post-conference tournament break

[krangodance]

this is a topic i've brought up with friends and co-workers for years and this year i decided to post it here. i was going to post it the day after the sioux lost to yale, but i wanted to let our collective sioux-fan heads cool a bit. now seems like a good time, though.

the issue is the short break after the conference tournaments and the start of the ncaa tournament.

it doesn't make any sense to send the best college hockey teams in the country to a single-elimination tournament while they're all still licking their wounds from the conference tournaments.

the ncaa tournament is supposed to determine which is the best college hockey team in the country so let's give the players the rest they need to compete at their highest level.

winning a conference tournament in a tough conference like the wcha, ccha, or hockey east should be an honor that all teams strive for. instead, winning one of those tournaments usually means playing on shaky legs in the ncaa regionals. so how can this problem be avoided?

the simple answer is obvious: take the weekend after the conference tournaments off

unfortunately, that answer doesn't satisfy other ncaa problems that would arise, such as:

1. ending the college hockey season the same week as the college basketball season

2. not playing ncaa tournament college hockey games at the same time as the final four games

that's why i think the college hockey season should just start a week earlier than it currently starts. here's the schedule comparison using this year as an example:

conference champoinships: march 20 move to march 13

ncaa tournament regionals: march 26 - 28 stay the same

frozen four semi-finals : april 8 move to april 2

frozen four championship: april 10 move to april 4

this set-up gives the teams 12 - 13 hockey-game-free days before their first ncaa tournament game. teams would still have to win back-to-back games in the regionals to advance to the frozen four, just as they do now, but they'd only have 4 - 5 hockey-game-free days between winning a regional final and playing in a frozen four semi-final game, which i think is fine since they already had a week off before the tournament started and everybody would be in the same boat.

one notable change i've made here is that the frozen four would be played on a friday and a sunday rather than a thursday and a saturday. doing this allows the basketball semi-finals to be played on the saturday in between, which would be april 3 in my example - the very same day the basketball semi-finals were played this year.

i don't see the change from a thursday/saturday format to a friday/sunday format making that much difference. if people are going to take thursday off for games, then why not friday instead?

this is only one option to make it work. the main problem i'm trying to address though is seeing the better teams in the country playing tired against weaker teams that have had time off. i'm sure there a host of other scheduling changes that would suffice. the questions are: will any of this ever be considered? and can anything we say on this board help to get these changes made?

[LeftyZL]

conference champoinships: march 20 move to march 13

ncaa tournament regionals: march 26 - 28 stay the same

frozen four semi-finals : april 8 move to april 2

frozen four championship: april 10 move to april 4

Playing the National Championship game on ESPN on that Saturday while going against the Final 4 in basketball is not a good idea for TV ratings. I thought that's why they skipped a week all together.

[gfhockey]

i tihnk a week break after final 5 would be nice

[krangodance]

Playing the National Championship game on ESPN on that Saturday while going against the Final 4 in basketball is not a good idea for TV ratings. I thought that's why they skipped a week all together.

the 4th is a sunday. no basketball.

[FIRE HELMET GUY #26]

the 4th is a sunday. no basketball.

You'd want the championship on a Sunday? Does not leave much time for travel to get back home for a Monday for people that have to work! I kind of like having it on a Saturday, get together with friends and have some beers and not have to worry about work the next day.....of course one of these years I'm actually hoping the Gophers make it to the Frozen Four again! I would like the see the break between the Regional and the Frozen Four only a week though, I think the two week break kills momentum of alot of teams.

[Wilbur]

Or the sioux could finish in the top three in the league to avoid the three games!!!!

All kidding aside I think that the way the format plays out right now is perfect. Yeah the Sioux had shaky legs, but they also had 6 days off between games. Maybe next year the sioux will get the twelve day break that they've missed out on these past two years....

[Goon]

Or the sioux could finish in the top three in the league to avoid the three games!!!!

All kidding aside I think that the way the format plays out right now is perfect. Yeah the Sioux had shaky legs, but they also had 6 days off between games. Maybe next year the sioux will get the twelve day break that they've missed out on these past two years....

Actually now you have to finish in the top three to avoid the thursday play in game.

[brianvf]

Actually now you have to finish in the top three to avoid the thursday play in game.

Top 2 in the league.

First Round

1 vs 12

2 vs 11

3 vs 10

4 vs 9

5 vs 8

6 vs 7

First round winners advance to the F5.

Bottom four seeds play each other on Thursday and the top 2 get a bye to the semi-finals on Friday.

[Washburn Sioux]

I agree that there should be a week off between the Final Five and the NCAA regionals.

Either give up a "bye" week or start the season a week earlier.

[krangodance]

You'd want the championship on a Sunday? Does not leave much time for travel to get back home for a Monday for people that have to work! I kind of like having it on a Saturday, get together with friends and have some beers and not have to worry about work the next day.....of course one of these years I'm actually hoping the Gophers make it to the Frozen Four again! I would like the see the break between the Regional and the Frozen Four only a week though, I think the two week break kills momentum of alot of teams.

i thought about the sunday thing too, but this plan puts the semi-final games on a friday instead of a thursday so it's pretty much a wash as far as weekend nights go. plus, the football and basketball championships are always on mondays or thursdays and they do just fine.

[krangodance]

Top 2 in the league.

First Round

1 vs 12

2 vs 11

3 vs 10

4 vs 9

5 vs 8

6 vs 7

First round winners advance to the F5.

Bottom four seeds play each other on Thursday and the top 2 get a bye to the semi-finals on Friday.

yeah and that's the thing, starting next year, you're better off finishing 3rd and losing your play-in game. it seems like the team that finishes 3rd in the wcha always gets an at-large bid and that will probably be even more true once there are 12 teams in the wcha.

better yet, if you know you're a shoe-in for an at-large bid, simply throw the best-of-three series and get the full two weeks off.

even if if you lose in one of the thursday play-in games, then you get 2 extra days off compared to the teams that compete for the wcha champoinship. in my opinion, those two teams should not be at a disadvantage come ncaa tourney time, which is why i'm proposing the extra week off after the conference tournaments.

[mikejm]

I don't know that this is directly to the topic, but Coach Hakstol

[brianvf]

We certainly won't be "thin" at defense next season.

[mikejm]

^Yeah; it doesn't look like it.

Something Hakstol said during the luncheon that isn't all that surprising when one thinks of it, but it took me aback.

He said, in addition to being banged up, and thus "thin" at some positions, he also mentioned being thin at the maturity department. A team as young as this one was, I shouldn't be surprised. But by March they certainly weren't playing young anymore.

Even though Hakstol is sandbagging today about what next year's squad is going to be like, I think he knows what he's got on the roster. And I think he is pretty excited.

[farce poobah]

I agree with the idea of the thread. And I note how much better the CCHA has done since changing formats.

One change that might be easier to work is taking a week off after the regular season and before WCHA 1st round.

[LeftyZL]

the 4th is a sunday. no basketball.

Forgive me. I went off the dates the poster used in his post.

Anyways, the National Championship is always on Saturday for hockey, let's say April 3rd for the argument's sake. The Final 4 in basketball is always the first Saturday and Monday in April.

Do you really want to compete against a network station that basically everyone gets(CBS) in a sport that a lot more people enjoy in this country(Basketball)?

Not everyone gets ESPN. Not everyone has cable. And a lot less people like hockey than like basketball.

[jk]

Despite the coach's opinion, which is almost certainly right, I'm stubbornly sticking to my belief they were out of gas against Yale. They lost races to the puck, then they lost battles for them when they got there. The six games in nine days showed as they hung on for dear life against SCSU at the X, and I don't think they had recovered yet. I agree the WCHA should try to minimize the number of games in those last few weeks, but of course not sure how.

[82SiouxGuy]

Forgive me. I went off the dates the poster used in his post.

Anyways, the National Championship is always on Saturday for hockey, let's say April 3rd for the argument's sake. The Final 4 in basketball is always the first Saturday and Monday in April.

Do you really want to compete against a network station that basically everyone gets(CBS) in a sport that a lot more people enjoy in this country(Basketball)?

Not everyone gets ESPN. Not everyone has cable. And a lot less people like hockey than like basketball.

I would have to go search to make sure, but I heard that the basketball contract is up soon and ESPN is going to go all out to get it. If they got the basketball contract they would have no interest in having the hockey Frozen Four the same weekend as the basketball Final Four. Or else they would just dump the hockey part of the contract.

[Smoggy]

I would have to go search to make sure, but I heard that the basketball contract is up soon and ESPN is going to go all out to get it. If they got the basketball contract they would have no interest in having the hockey Frozen Four the same weekend as the basketball Final Four. Or else they would just dump the hockey part of the contract.

The NCAA can opt out (i think 3 years are left) and with NCAA looking at 96 team tourney they'll want to re-bid and ESPN would give lots of money and lots of stations to show games. CBS is limited to 2 stations of games.

[Iceman778]

really its a great news