dakota fairways Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 INCH story on Big Ten Hockey Conference announcement Sources tell Inside College Hockey that on Monday the Big Ten will formally announce a six-team hockey conference, set to begin play in the 2013-14 season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Whistler Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 INCH story on Big Ten Hockey Conference announcement Makes sense if you want to ensure that someone gets an invite to the national tournament. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fighting Sioux Fan Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Maybe a high profile Big Ten Hockey Conference will bring more exposure to college hockey and bring in more fans. There is a lot of negative feelings about this and while most of those are likely justified, I think it's time to start seeing the positives in this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fighting Sioux Fan Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Makes sense if you want to ensure that someone gets an invite to the national tournament. Personally, I think this might make it harder for these schools to get into the NCAAs each year. While one gets in automatically each year, the rest are going to be beating each other up too much and possibly hurting themselves too much to get into the NCAAs. Though maybe the WCHA and CCHA are getting too tough for the big schools to compete in now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianvf Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Makes sense if you want to ensure that someone gets an invite to the national tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirtcoach Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 It will be interesting to see how the Gophers and Badgers fill their schedule. Will they have an interlocking schedule with a conference like the 6 team WCHA and the Super 7 did back in the 80's? Will they fill it with weak teams they can pay to come like the Big Ten does in Hoops and football? Will the Gophers host a 5 team 'Minnesota" tourney over the holidays? Will they travel out to the East coast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianvf Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Will they travel out to the East coast? The only time Gopher teams play on the East coast is if they get shipped there for a NCAA game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Hope the Commish is speaking with Notre Dame and Miami. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star2city Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Hope the Commish is speaking with Notre Dame and Miami. Betting he is speaking with UBC (see Penn State thread). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siouxnami Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 INCH story on Big Ten Hockey Conference announcement Sure, it's not like many of there teams are doing much these days.. Gopher playoff rallying cry, "Fore" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikejm Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I think I read the 2011 Final Five attendance was over 70,000; not too bad for a show without Minnesota and Wisconsin. Who needs 'em? Oh, and might it be fun to tell the Gophers they can't play the Sioux once they are no longer "obligated" to do so by conference affiliation? Mariucci is getting to be a ghost town; wait 'til they try to fill the place with the BTHC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoggy Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I think I read the 2011 Final Five attendance was over 70,000; not too bad for a show without Minnesota and Wisconsin. Who needs 'em? Oh, and might it be fun to tell the Gophers they can't play the Sioux once they are no longer "obligated" to do so by conference affiliation? Mariucci is getting to be a ghost town; wait 'til they try to fill the place with the BTHC. I believe it was about 58,000. At least I read that somewhere. I'm curious as to how that stacks up with other years. Edit: looks like last few years were over 80k and in 70s prior to that. So definitely down, but I think the 2 Thursday games hurt as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Although MN and WI weren't at the Final Five, this wasn't exactly a true "dry run" of future tournaments since the fans of those programs still bought ticket packages. We won't see the full effect on attendance until Minny and Wisco fans stop buying ticket packages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Whistler Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I believe it was about 58,000. At least I read that somewhere. I'm curious as to how that stacks up with other years. Edit: looks like last few years were over 80k and in 70s prior to that. So definitely down, but I think the 2 Thursday games hurt as well. No third place game.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigGreyAnt41 Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I believe it was about 58,000. At least I read that somewhere. I'm curious as to how that stacks up with other years. Edit: looks like last few years were over 80k and in 70s prior to that. So definitely down, but I think the 2 Thursday games hurt as well. I think this is probably true. There are three "inconvenient" games. Two on Thursday and the Friday afternoon game. Plus, I don't think attendance was actually what they announced at either of the Sioux games. Maybe that's how many tickets they sold (which is all they care about) but there were definitely a ton of open seats in the 200 level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farce poobah Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Although MN and WI weren't at the Final Five, this wasn't exactly a true "dry run" of future tournaments since the fans of those programs still bought ticket packages. We won't see the full effect on attendance until Minny and Wisco fans stop buying ticket packages. We also won't see the upside effect on attendance until fans of other schools who start making it frequently start buying tickets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikejm Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 I believe it was about 58,000. At least I read that somewhere. I'm curious as to how that stacks up with other years. Thursday, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfhockey Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Actually those thursday games were all one session. So you would only add one 13 thousand in there and not both of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthDakotaHockey Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 We also won't see the upside effect on attendance until fans of other schools who start making it frequently start buying tickets... The BTHC is a done deal. Look ahead is correct. On good authority, the Big 10 will be looking for a couple of schools, most likely Illinois and Indiana, to start D1 hockey programs. The Final Five, and the WCHA, will do just fine without Minnesota and Wisconsin. One likely change is that the Final Five may well start rotating between The Ralph, The Quest, and perhaps even The Pepsi. Goofy fans will start to spend their tournament cash on what will likely be a very boring, at least in the first few years, Big Ten Tournament. Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered. Someone should tell this to Barry Alvarez and The Big Ten before the big news conference tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goon Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Thursday, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squirtcoach Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 The only time Gopher teams play on the East coast is if they get shipped there for a NCAA game. But in all serious, without reciprocating with teams, they will have much smaller pool of teams to draw from. ACHA, a few EZAC teams. Maybe some bottom feeders from what is left of the CCHA. And Alabama Huntsville. Maybe a home and home with Mankato if Mankato plays their home game at the X. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southtexgopher Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Personally, I think this might make it harder for these schools to get into the NCAAs each year. While one gets in automatically each year, the rest are going to be beating each other up too much and possibly hurting themselves too much to get into the NCAAs. Though maybe the WCHA and CCHA are getting too tough for the big schools to compete in now... Agreed. FWIW, actual fans of Gopher hockey (not just those who root for the team as a matter of generalized loyalty), are mostly opposed to this brainless move by the B10. I already hate Penn State due to this B10 hockey effort...and they have yet to play a game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fargosioux Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Agreed. FWIW, actual fans of Gopher hockey (not just those who root for the team as a matter of generalized loyalty), are mostly opposed to this brainless move by the B10. I already hate Penn State due to this B10 hockey effort...and they have yet to play a game. I sat by some Gopher fans this weekend, and they said the same thing. They were actually joking about finding another WCHA team to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodak hockey fanatic Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 You have 3 very solid teams in Mn, Wi and Michigan (although Mn has been on a downslide the past 3 years), you have a team who is up and down in Mich. St., a team yet to be a threat in Ohio St. and a new team in Penn St. In my opinion, that does not make a very good conference, and a 6 team conference is iffy anyways. I'm sure they have already had a conversation about the autobid (I think the rule is you only need 6 teams to get an autobid?). It will be very interesting to see how these schools fill their schedule. If they play each other home and home, thats 20 games, which leaves another 20 non-conference to fill. I'm not a fan of the bthc, but it is a reality. The WCHA will move on, adding teams or not. The CCHA, if we took ND and Miami, would be fataly wounded. I don't want to see the CCHA fold due to this, so not sure what will happen. Oh, and go Sioux!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sioux Grandpa Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 We also sat by some Minnesota & Wisconsin fans & they are not happy about leaving the WCHA. They think that the B10 is a joke. I told them that they will just have to start following the Sioux & they said at least they could watch some good hockey then. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind still seeing the Final Five stay in Mpls. It is a good weekend away & it is ALOT of fun to go there. A mini vacation for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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