Godsmack

Anyone have any idea when Brad and Nate Ewell will resume their weekly College Hockey Today podcasts?

Any chance as they CCHA continues to grow that teams like Mankato will make another push to leaving and joining the NCHC?

Kinda like the Bruins fans who’d filed out of that huge come from behind victory over the Maple Leafs some years ago in the NHL playoffs. I believe it was a deciding game 7 too if I’m not mistaken.

I stayed home and watched the UND game and some of the CC game on NCHC.tv but my wife went to the first CC game at the new arena and based on reports from her as well as what I’ve heard from other CC fans, the first impressions of the game day experience are mixed. The good… 1. Open air concourse is such a cool concept. 2 The ice. Having spoken to the players a few weeks ago, they universally LOVE the quality of the ice which in turn, should make for a great viewing experience for the fans. 3. Excellent sight lines. At 3,400 seat capacity, no nosebleed sections. 4. Parking. Contrary to what I assumed would be a hassle with a parking garage, my wife said they did a great job with traffic flow patterns both pre- and post-game. The bad… 1. The stairs. Uneven depth and height is going to lead to some nasty falls. Plus, given the arena’s policy on removing caps from pop and beer bottles and wine boxes, some have already commented about spilling as they walk back down to their seats. 2. The piped in noise. Yah, every arena does it but I’ve been told about ringing ears after the game last night. Between the goal horn and the music they blast during stoppages of play, you can’t even hold a conversation with the person next to you, it’s so loud. We probably won’t be bringing our young child to any games unless they address this fixable issue, which we plan on contacting the hockey operations director about this week. 3. Quality and variety of the concessions is poor. Perhaps this was a soft opening and the options will get better but one fan described his slice of pizza as cafeteria quality pizza. 4. Lack of many GA seating for visiting fans. Not yet sure on the official numbers of available general admission seats but it sounds like it’ll be difficult for any significant number of visiting fans to attend games. 5. TV production. Given how bad the tv viewing experience was when games were played at World Arena, I was expecting much much better at the new venue. I was wrong. Several alternate cameras were dark and the picture was very grainy. Not every camera was hi-Def. Hopefully this is a fixable issue as the tv viewing experience was pretty low budget last night. 6. Cramped, tiny seating. Much less leg and elbow room than at WA. 7. Some curious things with regards to the playing of the National Anthem as well as the signage for the restrooms but since we’re not supposed to get political, I’ll just leave it at that. You can pm me if you care to hear more. EDIT: 8. I don’t know how I could’ve forgotten this as this was a huge let down for me as a college hockey fan in general but the lack of acknowledgment of CC’s past players and legacy inside the arena was a real bummer. There is so much drab, unused gray space in the rink area as well as the concourses. Such wasted space that could be used to highlight former greats like our two Hobey Baker winners, Peter Sejna and Marty Sertich, not to mention the all-Americans who’ve played there, the Gold Pan trophies and Pikes Peak trophies won, etc. Call me naive but I’ve been to a lot of arenas and one thing as a visiting fan I love to do is walk around and look at the pictures of that program’s former greats, read stories up on the walls, and admire the murals. North Dakota, Boston University, and Minnesota come to mind as excellent examples or barns that, when you walk in for the first time or as a visiting fan, you know you’re in their house. CC’s arena, for the most part, feels very non-descript and that, to me is disappointing.

Announcer, before he cursed, said Omaha outshot Lake State, 40-19.

Someone should tell the Omaha play by play guy that he’s on a hot mike. He just said G*d da*m on the air.

Danny Weight for CC is going to be good, I think.

Anyone know if the game will be televised outside of the local area? Namely, in Colorado?

Not as funny as years past but still some good nuggets of humor buried in there. I actually chuckled at the prediction of CC moving up 3 spots to #57….three spots ahead of idle Alabama Huntsville, Alaska, and Robert Morris.

Purely anecdotal but following the UND hockey Facebook page, there sure seems like a lot of UND fans are trying to unload their tickets. Any general reason why? At the time tickets went on sale, I had the impression it was the hottest ticket but now it seems like many folks don’t want, or cannot go.

Yah, you’re right-I forgot to mention that about the high top seating in the concourse. If I didn’t have a little one, I definitely would’ve gotten seats there. Totally unobstructed view of the ice from those seats! I haven’t heard that talk about the DU and UND series being played at WA but yah, they definitely could get more fans that way and more revenue.

Thank god they won’t have fifty participation banners hanging from the rafters.

I attended the CC Ed Robson Arena open house tonight. I have some mixed feelings about it. First off, the good… 1. Nice, open concourse on-campus facility that’s walking distance for students so the atmosphere should be a lot better than at World Arena which was a 20 minute car ride from campus. Plus, it’s within a 5 minute drive from downtown Colorado Springs which has a lot of good breweries, restaurants, etc. 2. A building that’s all CC’s. No longer a tenant of someone else’s building so you actually feel like you’re in CC’s barn. Over the years, it felt as if World Arena’s primary tenant-CC-was a second class citizen and taken for granted. 3. About 3,400 seats which is more appropriate for CC given their size. The atmosphere during games should be electric (assuming CC’s competitive). I would imagine the sight lines for television as well as the acoustics will be much better and more up to date than the terrible camera angles and sound at WA was. The negatives… 1. The seating is tight and very cramped. Contrary to what the CC brass kept telling us before the new arena was built, there is actually much less leg room than there was at WA. If you are six feet tall or over, my condolences-you’re not going to enjoy sitting for an hour and a half in those seats. 2. Much less opportunity for UND fans to attend games as there won’t be nearly as many visiting fan seats available. This, of course, is a positive if you’re a CC fan but I know there’s a lot of people out in Colorado with UND ties that like to attend games against CC and DU and there just won’t be as much opportunity to get tickets for the CC series going forward. 3. Little to no acknowledgment to CC’s past and history like you get at the Ralph out in the concourses. There’s a tiny little mural dedicated to our two Hobey Baker winners, Marty Sertich and Peter Sejna, along with something for Peggy Fleming, that’s it. I would’ve thought there’d be old pictures of CC legends, achievements, Pikes Peak trophies, Gold Pan trophies, etc. Literally nothing of the sort in the arena which is surprising. 4. The goal horn. If you plan to attend games, bring ear defenders. They blew the horn tonight and if its any indication of things to come, you’re going to go deaf during games (again, that’s assuming we can actually put the puck in the back of the net this year).

The only spots I feel sure about at 1 and 8. 2-6 is kindof a toss up for me.

Yah, I kinda had to pick and choose too. The boss (aka, my wife) would probably divorce me if I went to every road series. I’m trying to get to every college hockey arena in the country for a game and haven’t made it way out to Connecticut before so figured this was as good a time as any.

Single game tickets for Quinnipiac hockey went on sale starting yesterday. The series against UND is considered a premium series so the tickets are a few bucks more but only $25 each which is pretty darn affordable.

https://www.njtitansnahl.com/forward-evan-werner-makes-ncaa-d1-commitment-to-colorado-college?fbclid=IwAR31wkN_deCbrA3zbcpcnEedGjTUDDuLY2RXusYW_CrvVD9kRTFemueNRN0

https://gazette.com/sports/ice-unveiled-at-colorado-colleges-ed-robson-arena/article_8e1a43ba-052f-11ec-8c1b-0f466e57ff7c.html?fbclid=IwAR3MybjY03rcjRTiUV9qllvHoXrkp76sNDJqH_eniaIJQSqE58KLayTC070 https://krdo.com/news/2021/08/24/ed-robson-arena-the-new-home-of-the-colorado-college-hockey-team-is-taking-shape/?fbclid=IwAR3y_f5W65MvbjKT7-HrysuR2yjWdWqEr-tK3cLs8q9VKdlnFtQJUOo2KGk An article in the Gazette and a video on KRDO sports about the new Ed Robson Arena at CC.

So will Berry fill the vacancy or are there already more than enough existing players to cover? There seems to be some variance from one team to another regarding # of roster spots.

Team defense, goaltending, and discipline (too many penalties) have always seemed to plague Western Michigan under Murray. Given the kind of offensive talent he would bring in, trying to win 6-5 type horse races never seemed like a recipe for success IMO.

A fun, insightful interview with new CC Tigers coach, Kris Mayotte. https://icetimehockeysw.com/college-hockey-sw-live/

Tentative plan is to take the following road trips from Colorado Springs: 1) UND at Quinnipiac 2) A home series at Arizona State (doesn’t matter which one, will be going out there to see some buddies) 3) A Michigan Wolverines home series (don’t know which one yet but a friend’s kid just transferred there from RPI and hopefully he will be seeing a lot of ice time).

Me neither! I thought when I scored a 13 on the ACTs that was the high score?!

Is it odd that Michigan hasn’t released their 2021-2022 schedule yet?

How do just two people have the power to make a decision this big to end two athletic programs??