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  • A Call to Arms.....

    Saddle Up! Lock and Load!

    Well, as we all know, the one thing that might herald the arrival of the Dreaded BTHC happened last week, and now everybody is reading the tea leaves about what happens next. There's a lot of people at some of the schools that would clearly be reduced to being college hockey mid-majors overnight if the Big Ten Schools become their own conference. A lot of people fear it will be a subtraction by addition, as there's a few schools that could throw in the towel if the Big Ten schools don't make yearly visits to their arena's.

    Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Lake Superior State, Ferris State, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State-Mankato, Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, Nebraska-Omaha, Alaska-Anchorage, Alaska-Fairbanks, Alabama-Huntsville, Colorado College, Denver, North Dakota, Western Michigan, Bowling Green, Miami and Notre Dame are all not going to be not in the BTHC. These schools are all nervous about their future. Well, I'm here to tell you, its time to stop crying about what's going to happen, and to start doing something to plan for it.

    The time is now to start raising a ruckus among your schools administration and athletic departments. Send them emails and letters asking them about what they are doing, and what you can do to help. And not just the head Athletic Director, but all of his underlings, and his or hers personal secretary as well. Get in touch with the hockey booster club and ask them what they know, and how much they've been giving to the school. Ask them if they've been asking the same questions we've all been asking here. And at the smaller schools who's athletic departments are pretty much funded by the hockey team, get in touch with the basketball, football, and other athletic boosters as well. They should be nervous about a possible lack of funds coming into the athletic department as well. Don't forget about the local advertisers in your schools community as well. Make noise up the local political food chain as well.

    Give what you can to the athletic departments. Most of these schools should already have athletic endowments that go towards the hockey programs, and if not, well, that's something you should be asking the Boosters about. If its just 20 bucks, its 20 bucks. The interest from that 20 bucks will always be there, and ideally, a lot more people from your school will be pitching in their 20 bucks as well, adding all up.

    Don't forget who you guys are! Each and every one of the schools listed above here can probably rattle off a few times they've gone into one of the Big Ten School's barn, and whipped them down one end of the ice and up another. Buy some more school swag, and encourage more of your students and fans to do the same. The days of some kid at your school being able to walk into the student section wearing the colors of the BT school need to be OVER!!! I'm not saying get physically violent with them, but ideally, be a bit more militant about wearing your school colors. Ideally, things should be so that their friends see them outside of the arena and they tell em that they're not going in there with them if they're wearing that hat, shirt or jersey that they got from Wal-Mart.

    And lastly, this is for those that can, and for those that want to see these schools continue on. You need to go to the games at their barns. It may be for some of you that have moved away from your school to go to your schools games at the BT schools, but your school doesn't get anything from having your butt there. They need your butt there to buy seats and eating from the concessions, and buying 50-50 tickets from the volleyball, swimming or track teams. Drag as many people as you can to those games. If you're lucky enough to still live near your school and can afford it, get season tickets and try to always get an extra ticket, so that you can drag that extra friend along with you.

    If you're a fan of say one of the bigger schools go ahead and get more people to road trip to the games at some of the smaller schools. Get in touch with the booster club and even the student fan group of your school as well, see if somebody can put together a bus or organize a few vans to caravan out to some of the other schools. I've road tripped out to a few hockey schools myself in a big passenger van before; North Dakota, Bentley, Mercyhurst, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan and Duluth, and I'm going to tell you, if you can't have fun on a weekend road trip, then you're just an old stick in the mud. Some of my best college memories where made while in a back seat of a van with a bunch of friends all around me, or while going into the local bar there with our colors on and talking a little smack with the locals. It great fun for any sports fan. Spend money at those games, at the bar, and let the locals know why you're there.

    Its not going to be easy now with these BTHC barbarians gathering outside of the gates of the respective conferences to tear out the Big Ten schools. Its likely to happen, but its not going to happen for a while yet. And maybe if enough fuss is made, the BTHC can be held off for perhaps another generation. The longer the BTHC takes to form, the better off the smaller schools should be, as long as they take great care in building up their own personal war-chests to get them to the point where they can continue to sustain themselves without needing to have Big Ten Schools come to their barns. If everybody that's currently in NCAA D1 college hockey continues to field a program, then whatever conferences that form out of the aftermath of the BTHC will thrive, and just might have room to let in a few more schools as well.

    All of these schools are now pretty much in the same boat. The fight to save your programs from a long slow death starts now. Doing at least something now beats sitting around and watching the slow death happen. Just one of the schools dropping hurts everybody else. Now is the time to man a post if you want to save your school's hockey program. I for one, would rather see y'all go down swinging, than going out with a whimper. I'm just one crazy sports nut who just wishes his school could add hockey, but if there's no viable conference for my school to join, then its never going to happen for me. There's not much I myself can really do, but I sure as hell wanna do at least something. All I wanna know here is, who else is ready to do Something?
    bueller: Why is the sunset good? Why are boobs good? Why does Positrack work? Why does Ferris lose on the road and play dead at home?

    It just happens.


    nmupiccdiva: I'm sorry I missed you this weekend! I thought I saw you at the football game, but I didn't want to go up to a complete stranger and ask "are you Monster?" and have it not be you!

    leswp1: you need the Monster to fix you

    Life is active, find Balance!massage therapy Ann Arbor

  • #2
    Re: A Call to Arms.....

    Originally posted by bigmrg74 View Post
    Its not going to be easy now with these BTHC barbarians gathering outside of the gates of the respective conferences to tear out the Big Ten schools. Its likely to happen, but its not going to happen for a while yet. And maybe if enough fuss is made, the BTHC can be held off for perhaps another generation.
    This is cute. Naive, but cute.
    "...the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found."

    Wisconsin '05 Michigan '07

    http://noalibisnoregrets.blogspot.com/

    my other blog

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: A Call to Arms.....

      Admit it, you giggled.
      Keep an open mind. Just don't be so open-minded that your brain falls out.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: A Call to Arms.....

        Originally posted by blockski View Post
        This is cute. Naive, but cute.
        Hey, do I want the BTHC to happen, not really. But hell, the date getting tossed around right now for it is 2014. If it could be at least held off another year or 3, it at least gives the other schools a chance at building themselves up to the point where they can sustain themselves in D1 Hockey. If the BTHC can be held off to say 2020, then those smaller schools should have a fighting chance at that goal. But all in out stopping the BTHC isn't the point of this thread, its about making sure the smaller schools do the things that they need to do to survive post-BTHC.
        bueller: Why is the sunset good? Why are boobs good? Why does Positrack work? Why does Ferris lose on the road and play dead at home?

        It just happens.


        nmupiccdiva: I'm sorry I missed you this weekend! I thought I saw you at the football game, but I didn't want to go up to a complete stranger and ask "are you Monster?" and have it not be you!

        leswp1: you need the Monster to fix you

        Life is active, find Balance!massage therapy Ann Arbor

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: A Call to Arms.....

          When I go to bed at night, I check under the bed and in the closet for the BTHC. It's scary.
          Keep an open mind. Just don't be so open-minded that your brain falls out.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: A Call to Arms.....

            Ok, I'll do my part.

            Please don't form the BTHC.

            Did that do anything?
            tUMD is Jan Brady per Brenthoven. Whew.... thanks for clearing THAT up.

            Best USCHO quotes to date:

            "UND/DU will realize that their party sucks, because the easterners only want to drink Zima." - BPH

            "It is too bad that aaron marvin was a senior so he can't go after the rest of the sioux". - bigblue_dl

            "I would rather play the blackhawks than you right now." - dogs2012

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            • #7
              Re: A Call to Arms.....

              Western Bias!!!

              What about the BTHC fallout on Eastern schools?

              If the sport is to grow, we need smaller conferences. As others have said, the BTHC is the catalyst for hockey change.
              CCT '77 & '78
              4 kids
              5 grandsons (BCA 7/09, CJA 5/14, JDL 8/14, JFL 6/16, PJL 7/18)
              1 granddaughter (EML 4/18)

              ”Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
              - Benjamin Franklin

              Banned from the St. Lawrence University Facebook page - March 2016 (But I got better).

              I want to live forever. So far, so good.

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              • #8
                Re: A Call to Arms.....

                Originally posted by joecct View Post
                Western Bias!!!

                What about the BTHC fallout on Eastern schools?

                If the sport is to grow, we need smaller conferences. As others have said, the BTHC is the catalyst for hockey change.
                Maybe, but 6 is too small. If they can get two more teams, I'm ok (not thrilled) with an 8 team conference, but to take away the biggest draws for two conferences for a 6-team conference is a joke.
                tUMD is Jan Brady per Brenthoven. Whew.... thanks for clearing THAT up.

                Best USCHO quotes to date:

                "UND/DU will realize that their party sucks, because the easterners only want to drink Zima." - BPH

                "It is too bad that aaron marvin was a senior so he can't go after the rest of the sioux". - bigblue_dl

                "I would rather play the blackhawks than you right now." - dogs2012

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: A Call to Arms.....

                  bigmrg74, this is a wonderful idea, and I applaud you for spearheading this. After we are successful, and the BTHC is halted, would you be willing to lead up a task force to have reasoned, heart to heart discussions with the Canadian Major Junior teams, to get them to reassess their recruitment practices?
                  RPI Pep Band Ex-Ex-Ex-...-Ex Conductor

                  RPI Hockey 1954, 1985
                  UConn Basketball 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: A Call to Arms.....

                    Originally posted by SCSU Euro View Post
                    Ok, I'll do my part.

                    Please don't form the BTHC.

                    Did that do anything?
                    Lt. Weinberg: "I strenuously object?" Is that how it works? Hm? "Objection." "Overruled." "Oh, no, no, no. No, I STRENUOUSLY object." "Oh. Well, if you strenuously object then I should take some time to reconsider."
                    Never really developed a taste for tequila. Kind of hard to understand how you make a drink out of something that sharp, inhospitable. Now, bourbon is easy to understand.
                    Tastes like a warm summer day. -Raylan Givens

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                    • #11
                      Re: A Call to Arms.....

                      Great, I was just thinking we needed more whining about this...
                      "It's as if the Drumpf Administration is made up of the worst and unfunny parts of the Cleveland Browns, Washington Generals, and the alien Mon-Stars from Space Jam."
                      -aparch

                      "Scenes in "Empire Strikes Back" that take place on the tundra planet Hoth were shot on the present-day site of Ralph Engelstad Arena."
                      -INCH

                      Of course I'm a fan of the Vikings. A sick and demented Masochist of a fan, but a fan none the less.
                      -ScoobyDoo 12/17/2007

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: A Call to Arms.....

                        What? North Dakota will be just fine.

                        You don't even have a horse in this race....
                        Jordan Kawaguchi for Hobey!!
                        Originally posted by Quizmire
                        mns, this is why i love you.

                        Originally posted by Markt
                        MNS - forking genius.

                        Originally posted by asterisk hat
                        MNS - sometimes you gotta answer your true calling. I think yours is being a pimp.

                        Originally posted by hockeybando
                        I am a fan of MNS.

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                        • #13
                          Re: A Call to Arms.....

                          Originally posted by SCSU Euro View Post
                          Maybe, but 6 is too small. If they can get two more teams, I'm ok (not thrilled) with an 8 team conference, but to take away the biggest draws for two conferences for a 6-team conference is a joke.
                          I agree, I think the rumored 2014 date we're hearing is going to a Big Ten Championship, much like the Ivies do. But Until there's at least 8 teams chances of the Big 10 sponsoring hockey are slim. And even further- probably until there's not just 8 team and 3 of them brand new NCAA teams.

                          Also Penn State adding DI hockey didnt get 10 seconds on ESPN Friday, I was watching ESPN and studying for exam most of Friday afternoon and everytime they said "breaking news" my ears perked up, it was just about football junk.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: A Call to Arms.....

                            Originally posted by MinnesotaNorthStar View Post
                            What? North Dakota will be just fine.

                            You don't even have a horse in this race....
                            Yeah, UND will be fine, but they're going to need teams that remain viable enough to be big enough draws to fill the Ralph on a nitely basis. Sioux fans are smart, they'll stop coming to games if it looks like UND is playing in a conference full of Minnesota-Crookston's.
                            bueller: Why is the sunset good? Why are boobs good? Why does Positrack work? Why does Ferris lose on the road and play dead at home?

                            It just happens.


                            nmupiccdiva: I'm sorry I missed you this weekend! I thought I saw you at the football game, but I didn't want to go up to a complete stranger and ask "are you Monster?" and have it not be you!

                            leswp1: you need the Monster to fix you

                            Life is active, find Balance!massage therapy Ann Arbor

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: A Call to Arms.....

                              I am not going to read all of this, way too many words. However, I was really glad to see that this was another BTHC thread.

                              Comment

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