dmksioux Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 Hadn't seen this link before.. May explain why WMU seemed to be in, and later was out. Hockey East obviously wouldn't provide the scheduling flexibility that Notre Dame wants, if this report is true. Notre Dame wants a seven team league WMU could still be in the superconference if an unbalanced scheduled is used: 4 games x 5 teams + 2 games x 2 teams = 24. You mean the article that was linked in post #264? linky Any chance that ND might be negotiating with some teams from the Hockey East to break away and begin a new conference? If Versus is truly looking to televise college hockey, there are many more tv sets in the NE than with the teams in UND's new conference. Perhaps BC, BU, Maine, Providence, New Hampshire, and Notre Dame? 1 Quote
star2city Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 You mean the article that was linked in post #264? linky Any chance that ND might be negotiating with some teams from the Hockey East to break away and begin a new conference? If Versus is truly looking to televise college hockey, there are many more tv sets in the NE than with the teams in UND's new conference. Perhaps BC, BU, Maine, Providence, New Hampshire, and Notre Dame? That seven-team conference, with UMass or Vermont, would be more desirable to Notre Dame (and it's network) than the Super League and definitely more so than Hockey East. Notre Dame could very well be working the phones to make that conference happen. Would definitely explain Notre Dame's hesitance to join the Super League, as well as WMU's status. Sorry about the double link. Quote
dmksioux Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 That seven-team conference, with UMass or Vermont, would be more desirable to Notre Dame (and it's network) than the Super League and definitely more so than Hockey East. Notre Dame could very well be working the phones to make that conference happen. Would definitely explain Notre Dame's hesitance to join the Super League, as well as WMU's status. Sorry about the double link. No worries. I was thinking Providence with the Big East connection, but none the less, it is kind of strange that ND has been so quiet. I would like to see them in UND's new conference, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them go to Hockey East or even see a new East coast conference develop. Interesting times for sure. Quote
Goon Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Sugar is attracted to my a$$. So, ..... I have basically the same problem but it's beer is attracted to my waste line... Quote
mikejm Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Which brings me to my next question, wouldn't this be the perfect time for NDSU to take another look at hockey? ... And the old 'Fargo isn't a hockey town' excuse doesn't hold water, there's a hockey team around every corner in the F-M area now. The fact that hockey can't seem to attract any support at NDSU is sort of surprising, considering one of the athletic directors has a long history with the sport. Quote
dakotadan Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Hadn't seen this link before.. May explain why WMU seemed to be in, and later was out. Hockey East obviously wouldn't provide the scheduling flexibility that Notre Dame wants, if this report is true. Notre Dame wants a seven team league WMU could still be in the superconference if an unbalanced scheduled is used: 4 games x 5 teams + 2 games x 2 teams = 24. I found this paragraph in the article interesting... NMU President Les Wong echoed Reed's sentiments Thursday evening that the Wildcats are committed to playing the best of the best. Wong said he has been in contact with CCHA commissioner Fred Pletsch as well as friends at universities in the Dakotas, though information about realignment has been scarce until reports in the media this week. I am sure that I am reading more into this than I should be, but this implies that he has talked to friends at multiple schools and that these multiple schools are in both North and South Dakota. It could be that the writer just worded it poorly and that NMU's president was simply trying to get information out of people he knows at UND. Hmmmm. Quote
Goon Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 You might not "see it" but the article states the WCHA's athletic director is quoted as saying the MSU Moorhead AD is working "really hard" at starting D1 hockey. Either way you look at it Moorhead continues to look into it and now its even more likly with the WCHA needing teams and Scheels Arena pursing a college team tenant. If the WCHA doesn't accept them they won't be starting a division one program... I remain skeptical because MSU Moorhead is a team that has trouble fielding a successful hockey program...I would bet money on them forming a team. Quote
GeauxSioux Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 I may have missed it, but hadn't seen this piece posted yet.... League UND will join in 2013 to announce name Wednesday The league featuring UND, Colorado College, Denver, Nebraska-Omaha, Minnesota-Duluth and Miami (Ohio) will reveal its name at a press conference next to the Broadmoor Hotel at noon Central time, sources tell the Herald. The event will be the first time that school administrators speak publicly about the new league since it was reported that it was a done deal Thursday. School representatives officially announced the league Saturday..... ....Colorado College, Minnesota-Duluth and Miami are expected to take questions from noon to 12:30 p.m. Central. UND, Nebraska-Omaha and Denver will go from 12:45 to 1:15 p.m. A link to a live video feed will be placed on the Herald’s hockey blog at undhockey.areavoices.com. The league is still hoping to add Notre Dame and an eighth school — possibly Western Michigan — by the end of the summer. Notre Dame is choosing between the new league and Hockey East. I think I'll plan to spend tomorrow afternoon in the office. Quote
johnson Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 They would probably draw OK, besides the Force there are what...4 high school boys teams and 3 high school girls teams in Fargo, plus Moorhead boys and girls? Add in the surrounding area and that's a lot of hockey fans, I think they would show up to watch college hockey, especially if they could stagger their home schedule with UND's as much as possible. Which brings me to my next question, wouldn't this be the perfect time for NDSU to take another look at hockey? They could join whatever becomes of the WCHA or CCHA and avoid the Denvers and Wisconsins and Minnesotas (yeah and UNDs) of the world until they got their program up to speed, if they have any thought of EVER playing D1 hockey the situation will never get better than this. And the old 'Fargo isn't a hockey town' excuse doesn't hold water, there's a hockey team around every corner in the F-M area now. High School hockey teams in Fargo have very low attendance. HS Girls games are mostly parents and the boys typically draw about the same but with a few more students. Moorhead is a whole different story though. MSUM would have to put out a really good product quickly to get the fans to show up. MSUM is third in line around the FM area in terms of fan interest and I think it would take some serious winning for anyone in the metro to show up after the first season or two. Attendance appears to be decent at the Force games but you would find that quite a few of those tickets are either given away or sold at a discounted price. Dollar beer nights coupled with $5 ticket nights have gone over fairly well with the college age students but I fear that selling alcohol at a college event would be an issue in Fargo. Hockey has made strides in Fargo but it still has a long ways to go outside of Moorhead. NDSU has been clear that there is absolutely no interest in trying to fund a hockey program right now or in the near future. They wish to make sure all the programs they currently have are funded at a proper level. NDSU was approached about being the main tenant in the UP Center (Scheels Arena) well before a USHL expansion team was considered. Many down here thought the USHL team was a panic move by Brandt after the proposals didn't go very well with the local universities. He made the local school districts pay nearly $1 million each to secure ice time for their programs and then turned to the Fargo Parks to get involved to gain tax exempt status. Bills were backed up pretty bad for awhile and they were going through staff faster than Don's Car Wash. I feel that Ace Brandt owes Dean Blais big time for saving his rear on a risky investment. Quote
Cardinal Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/125459413.html But Mario Lucia is not worried about those teams swtiching conferences. "The team [i pick] is not going to change the way they play," he said. "They are going to develop me regardless. I've talked to Notre Dame and they've told me they are probably going to move into that super conference. Wherever I go, I will become a better player." Quote
GeauxSioux Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Notre Dame hockey: No move yet for Irish Though a new collegiate hockey league is expected to be announced Wednesday, don Quote
NorthDakotaHockey Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Super Conference Schmooper Conference. Who does North Dakota, DU, CC, UNO, UMD, and Miami think they are? Of course, perhaps it is the fans, and not the coaches and the ADs, calling this collection a "super conference." It my eyes, it is not and it is another greedy shortsighted idea that is a knee jerk reaction to the formation of the Pig Ten Conference. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the remaining WCHA. Solid rivalries. Solid teams. Great history. A local fan's dream for regional travel. Schools that already draw crowds about the same size as the crowds typically drawn by Denver, CC, and, heaven forbid, Notre Dame! What's with the big obsession over Notre Dame? It made one run to the Frozen Four. It has a new building. So, too, does SCSU, Mankato, and Bemidji for that matter. What fans here cannot claim that road trips to SCSU, Mankato, and Bemidji -not to mention Michigan Tech - were absolute blasts and were almost always highly competitive games. This is hockey for crying out loud. Any D-1 collection of athletes can beat most any other D-1 collection of athletes on most any ice on most any given night. How does the super conference change this fact? This is a sad day for the WCHA, once the greatest conference in all of college hockey. The Final Five, once the greatest tournament in all of sport, is nearly history. North Dakota has pulled itself up to the feeding trough at the expense of other programs, some of which may be in real jeopardy. Established programs that have committed to college hockey for years will be in danger of folding. The Pig Ten and this new arrogant "super conference" are not good for college hockey. Those who believe that it will grow the sport are simply wrong. In ten years or so, there will be less than fifty teams playing college hockey, and most of them will be on the East Coast. What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander. The Pig Ten formed. I was thrilled to watch it twist in the wind. Now I will get to watch the Fighting Sioux, PU, CC, UNO, UMD, and Miami do the same thing. Heck, I even feel mildly bad for Bruce. He took a snookering. Perhaps most importantly, my HISTORY OF THE WCHA dvd collection is now firmly in jeopardy. This was and is a big mistake. Of course, I have been wrong many times before and as we all know, opinions are like arse holes. Everyone has one. These are mine. 1 Quote
The Sicatoka Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Honestly, MSU-Moorhead would be smart and well served to take a page from the "Trev Alberts book of athletic department operations". Dragon football stinks. Period. And it will always be behind NDSU (and UND) and Concordia in the FM market. Slay Dragon football once and for all. Drop Dragon wresting. It's a non-revenue sport in a place that doesn't have any revenue sports.Add hockey. 1 Quote
GeauxSioux Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Interesting timeline put together by NCAA.... New hockey conference timeline The new powerhouse hockey conference announced on Wednesday afternoon features schools rich in hockey tradition. Check out some highlights of the schools in the new conference. 1929: Club hockey program begins at North Dakota.... Quote
Chewey Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Super Conference Schmooper Conference. Who does North Dakota, DU, CC, UNO, UMD, and Miami think they are? Of course, perhaps it is the fans, and not the coaches and the ADs, calling this collection a "super conference." It my eyes, it is not and it is another greedy shortsighted idea that is a knee jerk reaction to the formation of the Pig Ten Conference. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the remaining WCHA. Solid rivalries. Solid teams. Great history. A local fan's dream for regional travel. Schools that already draw crowds about the same size as the crowds typically drawn by Denver, CC, and, heaven forbid, Notre Dame! What's with the big obsession over Notre Dame? It made one run to the Frozen Four. It has a new building. So, too, does SCSU, Mankato, and Bemidji for that matter. What fans here cannot claim that road trips to SCSU, Mankato, and Bemidji -not to mention Michigan Tech - were absolute blasts and were almost always highly competitive games. This is hockey for crying out loud. Any D-1 collection of athletes can beat most any other D-1 collection of athletes on most any ice on most any given night. How does the super conference change this fact? This is a sad day for the WCHA, once the greatest conference in all of college hockey. The Final Five, once the greatest tournament in all of sport, is nearly history. North Dakota has pulled itself up to the feeding trough at the expense of other programs, some of which may be in real jeopardy. Established programs that have committed to college hockey for years will be in danger of folding. The Pig Ten and this new arrogant "super conference" are not good for college hockey. Those who believe that it will grow the sport are simply wrong. In ten years or so, there will be less than fifty teams playing college hockey, and most of them will be on the East Coast. What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander. The Pig Ten formed. I was thrilled to watch it twist in the wind. Now I will get to watch the Fighting Sioux, PU, CC, UNO, UMD, and Miami do the same thing. Heck, I even feel mildly bad for Bruce. He took a snookering. Perhaps most importantly, my HISTORY OF THE WCHA dvd collection is now firmly in jeopardy. This was and is a big mistake. Of course, I have been wrong many times before and as we all know, opinions are like arse holes. Everyone has one. These are mine. Can't say I disagree with you but it's done. The WCHA would have been just fine, I think, especially with a change in leadership, but I don't know all of the facts. I trust the coaches, AD's, etc made the move they thought, knowing all the facts, was best for the Sioux. It's terribly sad, however. Quote
star2city Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Honestly, MSU-Moorhead would be smart and well served to take a page from the "Trev Alberts book of athletic department operations". Dragon football stinks. Period. And it will always be behind NDSU (and UND) and Concordia in the FM market. Slay Dragon football once and for all. Drop Dragon wresting. It's a non-revenue sport in a place that doesn't have any revenue sports.Add hockey. Agree, Moorhead really needs to put all its eggs in the hockey basket and dump all the other loss leaders, but the problem is that the Northern Sun would dump them, just like the NSIC threatened to dump St Cloud if they dropped football. Omaha had a non-football conference to accept them (even the DII GLVC would have accepted them without football), while Moorhead doesn't have that luxury. Maybe Moorhead could patch together a new DII conference with UMCrookston, Mayville, Valley City, Jamestown, SD Mines, Dakota St, but that would take years. Quote
johnson Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 College hockey is a huge void in this town, one that could be filled by MSU-M. Their football and basketball teams will never contend with NDSU's football and basketball teams for fan support, so this is their one real chance to put themselves on the map. Being that this is a hockey starved area, I see MSU-M hockey potentially becoming the hottest ticket in town if and when they start up a D1 program. MSUM is having a difficult time just raising the funds to start a hockey program let alone maintain one. Their basketball and football programs aren't going anywhere soon and they can't find enough donors willing to invest in getting hockey going. Scheduling would be a nightmare if they use the Scheels Arena. High School games wouldn't be a huge headache but now they would have to schedule around the Force who avoid scheduling home games when UND is playing in GF. So MSUM would be left trying to compete for hockey fans that will almost always drive to GF to watch UND play on the same weekends. I think that MSUM could have trumped the Force eventually if the WCHA was staying together but now it could be extremely difficult to sell the "leftovers" league to an average fan where college hockey hasn't been. I don't think MSUM could survive selling tickets at $5 and beer for a $1 like the Force have been doing. As Sickatoka pointed out that I failed to think of is that MSUM is actually 4th in the food chain for fans in F-M. NDSU, UND, Concordia and then MSUM. Even with a D1 hockey program it would still be difficult to change peoples minds. I agree that a D1 program could potentially help get MSUM's athletic department back on track but the costs could be too high for them. MSUM has been slowing building their basketball programs back up and they just recently starting focusing on getting the football program in order. That tells me that MSUM isn't willing to axe current programs to start up a hockey program at this time. I know MSUM's AD wants hockey in a bad way but for right now it is a major up hill battle to climb. I am thinking they are wanting to become competitve again with their current programs to show investors/donors that they are committed to athletics at their university. That obviously hasn't been the case the last two decades. Quote
go miami boys Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Interesting timeline put together by NCAA.... New hockey conference timeline I know miamis history is short and we haven't come to prominence until this millenium, but I think they forgot Gwoz was a coach in Oxford before Denver Quote
Wilbur Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Honestly, MSU-Moorhead would be smart and well served to take a page from the "Trev Alberts book of athletic department operations". Dragon football stinks. Period. And it will always be behind NDSU (and UND) and Concordia in the FM market. Slay Dragon football once and for all. Drop Dragon wresting. It's a non-revenue sport in a place that doesn't have any revenue sports.Add hockey. Agreed about Dragon Football. Not saying that Laqua or whatever his name is is a bad coach, but how many times does a high school head coach go right to being a college head coach? It would make sense for them to end their football program. I didn't know there was Dragon wrestling.....shows how much publicity that they have. Quote
The Sicatoka Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 My guess at the new conference name ... National Collegiate Hockey Conference 2 Quote
MissSioux85 Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Watch the press conference live HERE Scheduled to start at Noon CST. Also, there is a live chat on FightingSioux.com Quote
johnson Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Agreed about Dragon Football. Not saying that Laqua or whatever his name is is a bad coach, but how many times does a high school head coach go right to being a college head coach? It would make sense for them to end their football program. I didn't know there was Dragon wrestling.....shows how much publicity that they have. Hiring HS coaches does happen at lower levels of college football. One quick example would be former NDSU DB coach Brian Ward. He was hired by a Kansas NAIA team while a HS coach and turned that program around and won a NAIA title before moving to Fargo. In MSUM's case it wouldn't take much to see an improvement. Their last coach was an athletic trainer before getting the interim job. He even managed to win a couple of games while in charge. Laqua is a true student of the sport. I remember him as a young kid trying to coach his teammates in Cavalier trying to make them better. He knows what it takes to be competitive and respected. I think most of us will see a change already this up coming season. He has brought in a few quality local kids who know and respect him to start his recruiting and has cleaned up the attitude of the current players. His staff is quite young but have experience playing at the college level and have that fire needed within to succeed. If Laqua was jumping into a NCC type league I would question the hire but I think he will do a pretty decent job in the NSIC. It will take some hard work to be able to get to the Duluth level but it isn't a stretch to think that they will become a .500 or better team soon. Quote
Fighting Sioux Fan Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 I think they are going to name it College Hockey America... Quote
Wilbur Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 I'll go with the Western Collegiate Hockey Cooperative..... How about Central States Hockey League.... Quote
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