Rebel_Sioux

How awesome would it be if there was an alumni game?

Shannon Miller, she's still available I believe. Although the $18M lawsuit is a bit of a drawback.

All true. But none of those teams face the perennial powerhouse teams that have won most of the NCAA titles to date. The Big Sky is not a powerhouse conference. Also by your logic, softball, tennis and soccer are all good choices as well. Better choices even since W Hockey at least makes the tournament occasionally.

I'll concede that the presidents were definitely more to blame for the problems. I don't agree that Schafer will have a positive legacy. Sure, he was wise to look to the longterm but some of the cuts he made just didn't make sense when matched to his requirements, not to mention some of the expenses he incurred. For better or worse those types of cuts should have been left to Kennedy to make.

Personally, I love that we support 20 sports and I doubt they will actually cut another one. However, if we are being honest, very few people care about tennis, softball, golf or soccer. I would imagine swimming and diving would be safe. It may save the athletics department some money, but it wouldn't save the school that much since they'd still have to maintain the pool for the students. Honestly the whole things makes me mad. Kupchella gave Kelley a school with a nickname crisis and buildings that were falling about. Kelley blew thousands of dollars on retiring the name (probably still cheaper than fighting the NCAA but I'd still rather have the name), and then even more money on replacing it. Meanwhile he spent millions of dollars on new buildings (Alumni Center, sports complex) while the rest of the schools infrastructure continued to fall apart. Then Schafer comes along and spends more money on a logo that could have been developed in-house for a fraction of the cost. He also makes several permanent decisions (such as cutting Baseball and some academic programs) rather than doing temporary cuts to give teams/programs the chance to raise funds to keep the programs afloat. All of this could have been avoided if the state government had enough foresight to provide more funding for infrastructure when they had more money from the oil boom. Long story short, Kennedy inherited a mess from Shafer/Kelley. I wish him the best going forward.

I get that. I guess I was just surprised at how poorly they did out of conference.

Come on now. All is not lost. We've been the last team in before and still done well in the tournament. It's not over until it's over.

So what the happened to the WCHA? They were never the NCHC of Hockey East, but they've been sending a fair amount of teams to the NCAA tournament since the conferences split apart. This year they'll only be sending their tournament champion. Conversely, what the happened to the Big Ten?

I don't buy the "we lost too much talent" excuse. We've lost many players before and we rebounded by the end of the year. And that's they let difference, in those years. Hak got the players to click and we would dominate the second half. The problems we've had this year are coaching related. That being said, I don't think last year was a fluke. The challenges we are facing are simply new to our sophomore coach. Lets hope he learns from them for future years. I'm the meantime, let's focus on the now and sweep Miami next week.

That's the least of our worries. With the collapse of the WCHA, we need to be in the the Top 14 to get in on pairwise alone. Assuming there is at least one upset, we need to realistically be 13 or higher. Losing even 1 game next week would significantly hurt our odds. Getting swept would likely mean that would need to win the whole tournament to get in.

Rumor has it Dean Blais is leaving UNO...maybe he can switch to women's hockey? (wishful thinking/pipe dream, I know).

Have you seen their pairwise rankings in every year previous to this one? Atlantic Hockey was almost on par with them. That being said, going forward I believe they will have more years like this year, but what's apparent is that the current NCHC will be competitive every year.

Chay Genoway was my favorite player from my college days. Last I heard he's doing well in the KHL

I agree.

That's all fine and well, but there is literally another forum for the issue of cutting sports. Put those comments there and leave this forum open for people who want to talk about women's hockey.

What's with all of the people who want to can women's hockey? Especially in comparison to softball. I hope Kennedy can save all our sports but if it comes to it, do we really need softball or soccer or tennis? I love all those sports and I know where they play but I promise you most of the students don't. It's fine if you like those sports better than women's hockey but go post your praise on their forums then. Or you can really blast your message and write a letter to the Grand Forks Herald and put your name on that and see what people say. If you like the other sports more then fine, go post your praise on their forums.

Let's hope we win out regardless. I'd rather not be on the bubble.

My money is on UMD.

The problem is that Big Ten has a small sample size. This has been their one good year. Prior to this year they were barely better than Atlantic Hockey. Their success this year is largely thanks to Wisconsin improving, but it's hard to tell if this year is an outlier or if the conference as a whole will remain competitive. The honest answer, is they will probably remain strong (most years) now that they have Notre Dame on board. However, what is certain is that the NCHC has put more teams into the NCAA tournament than any other conference since it's formation. Essentially, joining the Big Ten is a gamble. If we are being honest, the Big Ten will likely be a strong conference most years, but questions remain about finances, priorities and potential ejection (if/when another Big school adds hockey). However we know that the NCHC will always be a strong conference as long as UND is in it (even without us DU and UMD will keep it strong). Even if we lost UMD/UNO and added ASU (long term benefits) and/or Minnesota State (better team, more history), the conference would still be one of the strongest (Top 2) in D1 hockey.

@iluvdebbies, sorry if I'm missing something here seeing as I'm new to the forum, but why would he care?

I could care less about Michigan and I'd take UMD and SCSU before Wisconsin but that's probably because I know more people who went to those Minnesota schools.

Lots of factors at play I suppose. 1. The biggest is of course money, will UND get a fair share of revenue (assuming there is any)? Will Kennedy make a move that requires a buyout from the NCHC 2. Currently we have more rivals here and better competition but are those factors still true if UMD or UNO leave? 3. If UMD/UNO, leave, who replaces them? ASU, Minnesota State, or someone else? 4. Pipe dream here, could UND eventually become a Big 10 member in all sports? 5. How does future expansion of college hockey (within Big Ten or westward) influence this decision? Essentially, does UND view the NCHC as a stepping stone, or as a longterm home? My answers: 1. If UND gets a fair financial deal, I'd suspect Kennedy would take the deal. 2. The NCHC would probably be pretty even with Big 10 if UMD or UNO leaves. 3. I'd suspect ASU would be the first choice for the western schools 4. Probably not 5. There are many potential schools, but as previously noted by others, any expansion for any school is dependent on a sizable donation and a willing school administrator.

Sounds like the same source yeah

A friend with a "source" within the Gophers said that UND will be offered a Big 10 spot after this season, if they say no then it will go to UMD or UNO (in that order). As much as I'd rather keep the NCHC as is, has anyone heard anything about this from the Sioux hockey side? I could see the current administration doing it of it saves money or makes us more money.