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2013 WCHA Final Five


Frozen4sioux

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A question for you. Just how much attention does Mankato pay to the hockey team? Do the students support it? Does the town support it?

Unfortunately too much losing for too long is making it a tough sell. Last weekend against tech they gave away 1300 student tickets (they typically allocate 1100) for each game. I assumed that since they were all given away that they would file in, but there were maybe 600 on Friday and 900 on Saturday. Students are pretty apathetic right now. It was a ton better about 4-5 years ago, but as MSU took the latest swoon that excitement fell off and there is going to need to be a new group of students that brings back that excitement.

From the people within the city it's shaky at best. People cheer for them, but that doesn't mean they show up. Again going back to last weekend, we had 3700 on Friday night and a respectable 4300 (I'm going off memory on this) on Saturday. I've always said that Mankato supports a winner and would come when the team started winning again, but I'm starting to doubt that a bit. It's a bit discouraging to me. A big problem is there isn't the kind of experience at the game that people in MN are expecting. MN, BSU, and Duluth all have arenas that were built after ours and are much nicer. SCSU got funds to renovate. We've gotten passed over for state funding 6 years running. We don't even have video boards to replay goals/hits/big saves. The experience isn't there. It's a tough sell, but I think it will get easier if MSU keeps winning and this isn't an abberation.

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You mis-read bale31's double-negative. Don't mind him NOT hating the Gophers...which means he's OK with them.

Sorry, bale31, I vote black ball.

How can you not ? A case of Stockholm Syndrome maybe?

I know that is why I deleted it,

I rescind my offer.

LOL...I was a step ahead of you I guess!

A friend of mine once asked me 'you've lived here for 20 years...can't you even like the Gophers as a second-favorite team by now?'

My reply: "If they reunited the 1980 Soviet Olympic team and had them play a game against the current Gophers, I'd buy a ticket to the game at Mariucci, wear my red CCCP jersey, and cheer as loud as I could for those commie bastards. THAT'S how much I hate Minnesota."

Sorry guys. I give them credit for finding a way to continue to schedule us through this ****storm. They found a way to put us on the schedule and still give us some revenue sharing from it. Regardless of their motivations, it's helpful to our program and for me it's hard to forget that. I think I'm in the minority on that within the MSU fan base, but I tend to look at things from a bigger picture not just the competitive on-ice side of things.

If it helps, I suppose I could pretend to hate them.

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LOL...I was a step ahead of you I guess!

A friend of mine once asked me 'you've lived here for 20 years...can't you even like the Gophers as a second-favorite team by now?'

My reply: "If they reunited the 1980 Soviet Olympic team and had them play a game against the current Gophers, I'd buy a ticket to the game at Mariucci, wear my red CCCP jersey, and cheer as loud as I could for those commie bastards. THAT'S how much I hate Minnesota."

Best quote.....EVER!!!!! Love it!!!

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Unfortunately too much losing for too long is making it a tough sell. Last weekend against tech they gave away 1300 student tickets (they typically allocate 1100) for each game. I assumed that since they were all given away that they would file in, but there were maybe 600 on Friday and 900 on Saturday. Students are pretty apathetic right now. It was a ton better about 4-5 years ago, but as MSU took the latest swoon that excitement fell off and there is going to need to be a new group of students that brings back that excitement.

From the people within the city it's shaky at best. People cheer for them, but that doesn't mean they show up. Again going back to last weekend, we had 3700 on Friday night and a respectable 4300 (I'm going off memory on this) on Saturday. I've always said that Mankato supports a winner and would come when the team started winning again, but I'm starting to doubt that a bit. It's a bit discouraging to me. A big problem is there isn't the kind of experience at the game that people in MN are expecting. MN, BSU, and Duluth all have arenas that were built after ours and are much nicer. SCSU got funds to renovate. We've gotten passed over for state funding 6 years running. We don't even have video boards to replay goals/hits/big saves. The experience isn't there. It's a tough sell, but I think it will get easier if MSU keeps winning and this isn't an abberation.

Thanks for the run down. I wonder though in the future the league will be more balanced if that will help.
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Sorry guys. I give them credit for finding a way to continue to schedule us through this ****storm. They found a way to put us on the schedule and still give us some revenue sharing from it. Regardless of their motivations, it's helpful to our program and for me it's hard to forget that. I think I'm in the minority on that within the MSU fan base, but I tend to look at things from a bigger picture not just the competitive on-ice side of things.

If it helps, I suppose I could pretend to hate them.

Gee, why WOULDN'T Minnesota like Mankato, especially after turning a home game for the local fans into a 90 mile road trip to the X a few years ago? If I'm a Mankato hockey fan living in Mankato, I would have turned in my season tickets immediately after that slap in the face.

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Gee, why WOULDN'T Minnesota like Mankato, especially after turning a home game for the local fans into a 90 mile road trip to the X a few years ago? If I'm a Mankato hockey fan living in Mankato, I would have turned in my season tickets immediately after that slap in the face.

Trust me, there is still a fair share of people that are upset about that...especially the downtown businesses. MSU still took the revenue from that so from a financial standpoint it was a good move. From a public relations standpoint it was horrible. Really, the Gophers didn't gain anything out of that. I'm not arguing it was a good move, just saying that MN didn't gain anything from it.

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Trust me, there is still a fair share of people that are upset about that...especially the downtown businesses. MSU still took the revenue from that so from a financial standpoint it was a good move. From a public relations standpoint it was horrible. Really, the Gophers didn't gain anything out of that. I'm not arguing it was a good move, just saying that MN didn't gain anything from it.

Minnesota gained an easier road to two points out of it, didn't they? If I'm Denver, North Dakota, CC, or anyone else contending for a MacNaughton Cup that year, I'm livid. Mankato's athletic department can do what it wants, but turning a home game into a road game for the sake of $$$$ is sad. I hope administration still feels that that stunt was worth it. What a bush league move.

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Minnesota gained an easier road to two points out of it, didn't they? If I'm Denver, North Dakota, CC, or anyone else contending for a MacNaughton Cup that year, I'm livid. Mankato's athletic department can do what it wants, but turning a home game into a road game for the sake of $$$$ is sad. I hope administration still feels that that stunt was worth it. What a bush league move.

Even though it benefitted my team I agree with you. It screwed up the integrity of the schedule. I think Michigan Tech gave up a home game as well once to play UW in Green Bay IIRC.
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Even though it benefitted my team I agree with you. It screwed up the integrity of the schedule. I think Michigan Tech gave up a home game as well once to play UW in Green Bay IIRC.

Close...it was Northern Michigan, not Michigan Tech..i believe the Wildcats hosted the Badgers for two games in Green Bay in 2006.

Edit: good article here on Green Bay hockey...

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/574066/Green-Bay-s-Resch-Center-proves-to-be-valuable-venue-for-Northern-Michigan--Michigan-Tech-hockey-programs.html

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Minnesota gained an easier road to two points out of it, didn't they? If I'm Denver, North Dakota, CC, or anyone else contending for a MacNaughton Cup that year, I'm livid. Mankato's athletic department can do what it wants, but turning a home game into a road game for the sake of $$$$ is sad. I hope administration still feels that that stunt was worth it. What a bush league move.

I don't disagree necessarily. I would just make 2 points about it though. The desperate move of doing this just shows how much the sport has turned into a business. The "lack of commitment" that I've hear MSU accused of falls pretty short. You don't make a move like that (which inevitably will piss your own fans off) without having a commitment to making it work. Secondly, I really don't think it screws up the integrity of the schedule or the game any more than outdoor games that are played on horrible ice that isn't frozen or has Ghostbusters goo seeping up through the ice.

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I don't disagree necessarily. I would just make 2 points about it though. The desperate move of doing this just shows how much the sport has turned into a business. The "lack of commitment" that I've hear MSU accused of falls pretty short. You don't make a move like that (which inevitably will piss your own fans off) without having a commitment to making it work. Secondly, I really don't think it screws up the integrity of the schedule or the game any more than outdoor games that are played on horrible ice that isn't frozen or has Ghostbusters goo seeping up through the ice.

You won't find me arguing with you at all about the merits of the outdoor 'classics,' which have totally jumped the shark in my opinion. However, Mankato took a game where there might be 4,000 to 5,000 Maverick fans in the stands and allowed it to be moved to a venue with 15,000 to 17,000 fans OF THE OPPOSING TEAM! I just can't get past that...at all.

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