG worry about their own problems, they brought it upon themselves.
 
geezer said:
Are you nuts? That's like asking, if some felon named Gwozdecky (random name chosen at random) sets fire to your house in the middle of the night while snacking on an ice cream cone, if you'd be willing to leave or if you'd rather sit in the flames.
(I will note that I am grateful to the old CCHA for giving us a home though, and do personally enjoy playing the other UP teams)
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Right. So then the NCHC hate, especially against the teams that clearly didn't get the NCHC ball rolling, is kinda ridiculous, especially ad naseum
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

geezer said:
Are you nuts? That's like asking, if some felon named Gwozdecky (random name chosen at random) sets fire to your house in the middle of the night while snacking on an ice cream cone, if you'd be willing to leave and get an NCAA bid (like you would have this year) or if you'd rather sit in the flames.
(I will note that I am grateful to the old CCHA for giving us a home though, and do personally enjoy playing the other UP teams)
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I fixed your post for you to reflect the truth.
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

Same venue, staggered times? Awesome.

Different venues in different cities (even as close as they are)? Um, that's what they are already doing with the NCHC/WCHA or NCHC/B1G (depending on the year). Dumb.

'Round these parts, we like to tailgate. Set up shop near ONE arena, hang out, many of the folks on here (and their respective team boards) know where people are gathering, etc etc.
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

I'd prefer Tech not get involved with any aspect of the Big 20. They blew up the conferences, they're blowing up recruiting, and their teams are an embarrassment. You can't make that turd shine no matter how much you polish. If the NCHC offered Tech a spot I'd like to tell them thanks, but no thanks, unless you want to combine the conferences and split into east and west. That ain't gonna happen though. It makes too much sense.
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

Tipsy McStagger said:
The B1G would probably go along with it just so they could have a less embarassing optic than the one of the crowd in St Paul on Thursday.
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The B1G is the corporation that is trying to come in and kill all the ma and pa establishments.

The last thing the empty suits in Chicago would want is to share anything with a one-sport conference. Their wet dream is the NCHC going kaput in favor of the Pac-12 and an ACC sprouting up and taking in ND and BC.

They killed two different lacrosse conferences and opened Pandora's box by inviting an affiliate member so the BTN could broadcast Lacrosse and add a B1G Lacrosse tournament so their revenues can go up a fraction of a percentage.

The WCHA will die once two more schools add women's hockey.

Broseph Stalin said:
I'd prefer Tech not get involved with any aspect of the Big 20. They blew up the conferences, they're blowing up recruiting, and 5 of their 6 teams are an embarrassment.
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Fixed it for ya.
 
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Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

SJHovey said:
I think the mistake that is made is the attempt to recapture the "WCHA F5 magic." It can't happen. That's why it was magic, and not just the product of good marketing.

I never missed a WCHA tournament until the conferences broke apart. I was at the first one at the St. Paul Civic Center, attended all the Bradley Center experiments, the brief stay at Target Center, and ultimately Xcel. There was no "magic" in the conference tournament during those first 12-15 years. Some good hockey games, to be sure. The "magic" was largely the confluence of a number of events in the early 2000's that came together. In no particular order they included the following:

1. A brand new arena in St. Paul, with the development of eating and drinking establishments in the few years that followed.
2. SCSU had become an established, successful program, and MSU had joined the conference, giving the WCHA a solid core of six schools within easy driving distance of St. Paul, and with large alumni bases in the Twin Cities.
3. Tremendous success by the leading teams in the conference. UND came off a period of 4-5 years of dominance of the WCHA in the late 90's, including the '00 championship. MN had righted the ship and would win two championships in a row, followed by DU doing the same, and then Wisconsin to cap a five year run for the conference.

In a way, it's kind of like the MN State HS hockey tournament. All great events like this need "David and Goliath" stories. The WCHA was blessed with having two, three, sometimes four goliaths, and even more Davids. And you need familiarity. Fans of SCSU need to be working with fans of MN, so in the days leading up to and following the games, excitement can build or be relived.

None of the three (WCHA, NCHC, B1G) have all those ingredients, and that's why I don't expect the "magic" to suddenly reappear for any of them. Instead, I think they need to figure out what each of them can do individually to improve their product and fan experience, and move in that direction.
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Good Post, and I agree with your reasoning. If the NCHC schools had not broken away, I think that the WCHA tournament still could have been as successful, with more schools still close (replacing Mankato and Bemidji with Western and Miami will likely hurt tournament attendance most years - likewise for the old CCHA/new WCHA).

Regarding the Big 10 and maybe even the other western conferences: What about just scrapping the conference post season altogether, and petition the NCAA for 4 more regular season games if you have no conference post season? Just give the auto-bid to the regular season champ.

If the Big10 insists on a conference tourny, I'm still for trying it in Chicago. Big alumni base for most schools, fairly easy drive for most. Maybe you don't have the max potential you would if the Gophers are good in a year its hosted in St Paul, or Michigan or Sparty in Detroit; but, if you can get 1,000 to 2,000 from each school in a smaller venue - the atmosphere created by multiple fans bases is worth a shot (along with more of a destination city).
 
To make a mega tournament interesting they need three venues for the semi finals and a one day/one ticket "trip to the X" three games back to back finals. Then all 12 teams fans would have to decide if they want a "my team" only pass that gets them into the rink assigned or if they believe in their team enough to get a "super pass" which guarantees three finals in one day.

To be fair they need to alternate it every year with somewhere in Michigan to give both places the experience. That would grow the rebranded tournament. If I could see three championships in one day and hella good hockey the day before.... I would defiantly travel every other year to Michigan.

And I wouldn't want the Beavs to have joined the Nacho league. I like the new WCHA.
 
SiouxFanatic said:
Thank you for saying what really needed to be said. I get the angst but my lord do some Tech fans on here know how to continually beat a dead horse.
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Because the NCHC kept the domino effect going.It was bad enough that the Big formed their own conference, then you felt you were too good for what was left of the WCHA. You pulled teams from 2 conferences to make your own. It is no wonder people are still pi**ed.( It's like the kid on the block who plays street hockey and when he feels like he is losing, he grabs his stick and goal net and goes home).

Hope when tourney is discussed down the road, you are left out of discussion. Your league is too good for the others anyway.
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

Broseph Stalin said:
I'd prefer Tech not get involved with any aspect of the Big 20. They blew up the conferences, they're blowing up recruiting, and their teams are an embarrassment. You can't make that turd shine no matter how much you polish. If the NCHC offered Tech a spot I'd like to tell them thanks, but no thanks, unless you want to combine the conferences and split into east and west. That ain't gonna happen though. It makes too much sense.
Click to expand...

Well said on all points!
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

Wi.Huskies Fan said:
Because the NCHC kept the domino effect going.It was bad enough that the Big formed their own conference, then you felt you were too good for what was left of the WCHA. You pulled teams from 2 conferences to make your own. It is no wonder people are still pi**ed.( It's like the kid on the block who plays street hockey and when he feels like he is losing, he grabs his stick and goal net and goes home).

Hope when tourney is discussed down the road, you are left out of discussion. Your league is too good for the others anyway.
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So essentially it was OK for Tech to do what they thought was best for them back in the 1980's but when other teams did what they think is best for them, it borders on a war crime in the eyes of Tech fans. In other words, a complete hypocritical load of bull. Just as we all thought. Thank you for clearing that up for us.
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

As for Tech going to the CCHA for that short spell, that was Michigan schools politics. We saw how long that lasted.

(I am sure that will be brought back up again. That was the big mistake for Tech back in that time).
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

Wi.Huskies Fan said:
As for Tech going to the CCHA for that short spell, that was Michigan schools politics. We saw how long that lasted.

(I am sure that will be brought back up again. That was the big mistake for Tech back in that time).
Click to expand...

Why was that?
 
Re: WCHA Pushing To Team With Big Ten, NCHC For Conference Tournaments

Tipsy McStagger said:
I don't get it. Are people paying extra to watch hockey on BTN to go? Do you have access to their subscriber numbers?
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I don't know if they ARE paying, but the BTN is telling them they have to, even if they have the BTN as part of their subscribed cable package. It's BS.

If one is paying for the BTN channel, one should get free BTN2Go.
If one DOESN'T have the BTN channel, one should pay for BTN2Go.

BTN: No. We want all the money.
 
Decatur Spartan said:
If only in the Twin Cities, yes attendance should be higher. But you still will not see MSU, um, OSU, PSU fans there. Nor will you see FSU, Miami, BGSU etc. We just don't travel. Just as Minn/Wis. fans don't travel to Det. Your turning it into a State of Minnesota, N.D. Wis regional Tournament. The formation of the B10 Hockey Conference certainly has screwed up College Hockey. If the things were the way they were, tCHHCoMSU may still be commissioner of the CCHA, and not doing, what he is doing at Munn Ice Arena. As for a solution, rotate campus sites.
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So why isn't the B1G having their tournament at Allstate Arena in the West Chicago metro so it is more Centrally located? Or United Center in downtown?
Things to do, touristy area, good food and brew nearby...fairly new buildings....etc.
 
true2BSU said:
To make a mega tournament interesting they need three venues for the semi finals and a one day/one ticket "trip to the X" three games back to back finals. Then all 12 teams fans would have to decide if they want a "my team" only pass that gets them into the rink assigned or if they believe in their team enough to get a "super pass" which guarantees three finals in one day.

To be fair they need to alternate it every year with somewhere in Michigan to give both places the experience. That would grow the rebranded tournament. If I could see three championships in one day and hella good hockey the day before.... I would defiantly travel every other year to Michigan.
Click to expand...

This could work.
 
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