College Hockey Expansion

[cberkas]

2 hours ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Eau Claire and Stevens Point are the only ones that would make sense. Maybe River Falls.

I was thinking Milwaukee or maybe Marquette with the new NBA arena being built.

Isn't there a D3 team that has been winning National Titles recently?

Edit: St. Norbert is who I was thinking of.

[northernraider]

UW-EC is building a new 6,000 seat arena to replace their current 1,100seat arena and 2,500 seat arena. They have received a $10 million dollar donation to the construction but having a hard time finding additional funds. A proposal to move to D1 hockey might move the meter . Blugolds also have a pretty strong fan base and decent metro area to pull from. Certainly a larger city and campus then Bemidji and Mankato. 

[SiouxVolley]

UW-EC would need to move to DII to go DI in hockey or forgo scholarships.  Union and RIT are still DIII in other sports, but can’t give scholarships according to DIII rules.  Colorado College (St Lawrence is another) is DIII, but they got grandfathered in so scholarships are acceptable there for men’s hockey and women’s soccer.

Ivy League schools don’t give athletic scholarships, but do give much financial aid and academic scholarships.  A DIII school going DI in hockey presents challenges that most DI hockey schools don’t have to deal with.

Looks like Eau Claire wants an attached convention center and hotel to the arena, so there will be be taxes associated with the convention center.  Don’t know how the vote ended up.

https://volumeone.org/news/1/posts/2018/02/08/19149_eau_claire_voters_would_decide_if_possible_hotel

The WCHA would take a prospective UWEC team if it gets another add at the same time.  Green Bay and Milwaukee seem to scream DI hockey, but they don’t have anywhere to go and they wouldn’t go WCHA.

[MafiaMan]

16 hours ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Eau Claire and Stevens Point are the only ones that would make sense. Maybe River Falls.

UW-RF just built a snazzy new arena but I have to believe it’s UW-EC.

[Yote 53]

14 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

UW-EC would need to move to DII to go DI in hockey or forgo scholarships.  Union and RIT are still DIII in other sports, but can’t give scholarships according to DIII rules.  Colorado College (St Lawrence is another) is DIII, but they got grandfathered in so scholarships are acceptable there for men’s hockey and women’s soccer.

Ivy League schools don’t give athletic scholarships, but do give much financial aid and academic scholarships.  A DIII school going DI in hockey presents challenges that most DI hockey schools don’t have to deal with.

Looks like Eau Claire wants an attached convention center and hotel to the arena, so there will be be taxes associated with the convention center.  Don’t know how the vote ended up.

https://volumeone.org/news/1/posts/2018/02/08/19149_eau_claire_voters_would_decide_if_possible_hotel

The WCHA would take a prospective UWEC team if it gets another add at the same time.  Green Bay and Milwaukee seem to scream DI hockey, but they don’t have anywhere to go and they wouldn’t go WCHA.

You skipped over the part where I said they applied for and were granted a waiver from the NCAA to go D1 scholarship hockey while remaining D3 in other sports.

I think you will see more of this.  College Hockey, Inc. and the NHL are lobbying the NCAA hard and there will be more D3 schools that will be allowed to field D1 scholarship hockey programs while remaining D3 in everything else.

[The Sicatoka]

32 minutes ago, Yote 53 said:

I think you will see more of this.  College Hockey, Inc. and the NHL are lobbying the NCAA hard and there will be more D3 schools that will be allowed to field D1 scholarship hockey programs while remaining D3 in everything else.

That's a step to my long dreamed-of "cafeteria plan", best summed up as "so what if you want to play top tier mens soccer and womens volleyball, second tier football, and third tier softball" and that's all. 

Put another way: instead of picking a level for your athletic department, you pick a level sport by sport and there's no minimum number of sports you must sponsor. I say it would lead to more fiscal responsibility and more student athlete opportunities. 

[SiouxVolley]

3 hours ago, Yote 53 said:

You skipped over the part where I said they applied for and were granted a waiver from the NCAA to go D1 scholarship hockey while remaining D3 in other sports.

I think you will see more of this.  College Hockey, Inc. and the NHL are lobbying the NCAA hard and there will be more D3 schools that will be allowed to field D1 scholarship hockey programs while remaining D3 in everything else.

DIII allows schools to play DI, but it doesn’t allow scholarships unless they are grandfathered in.  As far as I know, that is not subject to even a waiver.  Union College won the NCAA DI championship without athletic scholarships and has several players in the NHL, as a lack of scholarships it is not an insurmountable obstatacle.  The players still get plenty of aid.  Union and RIT should apply for a waiver if athletic scholarships were an option.  Perhaps the WIAC gives a waiver to allow to play DI, as they just granted M/W hockey memberships for the coming year to Northland College of Ashland, WI.

Getting UW-EC and Augustana would seem like a big win for the WCHA, especially for Bemidji St and Mankato St..  Really solidifies them in the region, and with first class rinks.  Have to see if it happens.

[SiouxVolley]

Guess DIII has slammed the door shut on any single sport moveups to DI after RIT did it.

https://www.uscho.com/2012/03/20/rits-push-for-ncaa-legislative-change-opens-the-door-for-women-to-move-to-division-i/

The Eau Claire rumor included a DIII waiver, as there might be a mindset change, or Eau Claire could go DII and join the UW-Parkside in the GLIAC.  But UWEC would probably have to drop football in that case, because there seems to be resistance to allowing any UW branch to have football above the DIII level by the Badgers.  The UW branches above DIII, Parkside, Green Bay and Milwaukee, don’t have football.

[SiouxVolley]

The Vegas Golden Knights have allowed UNLV to use their practice facility for games.  Even built them a locker room.  The Engelstad Foundation donates $250 k a year.  But they need a big donation to UNLV to go NCAA DI.

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/aug/23/thanks-to-golden-knights-unlv-hockey-has-home-rink/

[MafiaMan]

7 minutes ago, SiouxVolley said:

The Vegas Golden Knights have allowed UNLV to use their practice facility for games.  Even built them a locker room.  The Engelstad Foundation donates $250 k a year.  

The real question here is what’s at center-ice, the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels logo or the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels wordmark?

Asking for a friend...

[SiouxVolley]

Not expansion per se, but the Atlantic Hockey conference is finding more acceptance by the other leagues.

https://www.uscho.com/2018/08/22/analyzing-the-2018-19-schedules-atlantic-hockey-gets-a-little-bit-better-every-year/

[SiouxVolley]

1 minute ago, MafiaMan said:

The real question here is what’s at center-ice, the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels logo or the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels wordmark?

Asking for a friend...

Would think it would be the Knights logo as that is the practice rink they play in.

[MafiaMan]

30 minutes ago, SiouxVolley said:

Would think it would be the Knights logo as that is the practice rink they play in.

It was a joke, SiouxVolley.

[NDRPinLV]

14 hours ago, MafiaMan said:

It was a joke, SiouxVolley.

Don't feel bad SiouxVolley, I live in Las Vegas, play at that rink and was ready to give an answer to MafiaMan.

Double Dense.

[cberkas]

On 8/23/2018 at 7:10 PM, SiouxVolley said:

The Vegas Golden Knights have allowed UNLV to use their practice facility for games.  Even built them a locker room.  The Engelstad Foundation donates $250 k a year.  But they need a big donation to UNLV to go NCAA DI.

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/aug/23/thanks-to-golden-knights-unlv-hockey-has-home-rink/

Foley will help fund the team but won’t fully fund the program himself.

[SiouxVolley]

Looks like U of Georgia/Athens are planning a 6000 seat hockey arena.  A southern league could get going if Louisville, Alabama, Tennessee, NC State and maybe others like UAH and Liberty join in.

https://www.redandblack.com/sports/hockey/new-arena-for-georgia-hockey-in-early-planning-stages/article_ed6ad2be-b2f6-11e8-8774-cfdb237b8e4c.html

[Goon]

On 8/23/2018 at 8:51 PM, MafiaMan said:

It was a joke, SiouxVolley.

@MafiaMan I thought it was funny. 

[Goon]

22 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

Looks like U of Georgia/Athens are planning a 6000 seat hockey arena.  A southern league could get going if Louisville, Alabama, Tennessee, NC State and maybe others like UAH and Liberty join in.

https://www.redandblack.com/sports/hockey/new-arena-for-georgia-hockey-in-early-planning-stages/article_ed6ad2be-b2f6-11e8-8774-cfdb237b8e4c.html

 

Not really seeing D-1 hockey here. I am seeing other university activities piggybacking this arena. You know multi-use arena. 

Quote

 

Emmett pointed out how the Ice Dawgs are currently more fortunate than most SEC teams and that a new arena would be an even bigger advantage down the road.

“Our guys can walk to practice,” he said. “Ninety percent of the teams have to get in a car and drive 45 minutes…[The new arena] will be huge. Obviously it’s being built for reasons other than hockey, but we are a beneficiary of that, being part of the Classic Center family.

 

 

[SiouxVolley]

1 hour ago, Goon said:

 

Not really seeing D-1 hockey here. I am seeing other university activities piggybacking this arena. You know multi-use arena. 

 

Figures.  With your brain power, everything needs to be spelled out exactly on a press release.

UGA already has a massive basketball arena.

[Goon]

31 minutes ago, SiouxVolley said:

Figures.  With your brain power, everything needs to be spelled out exactly on a press release.

UGA already has a massive basketball arena.

Or you're just inventing stuff that's not there. There's not so much as even a rumor out there on Twitter about this. 

I am going with my gut feeling on this one. 

[SiouxVolley]

2 hours ago, Goon said:

Or you're just inventing stuff that's not there. There's not so much as even a rumor out there on Twitter about this. 

I am going with my gut feeling on this one. 

Any long term planning talk is way out of your league.  Talking next decade.  Why would a relatively rich school like Georgia, with tens of millions coming in from the SEC Network annually, plan to give a club team home ice?  

Entirely possible that UGA is capable of long term planning.  The nearest permanent big ice arena is in Gwinnett County where a ECHL played.  That isn’t very doable for students to attend.

[Yote 53]

I read the article and what it says is the community is building an arena because they need it for events, and, oh, the Georgia club hockey team can use it too.  It's not the University building it, it's not the community building it with a D1 program in mind like at Illinois, it's simply the community needs an arena and the hockey team could use it.  Kind of similar situation to what is going on in Iowa City/Coralville, though I do believe that will eventually lead to an Iowa D1 program given Illinois is on the verge of starting a program and that the Big Ten sponsors the sport which is motivation for Iowa to start one too when they see how well Illini hockey does (translation:  another way to bring in revenue).

[MafiaMan]

19 hours ago, SiouxVolley said:

Any long term planning talk is way out of your league.  Talking next decade.  Why would a relatively rich school like Georgia, with tens of millions coming in from the SEC Network annually, plan to give a club team home ice?  

Entirely possible that UGA is capable of long term planning.  The nearest permanent big ice arena is in Gwinnett County where a ECHL played.  That isn’t very doable for students to attend.

Plus, the popularity of the NHL’s Flames and Thrashers should help draw interest from corporate sponsors and the community.  

Oh, wait...

[SiouxVolley]

19 minutes ago, MafiaMan said:

Plus, the popularity of the NHL’s Flames and Thrashers should help draw interest from corporate sponsors and the community.  

Oh, wait...

The Thrashers and Flames would have been wildly popular if Cobb County and Gwinnett County residents had a northern suburb NHL rink so they don’t have to fight the downtown Atlanta traffic and risk the crime.  That why the Braves moved to Cobb County, even though that stadium was only 20+ years old.

Its the same issue as Glendale, which is way west of Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale and even The Florida Panthers, whose arena is way north in heavy traffic of Miami.

[SiouxVolley]

10 hours ago, Yote 53 said:

I read the article and what it says is the community is building an arena because they need it for events, and, oh, the Georgia club hockey team can use it too.  It's not the University building it, it's not the community building it with a D1 program in mind like at Illinois, it's simply the community needs an arena and the hockey team could use it.  Kind of similar situation to what is going on in Iowa City/Coralville, though I do believe that will eventually lead to an Iowa D1 program given Illinois is on the verge of starting a program and that the Big Ten sponsors the sport which is motivation for Iowa to start one too when they see how well Illini hockey does (translation:  another way to bring in revenue).

With some Alabama officials open about their hockey interest ( and looking into a decent sized hockey arena), it makes sense that other SEC allies would at least be open to hockey.   Alabama isn’t going to add hockey alone in the SEC and south.  But this is probably middle of the next decade at least before DI hockey becomes a reality.