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College Hockey Expansion


cberkas

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1 hour ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

I always hoped that UND basketball would get to a level where they would have to play games consistently at the Ralph.  Not because they wanted to, but becuase they had to due to attendance being to large for the Betty!!  Someday....maybe!

After the women's hockey team was cut, I thought they would play select games there each season since the arena would be available.  They seemed to do that up until the womens team was cut which is odd.  The betty can get loud, but the REA would help to draw casual fans.  Given that that the Kansas game drew so well, it would be cool to see the REA/UND pay to bring in a p5 or Big East team every once in a while, one that would draw.  See the games the Sanford Center puts on in Sioux Falls, for example.  Ideally UND would also have a better basketball product itself.  Conversion costs are also a factor.

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Just listened to college hockey news podcast and a guy from jlg architects was interviewed.  He said there are two projects they have to keep under wraps, one in Virginia and the other in Maryland.  He didn't specifically say they were college hockey projects, but its worth noting.  Navy happens to be in Maryland, so hopefully they can get up and running after, reportedly, being really close prior to covid.

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TIL Bozeman had a legit D1 level rink not that long ago.. Montana State D1 hockey would have been really cool had they started a program in the 90's.  Wonder if they woulda been stranded with the Alaska schools right now or if the conference landscape would have been completely different right now.

 

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16 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

TIL Bozeman had a legit D1 level rink not that long ago.. Montana State D1 hockey would have been really cool had they started a program in the 90's.  Wonder if they woulda been stranded with the Alaska schools right now or if the conference landscape would have been completely different right now.

 

Man that scoreboard looks crazy low.
Imagine if Kleven played there and did his patented puck flip out of the defensive zone?  He'd hit the scoreboard every time, stopping play.  ;) :D 

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38 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

TIL Bozeman had a legit D1 level rink not that long ago.. Montana State D1 hockey would have been really cool had they started a program in the 90's.  Wonder if they woulda been stranded with the Alaska schools right now or if the conference landscape would have been completely different right now.

 

I attended the last game there, spring of 2006. The Bozeman Icedogs beat the Fairbanks Ice Dogs to win a championship, and then it became a warehouse for a liquor distributor during the offseason. It was really nice, but was hemorrhaging money according to a friend who worked there. Last I heard Peter Budaj coaches their club team at the nice new rink in town.

Missoula has a cool rink for their club team too. A few years ago the junior team's owner got mad that the rink kept giving him the same weekends as the football team for home games so he dissolved the team and threw a tantrum publicly. He took back the stands and sound system out of spite. A bond to upgrade the rink just failed, but it suffices for what it's used for.

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They play at the fairgrounds now.

 

Arizona Played Arizona State in ACHA D1 at Mullett Arena. ASU winning 5-4 in OT

 

NC State jerseys for the outdoor game against UNC. @MafiaMan

 

Oklahoma State is going to be playing their games in Tulsa where the ECHL team practices and will play some games at BOK Arena. 

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1 hour ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

I attended the last game there, spring of 2006. The Bozeman Icedogs beat the Fairbanks Ice Dogs to win a championship, and then it became a warehouse for a liquor distributor during the offseason. It was really nice, but was hemorrhaging money according to a friend who worked there. Last I heard Peter Budaj coaches their club team at the nice new rink in town.

Missoula has a cool rink for their club team too. A few years ago the junior team's owner got mad that the rink kept giving him the same weekends as the football team for home games so he dissolved the team and threw a tantrum publicly. He took back the stands and sound system out of spite. A bond to upgrade the rink just failed, but it suffices for what it's used for.

That guy in Missoula is a big POS, he closed down two of his Fuel Finesses claiming they managers were cooking the books. Somehow, the two managers were in charge of the finances for all of the Fuel Finess. they talked !@#$ about how terrible Helena and Butte are. 

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They talk to the head coach for the first 35 minutes of the podcast. He mentions that a Penn State donation would be the best, jokes about Notre Dame helping them into the B1G, and talks about the growth of hockey in the area with a hockey prep academy in the works. 

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8 hours ago, cberkas said:

That guy in Missoula is a big POS, he closed down two of his Fuel Finesses claiming they managers were cooking the books. Somehow, the two managers were in charge of the finances for all of the Fuel Finess. they talked !@#$ about how terrible Helena and Butte are. 

Hahaha wow. Didn't know about all that, but it doesn't surprise me. Burks is a Californian who expects everyone to grovel in front of him because he's (relatively) wealthy. Everyone who does business with him or works for him leaves with a bad taste in their mouth. 

Reading that letter he wrote there are some flat out lies about the Missoula rink situation. He was told the youth tournaments can't be scheduled the same weekends as football games because the tournaments need the hotel space, and that is what set him off. I've got plenty more stories about him but let's just say hockey in Montana is better with him not involved. 

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13 hours ago, AlphaMikeFoxtrot said:

Hahaha wow. Didn't know about all that, but it doesn't surprise me. Burks is a Californian who expects everyone to grovel in front of him because he's (relatively) wealthy. Everyone who does business with him or works for him leaves with a bad taste in their mouth. 

Reading that letter he wrote there are some flat out lies about the Missoula rink situation. He was told the youth tournaments can't be scheduled the same weekends as football games because the tournaments need the hotel space, and that is what set him off. I've got plenty more stories about him but let's just say hockey in Montana is better with him not involved. 

He's something else :lol:

Maulers owner explains decision to disband local hockey team | | 406mtsports.com

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5 hours ago, cberkas said:

They posted this after playing ASU at Mullett Arena. From what I’ve found it will seat 3,000. Wonder if a design change is why the project was moved back a year. 
 

I’m guessing George Mason is the secret project JLG is working on. 

Awesome!  Thanks for posting this.  I've been following the updates from the developers on this, and inflation costs were a huge issue.  This was part of a giant development and the whole project was reworked once before.   I believe other pieces of the project are now a phase two. This latest delay worried me, but it doesn't look like the plans for Arizona's arena was impacted much, which is great to see.  This was the design from last March:

image.png.89e910ef1afacf8afcf9d18f43e00aff.png

 

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Since Arizona's arena looks the same, I'm guessing the floor plan hasn't changed much either.  Borderline D1 player facilities, but given the location, workout areas would probably be on campus anyway.  Any sign of improvement there would be a tell for D1 imo.  It's gonna happen at some point.  And they still have the Tucson Convention Center for larger games if they want, similar to UConn.  (Source for the image below. Jan of last year)

image.thumb.png.b56b34d12c448e65afdabb47f0e5d7fc.png

 

 

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Georgia just announced that athletics generated something like 40 million in profit.  Zero reason for them not to elevate their club team.

Not sure if this (below) is a new plan or old and abandoned project.  http://www.coliseums.com/consulting-projects.html
Would be a perfect fit for Miami  - Only a little over two hours away. 

Could be the start of a pipe dream conference: Georgia, Miami, UAH, Tenn State, Lindenwood, Liberty, Louisville, High Point.

 

image.thumb.png.ad7af0cc479bffc5379d542b7345911f.png

 

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6 hours ago, cberkas said:

They posted this after playing ASU at Mullett Arena. From what I’ve found it will seat 3,000. Wonder if a design change is why the project was moved back a year. 
 

I’m guessing George Mason is the secret project JLG is working on. 

You kinda lead me down a rabbit hole, and I cant find where I read it, but it seems a stadium was delayed and they are going to change the plans to make it an indoor stadium, with plans to build it after the hockey stuff is finished.

Is George Mason literally a guess, or are you not at liberty to say why you think it's them?

Edit: Found the latest update on the Arizona development (from the developers to the county on Jan 30, 2023).  Seems like most new info will come out in April.  They basically just said they are on track on I'm guessing the 

image.png.8cdfd25f10e97cfcb3e0f6b6960d35a2.png

 

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On 2/4/2023 at 12:04 PM, nodak651 said:

You kinda lead me down a rabbit hole, and I cant find where I read it, but it seems a stadium was delayed and they are going to change the plans to make it an indoor stadium, with plans to build it after the hockey stuff is finished.

Is George Mason literally a guess, or are you not at liberty to say why you think it's them?

Edit: Found the latest update on the Arizona development (from the developers to the county on Jan 30, 2023).  Seems like most new info will come out in April.  They basically just said they are on track on I'm guessing the 

image.png.8cdfd25f10e97cfcb3e0f6b6960d35a2.png

 

The George Mason is a guess for a quote retweet of the Arizona hockey post about at least a locker room update in the works. Did find a couple arena projects in the works. One in Richmond that is looking to get a ECHL team and one where Military Circle Mall is at in Virgina Beach/Norfolk. 

The Minnesota insider guy also retweeted the Arizona hockey post and was asked if they are going to the B1G. 

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On 2/5/2023 at 10:03 PM, cberkas said:

The George Mason is a guess for a quote retweet of the Arizona hockey post about at least a locker room update in the works. Did find a couple arena projects in the works. One in Richmond that is looking to get a ECHL team and one where Military Circle Mall is at in Virgina Beach/Norfolk. 

The Minnesota insider guy also retweeted the Arizona hockey post and was asked if they are going to the B1G. 

Gotcha.  I just found this.  Not the most exciting project, but it could also be an arena that the city of Bowie Maryland is working on.  They just had an rfp out for the design of a new single sheet arena.  The proposed address is 2 miles from a D2 HBCU, Bowie State University.  Their proximity to the arena is most likely just a coincidence unless we Bowie State pitching in a bunch of money.  Not sure how what the capacity is.

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Is NCAA hockey on the verge of an explosion in teams starting programs?  Seems with the massive amount of TV money these ADs are pulling in they need somewhere to park it.  Plus NCAA hockey is actually revenue positive for many programs, so maybe some are looking to build another profit center for their athletic departments.

The volume of players is out there for expansion.  There is some good hockey being played all the way down to the ACHA D2 ranks.  That clip earlier from Adrian, that kid isn't even on the Adrian NCAA D3 team.  The Adrian D3 team is filled with D1 transfers and NAHL players.  There are a lot of good Junior players that are stacked up in cue looking for places to land for next season.  My oldest being one of them!  But an explosion of NCAA teams would be great news for my Mite aged youngest!

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