southpaw

Anybody remember the atmosphere at the final five when there were only 8,000 people at a game? I honestly don't know outside of a Thursday night game. Does the fact UND has never won on Friday have any impact on people's perceptions of the target center?

They'll be in touch with the NCHC over the next couple of years. It's not a secret the X won't have any conference tournaments and the NCHC/TC contract is done after 2018. The conference will let them know if they're accepting bids in which case the X would then apply.

The B1G is going to campus sites similar to the WCHA. Not officially announced but it's happening.

Good thing we have so many experts on siouxsports!

But you're talking about two years. A decade, probably but two years? Definitely not.

What happens when it moves to the X and attendance doesn't really increase and you're looking at a quarter empty lower-bowl and a half-empty upper bowl? Or people get upset (believe me, people will whine about everything) because it's not exactly like the Final Five?

That's just not true. There are thousands of fans willing to still pay tickets for a team that has made the playoffs once since 2011.

I was asked... if given the opportunity should the NCHC move to the X after the current contract is up. I had some positive reasons (gameplay conditions, familiarity with hockey of the staff) but also some reasons why staying at the TC would be more beneficial (easier access for fans, more to do around the arena). Thinking from a logical, business based perspective, why should the NCHC move to the X? And I do realize that keeping fans happy is part of a business based perspective. Would attendance increase enough just because it's at the X?

Were there issues with the ice conditions last year? I didn't hear a single one.

It was actually adjusted after the first year of the NCHC. However, Midco opted to not put games on FCS as they were trying to get people to switch from CableOne to Midco in Fargo. I'm not sure if they'll allow it now but I believe they like to keep their product on their own network these days. A bit disappointing and should be a reflection of the higher ups in Sioux Falls and not on any of the employees in the Grand Forks or Fargo offices.

ASU won't start up hockey just to drop it in a couple years. It would be a new, consistent form of income for the NCHC. It doesn't take much for the conference to make money during the quarterfinals. Additionally, you have 60+ million more potential TV viewers on the PAC12 network. That's a lot of people in an untapped market that could come to associate good college hockey with the NCHC.

No. There isn't a big benefit to just adding Mankato and BG. The NCHC wants the prestige of ASU (not the hockey team, the university). They don't want to be at 9, so they'll take one more team. There is no reason to go to 10 without ASU as part of the mix.

The NCHC isn't going to add teams just to get to 10. If they're going to expand, it's going to be ASU and one more.

They carry some, but only the ones in their viewing footprint, which is basically UNC and the Utah schools.

Mainly because they haven't had much discussion with the NCHC. They need to get their act together if they really want to apply.

No doubt the league entrance fees will be more. Schlossman had mentioned he heard it may be near $500,000. I had heard a bit less but still a substantial commitment. Additionally, at this point the schools divide up the cost of paying for officials fees throughout the year. That will likely change in the coming years but it's an additional fee that I don't know if the WCHA has each year. Honestly, the travel in the NCHC would be very similar to travel in the current WCHA for Bowling Green. In the 2016-17 season they have 3 flights, 2 long bus rides that could be flights (over 6 hour drives) and two short bus rides (under 6 hours). Meanwhile, Miami has 5 flights and 1 short bus ride (Western Michigan). If BGSU joins the NCHC, they would have 2 really short bus rides and 4 flights. At most it's one extra flight, however if BG currently flies to Houghton and Marquette, then it's either break-even or actually one less flight in the NCHC. Miami was originally picked because of their recent success, their financial commitment to hockey and because they were originally going to join Notre Dame as the two eastern schools. After seeing they were going to be left out, Western made a big financial commitment to hockey to show the NCHC they were serious. They were later added so Miami wasn't on an island.

The UND contingent left town before this photo happened.

According to this list, which is used to determine the size of TV markets (i.e., the number of actual viewers), there are more viewers in the Bismarck area.

I think you'd want to have the angle the same as the weird thing on the top left of the N. That would bring the bottom right of the N to a point, instead of being so flat.

You realize that is a logo created by SME, yes?

Here you go... a thread devoted just to talking about the Penguins, how big of goons the Bruins are, and why Phil Kessel is three goals away from becoming the greatest Penguin to ever play the game.

I like it. The U definitely adds more to the logo, as does text below.

I set it when I was playing around with the different colors, hoping the bird was negative space. I think the current logo is fine but I wish they had implemented some of the changes we have seen here. I know they would never take message board examples to come up with something new but I wish they had made it a little more detailed off the bat. Who knows, if they update it in 3-5 years, they could do some of the adjustments we have seen here.

Duluth's metro market is smaller than Bismarck's. Initially, the NCHC was supposed to be 7 teams, CC, DU, UNO, UND, UMD, Miami and Notre Dame. When ND demanded too much TV independence among other things, the NCHC said no thanks. Both WMU and SCSU were added to make it 8. WMU and SCSU showed the NCHC they were serious about hockey by increasing funding for the sport. While Mankato has applied, it only became public due to Brad's request. The NCHC has contacted BGSU to guage interest. They haven't applied but if they do, the choice between Mankato and BG gets tough. The conference won't take BG and Mankato just to take them. ASU still needs to figure their arena situation out to get support from Presidents.

What final stages? The logo is done.