bale31
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Posts posted by bale31
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The answer is 'no.' If the WCHA tournament plays at the X, you will find maybe 500 fans in the TC area who will go just to watch hockey despite Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc. not being in the building. It's delusional to think 2,500 to 5,000 'casual' fans will show up to see teams they really have no vested interest in.
Same thing would go for Grand Forks. Would you stay home to watch the Sioux on TV in Denver at the NCHC tournament...or would you pay money to go to REA and watch Northern Michigan play Lake Superior State in the WCHA championship game?
And that's why I think the idea of having the tourney in MSP and Grand Rapids makes more sense. We're not going to get casual fans. We need to find where the alumni are and stay as close to the student and season ticket holder locations as possible. That's what you need to draw from otherwise you're asking to have a 8000 seat arena drawing 1500 people rather than a 17,000 seat arena drawing 5000 people. It's just a question with no good answer.
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You make a fine argument bale. We were working on the idea of neutral sites. You were working on a way to get the most fans in the seats. I think you are right saying that it may not be fair but it is the best for the league to go with your idea. I have always wondered if their really are enough casual fans to matter no matter where you play. I think I would throw the idea of drawing the casual fan and have it where the team fans will fill the most seats. As you mentioned about fans traveling I think we are working off how well UND travels. We travel well but the other schools really don't. I like jodcon's idea of having both tourneys the same weekend in MSP. The Metro Chambers could sell it as a big hockey weekend. But that is usually the time of high school bb tournaments and they use the Target and the X for those. BB is the same weekend at the Target Center this year. Kind of shoots down the big event idea. bale and gfg are right to let it play out and see where it goes. We all have the same thought that we wish to see college hockey succeed. It is not like we want to see the WCHA fail. If Penn St. had not decided to start hockey, with how much prodding from Alvarez and BTN we do not know, we would not even be having half the discussions we are having. Of course things change over time. But college hockey had found a groove with the different leagues and Penn screwed it all up. bale you do understand why UND did what they did though? Simple case of the haves taking their pucks to a new rink. I still think the league would have been just fine without Wisc. and the rodents. We could have added Miami and WM to take their place and all would have been well. I think of I was a Mankato or Bemidji fan I would not be happy with what has happened. Both schools took a leap of faith going D1 with the belief they would be playing in the strongest league in the country and now get delegated to a lesser league. From the top to the bottom at these schools have every right to be pissed.
Of course I understand why UND, Denver, et al did it. I question the wisdom of what they did though. I question the manner in which it was done. And I question whether the assumptions that are being made are legit. Troy Jutting made a pretty good comment when this was first happening. He said something to the effect that change is not necessarily bad. But, college hockey is as strong as it has ever been. With that being said, you can change things, but you damn well better make sure that you are making positive changes. I personally am not convinced that these changes are for the better of the sport. Neither the Big Ten formation nor the reaction in forming the NCHC. I look at those as two separate decision not necessarily as linked as you do. I understand the reasons given, I'm just not sure that I buy them.Only time will tell whether they were positive, negative or have no effect.
I will say that the whole change has changed my perspective of college hockey. To me college hockey was above the fray and people truly looked out for the good of the sport. I no longer give that thought any credence in any way. The Big Ten formed=all about the money. The WCHA was trying to take Miami and W Michigan=all about the money (not to mention that it would have left a quite a few schools in even worse shape than they are right now). The NCHC forming=all about the money. There isn't a single school in all of this that can claim they weren't looking selfishly at the situation (including MSU and BSU). I will say though, I feel really bad for BSU. They haven't received a cent from being in the WCHA tournament. This was supposed to be their last year on financial probation and next year they would have received cash from the WCHA tournament. Instead, they have put money into moving up, they've built a new arena, and now are having the carpet pulled out from under them. College hockey lost its innocence two summers ago and it became a selfish money grab. Whether that hurt the sport as a whole in the long run was of no consequence. This whole thing has been driven by short term financial motivators that sicken me. College hockey at this point is no different than college football and college basketball. If it means stepping all over everyone else, so be it. That's the direction that athletic directors and presidents are going.
From a competitive standpoint, I actually think this will be a good thing for MSU (and potentially BSU). MN is still agreeing to play us on a yearly basis. We get part of the receipts from the MN Cup and in the off year have the Gophers come to our barn for what is usually the biggest draw every season. We have a conference that we can win/compete in every year. We have other non-conference opponents close to us either within the state (SCSU, UMD) or very close by (UND, UNO) that we can pull from. Again, in my opinion, I think everyone is going to get a rude awakening that the NCHC isn't going to be the financial windfall that is expected and will need to set up away games that are close and inexpensive (UND being the exception because it's just a different circumstance). We're going to have a good non-conference schedule to keep us competitive nationally. I know I"m in the minority, but I think the WCHA will send at least 2 teams each year to the national tourney and we've got a chance to be one of those teams most years. Whether we can continue to be financially viable is the real question that all of the WCHA schools are going to have to find out.
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That's the risk you take...I bet AA and Alaska might actually fill up their own barn, though. The question is, what happens when the home team is upset in the Thursday night game? I can recall the Subway 'Classic' in Grand Forks several years ago...I drove up for the Wayne State vs Findlay semi-final game figuring that since Sioux fans paid for those tickets as a package deal along with the Sioux game tickets, they would attend. Boy was I wrong. I would bet there were MAYBE 500 fans at REA for that game. An hour after that game ended, a crowd of 9,000-10,000 filed in for the Sioux game. Might be the same issue if a host school loses in the Thursday quarterfinals, but I guess you won't know unless you set it up that way, right?
At least the tickets would be sold.
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think bale31 is Minnesota State
Correct. I've posted on Rube Chat a bunch, but if it isn't about the Gophers, no one will respond anymore. It's pretty much Gopher talk and that it over there now. I still go there and get a few digs in, but am not nearly as active any longer.
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Exactly what do you think we were trying to do? You can't get it within 150 miles. No matter what it is going to suck for the fans.
I think I didn't explain very clearly with that (hell it was 12:30 when I posted it). What I'm saying is that the closest school to Green Bay is NMU at 178 miles and goes up to 440 miles with Ferris of the schools mentioned. You're correct in that it is more centrally located. I don't dispute that. What I'm saying is that it makes more sense to hold it in a location that is close to at least one school (arbitrarily using 150 miles) and you have that with MSP (Kato) and Grand Rapids (Ferris). You also have large alumni bases in MSP (Kato and BSU) and to a lesser extent Grand Rapids (due to it's relative proximity to Detroit) in the MI schools.
Let's face it, these schools don't and probably won't ever travel very well. I'm an MSU fan (there you go watchmaker
) and I've been to about half of the current WCHA venues with MSU (MN, SCSU, UNO, Denver, UND, and will be going to CC next weekend) and the amount of fans there was beyond underwhelming. I would say that MN and SCSU had the most fans with about 100-200 and that's probably being generous. I think that it's going to be pretty difficult to go to a central point like Green Bay and have too many fans drive/fly to get there. It' just unrealistic. Now, this is where I get to my point about needing to pull in casual fans from the area. Green Bay isn't exactly a college hockey hot bed. As mentioned before, the Gamblers average 3700 per game. To me having it as close to 1 or 2 of the schools is the only way to draw fans. It's unfair competitively and it's certainly not ideal to have a building that's more than half empty, but that's likely what we have to deal with if we want it to be at a neutral site.To the point of the regular season champion holding it, I personally, favor that. I know it's not going to happen in the first 4-5 years for sure though. I know there are logistical issue to it, but I think those are probably things that can be overcome. It's possible that could cause some serious issues with expenses rising like crazy (could you imagine the expense if one of the Alaska schools won the conference and you had to fly 3-4 full teams up to Alaska on a week's notice) and revenues plummet (again, traveling to Alaska is not going to happen for any casual fans). Also, you lose the ability to create a year after year following. Again, no perfect answer.
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You probably shouldn't be reading these message boads if you don't want to know what UND fans' opinion on the future of the WCHA tournament is. Obviously we don't have a dog in the fight, but that doesn't mean it can't be discussed/debated. "What a bunch of UND fans think" is going to be what you get here.
I'm not saying that I don't want your opinions. That's not it at all. My point is that UND fans' opinions don't play into the decision making. The fact that you "don't have a dog in the fight" is exactly the point I was trying to make. The administrators need to worry about what is going to make our fans happy and what is going to make money, not what is going to be perceived as "better" with other fan bases. I know it sounds like I'm being a bit of a dick (and that's going to happen on a message board), but what I'm saying is just that we're going to be mocked and ridiculed no matter what our schools do. It could always be better and we won't have a ton of fans there, but that can't matter at this point. It's about maximizing revenue and nothing more.
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Having the WCHA tourny in St. Paul will not be an option after the bigger teams leave. It will be moved to a different site and I am pretty sure Grand Rapids, Milwaukee and Green Bay are all being looked at. My guess is Milwaukee will be the new host city, as the Admirals play there and they have hosted a successful Frozen Four in the past.
Again, though, who is going to show up to a WCHA tourney in Milwaukee? Badger fans?
I get what you guys are saying about being "centrally located" (and I'm really not trying to be a dick), but from my perspective that's actually the worst thing that they could do. You're better off trying to find locations that are close to a couple of schools or alumni bases and taking advantage of them. None of these schools travel well.Having it 150+ miles away from any school is a recipe for disaster. I don't like it, but I know my fan base and those that are in the conference. It sucks, but that's not going to change.
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Somebody needs to google mapquest and check the milelage. Oh wait I did.
LSU-GB 283 miles LSU-MSP 545
NMU-GB 178 miles NMU-MSP 397
Tech-GB 214 Tech-MSP 364
Ferris-GB 440 Ferris-MSP 632
Oops it seems that these schools are short drives from GB. More interesting though is that Tech and NMU are closer to GB than Bemidji is to St. Paul. Which by the way is 230 miles from St. Paul. Sounds like someone is mad that they are still stuck sitting at the kid's table on holidays. By the way, none of us are counting on the casual fan to show up. More like we are arguing that it needs to be in a site that is the MOST beneficial to the teams fans.
That's one side of it, but you're not including the the fact that every other year it's going to be in Grand Rapids. I'm not just talking about MSP, I'm talking about the big picture. You fail to consider these stats:
LSSU-GR: 277 miles (negligible)
NMU-GR: 387 miles (Advantage GB)
MTU-GR- 496 miles (Big advantage GB)
FSU-GR: 57 miles (Big advantage GR)
Oh yeah, then there is:
BG-GR:221 miles (compared to 456 miles- Big advantage GR)
Point being the travel between schools and locations are not that much different in the grand scheme of things. Considering that the WCHA is going to be spread out more than any other conference in the nation by a large margin, finding a "centrally" located arena isn't really that big of a deal. It's more important to look at where you are going to be able to draw the most fans on a yearly basis. There is going to be very little walkup traffic in Green Bay. Going on the off years of the Big Ten offers the potential for gaining some of those people that hard core fans of Big Ten teams. Having the ability to get in and out easily and cheaply is also a big deal for these schools. It's not cheap to fly into Green Bay. To fly into MSP is much less expensive. You can't cherry pick 4 schools and talk about how those 4 are the ones that you should look at....the conference is 10 teams (including a minimum of 3 that will be required to fly or bus for 20+ hours). If the tournament is held in Green Bay, you are most certainly counting on casual fans. If you have it in MSP you will have more of an alumni base to pull in as well as have easier access and Grand Rapids you will again have more of an alumni base in closer proximity to the location.
You also have to look at the realistic situation that fans of these teams are both pessimistic and skeptical of the situation that we're left with. You have to try to make the fan bases of all of the teams as happy as possible. Having the tourney in a site that's the "least bad" isn't a good option at all. It's more likely to upset more people than it will do anything else.The perception of those people are what's important at this point. No one and nothing else.
Nice little insult by the way. This has nothing to do with being upset with being left behind. Am I annoyed by it? Sure. Do I think it was short-sighted? Most certainly. Do I really think it's going to be for the better of everyone? Not a chance. That doesn't mean that I can't be objective about the situation. It may sound crass, but realistically, what a bunch of UND fans think is "better" for the WCHA is insignificant. UND fans or any NCHC or Big Ten schools have no bearing on any decision that the conference make from this point forward. The only schools and fans that matter are the ones that will be in the WCHA for the forseeable future. The perception of an empty arena doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is keeping our programs afloat.If acknowledging that fact is "being mad that they are still stuck sitting at the kid's table on holidays", so be it. That doesn't change that it is the reality.
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The first WCHA tourney will probably be a measuring stick for where they end up down the road, nothing looks worse than a big venue with no fans, the X is going to look as bare as our games in Alaska.
I think what you guys are missing is that you would alienate too many people by moving it to a "central" location that is a long drive for everyone. Look at it from the perspective of the fans of the schools and the administrators of the schools. You may think that having a half or 3/4 empty large arena looks bad, but frankly, I couldn't care less what you, as fans of UND (a non-WCHA member) thinks. Perception of other schools means nothing. It's all about the perception of our fans. If you alienate our own fans, you are much worse off than having people that aren't going to spend a cent on the conference tournament think you're doing the "right thing". Having the tournament in a city that is 2 hours away from any school, doesn't have an alumni base within the city, and doesn't even have a college hockey presence in is a great way to alienate your own fans. Add to that you're depending on casual hockey fans to drive the attendance is a disaster waiting to happen. The Green Bay Gamblers average attendance last year was just under 3700 fans and that's what you would be depending on to drive attendance for a tournament that doesn't really have a vested interest in the teams.
I just think that people from outside the conference are making a whole lot of judgments based upon superficial observations rather than looking at it from the schools that are affected by it. We just don't have the luxury of worrying about perception. We have to fight to make sure our programs survive. I want the tournament to go wherever they can maximize revenue, perception be damned.
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What about the Resch Center in Green Bay for a future WCHA Final? Probably the most central location for WCHA teams. Capacity is 8709 which is about the attendance they are going to get starting next year. I think that having it in the X maybe just once, Mcleod will see that they need to downsize. Grand Rapids is a good option, but Having it in Milwaukee will make it better for attendance for the Minnesota schools and the UP Michigan schools especially.
I think you're kidding yourself if you think people are going to show up to Green Bay or Milwaukee. In my opinion it's the worst of both worlds. It's not near any of the schools and you're going into an area that isn't really known for college hockey. Again, what's the logic for downsizing? To prove fans of teams that don't have any bearing on the conference any longer were right? If you go to GB or Milwaukee attendance suffers and as a percentage of capacity it's just as empty. As an MSU fan, I probably wouldn't go to GB or Mil on a yearly basis. I would on the other hand go to St Paul every two years. If you have it in GB or Mil you're not doing anything for the fans of those teams that are in the conference and you're depending on fans of hockey in general to fill the arena. That's the worst disservice that you can do for those schools. This conference is already a tough sell for our schools. Taking the conference tournament 9-10 hours away from the schools isn't going to benefit us at all.
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I think you are right. Really what do you have at the X? Bemidji? Mankato? 2 Minnesota teams and 4 Michigan teams does not make good numbers for the X. Grand Rapids is a good idea. A 10K seat arena still will be an empty barn. Better than 16,000 empty seats at the X.
The reality is that there is no good option for the WCHA. The only "right sized" arenas are on campus arenas and that's not going to happen any time soon. The problem with holding it in Grand Rapids every year is that it is prohibitive for more than 50% of the teams in the conference to attend. Just looking at the situation, it seems as though they have to be depending on the MN/MI fans attending the event when the Big Ten Tourney isn't at their location. The only thing the WCHA can do is attempt to make as good of a situation out of a bad situation. Realistically, what's the difference in having an empty 10,000 seat arena versus having an empty 16,000 seat arena. Sure it might open them up to some criticism from some hard core fans, but, honestly, who cares?
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You nailed it! Mankato joined the WCHA in 1997 and Lucia didn't start coaching Minnesota until 1999. I suppose he was working to get Minnesta to schedule Mankato when he was at CC though. How are we supposed to take information like this seriously.
Umm...probably because I'm talking about the last 18 months since this cluster has been going on. I guess I should have been more clear.
For even more clarification, that's from public statements made by our former coach and people within the administration.
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Lucia was pissed for most of the interview. You could tell he was getting tired of answering the same questions about "why didn't you wait and leave dates open for one of the greatest rivalries in college hockey." He says the nickname thing was the main reason. Funny how Wisconsin had the same policy but somehow was able to leave dates open when the issue was obviously going to be resolved within the year. It's not like Minnesota was going to be struggling to find teams to play them. Lucia is pathetic and you can absolutely put the blame on him for putting a hiatus to this rivalry.
I'm confused by this argument. WI and MN are two different situations. Just because WI was willing to bend their rules, doesn't mean that everyone else should too. Who cares what WI did. I don't know if it's a real or a made up reason, but saying "they did it too" isn't an excuse I would accept from my 3-year-old.
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They aren't doing their about-face with the sole intention of not playing UND, but it does provide them with a convenient alibi to avoid continuing the rivalry and look generous towards the in-state schools at the same time. I just couldn't let people come on here and insist that the U of M cared so much about other D-I programs in the state when they never have in the past.
Also, to have "a much bigger relationship" with schools, you have to show an interest in playing them (and not just when you have to, but when you want to). And the U of M never bent over backwards to schedule these schools before they joined the WCHA. So, please explain these "big relationships" because I just don't see them.
You do realize that there is more to schools than just hockey, right? You're looking at it from a very small microscopic view right now. It's not about "showing an interest in playing them". It's also about the academic and research side of things as well. My point in saying that the state of MN funds both institutions is that it's bigger than the hockey programs. It would be irresponsible of UMN to push for these schools to build arenas and push them to get in the WCHA and then when it doesn't benefit the U to just drop them. You underestimate the political ramifications of an act like that when hockey is the biggest sport (and potentially making or breaking a school's athletic department). If I were the U, I would much rather take the heat from UND fans than take it from the legislators that hold the purse strings for my yearly budget. Put in that context, it's a simple decision.
You're saying the U was opposed to those schools going D-1 and joining the WCHA?
I'm confused by this as well. My understanding all of these years is that MN threw it's weight around to get the likes of MSU and BSU into the conference.
I can tell you that in the news and behind the scenes that Lucia was very supportive of MSU and getting us scheduled. I know at the beginning they were working with MSU to get us on their schedule for a series every year. That was before the MN Cup or whatever it will be called. I don't know if that's fallen through or whether that is still potentially going to happen in addition to the MN Cup or not. To say that MN hasn't been supportive of the other MN schools is just false. There are many things that I will rip the Gophers for, but that isn't one of them. They have had a stated goal since Herb Brooks that they want to make the universities in the state of Minnesota as successful as possible. People can doubt their intentions, but I've seen it from the perspective of one of those schools. Take that for what it's worth.
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Just what is that much bigger relationship? Other than having MN in your name?
Umm....being funded by the exact same public government is a pretty good place to start, especially in the case of UMD. It's like saying that UND/MN have a closer relationship than UND/NDSU. It's just not true. Opposed to the common belief, MN has much more to think about with their University than the hockey program. There is everything from other sports (that are more popular) to acedemic issues to funding for research. Losing a rivalry with UND is no where near as important as any one of those facets of the university. And don't kid yourself, MN politicians are that petty that if they perceive a slight of their local university in favor of taking that money to ND they will raise a stink and hurt those other parts of the university. The U has enough of a PR problem right now with money matters after the WSJ story that they don't need anymore reasons for politicians to cut their funding.
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I am getting really sick and tired of hearing this crap. For years, the U of M couldn't care less if schools like Bemidji State, Mankato State and St. Cloud State ever established themselves at the Division I level. They even pitched a hissy fit when KMSP-9 decided to air St. Cloud State games back in the 1990's, even though they had their own sweetheart cable deal with Midwest Sports Channel. Gopher propaganda outlets like Let's Play Hockey, WCCO's Sid Hartman and MSC made sure that most (if not all) media coverage focused on the Gophers and that's it. You wouldn't even know if anyone else had a Division I program in the state except for the mighty Golden Gophers (yes, even Duluth got ignored most of the time). But now, when the U of M needs an excuse not to play UND out of conference, all this love and affection for the State Universities of Minnesota suddenly comes out. What a crock of crap!
Please go to GPL or whereever else people will buy this garbage because nobody here is buying it without a gigantic block of salt.
Haha....you're right. Playing the rest of us in-state schools that MN has a much bigger relationship with than UND, is just an elaborate story so that MN can dodge UND. Just read that a few times and tell me that doesn't sound delusional.
EDIT: I'm not disputing that the rest of the schools have been ignored. They have, but this is taking it about 20 steps further.
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I disagree and think they will be accepted. Having a 10-team league is far easier than a 9-team league and UAH appears to have made a commitment to facility upgrades that will help its case. C'mon, Bruce, don't let he Chargers down!
I kind of agree. They have shown that they have the dollars to make sure they support a team. It's probably not ideal as the geographic footprint is already huge, but I think the positives will outweight the negatives.
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Yes, we know it was a WCHA series with WCHA officials.
Good point. This one was especially strange though. We had goalie sitting in the penalty box, a goalie getting run and then nothing being called and a disallowed goal that no one other than the refs and WI beat writers seem to think was a good call. Very strange. I'm glad it was my college buddy reunion weekend and I had copious amounts of alcohol in me.
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Very tough to swallow as they seem to have a nice team this season down in Kato. Uw hast lost since Kerdilies (sp?) served his NCAA suspension I believe
Ugh, this was a tough weekend. MSU didn't play all that well and was still in the thick of it. Add to that some of the strangest officiating I have ever seen in my life and I left the rink shaking my head.
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Sadly, the WCHA does not have any real good options and it was left high and dry first by the Pig 10 schools and then by the likes of UND and everyone else that jumped ship for no good reason. What's done is done on that front. Now, the WCHA is in dire danger of doing a quick fold and college hockey is in danger of contracting rather than expanding as all the geniuses claimed it would. It's a lot easier for a school to drop a hockey program than it is for a school to start a program. Look at PSU. Still piddling in the wind and it is playing a full Pig 10 schedule next year?
I will go to WCHA games, and tournaments, when the opportunity presents far more often that I will to a Pig 10 game. The WCHA still has some solid and storied programs. It needs a wide base of fan support. Those of us who claim that we are fans of the college game, and there are many, had best position ourselves to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.
The league no doubt got a sweetheart deal from The X. BSU and MSU are nearby. Relatively so. Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech will travel a shade. The lower bowl will need to be filled largely by the likes of all the "college hockey fans" in the so-called State of Hockey. I trust the league will schedule its tournament on a weekend when the NCHC is not in town. If so, I'll expect to see all you fans of college hockey down at The X, supporting the WCHA.
This is pretty much what I was trying to say. The X and the Joe aren't ideal as they are too big, but the alternatives aren't really very good options either. The WCHA schools will be fine. Opposed to popular belief, those schools are committed to making hockey the flagship program of their schools (outside of Bowling Green). We can't afford to put as much money into the programs as much as the likes of UND, DU, Miami, etc (but then again neither can UMD or SCSU, but that's another story). BSU just put up a new arena and is changing the administration to make the financing work, MSU is trying to get funding for a new arena for the 6th year running and hired a new high dollar coach. MTU just hired a new high dollar coach and is trying to find funding to make renovations. There is a commitment there.
I, honestly, don't expect fans from outside the conference to support the WCHA teams. College hockey fans and programs have proven that they are no different than any other college sport. Just look at UAH. Everyone "wants" them to survive, but the only team that was willing to travel to UAH was MSU this year. The CCHA denied them entry into the conference even though it made sense. The WCHA is going to have to make it on their own because it's pretty obvious that no one else really gives a damn about anyone except themselves at this point.
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Does not matter where it is at since no matter what it will bomb.
You're right, it's not going to be well attended in comparison to the old WCHA, HCHC, or Big Ten. No one is aruing that it will. But to take it to the location of one of the schools that dropped the other 9 AND put it 6-15 hours out of the way of any of those schools is flat out foolish. It woudl do more damage than good.
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You are not looking at the big picture. This would be in the same line as having a convention. Economic tool. You seem to forget that the Ralph bid on a regional with no guarantee UND playing in it.
As long as UND was in the tourney, they were going to be in Grand Forks though, correct? If so, that's not a big gamble. If that's the case, there would be no UND competition. That's not the case with a conference tourney.
OK, so there might, and that's a BIG MIGHT, be a benefit for UND and Grand Forks. What benefit is there for the WCHA and more specifically the schools and fans of those teams? I can tell you having to drive 6 hours to get to the tournament location would be prohibitive for me. If it's the Michigan schools it's more like 15 hours to drive. That's just not realistic for these teams. And putting it in front of a bunch of people that don't give a damn about those schools is not a good way to create a good atmosphere around the tournament. As a fan of Kato, I would be extremely upset if the conference decided to spit in our face and benefit a school that left us instead of having it in a more local location. In that scenario I'm looking at a much bigger picture. The conference's target audience is not UND fans, it's WCHA fans. Pissing off WCHA fans is not a good way to get everyone behind the newWCHA.
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Hmmm...Michigan State vs Western Michigan and Michigan Tech vs Michigan each drew 16,500 for the GLI and the Western vs Tech championship drew almost 15,000. Not CCHA tournament stats but a very good draw for the weekend.
Edit: a quick check revealed the CCHA title game last year between Western and Michigan drew roughly 10,500.
That's what I was getting at, I guess.Admittedly, that's better than I was thinking it was, but it's certainly not a sellout.
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Wrong! Michigan and Michigan State are to the Joe what Minnesota and North Dakota are to the X. A Michigan vs Minnesota BTHC title game would be a blockbuster at the Joe. So would MSU vs Wisconsin. A Minnesota vs Wisconsin final would be the equivalent of a North Dakota vs Denver WCHA title game in St Paul.
The attendance at the CCHA tourney would suggest otherwise. Unless it's Michigan vs Michigan State the attendance has has been pretty paltry. I just don't think the Big Ten is going to have that great of attendance. It's likely to be on par with what the NCHC has which will be a step down from the current WCHA Final Five.
The only certainty is that none of us really knows for sure. I don't think we'll have a good handle on conferences and conference tournaments for a good 5 years. Until then there is no history with any of those tournys.
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2013 WCHA Final Five
in Men's Hockey
Posted
Better question...would I accept?