BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

[alfablue]

Ok, you're right. The B1G setting up a booth at Mariucci handing out freebies and Visit Detroit pamphlets would really jack up all those Minnesota fans. I bet if they'd have done that they'd get 7-8k heading to Detroit for this.

I thought you guys considered yourselves some kind of special fans.

Apparently not.

It worked for Alaska and UNO. Just sayn.

[gopher wes]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

I thought you guys considered yourselves some kind of special fans.

Apparently not.

It worked for Alaska and UNO. Just sayn.

Yeah, and how many fans total from each of those fanbases attended?

[SteveO]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Yeah, and how many fans total from each of those fanbases attended?

8 and 13 respectively, so 21 total. #extremelyspecialfans

[Tiggsy]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

So, should we blame Penn State for getting a hockey team and screwing it all up? Everything was fine until they came into the picture.

Yes. But don't forget that Barry Alvarez also deserves a majority of the blame too.

[Sterling Cooper]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

From what I read attendance for the B1G tourney dropped from 42,000 tickets sold in 2014, to 16K in 2015, and 15K in 2016. Whoever conceived of this central location swap between the X and Joe really laid an egg.

Move the ****ed thing to the United Center. It's centrally located for all the schools excepting PSU. All the schools, excepting PSU, have large local alumni bases. And, it removes the butthurt factor of Gopher fans refusing to travel to Detroit and UM/MSU fans refusing to travel to Minneapolis. Additionally, you can throw in Saint Patrick's Day activities to attract the students down. Hell, it couldn't be any worse than the current arrangement.

[gopher wes]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

8 and 13 respectively, so 21 total. #extremelyspecialfans

Probably about accurate which makes them the Denver and CC fans of the old Final Five. Keep trying.....

[alfablue]

Yeah, and how many fans total from each of those fanbases attended?

Who cares?

Jeez, I was just trying to suggest ways that it could have been better.

This B1G thing isn't going to change anytime soon, so we are stuck with each other whether you like it or not. Instead of constantly looking back, why can't we move forward?

[gopher wes]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Move the ****ed thing to the United Center. It's centrally located for all the schools excepting PSU. All the schools, excepting PSU, have large local alumni bases. And, it removes the butthurt factor of Gopher fans refusing to travel to Detroit and UM/MSU fans refusing to travel to Minneapolis. Additionally, you can throw in Saint Patrick's Day activities to attract the students down. Hell, it couldn't be any worse than the current arrangement.

Not a horrible idea.

The other thing is with Penn St being so new I don't think we could expect them to get in on the conference tournament thing right off the bat. Might have taken a few years but I bet they would have bought into the program if this format had continued. The beauty with Penn St is they don't have to worry about basketball conflicts. lol!

[aparch]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Yeah, and how many fans total from each of those fanbases attended?

Enough that the turnout was larger than last night (3,387) with Michigan playing and Ann Arbor just 40 minutes away...
Start of Super Six format:
2001-02 Thursday CCHA Quarterfinal - ND vs NMU / tOSU vs UA_ - 6,583
2002-03 Thursday CCHA Quarterfinal - NMU vs MSU / ND vs tOSU - 6,374
2003-04 Thursday CCHA Quarterfinal - NMU vs MSU / ND vs tOSU - 6,238
2004-05 Thursday CCHA Quarterfinal - NMU vs UA_ / MSU vs UNO - 3,436*
End of Super Six format.


* I wonder if they just split the attendance across both games. For all other Thursday CCHA Super Six games, there was no recorded attendance for the early game, only for the late game. Thursday (and Friday) were single day tickets, with your ticket getting you into both games. IF they did split the games, Thursday, March 17th, 2005 was 6,872.

[gopher wes]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Who cares?

Jeez, I was just trying to suggest ways that it could have been better.

This B1G thing isn't going to change anytime soon, so we are stuck with each other whether you like it or not. Instead of constantly looking back, why can't we move forward?

You're the one that brought them up! lol!

I agree, and I'm not looking back. You're the one sitting here whining about promotion and all that garbage. Maybe if the two closest schools to the Joe didn't suck so horribly this year, there'd be a few more people there this year. But apparently you needed all those other schools to help fill the Joe back in the day.....

[minnesotaprideonice46]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

IMHO.......the biggest reason for the ****** poor attendance to the BIG tourney is the simple fact that there is ZERO excitement at the games. In the days of the WCHA Final Five at the X, no matter what two teams were on the ice, the crowd was electric.......now, even if the Gophers are playing, the crowd is pretty laid back. BTN did huge disservice to college hockey in general.

[SteveO]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Yes. But don't forget that Barry Alvarez also deserves a majority of the blame too.

Shouldn't Terry Pegula take some of the blame too for gifting some of his fracking fortune back to his alma mater?

[gopher wes]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

In the days of the WCHA Final Five at the X, no matter what two teams were on the ice, the crowd was electric.......

That's just not true......

[alfablue]

You're the one that brought them up! lol!

I agree, and I'm not looking back. You're the one sitting here whining about promotion and all that garbage. Maybe if the two closest schools to the Joe didn't suck so horribly this year, there'd be a few more people there this year. But apparently you needed all those other schools to help fill the Joe back in the day.....

Whatever, dude.

[Hockeybuckeye]

Re: BTHC Tourney '17: The Stands May Be Empty, But The Games Still Matter

Yeah, and how many fans total from each of those fanbases attended?

I've seen a lot more of them than I have Gopher fans at the Joe. I'm not being a jerk, just stating facts.