Re: WCHA Season Thread 2017-18: In Which We Try For Two Bids
While I don't think that Mav's comment are necessarily wrong, I'm not sure I agree with the brashness of how it's being said.
My personal belief is that every school has a different situation with different priorities, different goals and different needs. Mike Hastings was and is the right coach for us. The advances that he is helping us make both in terms of competitiveness and within the community are, quite frankly, amazing. His first year that he took the job he doubled the number of wins from the year before (with virtually the same roster) and took us to the NCAAs for the first time in 10 years. He has won more games that any team in the country in his first 6 years here. I'm not saying (and I don't think anyone else is or was) that anyone should be bowing down at his feet, but for Mankato, he has been essential to our success as a program. For those of us that supported the program through long, long periods of ineptitude, we absolutely do not want to lose him.
Now, as I said before, different schools have different situations. For Mankato, I really do think that the NCHC is the right answer. I say that for a couple of things. One is that, right now, the NCHC is a better conference competitively. As Mav said, it's a lot easier to recruit kids to play in a league that has the highest level of competition. The numbers prove that the NCHC is a better conference. I truly do believe that the WCHA will continue to get better. The difference now from even 3 years ago is extremely large. It will continue to get better, but it doesn't happen overnight. My concern is how long will it take. The reason that's a concern for me is I'm not sure that Mankato could survive 2 or 3 down years in the WCHA. There is very little to keep the fan interest in terms of opponent if the play of MSU slips. Unfortunately, we all are a bunch of schools that have been shoved together out of necessity and there is very little connecting many of the schools. I can honestly say that I don't personally know a single graduate of any other WCHA member other than Bemidji (and I only know one person from there who I haven't seen or talked to for roughly 12 years). Like it or not, rivalries and who a team is playing make a difference, especially to casual fans. There is very little about the WCHA that appeals to casual MSU fans. That's not necessarily a knock on the league, it's just a reality of the situation that we don't have any other connection to the league other than the WCHA. I, personally, have felt an apathy starting to set in with fans and I'm not the only one that's felt it.
So, with those two factors being the case, it seems to me that it is important for MSU to jump conferences. I don't necessarily like it, but I came to the conclusion a couple of years ago that the innocence of college hockey (or at least what I perceived as the innocence of college hockey) is dead. There is no longer "doing what's in the best interest of college hockey." There is only doing what is best for our school (and that goes for everyone). Some schools may decide it's in their best interest to not invest as heavily as other schools. Some schools may decide that it's in their best interest to propose rule changes that slant things in their favor. Some schools may decide that it's in the best interest to win regardless of the costs. For MSU, at this point in time, it seems important to MSU to be in a conference that is geographically logical, puts us back together with the schools that we are associated with in every other sport and is more competitive right now. Hastings obviously wants that. The school seems to want it. The fans seem to want that. And players seem to want that.
