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2014-2015 College Hockey (non UND hockey)


MafiaMan

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Saw this post of yours on GPL, MafiaMan. Responding here because it was in a series thread:

Couldn't agree more in terms of being a regional hockey fan. The couple-of-hours-off-of-work-on-a-Friday-afternoon to make a road trip to Duluth, St Cloud, or Mankato has turned into a leaving Wednesday or Thursday for a long drive (or a spendy flight) to Columbus, East Lansing, Oxford, or Kalamazoo. The WCHA was damn-near perfect. This would have been my perfect conference:

North Dakota

St Cloud State

Minnesota Duluth

Bemidji State

Minnesota

Mankato State

Wisconsin

Michigan Tech

Northern Michigan

Lake Superior State

Sorry, no Omaha, Colorado College, Denver, or Alaska-Anchorage.

You can still make that road trip to Duluth and St. Cloud if you want.

Also you want 3 roads trips to the UP versus easy plane trips to Denver and CC? There is a huge alumni base in Denver. I'd take driving to Omaha versus to any of those UP schools.

Do you live in the TC area? I live in Minot. It'd be way easier for me taking a plane to Denver versus getting to the UP. Hell, I'd rather even drive to Denver!

Swap out MTU, LSSU, and NMU for Denver, CC, and Omaha and I like that conference set up. :D

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Looks like Wisconsin has tied it but it was waived off. It's a good goal but I won't be surprised if the refs get this wrong.

Nevermind they called it right! Wow. They count it now.

Tied 2-2

If Michigan blows thiis game, I'll be convinced that God wants Minnesota in the NCAA tournament.
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Saw this post of yours on GPL, MafiaMan. Responding here because it was in a series thread:

You can still make that road trip to Duluth and St. Cloud if you want.

Also you want 3 roads trips to the UP versus easy plane trips to Denver and CC? There is a huge alumni base in Denver. I'd take driving to Omaha versus to any of those UP schools.

Do you live in the TC area? I live in Minot. It'd be way easier for me taking a plane to Denver versus getting to the UP. Hell, I'd rather even drive to Denver!

Swap out MTU, LSSU, and NMU for Denver, CC, and Omaha and I like that conference set up. :D

 

I didn't base that conference line-up on Sioux fans, where they live, their alumni base, and how easy it would be for them to get to games.  I tried to be fair to other schools in the imaginary MafiaMan Conference so that everyone had some benefit.  I kind of hodge-podged some historic and geographic reasons and that's what I came up with.  Yes, I tossed out the storied histories of Colorado College and Denver (and what seems to be a budding program in UNO) but have added some old-time Yooper hockey schools in Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, and Lake Superior State University.   

 

Duluth is actually closer to Houghton MI than it is to Grand Forks.  Houghton to Marquette is another two hours away but UMD gains a couple of "Copper Country" rivals in Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan (which UMD fans would certainly like).  Sault Ste Marie is the X factor, being a whopping 4 hours and 47 minutes away from Houghton, not to mention Duluth and everyone else.  However, since it's the only other hockey school left on the UP, it makes sense that they'd be in the conference.  It's 4 hours and 18 minutes from LSSU to the closest rival in the lower half of Michigan (Michigan State), so there's not that much difference in terms of travel for the Soo Lakers driving west as opposed to driving south.   

 

Minnesota and Wisconsin keep their natural rivalry.  Wisconsin to Houghton is over a 5 hour ride, but that's peanuts compared to a 10+ hour ride to State College PA.  Even Sault Ste Marie is only 7 hours away from Madison by comparison.  Mankato and St Cloud are happy too because they're close to everyone in the state.  All Minnesota programs are now back in the same conference.   

 

If you wanted to divide the conference into pods, you could go with this:

 

MTU, NMU, LSSU

 

UND, UMD, Bemidji State

 

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Mankato State, St Cloud State

 

Each pod would be guaranteed a home and away series against each pod member.  The rest of the schedule would change every year and the pods would rotate.  That would prevent something like a UND to MTU, NMU, and LSSU every year and instead perhaps make it an every-third-year road trip. 

 

It wasn't something scientific or something I thought was absolutely the best route to go, it was just an idea...

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It wasn't something scientific or something I thought was absolutely the best route to go, it was just an idea...

All good MafiaMan! I just wanted to reply to your idea. Actually quite fun to discuss hypothetical conference realignment. Posted here so I wouldn't derail the Gopher thread with their complaining with how the Big Ten sucks and the games are boring. I knew you'd catch my message here. :)

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Saw this post of yours on GPL, MafiaMan. Responding here because it was in a series thread:

You can still make that road trip to Duluth and St. Cloud if you want.

Also you want 3 roads trips to the UP versus easy plane trips to Denver and CC? There is a huge alumni base in Denver. I'd take driving to Omaha versus to any of those UP schools.

Do you live in the TC area? I live in Minot. It'd be way easier for me taking a plane to Denver versus getting to the UP. Hell, I'd rather even drive to Denver!

Swap out MTU, LSSU, and NMU for Denver, CC, and Omaha and I like that conference set up. :D

Exactly. LSSU & NMU? I would much rather play Miami and western. No Denver....deal breaker.
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Penn State leads Ohio State 3-2

 

Notre Dame beats BC 3-1

 

Providence leads Maine 4-2

 

Lowell leads Vermont 2-1

 

BU leads Northeastern 4-1

 

Duluth leads Omaha 1-0

 

Bemidji leads Ferris State 1-0

 

Mankato leads Michigan Tech 2-1

 

Alaska and UAH tied 2-2

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Ohio State beats Penn State 5-3

 

Providence beats Maine 5-2

 

Lowell and Vermont tie 2-2 (OT)

 

BU leads Northeastern 5-1

 

Omaha and Duluth tied 1-1

 

CC leads WMU 2-0

 

DU leads Miami 4-0

 

Bemidji and Ferris State tie 1-1 (OT)

 

LSSU beats Northern Michigan 3-0

 

Mankato leads Michigan Tech 3-2 

 

Alaska and UAH tied 3-3

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