Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

[brassbonanza]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

plz no

[davyd83]

The bus ride to Maine is 4 hours tops.

That grueling Hockey East travel is outrageous!

[UncleRay]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

Holy Cross is a perfect fit into the HEA mold. I hope this does officially happen. I would prefer the league not move to 11 teams...I hate having teams sitting on Friday/Saturday night's in February. Everyone should be playing conference games those nights!

Disagree. I would think that HC would want to join the ECAC since they view their academics as on a par with the Ivies (it isn't). There are worse teams out there for HE to add, but there are certainly more attractive teams as well. HC has regional pull as a school. The Q will soon have a national audience, if they don't already. There are good reasons for the Q to stay where they are, but that is the team HE should be trying to add. On the other hand, as a Mainer, perhaps having HC to kick around instead of getting kicked around by the Q isn't such a bad scenario.

[pressbox]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

This is probably not going to happen, at least at the DCU center. Two major hockey programs trying to share the same building? Ask UMass Lowell how that worked out for them when the Lowell Devils of the AHL shared the same building. Granted, the Pro team in there now is an ECHL team but that doesn't make much of a difference. The DCU center is also a major concert venue. The loss of additional concert weekend dates would not help the Worcester economy.

[J.D.]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

Hasn't UConn shared the XL Center in Hartford with an AHL team the last couple years?

[Yuppie Scum]

I wouldn't mind banging out to Holy Cross on the commuter rail for away games. Some really good bars in the Woo.

[Split-N]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

...How come no concern when BC athletics take those weekly plane trips to the Carolinas?

If you're a "Power-5" institution, the football god must constantly be worshipped.

[mookie1995]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

Disagree. I would think that HC would want to join the ECAC since they view their academics as on a par with the Ivies (it isn't)....

yo dummy!!!! ( )

harvard gets newton college rejects these days haven't you been paying attention?!?!

[Patman]

Hasn't UConn shared the XL Center in Hartford with an AHL team the last couple years?

UConn also has the strongest brand identity in New England and compares to other state schools in terms of pervasiveness.

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I think Holy Cross still has to prove itself and this smacks of doing something to do something. The issue of compounding errors (adding UConn before they were going to truly fully commit) is in play here.

[Drew S.]

UConn also has the strongest brand identity in New England and compares to other state schools in terms of pervasiveness.

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I think Holy Cross still has to prove itself and this smacks of doing something to do something. The issue of compounding errors (adding UConn before they were going to truly fully commit) is in play here.

Agree with this 100%. As much as I didn't want any teams added I could accept that Notre Dame and UConn are big name schools with large followings and other successful sports. The same can't be said of Holy Cross, Bentley, Quinnipiac etc.

[J.D.]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

UConn also has the strongest brand identity in New England and compares to other state schools in terms of pervasiveness.

Not really sure what you're referring to. Someone mentioned the conflicts of sharing the arena. I was just pointing out that UConn is doing right now exactly what Holy Cross is doing...sharing the arena with a pro team etc.

Anyway, UConn has the strongest basketball brand identity in New England but what does that even mean? Certainly hasn't helped them in football where as of right now, no major conference wants them.

[brassbonanza]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

Not really sure what you're referring to. Someone mentioned the conflicts of sharing the arena. I was just pointing out that UConn is doing right now exactly what Holy Cross is doing...sharing the arena with a pro team etc.

Anyway, UConn has the strongest basketball brand identity in New England but what does that even mean? Certainly hasn't helped them in football where as of right now, no major conference wants them.

He means UConn has an established athletic brand in the state and in New England. Holy Cross does not. Yes, UConn hockey was poor at best prior to joining Hockey East, but the school had a large and established fan base to get behind the program if it properly upgraded its commitment to hockey, which it has. Holy Cross does not have that baked in. So they can go play in the DCU Center all the want and upgrade their practice facilities or something, but that doesn't mean anyone's going to come watch the team play. Put that on top of the fact that they aren't already good at the sport and this becomes a dumb inclusion for Hockey East right now. If in three or four years there are no better options depending on how the conference landscape shakes out, and if HC has made some strides toward being a more competitive program, then great. Otherwise, no reason to rush to add them now simply to fill a spot.

[Patman]

He means UConn has an established athletic brand in the state and in New England. Holy Cross does not. Yes, UConn hockey was poor at best prior to joining Hockey East, but the school had a large and established fan base to get behind the program if it properly upgraded its commitment to hockey, which it has. Holy Cross does not have that baked in. So they can go play in the DCU Center all the want and upgrade their practice facilities or something, but that doesn't mean anyone's going to come watch the team play. Put that on top of the fact that they aren't already good at the sport and this becomes a dumb inclusion for Hockey East right now. If in three or four years there are no better options depending on how the conference landscape shakes out, and if HC has made some strides toward being a more competitive program, then great. Otherwise, no reason to rush to add them now simply to fill a spot.

Bingo! I mean, people like holy cross out that way... But love? I think they could be something at some point. Worcester is a large city but for now... Ehhhh...

Edit: minor hockey has failed twice in Worcester as I have to sadly admit (as the proud owner of an Ice Cats jersey). Their AHL numbers weren't stellar after the beginning.

[J.D.]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

You guys are flying off the handle here. My original point was that if uconn can share a rink with a pro team, why can't holy cross? I am making no comparison between hc and uconn outside of that.

[J.D.]

Re: Report: Holy Cross to replace Notre Dame in Hockey East?

So i am talking arena logistics, not fan bases, brand identity etc