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NCAA Mens Ice Hockey Tourney: Reformat


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4 minutes ago, Dustin said:

The East and West could take turns who gets the 1-16 / 8-9 / 4-13 / 5-12 and 2-15 / 7-10 / 3-14 / 6-11 sides of the bracket.  I think the super regionals could alternate between those four cities (St. Paul, Denver, Detroit, Boston) since they probably are the most traditional hockey cities in the United States.  Then, as a reward for making the Frozen Four, that could be in a warm weather NHL city.  I think I've got it all figured out. :)

Would the west region only host western teams and vice versa for east? I don't think I'd want that.

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1 minute ago, stoneySIOUX said:

Would the west region only host western teams and vice versa for east? I don't think I'd want that.

No.  It would be just located in the west (or east).  It would still follow standard tournament seeding.  My bracket shows that.  (Although the first numbers of the double-digit seeds got cut off by the scanner)

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5 minutes ago, stoneySIOUX said:

So, same format, just two eight-team regions held in two areas of the country that support hockey. I dig that.

Essentially, yes.  Then, instead of going to a Frozen Four in one of those places, you'd get a warm weather locale for that.

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I think the idea would be looked upon favorably by all.  For players, as long as make the tournament, you get to play in an NHL arena.  For fans, the locations are much more palatable than recent regional sites.  Plus, you'd get to see twice as many games in one spot.  With 8 teams coming instead of 4, chances are one (or more, or several) of the 8 teams has/have large followings that will vastly improve attendance and atmosphere.  For small schools, it would still be a neutral site.  Think of this scenario:  UND, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are all on the same side of the bracket and are placed at a super regional in St. Paul.  Could college hockey really get any better than that?

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23 minutes ago, Dustin said:

No.  It would be just located in the west (or east).  It would still follow standard tournament seeding.  My bracket shows that.  (Although the first numbers of the double-digit seeds got cut off by the scanner)

Perfect. I like this idea a lot, actually. Each region plays out over 3 days. Could use two close arenas, if need be. 

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16 minutes ago, Dustin said:

I think the idea would be looked upon favorably by all.  For players, as long as make the tournament, you get to play in an NHL arena.  For fans, the locations are much more palatable than recent regional sites.  Plus, you'd get to see twice as many games in one spot.  With 8 teams coming instead of 4, chances are one (or more, or several) of the 8 teams has/have large followings that will vastly improve attendance and atmosphere.  For small schools, it would still be a neutral site.  Think of this scenario:  UND, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are all on the same side of the bracket and are placed at a super regional in St. Paul.  Could college hockey really get any better than that?

I nominate @Dustinas the commissioner of college hockey.

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So...Super Regional schedule for this year would have looked like this.  Switched the times to give one seeds the early game taking the fact host teams don't need the late games (ex Denver) and spread them out for TV purposes.  Also, giving both regionals prime time games (either first round or regional finals).    Baring overtimes, games would really not overlap at all.  I think these regionals would be a blast to attend.  You would think that attendance would be great considering you would have 8 fanbases at each site.  

*All times Central

 

West Super Regional                                                                        East Super Regional

Thu 3/24                                                                                                       Thu 3/24

1 Denver v 4 Umass Lowell - 2 pm                                                             1 Minnesota St v 4 Harvard - 11 pm 

2 Minn Duluth v 3 Michigan Tech - 7 pm                                                    2 North Dakota c 3 Notre Dame - 4 pm 

Fri 3/25                                                                                                          Fri 3/25 

1 Michigan v 4 American Int'l - 2 pm                                                           1 Western Michigan v 4 Northeastern - 11 am

2 Quinnipiac v 3 St Cloud St - 7 pm                                                            2 Minnesota v 3 Massachusetts  - 4 pm

Sat 3/26                                                                                                         Sat 3/26

1 Denver v 2 Minn Duluth - 3 pm                                                                 1 Minnesota St v 3 Notre Dame - 7 pm

Sun 3/27                                                                                                        Sun 3/27

1 Michigan v 2 Quinnipiac - 3 pm                                                                 1 Western Michigan v 2 Minnesota - 7 pm

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7 minutes ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

So...Super Regional schedule for this year would have looked like this.  Switched the times to give one seeds the early game taking the fact host teams don't need the late games (ex Denver) and spread them out for TV purposes.  Also, giving both regionals prime time games (either first round or regional finals).    Barring overtimes, games would really not overlap at all.  I think these regionals would be a blast to attend.  You would think that attendance would be great considering you would have 8 fanbases at each site.  

 

"Barring overtimes"

It is wise of you to account for lacrosse.

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9 minutes ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

So...Super Regional schedule for this year would have looked like this.  Switched the times to give one seeds the early game taking the fact host teams don't need the late games (ex Denver) and spread them out for TV purposes.  Also, giving both regionals prime time games (either first round or regional finals).    Baring overtimes, games would really not overlap at all.  I think these regionals would be a blast to attend.  You would think that attendance would be great considering you would have 8 fanbases at each site.  

*All times Central

 

West Super Regional                                                                        East Super Regional

Thu 3/24                                                                                                       Thu 3/24

1 Denver v 4 Umass Lowell - 2 pm                                                             1 Minnesota St v 4 Harvard - 11 pm 

2 Minn Duluth v 3 Michigan Tech - 7 pm                                                    2 North Dakota c 3 Notre Dame - 4 pm 

Fri 3/25                                                                                                          Fri 3/25 

1 Michigan v 4 American Int'l - 2 pm                                                           1 Western Michigan v 4 Northeastern - 11 am

2 Quinnipiac v 3 St Cloud St - 7 pm                                                            2 Minnesota v 3 Massachusetts  - 4 pm

Sat 3/26                                                                                                         Sat 3/26

1 Denver v 2 Minn Duluth - 3 pm                                                                 1 Minnesota St v 3 Notre Dame - 7 pm

Sun 3/27                                                                                                        Sun 3/27

1 Michigan v 2 Quinnipiac - 3 pm                                                                 1 Western Michigan v 2 Minnesota - 7 pm

I hadn't thought that each regional could have games on each day, but it works.

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1 hour ago, Dustin said:

I don't follow college baseball - How does a super regional work?  For hockey, would 8 teams play at one regional, and 8 teams at another?  I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't mind the single game format, I think it creates extra excitement, urgency, and ultimately heartbreak.  Those are the reasons we follow sports, right?  Could the super regionals be done at NHL arenas in hockey hotbeds?  Say, a West Regional (not to be solely western geographical teams) in St. Paul or Denver and an East Regional in Boston or Detroit.  Then the Frozen Four in a warm weather NHL arena like Tampa, Las Vegas, etc.?

64 teams broken down to 16, 4 team per regional, regionals with double elimination. Then the regional champions are put into super regionals (8). Which is a best of 3 to advance the 8 winners to the College World Series 

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12 minutes ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

You would think that attendance would be great considering you would have 8 fanbases at each site.

Exactly.  Plus if you put them in the right cities (like the ones I've been mentioning - St. Paul, Denver, Detroit, Boston), think of how many fanbases live in or close to those cities, so travel is much less of an issue than trying to decide if you want to go to Allentown or Fort Wayne.

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#1 seed hosts.

4 team regional

double elimination

2 games Thursday

2 games Friday

1 game Saturday

1 game Sunday

1 game Monday if necessary

Works great for Baseball with the admittingly huge difference being Baseball can get it done in 1 less day due to teams being able to play 2 games in a day.

 

 

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Thinking about my idea some more, to help even more with attendance, you could still have a school host a regional, and if that school's team makes the tourney it would assure their placement in that regional.  This would be helpful to make sure Denver plays in Denver, Michigan plays in Detroit, Minnesota plays in St. Paul, or BU/BC plays in Boston.  Obviously other schools would be interested in hosting as well.  I could see UND wanting to host in both St. Paul and Denver.  Having host schools may result is seeds being switched (much like seeds are switched to avoid inter-conference match-ups) if the two host schools would otherwise be on the same side of the bracket (and thus the same regional).

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One-and-done in high level hockey is a tough pill to swallow for really good teams.  I know it will never happen, but how many titles would Hak have won with the teams he coached blazing into the tournament with a 2/3 series?  The regular season of hockey is a game of attrition and ebbs/flows; the playoffs come and the chance of bad puck luck or misfortune in one game derails an entire season.  That is part of the fun (see Holy Cross), and part of the greatest teams going down the memory hole.  

UND certainly benefitted in the past from one-and-done (1997), but probably would have benefitted more with a 2/3 scenario (1998, 2011 and more).

One game only, bring back home regionals.

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Since this is a Western college hockey board, I'm not surprised people are generally in favor of home ice regionals.   Nearly 75% of the four team regionals would have been out West, going back to 2015 (when Miami would have hosted! **).  Three West, one East.   Sounds fabulous to me.  A chance to see regionals in person.

But if you're in charge of a program out East, are you going to vote for that?  Highly unlikely. They've got it cozy "as is", with 40 mile bus rides.   So I can't see a change to that approach drawing even half of the votes.

Unless of course, someone can tickle the NC$$ hierarchy and get pre$$ure applied to force the Regionals to be profitable too.  That external pressure - from outside the coaching fraternity - seems necessary before minds change and the structure of regionals changes.

Otherwise, let's just play the whole tournament in one site, preferably a warm weather site where college hockey seeks to grow (Vegas, Arizona, etc). And yeah fans get some time in the sun between games.  One weekend of Friday-Monday for the Rounds of 16 and 8, and the next weekend for the semifinals and finals.

** Among the NCHC, only CC and Omaha wouldn't have hosted a four team home ice regional.

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Regional hosts for the past 9 NCAA Championships if #1 seeds  would have hosted

2012                                                                                           2016                                                                            2019                                                                          

Union                                                                          North Dakota                                                              St Cloud St                                                                     

Michigan                                                                     Providence                                                                 Minn Duluth

Boston College                                                          Quinnipiac                                                                   Minnesota St

Notre Dame                                                                St Cloud St                                                                  Massachusetts

 

2013                                                                                            2017                                                                              2021                 

Quinnipiac                                                                   Harvard                                                                         North Dakota                   

Notre Dame                                                                Minn Duluth                                                                   Minnesota

Minnesota                                                                   Minnesota                                                                      Wisconsin

Massachusetts-Lowell                                               Denver                                                                            Boston College

 

2014                                                                                             2018                                                                              2022

Minnesota                                                                    Notre Dame                                                                  Michigan

Boston College                                                            St Cloud St                                                                    Western Michigan

Wisconsin                                                                     Cornell                                                                           Denver

Union                                                                            Ohio St                                                                           Minnesota St

 

So by my count, in the last 9 years you would have 24 "West" teams hosting and 12 "East" teams hosting.  Probably consistent if you go back any further.  When the majority of college hockey teams are out east, it would be no surprise they would be against the #1 seeds hosting.

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21 hours ago, Dustin said:

  Think of this scenario:  UND, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are all on the same side of the bracket and are placed at a super regional in St. Paul.  Could college hockey really get any better than that?

It was called the WCHA Final Five! 

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22 hours ago, stoneySIOUX said:

So, same format, just two eight-team regions held in two areas of the country that support hockey. I dig that.

i likey too..........but for planning purposes how about Las Vegas for west regional every year and Boston every year for the EAst and rotate the FF around the country?

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41 minutes ago, SuhakiYeahYeah said:

"SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE, BROCK NELSON TIES IT" "TRIES TO CENTER, SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE"

My favorite part of that call was Scott Hennen announcing Michael Parks' goal over the PA when Nellie tied it.... "Scoring for North Dakota (not exact, but close) .... Mich... aelll.... Pa....." LaPanta: "SCORRRREEEEESSSSS! BROCK NELSON TIES IT!" .... Then the X absolutely explodes. I am hearing it in my head and I'm legit getting chills. 

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