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2018 B1G Tournament

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  • #16
    Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

    Originally posted by MavHockey14 View Post
    The WCHA Final Five prior to conference realignment was the best college hockey tournament held. It’s a shame that’ll never happen again, but St. Paul was all WCHA for three full days and it was filled with college hockey fans.
    And then those years where the tournament overlapped with St. Patrick's Day - wow!
    "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." George Orwell, 1984

    "One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its Black Gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust, the very air you breathe is a poisonous fume." Boromir

    "Good news! We have a delivery." Professor Farnsworth

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    • #17
      Originally posted by St. Clown View Post
      And then those years where the tournament overlapped with St. Patrick's Day - wow!
      Like this year’s calendar does with the NCHC down at the X. Fun, fun times. Not to mention the GPL/USCHO tailgate.. those were the days!
      AF 99

      M-A-V-E-R-I-C-K-S, MAVERICKS, MAVERICKS, GOOOOO STATE!

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      • #18
        Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

        Originally posted by MavHockey14 View Post
        The WCHA Final Five prior to conference realignment was the best college hockey tournament held.
        Well I think OURS was the best hockey tournament, LOL! But the point is we both felt we had great tournament format and fan experiences in our old conferences.
        Heck, Fred Pletsch the former CCHA Commissioner works for the B1G nowadays as the on ice & play by play guy and he could certainly tell the B1G how to do it right by the fans - if they ever care to ask him!

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        • #19
          Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

          Originally posted by Hockeybuckeye View Post
          Well I think OURS was the best hockey tournament, LOL! But the point is we both felt we had great tournament format and fan experiences in our old conferences.
          Heck, Fred Pletsch the former CCHA Commissioner works for the B1G nowadays as the on ice & play by play guy and he could certainly tell the B1G how to do it right by the fans - if they ever care to ask him!
          We've discussed this in years past and I hate to beat it to death but I'm not sure what the B1G could have really promoted to gain more attendance. You've mentioned signs and banners around town and the arena. And I know you've also mentioned a booth set up at B1G arenas throughout the season. I'm sorry, I just don't think those things alone are going to make the average fan say "Hey, I think I'm going to the Big Ten Hockey Tournament!". Would it help a little? Maybe. But I don't think it would have been enough to keep it working in St Paul and Detroit IMO.

          The thing that worked about the CCHA and WCHA conference tournaments was the proximity of the usual players in the tournament. For the WCHA you almost always had UND or Minnesota in it, that right there would give you the majority of your attendance. If you got both of those teams in, you're set. Add in a St Cloud, UMD, or Wisconsin and that's just a bonus. I assume the same was the case for the CCHA. If you get Michigan or Michigan St in, you're off to a great start. Throw in another Michigan team and you're probably golden with Columbus and South Bend not being outrageous drives. Both conferences had their outliers with Omaha back in the day of the CCHA, the Colorado schools for the WCHA, and both had an Alaska school. But again, with the proximity you had for the usual players, you didn't really have to promote anything.
          "It ain't over, baby! And that took only six seconds!"

          USCHO gives me another reason to not do work while I am at work.

          Everything is Hill's fault.....

          "Hakstol you hack!!!!"

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          • #20
            Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

            The other big thing, IMO, for the Final Five was the large number of UND fans that live in the Twin Cities. It's not like all those fan were making the trek from Grand Forks. Same with Wisconsin fans to a smaller extent. I can only assume that you have a decent number of Michigan and Michigan St fans in the Detroit area where you don't have a ton of fans who need to legitimately travel for the tournament.
            "It ain't over, baby! And that took only six seconds!"

            USCHO gives me another reason to not do work while I am at work.

            Everything is Hill's fault.....

            "Hakstol you hack!!!!"

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

              Originally posted by gopher wes View Post
              We've discussed this in years past and I hate to beat it to death but I'm not sure what the B1G could have really promoted to gain more attendance. You've mentioned signs and banners around town and the arena. And I know you've also mentioned a booth set up at B1G arenas throughout the season. I'm sorry, I just don't think those things alone are going to make the average fan say "Hey, I think I'm going to the Big Ten Hockey Tournament!". Would it help a little? Maybe. But I don't think it would have been enough to keep it working in St Paul and Detroit IMO.

              The thing that worked about the CCHA and WCHA conference tournaments was the proximity of the usual players in the tournament. For the WCHA you almost always had UND or Minnesota in it, that right there would give you the majority of your attendance. If you got both of those teams in, you're set. Add in a St Cloud, UMD, or Wisconsin and that's just a bonus. I assume the same was the case for the CCHA. If you get Michigan or Michigan St in, you're off to a great start. Throw in another Michigan team and you're probably golden with Columbus and South Bend not being outrageous drives. Both conferences had their outliers with Omaha back in the day of the CCHA, the Colorado schools for the WCHA, and both had an Alaska school. But again, with the proximity you had for the usual players, you didn't really have to promote anything.
              Beating the very dead horse, but we had UM, MSU, and OSU regardless. And fans around here are also happy to see your team play any of those. So at a bare minimum, it should have been really easy to replicate the low attendance CCHA tournaments. But the B1G didn't even try to make sure everyone knew, or promote anything. So when it came to the games, it was a tiny fraction of the worst CCHA tournaments. Should have been a pretty easy draw for some, but nobody even knew it was going on.

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              • #22
                Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

                Obviously the success of the CCHA & WCHA conference tournaments were the fact that it was so regional to most of the member schools. The Majority of the CCHA schools were in Michigan and 3 in Ohio so no big deal driving to Detroit. The odd men out were Nebraska-Omaha and poor Alaska-Fairbanks!
                It was greatly appreciated how well the CCHA & WCHA conferences took care of and appreciated the fans because lets face it, without us why would there be sports teams?
                Maybe because we were so well taken care of at those tournaments the starkly bare by comparison B1G Tournament left many frustrated and downright angry! With a conference spread out across half the country there's no way to have a central or single tournament location that wouldn't be a giant pain in the a*s for many fans to get to.

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                • #23
                  Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

                  So long as the Big 10 remains at 7 teams, I think the only logical way to run the tournament is as follows:

                  Two week format. The first week, #1 seed receives a bye, and the second week #1 hosts the championship weekend at their rink (semifinals and finals).

                  Week one sees 3-team group play, where #2 and #3 seeds each host (#2 hosts #4, #7; #3 hosts #5, #6).
                  The host team plays Fri and Sun, the other teams play the Sat game.
                  Group winners advance and play each other in the first semifinal game the following weekend.
                  The best 2nd place team out of the two groups goes on and plays the overall #1 seed in the 2nd semifinal the following weekend.
                  In the case of a tie between the two 2nd-place group finishers, there will be no tie-break. Instead, both will travel to the championship weekend and engage in a shootout prior to the semifinal game with the #1 overall seed. Winner of the shootout will advance to the semifinal game which will be played immediately following the commencement of the shootout (after warm-ups, of course).
                  Last edited by Stauber1; 03-01-2018, 08:49 PM.

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                  • #24
                    Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

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                    • #25
                      Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

                      Instead of trying to figure out what the attendance issue was about everyone needs to realize that college hockey is a niche sport. The lack of attendance could also be partially blamed on the B1G for lack of PR. All in all it's a niche sport issue though.
                      Originally posted by alfablue
                      Still bitter, eh? Gotta get over it someday. He left, and UMICH was right.
                      Originally posted by Nick Papagiorgio
                      I think Notre Dame should wear sparkly silver helmets to match all their runner-up trophies.

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                      • #26
                        Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

                        Originally posted by SteveO View Post
                        Is there reseeding?
                        Originally posted by alfablue
                        Still bitter, eh? Gotta get over it someday. He left, and UMICH was right.
                        Originally posted by Nick Papagiorgio
                        I think Notre Dame should wear sparkly silver helmets to match all their runner-up trophies.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

                          Originally posted by UMICH View Post
                          Is there reseeding?
                          Notre Dame plays lowest remaining seed after first round with the remaining two playing each other with the higher rank of the two hosting.

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                          • #28
                            Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

                            Originally posted by SteveO View Post
                            First round is great.

                            But having one game a weekend for two weekends??? Hm. Sure, the crowd for the ONE game will likely be really good, but 3 games over two weeks?

                            I really think a final 4 for the B1G is best in the long run. Fans here come out to see Wisconsin and Minnesota play us, so given the right set up, I have little doubt that the Michigan crowds that came to CCHA tournaments would go to Detroit. Given how OSU and Notre Dame is playing, I'd give their crowd the same min to show up at the Pizzarena. Conversely, I've seen some of the games where Minnesota hosted Michigan, and see the same thing for them- so I'd expect the same from them at the X.

                            Without running the numbers, my theory is that Minnesota at the X and UM, MSU, OSU, and ND is more than enough of a baseline at each location to be better than what the B1G got for those 4 seasons.

                            In other words, yes, it's a niche sport, but we KNOW there's more than enough support for the WCHA and CCHA that we should have a fine final 4. But we will see how long this one game a weekend thing goes. I think it takes a lot of momentum out of a weekend.

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                            • #29
                              Originally posted by alfablue View Post
                              First round is great.

                              But having one game a weekend for two weekends??? Hm. Sure, the crowd for the ONE game will likely be really good, but 3 games over two weeks?

                              I really think a final 4 for the B1G is best in the long run. Fans here come out to see Wisconsin and Minnesota play us, so given the right set up, I have little doubt that the Michigan crowds that came to CCHA tournaments would go to Detroit. Given how OSU and Notre Dame is playing, I'd give their crowd the same min to show up at the Pizzarena. Conversely, I've seen some of the games where Minnesota hosted Michigan, and see the same thing for them- so I'd expect the same from them at the X.

                              Without running the numbers, my theory is that Minnesota at the X and UM, MSU, OSU, and ND is more than enough of a baseline at each location to be better than what the B1G got for those 4 seasons.

                              In other words, yes, it's a niche sport, but we KNOW there's more than enough support for the WCHA and CCHA that we should have a fine final 4. But we will see how long this one game a weekend thing goes. I think it takes a lot of momentum out of a weekend.
                              Niche sport or not, the Big 10 made it crystal clear that growing the fan base is not a priority when it became apparent that BTN isn’t broadcasting a single first round tournament game this weekend. (The Gophers had to jump through hoops to even get their games on tv via a regional cable outlet) and the rest of us are screwed (or stuck paying extra for the BTN “plus” feed.) Sure some of us diehards will do that, but that sure doesn’t draw new hockey fans into the excitement of college hockey in the postseason who aren’t going to buy a premium service to watch games that BTN said would be a big part of their programming when the network started. They have a ton of alternate feeds that they use regularly in football season, so just because the conference pulled their NYC basketball tournament nonsense is no excuse for the entire first round of the league’s hockey tournament to be blacked out by their own cable network.

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                              • #30
                                Re: 2018 B1G Tournament

                                Originally posted by klbaum1077 View Post
                                I love the best of 3 first round. I think the 2nd round should be best of 3 if your going to use a 3 week format. You are putting your #1 seed at a disadvantage, they are not afforded a loss like the 3 first round winners got. I would prefer sending the final 4 teams to the #1 seeds place and do it in 1 weekend. This would allow you 1 more week of non league play and finish the conference season 1 week later.
                                Wow, these are my thoughts exactly. Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't you a Buckeye? The fact that we agree on something might mean things are coming to an end!
                                Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.

                                If your actions speak louder than words, you're not yelling loud enough. - Stephen Colbert

                                You build. You paddle. You stand in awe of what your hands have made. - Pygmy Boats

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