GFG

I guess we'll know any time within the next few months, but it seems sooner rather than later. "Arizona State has met with the WCHA and NCHC and soon will meet with the Big Ten. A decision wasn’t expected until the spring, but Powers indicated that will be accelerated because recruits deserve to know where they will be playing" http://www.startribune.com/arizona-state-sees-sunny-hockey-future/362118721/

I've heard rumors before of Iowa State looking to go DI. I think it would be smart of them. It's a way to differentiate themselves from Iowa. I've always liked to entertain the idea of the B1G adding ASU and bringing in UND as another hockey only affiliate member. Financially it would be the best move possible for the B1G to add UND and I'm sure it would provide UND with a much higher income of some sort as well. That would give you UND, Minnesota and Michigan as the traditional power teams (hate you Wisconsin) in an 8 team conference of only BCS schools and UND.

Supposedly Iowa wants nothing to do with hockey. If you talk to people from Iowa they'll tell you that hockey is nonexistent in the state outside of the few larger towns. Even then hockey is still less popular than wrestling. At the same time I always argue this with the idea that if you have anything Hawkeyes, Iowa fans will probably show up.

At least it would allow Minnesota, Michigan and Penn State to get more wins to bump up their RPI a little ....anything to help Minnesota avoid in-state teams as much as possible at this point

Agreed. I don't see any way the B1G would add UNLV. Problem becomes will they announce a team before ASU announces a conference? I thought I saw somewhere that ASU said they would announce their conference affiliation some time in the early part 2016? Or did they push it back? If anyone knows for sure feel free to chime in.

I would completely agree, although the B1G had Ohio State for at least one doormat going in. They'll rarely be better than 5th or 6th in the conference, IMO. The B1G knows it needs to expand because 6 teams just isn't sustainable.

Sorry I meant AHA. You got me The problem is the NCHC isn't going to get Notre Dame or, by the sounds of it, ASU. I talked to a B1G employee that said they felt confident that they would be adding ASU and would immediately look to add another team, which at the the time was that they would look to bring in an existing program because they weren't confident in any B1G schools starting up soon enough. I've also heard a rumor that the WCHA thinks they have all but landed ASU as well. I have yet to hear any rumors about them going to the NCHC, other than the NCHC saying that they want them. Although I do agree the NCHC would be a better fit for ASU than the WCHA.

Oh great, another sport Rutgers can be the worst in the conference at. They're last or 2nd to last in basically every B1G sport. Not even joking

I wouldn't bet on it happening, but I could see it happening. Those 4 schools are on record of saying they want to play with the full allotment of scholarships, which the ECAC currently doesn't allow. The NCHC would get a presence in the east and 4 doormats to help their current members. It was obvious when the NCHC started that not all 8 programs could continue being well respected because someone has to be the doormat. However, adding those 4 schools would allow current NCHC schools that are struggling to get some more wins and most likely prevent any of the current 8 from being doormats, keeping their programs in the respectable category. Without bottom tier schools at least one or 2 NCHC schools will transition from respectable to perennial doormats. So those factors could possibly lead into it becoming reality. However, I personally don't think it's going to happen due to cost. Travel budgets would skyrocket having to travel way out east 4 times for conference play, and some NCHC schools wouldn't allow that (I assume UMD, SCSU, UNO, CC and Denver). Then you think about those 4 eastern schools...how would they afford traveling out west almost every week? Not feasible with such small schools, IMO. Unless they split into 2 divisions like Power 5 football conferences and limit the east/west crossover series?

IMO, this has been their biggest issue for about 7 years now. Even the years they've been good in that span it's been something that they usually tend to really struggle to do minus a few individual players. I said the same thing all season long during the years they made it to the Frozen Four in Tampa and Philly. They've managed to win a lot of games on talent alone in recent years. I mentioned it to Goon on twitter about a month ago, actually. If they actually gave the effort of teams like UND, SCSU and even Penn State they'd have been very, very good teams. Penn State isn't very talented but their effort keeps them in a lot of games and gives them chances to win.

I'm still not sold on that...Lucia has said he's coaching next year and that Guentzel would be a great guy to takeover when he leaves. It seems Lucia likes Potulny as well (Surprise!). They'll all get at least one more year together since Minnesota doesn't have an AD at the moment and it seems won't any time in the foreseeable future with the way they've been handling it. I personally don't want Guentzel to automatically get the job, I'd like the U to take a look at potential candidates and see who's interested. According to boosters there have been rumors about potential coaching candidates (No names, though) and supposedly most of them aren't even from Minnesota.

It's been the same since he started coaching at Wisconsin. Schlossman did a story about them some time in the last calendar year about it. He brings in one recruiting class with a lot of players every 4 years and only a few players the other 3 years, which shows in their season results. It's almost a perfect cycle. Bad in year one, bad in year 2, decent in year 3 and usually good in year 4. Then all of those players are gone and the cycle starts over. Wisconsin has literally been in that exact 4 year cycle ever since Eaves took over.

That would require Barry Alvarez to acknowledge the existence of a hockey team in Madison

I'm not sure why it would only let me comment with the quote like that

I have yet to see Novak be any sort of instigator at all and I watch every game. In fact I would say he's been the anti-Rau so far when it comes to that aspect. You're just using your Gopher hate to try and justify what happened to him. Either way, I don't care what any player says to you, it doesn't mean you attempt to seriously injure or paralyze them, which your comments suggest is completely fine. If you had a boy playing hockey would it be okay for me to justify him being paralyzed from the neck down after a purposely dirty hit just because he "said" something to a player?

He certainly wasn't happy about the hits, especially when you couple them with the dirty hits from last season. What's worse is that Eaves said he disagrees with the suspension to Wittchow and said he was going to appeal it. Just goes to show that Eaves doesn't believe in discipline. I honestly don't think it's as much about a rivalry aspect as it is Wisconsin getting frustrated about being consistently beaten by Minnesota. If Eaves can make them good again, although he should be fired because he's an awful coach and his teams are historically garbage more often than they're good, I think it'll be okay. If not, the B1G will have to start being much more aggressive in dishing out lengthy suspensions for lesser offenses to Wisconsin players to send the message that it's not going to be allowed. Downing for Michigan is the same way. He's been ejected 4 times against Minnesota and they've only played 5 series since the league formed.

Right...if you think he's like Rau in any way you're crazy. He doesn't noticeably stir stuff up like Rau at all. Not even a little bit. It was just Wisconsin frustrated because they were getting their @ss beat and he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They had another text book check from behind that was only called a 2 minute boarding minor because (one can only assume) they had already had a player kicked out for it. That one wasn't on Novak. Same stuff happened last year against Wisconsin, also resulting in them getting a couple of suspensions. I do agree both hits were suspension worthy, but I still think Cavallini's should be getting a lot more notoriety for how dangerous and vicious it was. It's disgraceful. He purposely launches himself into Novak from behind to drive him head first into the boards. If you haven't seen it and want to see for yourselves: http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/big-ten/2016/1/25/10829316/big-ten-suspends-wisconsins-aidan-cavallini-and-eddie-wittchow

I didn't realize 2011 is classified as old

This is nothing new at all with Dean. IIRC he was one of the biggest advocates of moving away from campus sites due to the different ice sizes. After UND lost to Ferris State 5-2 in the west regional at Mariucci in 2003 there was a story in the Grand Forks Herald with a lot of strongly worded quotes from Blais being extremely PO'd that they had to play an NCAA tournament game on Olympic size ice. I wish I could find the article...

Colorado State is one to watch. They've really been pushing for a Power 5 invite and they're hoping their new stadium will help their cause. Their fans want the B1G more than the Big 12 and their academics and such match that conference, but I don't think they'll complain if they get an invite to the Big 12.

This happens in the NHL very often as well after hits like that, but the players fight after. This is college hockey, you can't fight. It's in their heads that they can't drop the gloves because they know that's an automatic suspension. 99.9% of the time in a similar situation a UND player would keep his gloves on as well, because they don't want the automatic suspension. As much as they want to, they're smart enough not to do it.

You had your turn last weekend That was the most life Minnesota has shown all season. Maybe it'll wake them up.

Dangerous hit by Wisconsin started a hell of a brawl. Here's some vines, starting with the hit. https://vine.co/v/OjXbep01p9e https://vine.co/v/OjXhiIPUAep https://vine.co/v/OjXqxzBdwMU

I'm always extremely impressed with the atmosphere at their home games. Honestly might be in contention for the best in the nation. Never would've thought that would happen in a million years. Buccigross and many others always say the arena is easily in contention for the best in college hockey. I'd like to make a trip to check it out some time.

Penn State's style of play is going to make them a pretty good team in a far quicker time than I thought. In fact they're already a fairly good team. They're actually a fun team to watch, and the atmosphere at Pegula Arena always seems amazing