GFG

Fact.

Chances are Northwestern never will because if they wanted too they could at any time. Since they're private you can't get their financial information but I've seen in some places that people with knowledge inside Northwestern have been saying the University has BILLIONS of dollars, but won't put much of it towards athletics because they're far more concerned about research and stuff. Plus, it would be damn tough to compete in DI hockey with their school. It wouldn't be easy to field a full team of DI caliber hockey players that are smart enough to get into Northwestern.

He did, but chances are that any AD would say something along those lines until its official. I know they're building a new basketball arena and they're putting the cooling coils and everything in it so that it has the ability to make ice. My guess is that it if a school wants to start it up it will be Nebraska or Illinois. The founder of Jimmy Johns is an Illinois alum and apparently likes hockey. So its a possibility.

I'm drunk as hell after watching our basketball team beat the #1 team in the country. But you're the one picking the fight with him. And even then he responded in an appropriate manner. I just don't see what you're trying to prove.

There's a reason they put so many defensemen in the NHL. Also the reason they don't seem to put many forwards in the NHL. The more talented scorers would rather go to a team where they can play offense

Penn State's ahead of Duluth in the PWR now

This. Who in their right mind would EVER want to watch a team play that style of hockey night in and night out? It's so damn boring its ridiculous.

If you're lucky they'll have it on at the Blue Moose when I go there for a couple beers in a bit. If it is I'll just repeatedly bash my head against the bar and squirt jalapeno juice into my eyes

Also on FSNorth Plus. I'd rather punch myself in the face repeatedly than watch a Wisconsin hockey game not involving my team so I'll be playing Xbox instead. Anyone on here plan on watching?

That's fine if that's your view on it. I hate Penn State for starting a team too. But the overwhelming evidence suggests to me that they'll be a respectable team in 5-10 years. They have the support and resources as well as being located in what is becoming a hockey hot bed in the US. No doubt they'll be complete crap for a couple years, but I fully expect them to surpass Ohio State pretty fast. They're essentially still a club team this year roster wise and they've done much better in their DI games than I thought they would. I figured they would be blown out by anyone and everyone at the DI level but they've stood their ground.

Alcohol was allowed at TCF this year and there's a bill looking to be passed for next season to allow alcohol sales at Mariucci and Williams arena. The Big Ten, as well as most (Maybe all?) other major NCAA conferences, don't allow alcohol sales in their conference tournaments. It will be available in the club level and suites at the X next year. Doesn't affect me because I tailgate for 5+ hours before the first game Thurs-Fri and about 9 hours before Saturdays game. Spending $8+ on a 16oz cup of crappy beer at the X isn't worth it to me when I can drink good beer for a fraction of the price while tailgating. I can live without a beer for 2 and half hours during the game.

Show me where I said the B1G will be great

They technically would be a full member. All of Johns Hopkins DI sports (Lacrosse) would be in the Big Ten. It's a loophole.

For christs sake, Red Rivers students are using #WhitePower as their hashtag for the game tonight. To say they're not dressing up as KKK members is laughable

Uh...no. Saying they're "methheads" is a cover up. That is KKK. Anyone with half a brain knows that. They're just trying not to get in trouble.

Not buying that. PSU has the money and support to back up their program. PA is fast becoming one of the top hockey states in the country if you go by registered players. I believe they're in the top 5 already. For cripes sake, they beat Vermont 4-2 in front of 19,500+ people in the Flyers arena one month ago. They have some support and will be good eventually.

Penn State will struggle for a few years but pull out some wins. As much as it pains me to say it, I think they'll be competitive much sooner than people think. They have the whole state of PA to recruit from basically, which has been throwing out some solid talent. Hockey popularity has blown up in PA too. I think they'll be competitive (But not NCAA tournament good) within a few years. Give them another 7 or so years when those young kids that blew up the numbers of registered hockey players in the state to reach college age and they have the ability to REALLY bring in some recruits. In the mean time I hope we beat them by 45 goals with a pulled goalie the entire game for ruining the WCHA

Only when we win National Titles

Exactly. Great comment.

Sadly this is very true lol. I think the WCHA is just fine with St. Paul and Grand Rapids. Both cities are great for tourists and hockey fans.

I'd be more excited to go to Grand Rapids than Detroit personally. Grand Rapids is one of the beer mecca's of the United States. There's something like 30 breweries there. Plus far less of a chance you'd get mugged and murdered.

If UND and NDSU actually get that rivalry going again it'll definitely heat back up. No doubt in my mind. It may take a couple years but it'll definitely become heated.

It's basketball, for those two the rivalry will never leave. This is a rivalry that won't die due to no conference standings being on the line. The campuses of UNC and Duke are 8 miles apart, no way in hell it could ever die. Especially when you get 15 non-conference games per year to schedule each other.

Word was Penn State was getting mad being the only team out east so the Big Ten needed to add some to please them. Rutgers and Maryland were chosen because it gives the Big Ten Network New Jersey, New York and Maryland TV markets. BTN is part of any basic cable package in states where a team is from (New York is included for Rutgers). To put it simply you can add slightly more than $1 to the BTN's worth for every single person in the states that they're adding. So by adding those two teams they add approximately 35 million people to their standard viewing area. Giving every school approximately $2.5 million more per year. By adding say, North Carolina and Georgia Tech, that's approximately another 20 million. These are the minimum amounts and doesn't include all the alumni of these schools who may live in other parts of the country that have to pay for the channel. It's all money and academic driven. The Big Ten WILL NOT accept any school to its conference that isn't an AAU member. Nebraska was when they were invited but have since lost that status. At that time both OK and OK State reportedly asked to be invited to the Big Ten and were turned down immediately because the universities were not AAU members. So the schools on this list are the only ones that even have a chance to be brought in: http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476 There's also reports that the Big Ten is trying to add Johns Hopkins University as a lacrosse only member because that's the only sport that they're DI in.