GFG

BC has the nations longest unbeaten streak now, so they seem to be coming around. Michigan has been on fire the last month and a half or 2 months. I'd really watch out for them. Their defense leaves some to be desired but with the way their offense has been it might not even matter. And then there's Minnesota:

The Mankato, Duluth and Tech games are important. Since Minnesota already has 2 wins against them I'm not quite sure how much one BSU win against Minnesota technically helps UND because MN still takes the PWR comparison against them, IIRC. I think it would more or less just hurt Minnesota's RPI numbers, which could drop them in the PWR. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm certainly no PWR expert.

I'm sure he did say it because he's a B1G guy, but that doesn't mean he cares about the hockey team. He can't flat out say he doesn't like it. It's pretty obvious that hockey isn't of much concern to him. He cut a lot of non-revenue sports when he became AD to funnel more money to football and basketball, and if the hockey team sucks I'm sure he can make a case to spend less money on it and put that money in the 2 big sports instead. To his credit though, look how good they are in those 2 sports. Consistent contender in football and had a Final Four appearance in bball last year and are figured to be title contenders this year.

Alvarez doesn't give 2 craps if the hockey team sucks. In fact I wouldn't be one bit surprised if he's happy to see the hockey team suck so that even more people will gravitate towards football and basketball. Those are the only 2 teams that he cares about.

Coaches are Billy Brewitz and Xander Schmidtz.

They did better this year, and I do believe it'll get better now that they had a really good year. Doesn't help that Minnesota was relegated to 11am games all damn year. College students don't like to get up that early, let alone get up early enough to drink and get to the game. Most of them wake up later and just drink while watching the game at home or the bar.

As a Gopher fan for all sports I can tell you straight up, that even at Minnesota, hockey is far behind football and basketball in popularity. So that should give you a grasp on how little hockey is to some of the other B1G schools. Like MafiaMan said, I wouldn't be one bit surprised to see it be the most popular sport at PSU because their basketball team is historically bottom of the B1G, and from what it seems as of right now hockey very well could be more popular. It was nice of the B1G to add Rutgers to give PSU a buddy in basketball

I agree with it this year. I even made a joke a couple weeks ago. I said Minnesota has to go undefeated in conference play because the rest of the conference is so bad they'll drop out of NCAA tournament contention with a loss

To put it nicely, let's just say some SB Nation college hockey writers completely disagree with it being a nice write up. It's to early in the realignment chaos to say they're not one of the better conferences. It's literally been just over a year of hockey. Here's how I see the B1G: Minnesota is one of the best teams in the country, whether you want to admit it or not. They've played the #1 SOS thus far according to RPI and have had decent results. For comparison, UND's SOS is currently #18. 2 of Minnesota's 3 losses are to a pretty damn good UMD team. Injuries to Skjei and Boyd have hurt them and they'll need them healthy at the end of the year. "Minnesota needed overtime to beat SCSU at home." Yes, and UND needed OT and a horseshoe up their arse to beat AF at home. This wasn't meant to ruffle feathers, when I was talking to the SB Nation writers they just said part of the reason that article was so bad is because it made exactly zero points, and that was an example. It was 100% opinionated on how the writer feels about the B1G conference. Michigan - I think it's gotten to the point where there needs to be a coaching change. They have talent, but Red can't put it together anymore. It's time they move on from him. Wisconsin - If you expected much more out of Wisconsin this year you don't know what they lost from last year. They lost over 200 points from last years team. I don't care what team you are, that's a lot of points to lose. If you expected them to be competitive most nights you're crazy. This was bound to be a bad year far before it ever began. They'll be relying on Rumple to steal them some games. Penn State seems like they're good enough to make some noise this year. Last Saturday at Michigan just shows that they're still a young program that will have hiccups and also that Michigan does have the ability to play good hockey. Ohio State and MSU are just kind of meh to me. They're average NCAA hockey teams. Flat out, the conference needs more teams. With 6 teams they're going to be very up and down. There are years where they might be one of the best and there are years where they might not be. Remember, going into the last weekend last year there was a possibility of them getting 4 of their 6 teams in the NCAA tournament and it took Wisconsin beating Ohio State and knocking them out to get UND into the tournament in the first place.

If you don't think cheating happens in college hockey, I have a bridge to sell you. Edit: Didn't mean for that to come across in a mean way.

People are putting far too much emphasis on the arena. Yes, that probably will be a bit of a factor, but not near as much as you think. What helps get recruits is amenities they use EVERY day. The weight room, training facilities, etc. Arena's are empty while they're in it far more often than they're filled. Ask Minnesota football coaches, they have one of the best football stadiums in the Big Ten now with what is arguably the biggest, and nicest locker room in both the NCAA and NFL. What Minnesota lacks, though, and their coaches have been screaming for more, is the other amenities. Weight room, training facilities, etc. because they have what are arguably the worst in the B1G. (Although within a couple years they'll be some of the best facilities in the entire country). THAT'S what recruits really want because it's where they spend >90% of their time. They want the things that are going to make them better and more equipped for the next level. If you had the best training facilities in college hockey you could probably recruit almost any body you want to, even if you literally play in a barn. Tradition and everything does help, obviously, but if you have the training facilities you can make vast strides in a short time.

The conference takes great pride in its academic integrity, surprisingly considering the state of college athletics where academics seem to mean nothing at all *Cough* SEC *Cough*. That's why they only take AAU member schools. That's also why it would be a huge surprise if they added ASU. I'd assume they undid the retweet because it was welcoming ASU, a Pac 12 school. There's not much of a reason for the Big Ten to welcome a Pac 12 school, if anything it probably received a ton of backlash from B1G fans since most of them are football and basketball fans. I could easily see the B1G wanting BU, as they are an AAU member and aren't in a rival conference for other sports. Another one I'd seriously look at is U of Buffalo. If Terry Pegula really is looking at bringing them up I'd put good money on them joining the B1G conference as an affiliate since they're also an AAU member.

Adding ASU to the NCHC = 3 out of 3. I really do think that'll happen. Their coach knows college hockey and probably knows the NCHC is a great fit until a Pac 12 conference starts up. My guess is they'll do that and just try to schedule a lot of non-conference matchups with B1G schools

As of right now, no for UND. ASU = National brand = Money. UND doesn't have the national brand power the B1G wants. The brand power of ASU and expanding BTN to Arizona would be the only reason the B1G forgets about AAU membership. But like I said, I don't see it happening.

The B1G will have no reason to reserve spots for future B1G teams. There's not going to be that many teams from the B1G adding in the near future that it would give them too many teams. They didn't make a play for Notre Dame because they've made it very clear that Notre Dame has to join the conference in all sports or none at all. They want Notre Dame for football and they aren't going to let them in any other sport unless they get it. Honestly, I'm not sure why Notre Dame didn't do it...If I recall correctly, every B1G school makes almost double the money from BTN compared to what Notre Dame gets for its NBC contract, so eventually I do think Notre Dame will have to give in. The B1G would probably like to have ASU as an affiliate (espeically if it's only temporary), because they need more teams in their hockey conference right now. What better way for them to do that than adding another nationally recognized university for their programming and spreading the B1G brand name to Arizona. In all honesty, it would probably be far better for ASU as well, because people down there will be FAR more familiar with B1G teams and in return be more likely to go watch their school play games against those opponents. In the end I really don't think it'll happen, but if it did I wouldn't be one bit surprised. Money talks, but at the same time the B1G has been adamant in only accepting AAU members. I do expect ASU ending up in the NCHC or WCHA. It would be nice for UAH to have another southern team to play against haha. Are you sure you want that?

I don't think ASU will want a deal like Notre Dame. As long as Pac 12 Network can air games, then ASU is a possibility, IMO. Why Arizona needs to go DI according to that: ASU WENT DI AND WE CAN'T FALL BEHIND THEM!! That's why rivalries are fun.

Just curious, I honestly can't think of it, what teams has the Pac 12 added for affiliates?

Agreed. The reason this is all happening now is because the conferences have their own TV networks. More programming = more money. It's going to exponentially speed up the process of schools adding teams compared to the past, IMO. If the Pac 12 has been trying to get schools to add hockey for awhile it shows the conference really wants this to happen, and they won't stop until a conference does happen.

There's already been 5 other Pac 12 schools exploring it. 6 if you add in Oregon, which obviously can add a team at whatever time Phil Knight feels like it. I think it will happen, it really just depends how fast it actually does. One of the biggest problems with ASU to the NCHC, at least IMO, is the NCHC tv deal. The Pac 12 wants to televise some ASU games and, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think they can't do that at all if ASU is in the NCHC because of the conferences TV deal. The Pac 12 Network will take priority to ASU over the NCHC. So unless the TV deal changes I think it'll be a tough get for the NCHC. If it does change, however, I do think ASU will join the NCHC until a Pac 12 Conference is doable.

Listening to the announcement, I think it's very likely more Pac 12 teams add hockey. ASU's AD straight up said that the Pac12 conference has been trying to get schools to start up hockey teams for awhile and that they were very excited ASU was the first to take that step. Let's Play Hockey tweeted that Arizona, Oregon State, USC, UCLA and Stanford have all shown interest in starting D1 hockey teams. Oregon would probably have to be thrown into that talk just because we all know they have the donor in Phil Knight. I wouldn't get too excited about adding ASU to the NCHC because I'm pretty sure it'll only be temporary. They wouldn't add a hockey team to become the UAH of the west. I think it's very likely that a Pac 12 hockey conference is in the near future.

I'm glad the Herald posted this. Best article I've seen on this whole thing. http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/letter-springfest-t-shirts-cant-be-linked-und

Being Polish, I take great offense to this. I shall raise a big deal about it on my blog with incorrect facts to make my point. I shall start a walk for equality in all of the most German populated towns I can find in North Dakota

Honestly, I think this would be a fantastic idea.

Which is exactly what she did. Even with the tweets she showed, had she shown the full conversation it wouldn't have looked bad at all. She chose the single ones that by themselves looked bad, helping her argument to make a deal out of this. I can't get the other tweets since both accounts were deleted.

I'd rather not share personal information, but I will tell you that this has nothing to do with trying to hurt UND's reputation if that's what you're thinking. Most of them are big UND fans, even the ones that attend school in Fargo. That's exactly what I've been saying. The ONLY reason this is connected to UND is because the author that decided to fan the fire had zero concept of what she was talking about other than her facts used about Native Americans. She put the blame on UND, saying "faculty and staff" should have stopped the students. Her article made it seem like this was 100% a UND function if you read it. She had no idea about anything other than the picture she saw, she just wanted to fuel a fire and the picture is what she needed to do it.