Women's hockey "Bowl" games

[Collegehockeynut]

Here is an idea I have been mulling over for quite some time. Why not have "Bowl" games in women's hockey, similar to football. Even when the championship is increased to eight teams, with the quality of players coming into D1, there will be many teams, competitive teams, who will be on the outside looking in.

The week leading up to the championship weekend, have a game each night against teams from differenet conferences. For eample, lets say the Mav's and St. Lawrence do no make the FF. I would love to see a game against these two teams!. Doing so could build some lead up excitment to the championship weekend, reward teams for good seasons and hopefully be able to pull in more people to watch women's hockey.

[ARM]

I don't think that the bowl system in college football makes for a more exciting postseason than does the postseason tournament in basketball and hockey.

[Top Row]

Oh the marketing possibilities...
NU & SCSU in the
"PURINA DOG CHOW BOWL"

[SKATNMIASOV]

Collegehockeynut.

Great Idea.

There can never be enough hockey. I like the idea of rewarding teams for their play during the year. Also a chance to match up some teams that would other wise never meet.
Or the week after the NCAA finals how about an all star game featuring a mix of like WCHA and Hockey East vs. CHA and ECAC. All the stars under one roof for one game would be exciting also.

[pgb-ohio]

Fun ideas! To the All-Star game suggestion, I would add a Skills Competition. It would be great to see who the fastest skater was, who had the hardest shot, etc.

Unfortunately, events of this nature are probably a long way off. For starters, it's really difficult to imagine when such games would be scheduled. Anything after the Frozen Four would be anti-climatic. Prior to the FF, you're going head-to-head with the incredibly busy March college sports schedule.

It should be noted that Men's college hockey has held several all-star games, and wasn't able to generate an acceptable level of fan support. East vs. West games were staged. There was at least one NCAA vs. Canadian Colleges match-up. In both cases, it seemed that holding the games after the FF just didn't work.

In the long run, such neutral site events may be feasible. But we need to grow the fan base considerably in order to get there. In the short run, expanding the NCAA tournament to 8 teams is the most realistic goal.

[dave1381]

Field hockey does a North-South senior NFHCA All-Star game the same weekend as its national championships (obviously it doesn't include players from their final four). I think they do it on the off-day between the semifinals and final. It's not quite the same thing you describe, but it's nice way for seniors to close out their careers on a national stage. I wouldn't mind seeing something like that in women's ice hockey, and I don't think it's all that unrealistic.

[pgb-ohio]

dave1381,

From the standpoint of fan support, the FF off-day might just work! I would certainly enjoy such an event.

You've already identified the drawback -- the players from the FF teams wouldn't be available to participate. Think back to last season, and envision the line-ups in a hypothetical East-West All-Star game. Now, scratch everybody from UMD, Harvard, Dartmouth and Minnesota. The line-ups look a little depleted, don't they?

Still, this idea may be worthy of further consideration. One possible wrinkle would be to drop the 3rd Place Game, and put the All-Star game in its place. That would have freed up players from Dartmouth and Minnesota to play with the All-Stars. Winny Brodt and Ronda Curtin were Gopher seniors last year; the Big Green would have provided Carly Haggard and Amy Catlin. I'm probably leaving out some other worthy players as well.

I'd have mixed feelings about dropping the consolation game. True, the Men dropped their 3rd Place Game years ago. But it has some redeeming qualities, especially for fans who have traveled a great distance -- only to see their team lose in the semi-finals.

With that said, pairing the All-Star Game with the Championship Game would make for a truly outstanding doubleheader!

[dave1381]

I think there's plentiful supply of stars that aren't on the Frozen Four teams to make for an exciting game. Were such an event in place this year, you'd most certainly see a Shari Vogt vs. Chanda Gunn matchup in net. You'd get to see players on a national stage who played in programs that simply never had a chance at the current stage of their development. It would also draw interest from all the teams that didn't make the Frozen Four - it would give host communities reason to attend and care and cover it even if they're home team doesn't make it (as seems likely to happen with Brown and Providence.) Sounds like a good idea.

[ARM]

A good idea that needs funding. And thus the Gillette Senior Women's All Star Hockey game was born.

[dave1381]

The field hockey game I mentioned was, in fact, the STX/NFHCA north-south senior all-star game.

[pgb-ohio]

The more I think about this, the better I like it. I'm also warming to the idea that a great game is possible, even without the Frozen Four players. Besides, the FF players are already guaranteed the opportunity to perform on the national stage. Giving players from other programs that chance is an idea with real merit.

Looking at it this way, the 3rd Place Game could be retained just as it is. In that case, you'd probably play the All-Star Game on the off-day, as dave1381 originally suggested.

Another possibility would be to play three games on the last day. A "Super Sunday" schedule, featuring two sessions, might look something like this:

12:00 P.M. 3rd Place Game

3:00 P.M. All-Star Game

5:30 P.M. Building Cleared; Dinner Break

8:00 P.M. Championship Game

Either way, an All-Star Game would be a great addition to the Frozen Four!