TheEagle

I think it's a little different. North Dakota fans don't really care where the good hockey players come from. Meanwhile, a large percentage of Gopher fans consistently make comments about UND having "overaged Canadians". I think his point is that not every person associated with the Gophers hockey program or supporting Gophers hockey is Minnesotan, so perhaps they might want to tone it down a bit. It's all rather hypocritical anyways since a majority of their best basketball and football players come from out of state, and most of the Gopher hockey fans are also Gopher football and basketball fans. I don't hear them griping about that. If a Gophers football team consisting of mostly out of state players happened to beat out a Buckeyes team consisting of mostly Ohio high school football players for the Rose Bowl some year, I doubt too many of those same fans would complain too much.

Well, that wasn't "Minneapolis"--that was the Twin Cities as a metro area. And they only ranked the top 40 metro areas. That also included things like Traffic Death rates and Natural Disaster Risk. They ranked 9th in violent crime rate amongst the 40 metro areas, so their "safe" ranking was probably a bit misleading. (Milwaukee's #2 ranking was probably even more misleading. They were average in violent crime rate, but were top 4 in Traffic Death rate and Natural Disaster risk.) The Twin Cities are a safe metro area, but there are plenty of areas that aren't safe. http://www.forbes.co...-msa_chart.html Interesting list. The five safest metro areas based on violent crime rate were Portland, San Jose, Seattle, Austin, and Denver.

I've lived in the Twin Cities for a long time. Downtown Minneapolis isn't terrible, but it's far from safe (especially when you are used to "North Dakota safe"). I've seen enough incidents to be wary. While going to school at the U of M, I worked on campus and bused to Brooklyn Center (via downtown) every night. Without a doubt, downtown St. Paul is safer. I don't anticipate too many people having a lot of problems, but you have to be careful.

The Ralph is bigger and attendance has been slightly down at Minnesota in recent years. Generally, Wisconsin is #1 in total and average attendance because of the size of The Herb. UND is #2. Minnesota is #3 at The John. We moved up this year because the Badgers had fewer home games and I'd think average attendance was probably down a bit. UNO has a big rink and they have been #4 in recent years.

6 of the top 9 are future National opponents--all 6 of the WCHA schools.

No need to apologize. You were right. I had just been corrected on the number of MacNaughton Cups we had. The wikipedia site says we have 15. USCHO shows us for 15 conference titles, so I assumed it was 15 MacNaugtons. Apparently, it's not. Somebody corrected me on the USCHO board, so I was feeling a little bit thin skinned. I started watching the Sioux in 1981, so I wasn't around in the early years. Can somebody explain to me why there were tournament co-champions in the early years of the WCHA? It skew the number of conference titles for Denver and Minnesota compared to us--as they won a majority of their conference tourney titles in those early years. We won a majority when there was only one tournament champion.

Funny. I should have read further. Those co-tourney championships were shady to me. Why the hell would you have co-tourney champions? I agree with you. UND has the lead.

Since there are a lot of history buffs, can somebody explain to me why multiple teams are listed as tourney champions in the first 20-30 years? How many of those co-tourney championships do Denver, Minnesota, and UND have?

So, what you are saying is that BC and UND's brackets are tough, and Union's bracket is easy.

I love when my fellow Sioux fans correct me when I'm wrong. I'm old school. I think the Ralph was the second biggest rink when it went up. Also, I now know that we apparently don't have 15 MacNaughton Cups, but we have 15 regular season conference titles--even though the MacNaughton wikipedia site states that we have 15 MacNaugton Cups.

What you need to know about the current WCHA teams joining the NCHC: North Dakota. We're the bad@sses of the league. 7 national titles, 15 conference titles, 19 Frozen Fours--all the most or tied for the most in the conference. We play an NHL style of hockey--which means we hit. That's not always a good thing when it comes to tourney time, but we like our hockey that way. I think somebody from the CCHA can appreciate that--not like those pansies in the Twin Cities and out east. Bunch of good people in North Dakota, and about the only time we get obnoxious is when some Gopher fan is acting all high and mighty. (They were the Michigan of the WCHA--except they didn't dominant the league.) Our biggest rival has been Minnesota. Our biggest rival in the new conference will probably be Denver because of how good the programs have been historically--although most teams want to beat us real bad. With the rise of Minnesota-Duluth, they are becoming a good rival. The adminstrators at St. Cloud State led the charge to eliminate our nickname, so we don't like them much. We have a devoted fan base that travels well. We perhaps travel better than any team in the country. We have a great rink. It's the second biggest rink in the country, and is almost always sold out. Denver. Great program. Likely underrated by those out east. 7 national titles, 13 conference titles and 14 Frozen Fours. Their rink is pretty big and their attendance numbers are good, but their fans don't travel well. They recruit very well nationally. Colorado College. Solid program. They have a couple of national titles, but those were a long time ago. They haven't been able to breakthrough lately. It seems like they are always in the top half of the league. At least, in the last 10-15 years. They generally have a lot of skill. Minnesota-Duluth. Their program has kind of underachieved historically--except the Brett Hull years. However, one of our guys is the head coach there now, and he's turned that program around. I think as long as Sandelin stays there, they'll be a tough program. Much like yourselves and Miami, I think that program has turned the corner. Nebraska-Omaha. New to big time college hockey, but their metro area is pretty big (and supports college sports well), they are committed to hockey as their flagship sport, are led by former UND coach Dean Blais, have a good rink, and are in the heart of USHL country. They should be very competive. I think Omaha is a likely location for the conference tournament. St. Cloud State. We don't know how they got in. They've actually been competitive in recent years and are upgrading their rink. On the whole, seven of the eight teams have made the tournament the last two years, and five of them have made it both years. It's going to be a tough conference. Attendance-wise, this conference is golden. It has some of the biggest rinks and most well-attended games. We ranked #1 in total attendance this year (because we had more home games than Wisconsin). Nebraska-Omaha was #4, Colorado College was #5, Minnesota-Duluth was #7, Denver was #10, St. Cloud State was #12. Unfortunately, you and Miami play in small rinks, and I see you were almost at capacity this year.

Welcome! And as a Packers fan, thank you for Greg Jennings!

WEST REGIONAL Western Michigan over North Dakota Minnesota over Boston University Western Michigan over Minnesota NORTHEAST REGIONAL Boston College over Air Force Maine over Minnesota-Duluth Boston College over Maine EAST REGIONAL Union over Michigan State Miami over Massachusetts-Lowell Miami over Union MIDWEST REGIONAL Denver over Ferris State Michigan over Cornell Michigan over Denver FROZEN FOUR Boston College over Western Michigan Miami over Michigan Boston College over Miami

Boston College Miami Denver Western Michigan I have a strange feeling that UND and Minnesota might be looking ahead in the first round, and then BU will have a letdown in the regional finals.

People put down the addition of Western Michigan, but they are a program that has the resources to be top notch. UND, UMD, Denver, Miami, Colorado College are all top notch programs. Nebraska-Omaha and St. Cloud State probably rank near the bottom, and they aren't bad programs when compared to what the other conferences have at the bottom. Omaha has a lot of potential too. Good rink. Metro area that supports college sports. USHL country. Blais as head coach.

Last year's field by new conference. The NCHC is going to be a beast. ATLANTIC HOCKEY Air Force BIG 10 Michigan ECAC RPI Union Yale HOCKEY EAST Boston College Merrimack New Hampshire Notre Dame NCHC Colorado College Denver Miami Minnesota-Duluth Nebraska-Omaha North Dakota Western Michigan WCHA None

This year's field by new conference: ATLANTIC HOCKEY Air Force BIG 10 Michigan Michigan State Minnesota ECAC Cornell Union HOCKEY EAST Boston College Boston University Maine Massachusetts-Lowell NCHC Denver North Dakota Miami Minnesota-Duluth Western Michigan WCHA Ferris State

You must not be from North Dakota. I went to the University of Minnesota, but I'm from North Dakota. The Sioux will always be my team, and I still dislike the Gophers.

It seems most fans of non-NCHC and Big Ten teams are still in the stage where they want to find somebody to blame for NCAA hockey realignment. Personally, I'm not sold on the NCHC, but I don't fault the Big Ten and the strongest of the leftover WCHA teams for creating new hockey leagues. It could actually be good for the sport. My guess is that Notre Dame joins Hockey East, helps create an Eastern super conference, or goes independent. I think Western Michigan is a decent candidate for the NCHC. I know traditionally they've had little success, but they have some intriguing qualities (footprint in Michigan, large campus with good academics, decent sized market, commitment to hockey). I'd like to see Bowling Green join the WCHA, but if Notre Dame turns them down, the NCHC might be desperate enough to include BG to get to 8 teams. Moving past that, what will be the biggest rivalries in the new conferences? What team(s) will opposing fans most love to hate. Where do you think the conference tournament would ideally be hold most often? My choices in red. BIG TEN Michigan Michigan State Minnesota Ohio State Penn State Wisconsin Candidates for love to hate category: Minnesota, Michigan Candidates for best rivalry: Minnesota vs. Michigan, Minnesota vs. Wisconsin, Michigan vs. Michigan State, Michigan vs. Ohio State Conference tournament: St. Paul, Detroit NCHC Colorado College Denver Miami Minnesota-Duluth Nebraska-Omaha North Dakota Candidates for love to hate category: North Dakota. Unless Notre Dame joins the conference, I only see us as the choice here Candidates for best rivalry: UND vs. Denver, Denver vs. CC, UND vs. Duluth Conference tournament: Omaha, Denver WCHA Alaska Alaska-Anchorage Bemidji State Ferris State Lake Superior State Michigan Tech Minnesota State Northern Michigan St. Cloud State Candidates for love to hate category: St. Cloud State Candidates for best rivalry: Michigan Tech vs. Northern Michigan, Fairbanks vs. Anchorage, Minnesota State vs. SCSU, Bemidji State vs. SCSU Conference tournament: League regular season winner or rotation, St. Paul Anybody else think these conferences are actually more intriguing than what we have now?

I vote for no nickname, Rough Riders, or Fighting Spirit. Anything else would be a disappointment to me.

Minnesota and UND fans are both to blame for flaming the other school. The only thing that bugs me are those Minnesota fans that try to act like UND made a bad move. I've heard everything from: they'll have a harder time recruiting (please), they won't get games against WCHA or BIG 10 schools (unlikely, teams will follow the money; assuming the nickname situation gets settled), the TV contract won't pan out (at worst, I see UND having the same type of TV deal they do know, but if the NCHL adds Notre Dame, all bets are off).

I don't blame Minnesota (or Wisconsin for that matter) for going to the Big 10. It sucks for us WCHA rubes, but why wouldn't they? It's in their best interests. More Wisconsin than Minnesota, but Minnesota has been made a ton of money from other Big 10 schools in football and basketball. It's about time they contribute. I never criticized them for leaving. I don't blame UND for going to the NCHL. Again, it sucks for us WCHA rubes, but it was in their best interest--especially if Notre Dame joins. I do think conferences will be aligned more properly with like-minded institutions--rather than situational convenience. As much as we like to talk about the history of the WCHA, it's changed a lot over the years. It will look a lot different going forward, but it currently looks a lot different than it did 35 years ago. I imagine it will stick around, and I think a conference with SCSU, Mankato, Bemidji, perhaps Moorhead, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Alaska-Fairbanks, and Alaska-Anchorage makes a lot of sense on a lot of different levels.

Nice quote. It's always good to hear about how well UND is developing players.

I'll start by saying that I'm a little iffy on this move. I've been following the Sioux since I was 12 years old, growing up in Mandan when the Sioux won the 1982 championships. I have very fond memories of the 1987 team. I even did a story in our high school paper on that team. So, I'm a big fan of the WCHA. I think this could turn out to be a great move, but there are big risks. However, I think the teams that made the cut make sense. North Dakota - A top four program in college hockey... at minimum. Championship pedigree. 2nd in the NCAA in attendance. Denver - Historic team. Championship pedigree. Big market. 8th in the NCAA in attendance. Colorado College - Consistent winner. Championship pedigree. 5th in the NCAA in attendance. Miami - Recent success. University is committed to college hockey. Ohio as a whole is a big market. Nebraska-Omaha. University is committed to college hockey. Great coach. 4th in the NCAA in attendance (behind Wisconsin, UND, and Minnesota). Minnesota-Duluth. I like that they are included--although I think they are the most iffy. Mainly because they've really only had recent success--save for a season or two. University has shown committment to hockey though. With their new rink they'll likely move from 11th in the NCAA in attendance into the top 10. Notre Dame would be a great addition for obvious reasons. New rink will likely move then into the top 10 in attendance. Could bring huge exposure. Program is committed to college hockey. I actually like Western Michigan for a lot of the reasons I like Omaha and Miami. They've shown the committment. Pretty good sized market. Huge alumni numbers. Plus, the league needs a dormat. BTW, these teams draw much more than the leftovers in the WCHA. UND at #2, Omaha at #4, CC at #5, Denver at #8 in the top 10 in attendance. Duluth likely in the top 10 next year. Same when Notre Dame gets their new rink. The attendance numbers and championship pedigree rank right up there with the BIG 10 conference. On the other hand, Mankato is #17, Anchorage is #24, Bemidji is #36, Michigan Tech is #37. St. Cloud State is the only leftover school that ranks in the top 15. They actually make a decent case for being in the league (ala Duluth), but from what I've read on here there is some bad blood between UND and SCSU.

Long-time browser and Sioux fan. I've only posted a few times--with a user which is apparently no longer active. I've started a fantasy hockey league. I have 7 owners. I need a few more. If you're interested, let me know. Thanks! BTW, I knew the NHL season was starting sooner, but it caught me off-guard. The league draft is Tuesday night--with play beginning Wednesday.