sagard Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 If there is no advantage to playing in the X for minny then why do they bid for the regionals all the time? Pretty sure it makes them money. As well as making it easy for the Gophers fans to attend. Quote
Siouxman Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 As well as making it easy for the Gophers fans to attend. Don't do it ....... Don't do it........ Don't do it........ Aw heck, here it is....... And we all know Gopher fans need it to be easy. There, I said it. Quote
Goon Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 And we all know Gopher fans need it to be easy. Awesome, that same thought crossed my mind as all. Too bad the couldn't/didn't qualify all of those years they had the regional and the Frozen Four in their back yard. Quote
bigskyvikes Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Plus the Gophers play home games on an olympic size sheet. Last time I checked the X was NHL sized. Which one of the two teams plays home games on an NHL sized rink? Advantage UND at the X. You can't be serious? Are you Chopper? If your conditioned to skate on big ice, than you play on small ice, wouldn't that make you better? Do you think they built the mariucci Olympic size ice to make a disadvantage for themselves? WOW! Quote
Goon Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 You can't be serious? Are you Chopper? If your conditioned to skate on big ice, than you play on small ice, wouldn't that make you better? Do you think they built the mariucci Olympic size ice to make a disadvantage for themselves? WOW! Yeah I agree, that argument doesn't wash either. Quote
82SiouxGuy Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Yeah I agree, that argument doesn't wash either. I think the argument is that you get used to playing on one size sheet of ice or another. It isn't about conditioning. It's about angles for passing and for lining up checks. It's about timing for passes and for setting up plays. It's about knowing where your teammates are. Playing on a big sheet of ice leaves more room to maneuver, the smaller sheet is more physical. It just changes the game in small ways and teams have to adjust. That's why teams are trying to get second sheets of ice that are the opposite size so they have a chance to make adjustments the weeks they are going to have to play on a different size rink. Quote
Wilbur Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Good points brought up by all. Putting the shoe on the other foot, obviously Minnesota has a huge advantage when teams come to play at Mariucci and the bigger ice surface, but I don't believe it is as huge of an advantage when they play the Sioux, due to the fact that the Sioux have an Olympic arena to practice on any time they desire too. The gophers have Ridder arena, the Sioux have the Olympic rink.......its not like either team is at a huge disadvantage when the ice surface size changes from week to week with the facilities they have available to them. Quote
Siouxman Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Just some food for thought. KFAN accused the Sioux of having an advantage at the Final Five because a former UND announcer was doing the announcing during the MN-UND game. Now if having a former announcer doing the announcing gives the Sioux an advantage, I would certainly think that playing in your home neighborhood would be an advantage. Or do those two cancel each other out?? 1 Quote
GFG Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Just some food for thought. KFAN accused the Sioux of having an advantage at the Final Five because a former UND announcer was doing the announcing during the MN-UND game. Now if having a former announcer doing the announcing gives the Sioux an advantage, I would certainly think that playing in your home neighborhood would be an advantage. Or do those two cancel each other out? ? Obviously the announcer is more of an advantage Quote
watchmaker49 Posted March 28, 2012 Author Posted March 28, 2012 Saying there is a difference between home ice and home crowd is like saying there is a difference between a tax and a fee. If there is no advantage to playing in the X for minny then why do they bid for the regionals all the time? Only if your name is Tim Pawlenty. Quote
fightingsioux4life Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Only if your name is Tim Pawlenty. Please don't bring politics into this. That is the one element that is guarranteed to ruin a discussion. Quote
Smoggy Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Wasn't it Cornel a few years ago that had to travel and play at Mariucci for a regional against the Gophers and they hadn't played on olympic ice all year? Very unfair advantage if going back to campus sites. Love the idea (actually said it to buddies this past weekend) but the olympic sheets would have to be disallowed since Frozen Four is on NHL. Quote
Wilbur Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 Wasn't it Cornel a few years ago that had to travel and play at Mariucci for a regional against the Gophers and they hadn't played on olympic ice all year? Very unfair advantage if going back to campus sites. Love the idea (actually said it to buddies this past weekend) but the olympic sheets would have to be disallowed since Frozen Four is on NHL. I am all for moving it back to campus sites, but very much agree with you on the point of making sure that the competition is played on the same size sheet of ice. Minnesota/St. Cloud could host at XCEL if they had the bid, Wisconsin could host in Milwaukee, you get the point. Quote
GFG Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 I am all for moving it back to campus sites, but very much agree with you on the point of making sure that the competition is played on the same size sheet of ice. Minnesota/St. Cloud could host at XCEL if they had the bid, Wisconsin could host in Milwaukee, you get the point. I agree but it's never going to happen. Either the NCAA will allow it at any school's arena no matter the ice size, or it's staying at neutral sites Quote
ihatethegophers Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 I'm sure I am not the first one to bring this up but what are the requirements to host a regional? Could we host one in Fargo or Winnipeg? Quote
fightingsioux4life Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 I'm sure I am not the first one to bring this up but what are the requirements to host a regional? Could we host one in Fargo or Winnipeg? My prediction is the name is going away sometime during the next year and we'll be able to host a Regional again. Considering that REA sold out all three games when it hosted the 2006 West Regional, I think the NCAA would jump at the chance to have it here again. The current "neutral site" policy will not last unless attendance improves from what it is right now. Quote
Siouxperfan7 Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 My prediction is the name is going away sometime during the next year and we'll be able to host a Regional again. Considering that REA sold out all three games when it hosted the 2006 West Regional, I think the NCAA would jump at the chance to have it here again. The current "neutral site" policy will not last unless attendance improves from what it is right now. I don't think the NCAA would give us a regional if they did go back to campus sited because of the Sioux logo being everywhere at the Ralph. Didn't they say that already that if UND wanted to host playoff game at the Ralph, ALL the native american imagary would have to be covered up? That would be next to impossible to do that!! Quote
GFG Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 I'm sure I am not the first one to bring this up but what are the requirements to host a regional? Could we host one in Fargo or Winnipeg? I assume the NCAA will not want a regional out of the country, but I don't see why they couldn't host one in Fargo. It would be a very small arena, though, for this area. It only seats around 5,000 people and I'm sure the NCAA would rather put the west regional in St. Paul, Denver, St. Louis, etc. in order to have the ability to get more than 5,000 people in the arena. Even though other than St. Paul, Fargo, and Grand Forks the chances of getting more than 5,000 in any other city that would host the west regional is highly unlikely. Quote
GFG Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 I don't think the NCAA would give us a regional if they did go back to campus sited because of the Sioux logo being everywhere at the Ralph. Didn't they say that already that if UND wanted to host playoff game at the Ralph, ALL the native american imagary would have to be covered up? That would be next to impossible to do that!! I think they said things like the floor don't need to be covered up. Problem is this. Will the NCAA want to allow UND to host a regional after what they've put the NCAA through? Quote
buckysieve Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 I am all for moving it back to campus sites, but very much agree with you on the point of making sure that the competition is played on the same size sheet of ice. Minnesota/St. Cloud could host at XCEL if they had the bid, Wisconsin could host in Milwaukee, you get the point. There's no way you can have a rule that allows some teams to play on their home ice but forces other teams to play somewhere else. It will never happen nor should it. Attendence isn't the best at these regionals but I will trade that any day for neutral sites(non-home arenas). Also with the on campus scenario you guys are proposing, this year Minnesota would have had to play UND at the Ralph. I understand UND was the #1 seed but you can't tell me with a straight face that the wire to wire Macnaughton cup champs should have had to play AT the 4th place team who the Gophers beat 3 out of 5 up to that point. Quote
fightingsioux4life Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 I don't think the NCAA would give us a regional if they did go back to campus sited because of the Sioux logo being everywhere at the Ralph. Didn't they say that already that if UND wanted to host playoff game at the Ralph, ALL the native american imagary would have to be covered up? That would be next to impossible to do that!! The settlement does NOT require that ALL the logos be removed. For example, the marble floors are cost-prohibitive to remove, so that can stay. The championship banners have historical value and therefore can stay. And some logos will be removed during normal maintenance during the course of the life of the building. I would hope REA management would do what it takes so we can have home ice advantage again. Quote
fightingsioux4life Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 There's no way you can have a rule that allows some teams to play on their home ice but forces other teams to play somewhere else. It will never happen nor should it. Attendence isn't the best at these regionals but I will trade that any day for neutral sites(non-home arenas). Also with the on campus scenario you guys are proposing, this year Minnesota would have had to play UND at the Ralph. I understand UND was the #1 seed but you can't tell me with a straight face that the wire to wire Macnaughton cup champs should have had to play AT the 4th place team who the Gophers beat 3 out of 5 up to that point. So we should have a freaking "wire to wire rule" that gives certain teams the inherent "right" to host something or not have to travel someplace else? Sorry, nice try, but we were ranked higher in the PWR, which is what is used to determine seedings. UND had the #4 overall seed in the national tournament. Minnesota was the #8 overall seed in the tournament. "Wire to wire" regular season championships are not the determining factor in any of this. 1 Quote
buckysieve Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 So we should have a freaking "wire to wire rule" that gives certain teams the inherent "right" to host something or not have to travel someplace else? Sorry, nice try, but we were ranked higher in the PWR, which is what is used to determine seedings. UND had the #4 overall seed in the national tournament. Minnesota was the #8 overall seed in the tournament. "Wire to wire" regular season championships are not the determining factor in any of this. I understand it is not a factor in determining seeds. Im just saying there would have been something seriously wrong with the Gophers playing a road game against a team they dominated during the season and finished a mile adhead in the standings. Its a moot point anyway because the NCAA will not go back to on campus sites. Quote
fightingsioux4life Posted March 29, 2012 Posted March 29, 2012 I understand it is not a factor in determining seeds. Im just saying there would have been something seriously wrong with the Gophers playing a road game against a team they dominated during the season and finished a mile adhead in the standings. Its a moot point anyway because the NCAA will not go back to on campus sites. I am open to making changes in the PWR system for determining teams and seeds in the NCAAs, but under the current system UND earned the higher seed. I think the teams were bunched up in the rankings and any one win or loss would move a team up several spots or down several spots. I think UND winning the Final Five is what vaulted them up to where they ended up and Minnesota's loss to UND in the Final Five Semifinal cost them a #1 seed. Most years, the rankings aren't that unstable and unpredictable. Besides, everyone has to prove themselves once they get in, regardless of seed or game site. Quote
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