2016 IIHF U 18 World Championships Open Thread

[Sioux_Hab-it]

I am watching the USA/Finland semifinal game on TSN.  I doubt there are even 2,000 people in the stands so was this not advertised or something else?

[Big Green]

24 minutes ago, Redneksioux said:

For who?

 

i know the Ralph was promoting this for a long time at und games and all but I'm not sure it has been promoted the right way to get butts on the seats. I've spoken with some Canadians around town while shopping the past week and not one of them know about the tournament going on. 

 

For or the average joe I think it's been a struggle just to find out who is playing at what time. I know for me I had to go to the Ralph's site, click on a link to show me the game times, click on another link to find out the ticket packages, then decipher who is playing at what time. Google iihf u18 and the 2015 tourney link pops up above this year's. 

 

The herald has done a few write ups but i haven't seen much. I mean there's families that have travelled here from the other side of the world! There is top nhl prospects playing here! TSN has shown plenty of big names from the NHL in the stands and in the suites over the past ten days. Today Lou lamorello and Brendan shannahan are in the house but does anyone know?

For gf.  Pains me to say it but gf is not a hockey town.  We are going to lose the state hs tourney can't support this 1.  We are a Sioux hockey town

[scpa0305]

41 minutes ago, Redneksioux said:

For who?

 

i know the Ralph was promoting this for a long time at und games and all but I'm not sure it has been promoted the right way to get butts on the seats. I've spoken with some Canadians around town while shopping the past week and not one of them know about the tournament going on. 

 

For or the average joe I think it's been a struggle just to find out who is playing at what time. I know for me I had to go to the Ralph's site, click on a link to show me the game times, click on another link to find out the ticket packages, then decipher who is playing at what time. Google iihf u18 and the 2015 tourney link pops up above this year's. 

 

The herald has done a few write ups but i haven't seen much. I mean there's families that have travelled here from the other side of the world! There is top nhl prospects playing here! TSN has shown plenty of big names from the NHL in the stands and in the suites over the past ten days. Today Lou lamorello and Brendan shannahan are in the house but does anyone know?

for grand forks. The u20 was a success but this is pretty bad. I doubt we'll ever sniff this again. Some of the worlds best prospects are playing and nobody is there.

[Redneksioux]

3 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

for grand forks. The u20 was a success but this is pretty bad. I doubt we'll ever sniff this again. Some of the worlds best prospects are playing and nobody is there.

The world juniors were a perfect storm for the Ralph. No nhl going on at the time and the Canadians showed up to watch.

 

their dollar is weak now I know but TSN has said multiple times for this tourney the Canadian dollar is worth the American dollar at the Ralph. 

 

Remember they've already exceeded ticket sales from the same tourney in Fargo. USA needs to win this semi to make this tourney a success though. The Ralph is banking on a USA Canada final.

[fightingsioux4life]

9 minutes ago, Redneksioux said:

The world juniors were a perfect storm for the Ralph. No nhl going on at the time and the Canadians showed up to watch.

 

their dollar is weak now I know but TSN has said multiple times for this tourney the Canadian dollar is worth the American dollar at the Ralph. 

 

Remember they've already exceeded ticket sales from the same tourney in Fargo. USA needs to win this semi to make this tourney a success though. The Ralph is banking on a USA Canada final.

Part of the problem is that the U20 tournament is smack dab in the middle of hockey season (late December to early January) and people's minds were on hockey. It was over the holidays, so people were taking time off from work and schools were not in session. So you had a lot of people who could go and watch these games.

The U18 tournament is in April. People are starting to focus on spring and summer activities (golf, fishing, biking, etc.). The NHL playoffs are on television, so people are staying home and watching that. Also, the Canadians don't care as much for the U18 tournament as the U20 tournament; the U20 in Canada is like the Super Bowl is in the United States. The reason it looked better in Fargo in 2009 was that Scheels is less than half the size of REA, so even if REA has drawn more people, it doesn't look like it because of how huge REA is.

If we ever hosted the U20 again, I think it would be as successful as it was in 2005 because of what time of year it is held.

[Sioux_Hab-it]

1 hour ago, Redneksioux said:

The world juniors were a perfect storm for the Ralph. No nhl going on at the time and the Canadians showed up to watch.

 

their dollar is weak now I know but TSN has said multiple times for this tourney the Canadian dollar is worth the American dollar at the Ralph. 

 

Remember they've already exceeded ticket sales from the same tourney in Fargo. USA needs to win this semi to make this tourney a success though. The Ralph is banking on a USA Canada final.

The Ralph won't get their wish as Finland scored with under a minute left, and I forgot that the empty netter at the buzzer counted, to win it 4-2.

[Redneksioux]

Yeah I think they'll end up in the red on this one now

[fightingsioux4life]

7 minutes ago, Sioux_Hab-it said:

The Ralph won't get their wish as Finland scored with under a minute left to win it 3-2.

Cripes.

[nodakhoops]

1 hour ago, Big Green said:

For gf.  Pains me to say it but gf is not a hockey town.  We are going to lose the state hs tourney can't support this 1.  We are a Sioux hockey town

Couldn't agree more. People show up for UND men's hockey and not much else when it comes to the sport. Worlds Jrs in 2005 was a perfect storm with NHL lockout and having a phenoms like Ovi and Sid. State Hockey, UND women's hockey, AHL games, U18s this year all poorly attended. I also consider NCAA regionals as a UND men's game as I know that was well attended.

I wish REA would recognize this put more energy into trying to host something like NCAA basketball tourney games. North Dakota is a big basketball state and having big dance games at the REA and in the state would be a big deal. I'd start trying to host women's tourney games with the goal of hosting men's games down the road. Would be a way bigger deal than this U18 tourney . Sioux Falls new arena is a great example of doing this. REA needs to open their eyes to more than just hockey. 

[SiouxVolley]

The REA budget takes a huge hit as Finland beat USA 4-2 to advance to the gold medal game.

[SiouxVolley]

10 minutes ago, nodakhoops said:

Couldn't agree more. People show up for UND men's hockey and not much else when it comes to the sport. Worlds Jrs in 2005 was a perfect storm with NHL lockout and having a phenoms like Ovi and Sid. State Hockey, UND women's hockey, AHL games, U18s this year all poorly attended. I also consider NCAA regionals as a UND men's game as I know that was well attended.

I wish REA would recognize this put more energy into trying to host something like NCAA basketball tourney games. North Dakota is a big basketball state and having big dance games at the REA and in the state would be a big deal. I'd start trying to host women's tourney games with the goal of hosting men's games down the road. Would be a way bigger deal than this U18 tourney . Sioux Falls new arena is a great example of doing this. REA needs to open their eyes to more than just hockey. 

The NCAA would never grant a men's tournament to anywhere in the Dakotas.  Too few high end hotels and too few flights.  The REA isn't big enough either.

The Women's tournament doesn't have such high standards, which is how Sioux Falls got chosen for a regional.  Much of the first two rounds are at campuses.

[scpa0305]

1 hour ago, Redneksioux said:

The world juniors were a perfect storm for the Ralph. No nhl going on at the time and the Canadians showed up to watch.

 

their dollar is weak now I know but TSN has said multiple times for this tourney the Canadian dollar is worth the American dollar at the Ralph. 

 

Remember they've already exceeded ticket sales from the same tourney in Fargo. USA needs to win this semi to make this tourney a success though. The Ralph is banking on a USA Canada final.

the comparison is to Fargo?

[sprig]

First competition the US has faced in this tourney,  and they didn't get it done. Expect Canada to take care of business tonight.  May be even poorer attendance tomorrow.  

[82SiouxGuy]

28 minutes ago, scpa0305 said:

the comparison is to Fargo?

Fargo is the only other time the US hosted.

[sprig]

Early ppg for Canada, up 1-0

[nodakhoops]

1 hour ago, SiouxVolley said:

The NCAA would never grant a men's tournament to anywhere in the Dakotas.  Too few high end hotels and too few flights.  The REA isn't big enough either.

The Women's tournament doesn't have such high standards, which is how Sioux Falls got chosen for a regional.  Much of the first two rounds are at campuses.

Just an idea that is non hockey. Seems like it's either hockey or concert with REA and as discussed these non UND men's hockey events don't draw.

I thought I heard the gaurantee for this was 1 million, that's a lot of money they are probably losing on this. You could probably pay Duke or Kansas less than that to come in and play UND and come out ahead plus you are elevating the UND MBB program.

IMO the best long term revenue potential REA has over the next 30-40 years after men's hockey is UND MBB. If that program got to the point of Creighton, Northern Iowa, Florida Golf Coast, etc REA would be making a lot of money on both UND men's hockey and MBB.

Their #1 goal after selling out every men's hockey game should be to elevate UND MBB to top mid major status. 15 home basketball games a year of 4000-5000 plus would do much much more for their bottom line than these lowly attended money losing 1 time hockey events. 

Trouble is that no one there can see that IMO.

[sprig]

Sweden goes up 2-1 on Canada early in the second. A US/Canada game might happen yet.

[Redneksioux]

4-3 Sweden. Jost's last assist makes him the all time point leader for the tourney with 15.

[Redneksioux]

5-5 tie shootout.

[Prison_Mike]

Canada goes down like a sweet muffin.

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

1 minute ago, Prison_Mike said:

Canada goes down like a sweet muffin.

Two giants slain. Unreal stuff.

[tnt]

1 hour ago, Redneksioux said:

4-3 Sweden. Jost's last assist makes him the all time point leader for the tourney with 15.

I believe just Canada's all time point leader.

[northernraider]

Gonna be a small crowd at the finals, not good for the bottom line. 

[82SiouxGuy]

3 hours ago, nodakhoops said:

Just an idea that is non hockey. Seems like it's either hockey or concert with REA and as discussed these non UND men's hockey events don't draw.

I thought I heard the gaurantee for this was 1 million, that's a lot of money they are probably losing on this. You could probably pay Duke or Kansas less than that to come in and play UND and come out ahead plus you are elevating the UND MBB program.

IMO the best long term revenue potential REA has over the next 30-40 years after men's hockey is UND MBB. If that program got to the point of Creighton, Northern Iowa, Florida Golf Coast, etc REA would be making a lot of money on both UND men's hockey and MBB.

Their #1 goal after selling out every men's hockey game should be to elevate UND MBB to top mid major status. 15 home basketball games a year of 4000-5000 plus would do much much more for their bottom line than these lowly attended money losing 1 time hockey events. 

Trouble is that no one there can see that IMO.

I believe that the guarantee was $1.2 million. The REA may very likely lose some money on this deal, but they aren't going to lose nearly the whole thing. They had sponsors, attendance was good even if it wasn't great, they will have revenue from concessions, parking and the Lamplighter. Bringing World class events to the facility was always part of Ralph's plan, so even if they lost some money it probably helps fulfill his vision. Making money wasn't the main reason for hosting this tournament. Keeping REA and Grand Forks on the world hockey map was a large reason for hosting, especially since the U20 will probably never come back to a smaller than NHL level facility.

You will never see a Duke or Kansas come to UND for a money game. The only way a program like those visits someplace like UND is for a special reason like Kansas did several years ago. Top level programs like those make a lot of money already, and they can get paid from other big name schools. In the long run basketball has more potential for revenue growth since hockey is a mature Division I sport and basketball is still a recent transplant. But that growth isn't going to come from giving away money to rich programs.

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

7 minutes ago, 82SiouxGuy said:

attendance was good even if it wasn't great,

Not sure that's going to be a sentiment shared by many. Take away the scouts, the schoolchildren, and the players' parents, and you have more naked leather than a bovine Pride parade. A real black eye for the region.