Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre
Even when it was 1-1 halfway through the game, it felt like NoDak was skating circles around us. The floodgates opening was inevitable, and I don't think that reflects much on Genoe. It is increasingly clear that this team cannot stay with the high ranked teams in our conference when these teams are running at full power, which is disappointing, but not unexpected. Even in the early Russell years we would be able to grind out a game or two along the way, outwork other teams, and get after it. Last night, in my uneducated opinion, the team felt very passive.
Houghton77 said 1,500 in the place at best. I was thinking more like 1,200 at the most, including the late arriving crowd. So many empty seats. A lot of green in the fans that were there. At least we gave away 500 tickets to the young people for today's game? I think it says something that you have to choose the last game of the year to be the Econo Foods Kids Day. It is a good marketing thing, don't get me wrong, and it is something that I encourage, but to need a special promotion on Senior Night? This program has fallen enough that there is not a demand for tickets, even for the last game of the year. There is no buzz around campus for the athletics, including hockey. I am not saying that everybody should delay leaving for Spring Break to support the Huskies on the ice and hardwood (get out while you can!!!), but it should at least be "worth it" enough that people would consider hanging around an extra day or two.
I looked at the box score. Announced attendance: 2,115. I think that it must be a typo, and they switched the 2 and 1. Or they lied. To be entirely fair, NMU had a playoff game against BGSU last night with an attendance of 1,238.
Looking ahead to the doom and gloom of radical realignment and the BTHC, why would schools like NoDak and Duluth and Miami and Notre Dame who are left out of the conference want to play in the same league as NMU and MTU and LSSU. I don't think the Armageddon is that the Big10ish schools are leaving, it is that you will likely see a concentration of power in another western conference to match it. And really, does Tech deserve to be in that discussion given the last 30 years and how the program is run? Or, will we end up in a less desirable situation based on how things have progressed in Houghton?
I fear that we will be left in the "D-2" league that still hangs on to the title of Division I hockey. Sure, there is still an auto-bid to the NCAAs on the line, but it becomes harder to schedule home non-conference games and harder to recruit. Will you get people to pay the $14 a ticket to see Ferris and Lake State where North Dakota and Minnesota and Wisconsin used to be? Will we be relegated to the status of something like the Patriot League and Summit League is in D-1 basketball? (I had to look up that these conferences actually existed)
I don't like feeling this negative about Michigan Tech and the future of college hockey in the Copper Country, but this is where this season has led. Last night was painful to watch.
I am not quite on the Fire Russell bandwagon yet. I am trusting Suzanne to make the right decision in the end, and only she will know what is said in the season ending evaluation and interview process.
But, things are pretty ****ing bleak in Houghton as far as the Michigan Tech Husky Hockey Team is concerned.
