Yote 53

It's the GAM reference in other threads that gives him away. Known as aldewitt over on the USD board. Provides good content and game analysis over on the USD board but has to constantly be warned about his negative posts running down UND and the hockey program and how UND is going broke, etc. So I guess he comes over to the UND board to run down USD now. So JBB = aldweitt = Boydj282. Got it.

You've been over to the USD board enough to know that everything you just spewed about USD is pure nonsense. Seriously, you have no clue. It's time for you to recalculate your GAM as it is giving you some faulty results.

I think they would be going out on a limb, given all the money Sanford has thrown at USD, SDSU, and NDSU. That money has strings, you can bet on it. Yes, in a perfect world 3 South Dakota schools is too many.

Interesting is the quote by USD AD Dave Herbster. Went on record as saying that as of right now Augustana would be a "No" as not enough of the league schools know enough about them, that they haven't really been vetted. Shocking in that USD, SDSU, NDSU, UND, and UNO know all about Augustana, there is nothing unfamiliar about them. They've been all over the newspapers about this move to D1. NCAA is a small world, how could the Summit schools NOT know about Augustana and their aspirations, errrr Sanford's aspirations? Herbie went out on a limb with that quote, in my opinion. He is a very calculated and measured guy too. That wasn't off the cuff.

We let Lakes post on the USD board. He keeps it in check pretty well there. Only comes around a couple of times a year.

I've said it once and I'll say it again. The answer to the Summit's problems is not to shoehorn schools into the conference that are not a fit, the answer is for the current schools to align their sports offerings, even if it means an expansion in our athletic departments. It should be as simple as "want to be a Summit member then you need to offer men's baseball or men's soccer or both". If that means women's sports needs expansion to meet Title 9 requirements then so be it. In short, USD and UND need to bring back baseball and the Summit will be just fine.

Very objective article. The first line: This paid piece is sponsored by Augustana University.

I think so too. Getting kicked out of the MIAC has opened a lot of eyes to the possibilities of what St. Thomas could be. It's an opportunity, and the perfect excuse to move up.

I could see the state of Minnesota adding one, two, or even more D1 hockey schools simply out of pure arrogance, and I mean that in a good way. Think about it. It used to be only UofM and UMD. Now you have UMD winning natties, SCSU and MSU getting #1 rankings and NCAA tournament seeds, even BSU making it to the Frozen Four. All of the MN hockey schools have had success and doing it with a lot of MN kids. There is so freaking much hockey talent out there today, with so few NCAA spots, I can totally see a groundswell of support for Crookston, Moorhead, and almost certainly St. Thomas when they decide to move up, to sponsor D1 hockey programs. They would probably be successful too, all with a majority of MN kids on their rosters.

Oh, I don't blame them for taking action. My earlier comment had to do with coaches complaining about their team fatigue and how travelling to Alaska is so difficult. The Alaska teams' travel schedule is much more difficult. As far as costs, as has been pointed out the Alaska schools were subsidizing travel.

All these teams complain about having to travel to Alaska, they only have to make the trip one or two times a season. The Alaska teams make the trip to the continental USA multiple times each season, yet I never hear them complain about the travel. Just saying.

Honestly, that's what the Summit members need to do. We need to make the hard choices and align our sports offerings. It's a shame that we have to entertain Augie because neither UND or USD offers baseball. So we have to bring in little Augustana, who somehow has the resources to offer a program that somehow neither UND or USD is able to offer. It should be a no-brainer, and a mandate from the league office, that both the Coyotes and F-Hawks add a baseball program. For that matter, accepting UMKC back should have been conditional that they also offer baseball. But at least the Roos offer men's soccer, so there is that.

What if it meant the dissolution of the conference and ALL sports (except hockey and football) being negatively effected? Let me spin this another way, every FEMALE sport would be greatly harmed if the Summit League lost it's autobid. How would that play with a certain segment of the population? Being in a conference without access to NCAA championships and NCAA payouts is going to cost more than the cost of adding one sport in order to stabilize the conference.

The simple solution is for South Dakota and/or North Dakota to restart their baseball programs. They should both be making plans to do so right now. It's the easiest, simplest path. Nobody says the programs have to be any good either. It can just be accepted that they would run bare bones, minimal programs to start with.

It's the big shift in mindset today and it starts at USA Hockey. It used to be that you needed to take care of yourself on the ice, don't put yourself in a vulnerable position, especially close to the boards, and keep your head up. Now the onus is all on the defensive (checking) player, that they are responsible for the other player and that they are supposed to lay off. The big hit is penalized and you are only supposed to use body contact to separate the player from the puck in order to gain possession. Frankly, taking that personal responsibility out of the game, where players need to not put themselves in bad positions, is the wrong thing. Nowadays you have guys who think it is perfectly acceptable to expose his back to the checker while along the boards to "protect the puck" all the while putting themselves in a dangerous position to go head first into the boards.

Big hit, the checking player was gliding and not moving his feet, and he didn't leave his feet prior to making contact launching himself. I would not call that charging. Looking at the proximity to the boards, and how the puck carrier was just a few feet off the boards, and the hit violently threw the player into the boards, the checking player leaves himself open to a boarding call. My call, clean hit. Kid, get your head up. You know how it is today, anytime a hit makes a big noise it must be a penalty, especially as you move down levels of hockey. An NCAA game is going to be called tighter than the Stanley Cup Finals.

THIS.WAS.AWESOME. Anybody who thinks this was a charge needs to go watch basketball because you don't know an f-ing thing about hockey.

Why would the NSIC be okay with being a pass through conference for UST? What other options do they have for a D2 conference? Literally zero. All it would take is for the NSIC to say "no thanks", for the Summit to offer them, and then things could be worked out with the NCAA.

Just answered you there. Albeit, wild speculation.

I realize I am venturing into SiouxVolley territory here, but I just read some internet speculation that UST might petition he NCAA to transition directly to D1 given the involuntary nature of them getting kicked out of their conference and lack of options available to them, i.e. if they decide to go D1 the NSIC isn't going to be too open to them parking in that conference for a couple years just to pass through. Could the Summit actually be involved as an intermediary in helping UST go straight to D1 and join the conference?

I am excited for the Tommies. They need to leave that B.S. D3 conference behind and move up to the D2 NSIC or even go all the way to D1 and join the Summit. The hockey program needs to go D1 as well and join the WCHA. We need more D1 programs in hockey, St. Thomas would be a great addition given their location and resources ($429 million endowment). They could pull off a full move to D1, and should.

And because I believe in "links or it didn't happen" LINK

My wife is a Tommy grad and just got the email announcement, they just got kicked out.

Ok, this is anecdotal evidence and I am not even sure if it is true, but here goes. I was in Michigan this year and spoke with a guy who's kid was drafted into the OHL. We talk about the college hockey route and if he goes to the OHL that will shut that door. He tells me his kid was offered $100,000 to sign with this team and if Major Junior doesn't get him to the pros then his college is already paid for, so it's worth giving up college eligibility. I didn't really press it if the 6 figures he was being offered was the monetary equivalent of the Major Junior education package or if it was a $100k cash contract. Either way, that's a lot of money and security to pass up for a teenager. I think the system is just fine as is and any changes would only favor Major Junior and lead to the collapse in quality of the USHL and College Hockey. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes at some Major Junior programs but my guess is there is cash being exchanged beyond the compensation models we know of. I think College Hockey would end up suffering as every player who has professional aspirations (and what player doesn't) would choose the Major Junior route first and College Hockey would end up being the choice for those who can't make Major Junior or those who wash out of Major Junior, either way the NCAA is getting leftovers.

Actually, it's the opposite. The talent pool is extremely deep. Currently, there are not enough D1 spots for the depth of talent that is out there. Legit D1 players are getting shuffled down into D3 and even ACHA D1. I agree with the other poster that there could be 10-15 programs added and it wouldn't negatively impact the quality of play.