Gopher Fan

At least Minnesota has teams in the competition, a couple of which are showing signs of significant improvement. North Dakota doesn't even have rumors of expansions possibilities. If women's hockey doesn't matter, why do you have a women's hockey team?

I never said they were won as part of the B1G hockey, I said they were won by schools who are currently members of B1G hockey. If I understand you correctly, nothing which happened before 2013 counts, B1G hockey has 0 titles, the NCHC has 1 title, and if the Gophers somehow manage to win a championship next season they will be even with North Dakota at one title each, and B1G hockey & the NCHC will be even as well???

Point taken, although the NFL championship was less than 50 years ago (the Vikings are one of 2 teams to win the NFL championship the same season they lost the Super Bowl before the NFL-AFL merger), but is Minnesota or North Dakota more likely to win a future World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or NBA Title, or MLS Cup?

By your logic the WCHA has 37 national championships, even though only 4 of them were won by current WCHA teams while members of the WCHA.

B1G schools have 23 national championships, and the B1G hockey conference has 0 national championships. NCHC schools have 18 national championships, and the NCHC conference has 1 national championship.

Yes, North Dakota has 8 national titles for Men's hockey, Minnesota only has 5, and Michigan has 9. If you include women's hockey, Minnesota can add a few more titles, or is women's hockey not part of the "college hockey world"?

North Dakota & Denver don't meet the academic & research B1G requirements, Miami is borderline on these requirements even for an associate membership, and Boston U would only consider joining as a full member. The B1G had 11 full members for almost 2 decades, a few years at 7 hockey members doesn't seem that unlikely.

I never said Minnesota was elite, but Minnesota has 5 NBA titles, 2 World Series titles, an NFL championship, and has hosted 3 World Series, Multiple NBA finals, 2 Stanley Cup Championships, a Super Bowl, 3 MLB All-Star games, and 3 NCAA Basketball Final Fours. Probably a bit better than the Dakotas.

Since the B1G hockey conference started and the conferences realigned you are correct, the B1G is not the best hockey conference and North Dakota is the current National Champion. But since the NCAA started crowning national champions in 1948 only four schools were able to successfully defend their title and win consecutive championships. Minnesota & Michigan are 2 of them (Boston U & Denver are the other 2). B1G schools have won 23 national championships, and NCHC schools have won 18 national championships. Congratulations on your title, you have a decent chance to be the 5th school to repeat, but as to the B1G level of competition in hockey, lets see what happens in the next decade before we call B1G hockey a failure.

I don't think you have much worry about. There is 0% chance the B1G gives North Dakota a full member invite, and not much better chance they get an associate member hockey invite. My argument was if they did get an hockey associate member invite, they'd better off refusing the B1G (even though I personally would prefer they accept it) and staying in the NCHC, but they would jump at the chance for full B1G membership if it were offered.

Its not elitism, its simply the truth. People on both coast almost totally ignore both Dakotas among other states. Minnesota isn't regarded much better, but we can't be completely ignored with a power 5 university, multiple pro teams, and a top 15 TV market. Half the time when you start talking about Boston U, other people think your talking about Boston College. Being a member of the B1G would improve the status of either North Dakota or Boston U.

I'm not entirely sure what you are asking, but the B1G does not need to add any members full or associate. Financially they are doing quite well as they are now, and they are competitive in most sports. Adding a new member to any conference has to be mutually beneficial. If you are talking about adding either BU or North Dakota to the B1G as associate members for hockey, I'm not sure it would be beneficial to either BU or ND, other than to be grouped with Johns Hopkins & Notre Dame. But a full membership for either school would mean a huge increase in sports revenue, national name recognition, increased endowments, better recruiting options, and better scheduling options. North Dakota is located in a state half the country ignores, and BU lives in the shadow of Harvard, MIT, Boston College, & U Mass. I have to believe both would jump at the chance to improve their status if given the opportunity. And yes my last name is Clark.

You are correct. For more than a century the B1G did not sponsor hockey or lacrosse, or have any associate members, now they sponsor both hockey & lacrosse, and have 2 associate members. I know of no rule banning B1G non-football members. Since football is where most of the conference money comes from, any non-football school added would have to make substantial contributions in other ways to get a full membership invitation, and understand their share of conference funds would not include any football revenue. BU meets the B1G academic & research requirements, and would add a top 10 TV market, open up Massachusetts & New England for B1G recruiting, add a team to at least 6 B1G sports with less than 10 teams currently competing, and would make it possible to add B1G women's hockey (by also adding the Syracuse Orange [URA member & former AAU member like Nebraska] as an associate member who would need to move their home games to the 6,159 seat Oncenter War Memorial Arena [home of the AHL's Syracuse Crunch] just off of campus, instead of their own 350 seat Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion which they use currently). A member share of B1G revenue, even without any football money, would be far more than BU's current Patriot League money.

They are also decent at lacrosse and a few of the Olympic sports. As for basketball, the attendance would increase drastically just from B1G alumni. They currently play most of their games in their fieldhouse which seats about 1,500, but could play in the Agganis Arena they use for hockey. The Agganis Arena would seat about 7,200 for basketball, which would be the smallest basketball arena in the B1G, but not much smaller than either Rutgers (8,000) or Northwestern (8,117). And if the B1G only wanted competitive schools, would they have added Rutgers (Who has yet to win a B1G conference or tourament title in ANY sport)??

Also, if BU upgraded fencing from club to varsity status joining Ohio State, Penn State, & Northwestern, the B1G could add MIT & Johns Hopkins as fencing associate members (fencing only has one division) to begin sponsoring that sport as well like the ACC.

BU would not leave Hockey East to become an associate member of the B1G, but would jump at the chance to join the B1G as a full non-football member. A move which surprisingly makes a great deal of sense for both BU and the B1G.

I'd be happy with Iowa too, and I have heard they have a new arena approved & funded, but everybody I've talk to at Iowa tells me wrestling is far more important than hockey. Iowa State on the other hand seems to get excited about hockey.

Agreed, I'm still hoping for the Cornhuskers.

I stand by my comments, I didn't say Duluth & Omaha had a good chance of getting into the B1G, only that they had one because of ties to flagship full members, but probably a very poor one and even then only if they came in as pair. Minnesota-Duluth 2% chance Nebraska-Omaha 2% chance North Dakota 0% chance Denver 0% chance Colorado College 0% chance Air Force 7.5% chance - I would agree they come in only when paired with Army Miami 10% chance

Boston College is very happy the ACC, and will not leave unless the ACC completely collapses, besides Boston College is NOT a member of either the AAU or the URA. Harvard won't leave the Ivy League, Northeastern is a smaller version of non-football Boson U without the AAU membership, and Connecticut needs to join the AAU & URA, double their annual endowments, and build a larger football stadium. If the B1G wants to move into the Boston area, only Boston University currently has any chance, and only if the B1G wants the only non-football member of any power five conference, Notre Dame is in the ACC for all sports except football (and hockey), but they certainly do play football. Boston U would fit the B1G much like Notre Dame fits the ACC.

UND affiliate? No way. I long for the Gopher-Fighting Sioux rivalry to be revived (although the Fighting Hawks would be a constant and nagging reminder of NCAA "Political Correctness" gone insane), but Commissioner Delaney calls the shots and North Dakota would not meet his standards. Minnesota only gets a single yes or no vote on his membership decisions, and that vote is usually made by the school president, not the athletic director or coaches (or fans).

BarnWinterSportsEngelstad "It may be in MN best interest to push for an B1G affiliate in hockey west of Minneapolis/St Paul," ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would agree, but who would you suggest? The only current hockey schools in the area which have any chance of meeting B1G standards, even relaxed for an affiliate membership, are Air Force, MN-Duluth, & Nebraska-Omaha, as stated in my earlier posts. My guess would be the Bulldogs and Mavericks (unfortunately) don't make the B1G's cut, but after an 8th team is added, Army and Air Force could become affiliates for teams 9 & 10.

My most likely possible 8th B1G hockey teams: 1. A current B1G school. The Nebraska Cornhuskers are the only current B1G school which could realistically be ready to join the B1G hockey with Notre Dame, even with a Pegula sized wad of cash dropped on their doorstep tomorrow. Nebraska already has the new John Breslow Ice Hockey Center to practice in, the new Pinnacle Bank Arena for games, and they recently added NCAA women’s beach volleyball for Title IX compliance. The biggest obstacles for Nebraska hockey have already been conquered, and all they need is the green light to raise the funds for scholarships and upgraded equipment. School officials at Nebraska have given no indication they will give that green light any time soon, and the leap from a D3 club team to a D1 varsity team is a large one. 2. Another associate member. The Miami Redhawks are a “Public Ivy” in the current B1G geographic footprint with past hockey rivalries with 3 current B1G hockey schools and Notre Dame and significant annual research endowments. 3. Another non-B1G school makes the D1 hockey leap. This is tricky, because nobody knows which school will be next to win the large D1 hockey start-up donation lottery, but I’ll go with the Iowa State Cyclones. They are a large public land-grant university, members of both the AAU & URA, in the current B1G geographic footprint, natural rivals for both Minnesota & Wisconsin (Badly needed), have good annual research endowments (larger what Rutgers had and about what Maryland had when they joined the B1G), and a very successful D1 club hockey team (with a good women’s hockey club which could make the leap at the same time for “Title IX” compliance). They would probably need a new, and larger, arena, but could share with the Iowa Wild AHL team temporarily, and I’ve heard a couple of sources indicate the money needed would be available (from where they didn’t say) if a B1G hockey invite (or Big 12 hockey) was guaranteed. 4. A new full B1G member. Adding the Boston University Terriers as the new 15th full member of the B1G. Boston U is a large research intensive private (A private university companion for Northwestern) university with memberships in both the AAU & URA with annual research endowments which would rank about 11th out of the 15 schools. They don’t have men’s football, wrestling, golf, or women’s volleyball teams, where all of the current 14 schools have teams, but do have teams in almost a dozen and a half sports where at least one current B1G school is missing a team. Two of the few sports where they would be the 15th team are men’s & women’s basketball to better match the ACC in the B1G/ACC Challenge at 15 a piece, besides a new full member would need at least one “money” sport (their basketball team can’t be much worse than Rutgers!). Add the Syracuse Orange as a new associate member for the needed 6th women’s hockey (and possibly Buffalo Bulls women’s rowing and/or Stony Brook men’s tennis) in New York and Massachusetts becomes contiguous to the B1G geographic footprint. As an added bonus MIT women’s rowing likely would follow BU from the Patriot League into the B1G. The B1G adds Massachusetts (including the top 10 Boston TV market), starts B1G women’s hockey, and gets a physical presence in the state of New York while paying Boston U about 40% of what other full members get (a full member share minus football-only revenue), which is still likely to be significantly higher than anything they could expect from the Patriot League. Boston U would get a higher profile and more respect locally, nationally, and even internationally. It would instantly be significantly easier for BU to recruit students, athletes, faculty, administrators, research endowment, and donations. Without the B1G, BU has no chance to move to a better athletic conference than the Patriot League, and the only other D1 conference near the B1G’s academic & research status is the Ivy League itself. My guess is it would take less than a day for Boston U to “officially” accept a B1G invite, including signed documents and agreeing to jump through any hoops the B1G requires (likely upgrading men’s baseball & women’s gymnastics club teams to varsity status). Very likely Boston U hockey would hate the move, but have it forced upon them.

North Dakota has NO chance for B1G membership. The B1G only takes elite academic & research institutions with large annual research endowments. Considering the 14 full B1G members, its 2 associate members, and only former member:11 of 13 public schools are “Public Ivies” (Miami Redhawks & Connectcut Huskies)4 of 4 private schools are “Hidden Ivies” (Colgate Raiders & Boston College Eagles)15 of 17 are members of the Association of American Universities [AAU] (Boston University Terriers)17 of 17 are members of the Universities Research Association [URA] (Boston University Terriers, Northeastern University Huskies, & Arizona State University Sun Devils)Ivy League Schools are not included as they would only leave ECAC Hockey to start Ivy League Hockey.Only possible exceptions:Army Black Knights & Air Force Falcons as elite Service Academy schoolsMinnesota-Duluth Bulldogs & Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks only if allowed to “Borrow” their flagship institutions credentialsI see no other current D1 hockey schools having ANY chance of getting a B1G hockey invite, Arizona State has already been eliminated, and Boston College would laugh in the B1G’s face if invited.