nodakvindy

I know there is already a thread about the new Big Ten Hockey Conference, but I'm starting this to talk about UND's option for the future. Option 1 (Status Quo WCHA) Essentially this option would be soldiering on as a 10 team WCHA minus Minnesota and Wisconsin. Pros - North Dakota is the unquestioned flagship program in this conference. Maintain remaining conference rivalries. Cons - WCHA is weakened in national exposure and historical prestige. Current conference leadership is very weak and lacks vision, has done very little in terms of innovation. League scheduling issues could arise, especially if McLeod sets up agreement with UM/UW, limiting non-conference opportunities with eastern teams. Option 2 (WCHA on steroids) Add Miami and Notre Dame to return to 12 team conference. Pros - Adds two currently strong programs to existing league. League schedule would be similar to now, with Miami and Notre Dame pairing simply replacing UM/UW Cons - Unlikely that they will join, travel would be a huge issue, and few rivalries exist. Would likely kill the CCHA or at least render it a western version of Atlantic Hockey. While new additions are currently solid, do not have a long-term track record of success. Existing conference leadership is till very poor. Option 3 (Hockey West) Start a new league (Hockey West) with the following: Alaska, Alaska-Anchorage, Denver, Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota and British Columbia (or Air Force) Conference schedule would be 24 games (2 series against each opponent) Pros - Would create a first truly western conference, with room for expansion for big-name Western schools. 4 games in Alaska allows for 38 game regular season, so 14 non conference games available. UND maintains rivalries with fellow WCHA charter members Denver and CC. Cons - No Minnesota schools in conference, could have impact on recruiting. 2 series in Alaska (although this could be mitigated by doing in a single trip). UBC is a total unknown. Conference tourney final four likely in Denver, but draw would be unknown (UND would likely still turn out a lot of fans - could pair Hockey West Final Four with a ski trip) Option 4 (MAC Hockey) New League sponsored by the Mid America Conference (7 of 8 members would be full Division I schools) East - Notre Dame, Miami, Western Michigan, Bowling Green West - North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College and Nebraska Omaha League schedule would be 18 games, with 2 series within division and single series against other division. Pros - Maintains long-time rivalries with Denver and CC. Strength of conference would be good with most schools showing major commitment to hockey. Divisional setup minimizes travel issues. MAC sponsorship would give voting rights as all sport league same as the Big Ten (similar to MAAC prior to Atlantic Hockey). 16 non-conference games would allow for games against former WCHA foes as well as eastern clubs. Cons - eastern division arenas all much smaller than those in west. No obvious location for neutral site conference championship. Again, no Minnesota teams in conference could have negative recruiting impact. Western Michigan has just regained footing, bug struggled substantially in recent years and Bowling Green on shaky footing. Option 5 (Western Power Conference) A new league forms with the following members North Dakota, Nebraska Omaha, Denver, Colorado College, Minnesota-Duluth, Miami and Notre Dame 24 game conference slate - 2 series with each team Pros - Incredible depth top to bottom, all programs committed to hockey, all top notch facitilies existing or soon to open. Solid potential for league TV contract (FSN North, Rocky Mountain, Ohio, Altitude) Cons - Only 10 non-conference games to cover former WCHA rivals as well as eastern teams. No obvious site for conference tourney. Would likely force a merger of remaining WCHA and CCHA teams from them to remain viable. Option 6 ("BYU" Option - Independence) Become an indepenent for hockey Pros - Could have considerable percentage of home games. Schedule could become national in scope, giving program unprecedented exposure. National scale would be very attractive to recruits and media partners. Rivalries could be maintained via non-conference games. Cons - Scheduling could be a challenge, especially securing games later in the season. No conference tournament would mean layoff prior to NCAA tournament if there are no other independents to schedule during that timeframe. No shot at autobid if having a down season. I think the recurring theme is that whatever future league UND is in, it will be the meal ticket in, so we should not hesitate to seek favorable conditions, much like UM and UW have done with the WCHA for all these years. Also, the schools we most need to stay aligned with are Denver and Colorado College. At this point, we have the longest history with them (due to Tech's brief CCHA departure) and they are the programs with the most success, best facilities and strongest commitment among remaining WCHA schools. The Northern Sun schools are most likely to cave in to unbalanced scheduling with Minnesota. Tech is likely to seriously consider a downgraded CCHA, where it could be far more competitive. Omaha's program is moving in the direction of the Colorado schools, and Anchorage is in a position where it will do whatever necessary to protect their program. It has few options.

Yale has to avenge their loss to Air Force before they worry about the Bulldogs. I also wouldn't count out Union. They will be playing with a lot to prove.

Women's hockey could definitely be affected. If they were to finish in the Pairwise top 4 next year, they would have the right to host a quarterfinal game. The new law could potentially be setting up UND for a Title IX suit since the women's team could potentially be harmed in a way that the men's team cannot. The same would in theory hold true for basketball.

Huff starting to go off. Three 3s in a row. Air Force up 69-61 with 4 to go.

Sioux playing much better on the defensive end than in the first half. Really need to try to work it inside to keep Air Force honest. 62-53 with 6 minutes left.

Need to try and go inside a little more as well. This is one of the few "big time" programs that doesn't have a ton of height. Need to exploit that a little more instead of just jacking up threes. Or else starting getting some offensive rebounds off the missed 3s. That would be OK too. Webcast isn't terrible. The announcers commercial comments are fun, but the replays that distract from the live action are kinda lame. But for free, really can't complain. Edit: Sounds like they just found out they have had live mics.

A cardiac run through the Great West Tournament keeps the season alive a little bit longer. CIT tourney web site - http://www.collegeinsider.com/tournament/ The full bracket will be announced Sunday evening. This year the tournament has expanded from 16 to 24 teams. Sioux open up play against Air Force Tuesday night at 8 pm. A win over the Falcons would be a huge recruiting coup, especially being in the heart of Big Sky country. CIT tickets (Only $12) - Hope there is a nice turnout of Colorado area alums. Tickets are already on sale. http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS%3AUSAF%3AB11%3ACIT1%3A&linkID=usafa&shopperContext=&pc=&caller=&appCode=&groupCode=MB&cgc= I believe the CIT also has an agreement with FCS, so there is a decent chance the game will be on TV.

Hopefully UND puts some full court pressure on them to do just that. I thought they should have tried that when they were trailing during the game in Grand Forks.

Great West Final - UND down 27-18 with 6:30 left in first half.

Hopefully UND can top the Coyotes and we put in a good bid to get a home game in the CIT. Would be great to have a little extra home action.

Unfortunate that the gamecast was wrong, but that stuff happens once in a while. As for the tourney, it would be interesting to see who, if anyone else bid on it. Can't imagine it makes a ton of money, and with Salt Lake a hub for Delta, I'm sure travel was pretty cheap. The other viable options would have been Houston or Chicago, I guess. Will be interesting to see where it is next year, with the league down to six members. I'd guess it will be down to a three day event, since there would only be two quarterfinals, they can play both men and women on day 1.

The Great West website was wrong throughout the game. Chicago State was up throughout and won the game.

Let's get things done now against UTPA and then end the seasons of both HBU teams tomorrow.

HBU 73 USD 64 Final The Sioux women really have an opening now. A favorable path to the championship game. Hopefully they can get there, win the league title and finish on a positive.

Great West Tourney action is underway. #7 seed Houston Baptist is up 71-64 on South Dakota with 30 seconds remaining. Edit: now 73-64 with 22 seconds left. Free webcast at http://www.uvu.edu/uvutv/ click uvu athletics

Once Dartmouth beat Harvard in the ECAC semis, this was pretty much set, can't say I'm too surprised. However, UMD really got hosed, and all three WCHA teams are in one half of the bracket. Looking to next year, I hope the Sioux can get several top eastern teams on the schedule to boost their chances. Maybe even partner with Duluth to alternate a tourney to bring in Cornell, Darmouth, Mercyhurst, etc. Single games are better than series as well, to get a greater diversity in opponents.

North Dakota Nebraska - Omaha Denver Minnesota - Duluth Colorado College Minnesota St. Cloud State Alaska-Anchorage Wisconsin Bemidji State Minnesota State-Mankato Michigan Tech Wisconsin's freefall continues while St. Cloud's anti-swoon does as well. This would create some tasty first round matchups.

Have to be big BU and Cornell fans now. Also probably best for Wisconsin to win out.

WIth Dartmouth beating Harvard tonight, it looks like the Sioux may have to beat Wisconsin to grab an at large bid. Hopefully they can win two straight and remove all doubt. Teams to pull for on Friday/Saturday Cornell over Dartmouth BU over Northeastern BC over Providence A UND win coupled with the above three winning would ensure a trip to the NCAAs.

Why do I have a feeling that's probably a 2001 NCAA Champs sweatshirt or something like that?

The dirty little secret of the bowl system is that this isn't an uncommon occurrence. Schools are often on the hook for a lot of tickets, and if you aren't a Nebraska who travels well or an SEC team that is likely playing a bowl close to home, you will eat a lot of those tickets. Attendance at a lot of the bowls is very weak, not unlike the phenomena of early round playoff games at the D-2 and FCS levels. Bowls exist solely to give ESPN programming in Dec./Jan. People should probably be let in free, much like the studio audiences are for other TV shows.

Sorry, but skating the MacNaughton would have been the cherry on the sundae and have in no way diminished senior day. The MacNaughton is a regular season award and should be given when it is won. The playoff series is about moving on to the Final Five and a shot at the Broadmoor. Plus, two weeks after the fact it is anticlimactic.

The other thing that could hurt Yale is if Quinnipiac and Cornell slip away as TUCs. Both will fall off if they are swept in their respective first ECAC playoff series. That would knock Yale down to an 8-3 TUC record. Add a loss to Union, RPI or Dartmouth and the comparison is flipped.

The RPIs will be very close if the Sioux lose to Wisconsin and Dartmouth beats Harvard but loses to Cornell. If the Sioux lose and Dartmouth loses to Harvard, UND will be fine. What needs to happen to ensure a Sioux at-large (outside of winning the autobid themselves) Harvard and Cornell to win the ECAC semis and Cornell to win the title and either BU or BC winning Hockey East. If Providence, Northeastern or an ECAC team other than Cornell wins an autobid, then UND must win the WCHA to make the NCAAs.

Dartmouth won their game over Clarkson today (and momentarily jumped UND in the Pairwise), so the season rides on tonight's game. That should be all the motivation the team needs.