The end of leagues as we know?

[bigmrg74]

MAC > Detroit Public School League > GLIAC

Yeah, but at least our alumni don't have to buy excess tickets to all the football just so they can report an average attendance of 15,001 to the NCAA every year just to be a punching bag for the Big Ten football programs.

[GoBeavers]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

und and du are dead to me. I hold season tickets (for now) my seats will be empty for those games.

[bigblue_dl]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

50 years of tradition, pissed down the drain in two months of greed and panic.

Not to mention 8 national championships. Gone. To put that in perspective, UND, DU and the B1G mistake just killed what would be the equivalent of Kansas, Connecticut, Ohio State and Georgetown in college basketball.

[4four4]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

OK - I guess I don't get it. These leagues realize that in general 1/2 the teams finish below .500 and somebody must be last each year? They also realize that there is still only one autobid per conference?

The B1G mistake

They have OSU and Penn State (5 & 6) as punching bags and MSU (normally 4th but occasionally 1,2 or 3) will be up and down as it was in the CCHA probably a bit more down. Then looking at the consistency track records Michigan will be 1 or 2 every year with Wisco and the Goofers fighting for the occasional 1 but most 2 & 3.

Historically when Michigan was in the WCHA they were not always number 1. In this new league Minnesota historically will be fighting for number one with Michigan. This will not be Michigan winning the conference every year like their CCHA days.

[NMU8405]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Not to mention 8 national championships. Gone. To put that in perspective, UND, DU and the B1G mistake just killed what would be the equivalent of Kansas, Connecticut, Ohio State and Georgetown in college basketball.

I hope the AD's from the remaining schools, Atlantic, Hockey East and the ECAC get together and refuse to schedule non conf games against the Big 10 and "Super League" schools.

[beaverhockeyfan]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Yes, UAH probably gets a home out of all of these changes.

And, with this new alignment there's:

a conference for start-ups to join,

Okay, so this is supposed to open the door for expansion. Where will teams go?

Big Ten: In order to get in that league, you have to be a Big Ten Member. So, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern and Nebraska, here is your invite.

The Super League: The whole reasoning coming out of these schools is that they want to associate with like schools. So, you will need to have an arena, money and probably full D-I status to make it into this league.

The Leftovers: This league (or leagues) would probably take anyone that would come into the College Hockey Landscape. But, just as we saw with the CHA, very few, if any, schools wanted to start up programs and be affiliated with those schools and travel. Most of these schools lie around the Great Lakes, so if a start up wants to cut travel, it will have to be in the same geographical area. Right now, you are already looking at a 14-16 hour bus trip from the Minnesota Schools to Ferris State or Bowling Green. Alabama-Huntsville is looking at the same type of bus trip to Ferris, and even more to the UP or Minnesota schools

[cross cheque]

und and du are dead to me. I hold season tickets (for now) my seats will be empty for those games.

Very understandable, how much do you want for the UND series tix?

[Shirtless Guy]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Historically when Michigan was in the WCHA they were not always number 1. In this new league Minnesota historically will be fighting for number one with Michigan. This will not be Michigan winning the conference every year like their CCHA days.

No one gives a **** about that part of things...you can all go **** yourselves for thinking College Hockey will ever be more than niche sport and ****ing on all of your sister colleges in Minnesota and Michigan.

[NMU8405]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

Very understandable, how much do you want for the UND series tix?

The new commish for this league should just dress like Hitler, since its pretty much being run by a Hitler supporter.

[GoBeavers]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

They will sit empty...and i i"m calling other fans to do the same.

Very understandable, how much do you want for the UND series tix?

[First Time, Long Time]

Schools like SCSU and MSU-Mankato were given a shot when they joined the WCHA (and I remember when each joined).

Why haven't they developed "fly on their own" programs? Or is it just easier to ride along in a league.

SCSU and MSU-M should be ****ed at themselves. The only one I feel sorry for is BSU.

Great shot at what?
Neither area has much in local media to cover it and unlike UND, they are close enough to the cities that people can do other things.
Both schools are also beholden to the state in terms of budget, which gets smaller nearly every year.
SCSU is ready to start renovating their arena and can't because the Minnesota government is shut down.
You don't like St. Cloud because of the nickname issue, so it's not like you are unbiased here.

[bigmrg74]

I can't say I'm a fan of this new conference idea. I really wish this was just a move to remove Bruce McLeod as WCHA commissioner. The WCHA without him would be a step up just from his removal alone.

One thing I notice is everyone vilifying UND and pitting all the blame/pending doom of college hockey on UND. Say what you want but this all directly precipitated from the formation of BTHC. The formation lead the other power WCHA schools into a panic in regards to remaining competitive etc. etc.(reasons that have been listed numerous times)

There are many schools involved that can be blamed yet all I see is people mainly blaming the messenger.

Whether this panic is actually warranted or not, I don't know and I'm not going to argue about it.

In the end, I think all of this is bull**** and I'd rather not see this "super conference" come to fruition.

That, and I really don't see what the benefit to UND would be in this super league. Sure, they might get the Irish, but they would also be getting a lot of long *** road trips as well. And most of them in the super league would be pushing it for a bus trip. If they keep the WCHA together with the Minnesota nucleus of Bemidji, Mankato, St. Cloud, and Duluth, then they've got a league with a lot of easy bus trips for them to make. Plus, with all of that talk of the Ralph hosting a conference tournament, they would get better attendance with schools closer to them around. Heck, short of the Irish, I would say that the sioux are holding the best cards at the table here, and Denver doesnt have diddly.

[4four4]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

No one gives a **** about that part of things...you can all go **** yourselves for thinking College Hockey will ever be more than niche sport and ****ing on all of your sister colleges in Minnesota and Michigan.

Weiner, please stop putting words in my mouth.

[CC BlackBears]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

I'm very sad about the sheer number of teams that this move is going to leave out in the cold. I'm of the opinion that the WCHA could have and would have survived easily without the B10 teams, which makes this even harder to swallow.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited that CC will be playing in such a strong conference, but it's hard to be happy about this development when you consider that even in the best case scenario, this move will almost certainly cost some schools their teams.

As someone who grew up as a Maine fan in the 90's when the college hockey landscape was so different, it's especially sad to think about what will happen to teams like Lake Superior State and Michigan Tech, to name a few, that have storied histories and have been perennial contenders in the past. I hope that whatever happens with the remaining teams from the CCHA and WCHA, they'll be able to continue recruiting, strengthen their teams, and compete with the new conferences in the coming years, because the thought of this many teams being thrown to the wolves while the top teams form their elite clubs does not sit right with me at all.

[bronconick]

Re: The end of leagues as we know?

How does Western make the cut? They have one good year and somebody wants them?

We're able to scrounge up enough nickels to pay our soon to be NHL assistant coach $275,000 per year despite being in Michigan. You've been operating on the same travel budget for over a decade. You don't exactly have a lot of potential right now.

Edit: We're not in anyway, yet.