Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

[Yuppie Scum]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

I'd gladly take a smaller local program, a Qpiac or Bentley, along with ND. Only fair to try and grow the sport. But that's not the way the Crack Baby Hockey Association works..

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

I'd gladly take a smaller local program, a Qpiac or Bentley, along with ND. Only fair to try and grow the sport. But that's not the way the Crack Baby Hockey Association works..

Bentley? Why not AIC?

[Yuppie Scum]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Bentley? Why not AIC?

Either way. Count me in the "Local first" camp.

[Priceless]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Neither is Notre Dame.

Believe me, we know.

My preference (while I like Notre Dame) would have been to leave the league at 10 teams.

This.

Now that we have 11 someone in Joe B's office better be suggesting that we look at staying at 11 teams for now. One reason is that if this game of musical chairs continues Notre Dame will be pushed one way or the other - if they choose the ACC, wonderful, hockey can stay. But if they go to the Integer then hockey goes too and we'd be back to 11 teams. Are we going to dilute the HEA brand and raid the ECAC or AHA for a 12th team? Another reason is that the season is about to start and the focus should be on the games, not wondering if HEA will add a 12th team and whether that team will come from the ECAC or AHA. Either get RPI by Friday (they've surely been talking all this time) or say that HEA is going to table the search until after the season.

I don't expect any of this to actually happen. HEA will add a 12th team, and add that team even if its during the season.

[CHFAN222]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

HE has strength in numbers though. The smart thing for the Conference to do would be to schedule a sort of HE vs NCHC/B10 confernce thing similar to what is done in college basketball now between conferences.

This would force those schools to have some play away games with some of the smaller HE schools.

It will also open up more possibilties for tournaments. A reducded conference schedule is really going to benefit BU, BC, and NU the most though since they already had a reduced number of NC games due to the beanpot.

[Priceless]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

When Hockey East accepted UVM, they had tradition

Forcing freshmen to do the Elephant Walk does not count as "tradition."

[irishfan85]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Forcing freshmen to do the Elephant Walk does not count as "tradition."

Very funny, not a UVM fan, but Tim Thomas, Marty St. Louis, Eric Perrin, John LeClair, etc, a trip to the Frozen Four, a great place to watch a hockey game, etc. That's tradition. One NCAA appearance where they got waxed by Cornell does not count as tradition nor does playing in front of 200 people and having no NCAA appearances or D1 anything count as tradition for Qpac and UConn.

[Federal League]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Just posted this on the BU thread, but here's my two cents on all this:

I really don't see how ND to HE can be a bad thing (unless this TV deal is going to give them some huge recruiting advantage over the rest of the league, which I don't think Bertagna would let happen). You're adding a program that has emerged as one of the best in the country in recent years and is showing no signs of just being a flash in the pan. New arena, loads of top recruits, NCAA success. Adding someone who can break the Big 4 stranglehold can't be a bad thing IMO.

I'm fine with RPI, too. They're close, they have a good hockey history, they have rivalries with a number of HE schools already. And while they haven't had quite the on-ice success that ND has had in recent years, they are certainly capable of being competitive year in, year out. They've landed some very good recruits in recent years and made NCAAs last year. Plus, 12 teams makes for easier scheduling than 11.

As for staying at 10 vs. expanding, I just don't think you can pass up a chance to add a program like ND (again, assuming ND isn't gonna get all kinds of preferential treatment). Plus, HE has wanted to cut back from 27 league games for a while, and expanding provides a very easy way to do it. The more non-conference games, the better IMO, especially for the top schools who can get other top schools into their buildings. Whether or not it ends up hurting some of the smaller schools who can't draw those big programs remains to be seen, but overall I just think this does a lot more good for the league than bad.

[Split-N]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

ND seems to be a done deal, Hockey East twitter account posted there is a 2:30 press conference tomorrow at ND.

https://twitter.com/#!/hockey_east

BGSU accepted WCHA invite, so team 12 would seem to be RPI.

A sad fate for a once-proud former national champ. In terms of institutional prestige, the re-worked WCHA looks to be inferior to Atlantic Hockey, having only one USNWR National University (Mich Tech #115). Guess the idea of staying in the CCHA and bringing in the full scholarship AHA schools didn't work out.

[J.D.]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Showing high-school and junior hockey games of recruits ND targets? TV ratings death. Never going to happen. Using valuable TV bandwidth to nationally televise every Notre Dame home game? Same thing as far as ratings death, who would do it?

The Longhorn Network was just an example. Obviously, the hypothetical I brought up simply involved ND getting its own national TV deal to broadcast their games. Not every game necessarily, but still a national package.

if versus wants to show ND games and signs a deal with them, that is their business. if versus wants to show HEA games and signs a deal with joe bag and ND takes 50% of the money, that is our business.

ND is looking for a conference. So, it's not just their business. If it was just their business, they'd already be in the NCHC. I'm just curious for some hard documentation as to what went wrong with ND and the NCHC.

Your lack of profit argument is completely irrelevant here. You're talking about the overall ratings--which you correctly point out aren't good. You need to worry about the people who DO watch. An example? Prospective college hockey players across the country. You can argue how much of an advantage ND would have if they secured a national deal. What you can't argue is that it it is still in fact an advantage.

[jcarter7669]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Forcing freshmen to do the Elephant Walk does not count as "tradition."

Interesting that was about the time that PC won a HE championship

[J.D.]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

I really don't see how ND to HE can be a bad thing (unless this TV deal is going to give them some huge recruiting advantage over the rest of the league, which I don't think Bertagna would let happen). You're adding a program that has emerged as one of the best in the country in recent years and is showing no signs of just being a flash in the pan. New arena, loads of top recruits, NCAA success. Adding someone who can break the Big 4 stranglehold can't be a bad thing IMO.

As for staying at 10 vs. expanding, I just don't think you can pass up a chance to add a program like ND (again, assuming ND isn't gonna get all kinds of preferential treatment). Plus, HE has wanted to cut back from 27 league games for a while, and expanding provides a very easy way to do it. The more non-conference games, the better IMO, especially for the top schools who can get other top schools into their buildings. Whether or not it ends up hurting some of the smaller schools who can't draw those big programs remains to be seen, but overall I just think this does a lot more good for the league than bad.

While I'm not really a fan of adding ND, no doubt, Hockey East is stronger for it. My stance all along is just that they have zero leverage, so why give in to demands that the NCHC wouldn't? Don't underestimate Bertagna's ability to e a fool either. That being said, I am very much in favor of dropping down to 22 league games.

[jcarter7669]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

I vote for UAH. Someone has to help the poor ******** out, and if you add one really strong team then you should add in another weaker team. I guess RPI fits that, but let's face it... they already have a home and I like gmorris way better then Red Cloud

[J.D.]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

On the topic of staying local, I'd rather add Alaska than Bentley or AIC.

[Tater]

Re: Hockey East 2011 - 2012 :

Believe me, we know.



Now that we have 11 someone in Joe B's office better be suggesting that we look at staying at 11 teams for now. One reason is that if this game of musical chairs continues Notre Dame will be pushed one way or the other - if they choose the ACC, wonderful, hockey can stay. But if they go to the Integer then hockey goes too and we'd be back to 11 teams. Are we going to dilute the HEA brand and raid the ECAC or AHA for a 12th team? Another reason is that the season is about to start and the focus should be on the games, not wondering if HEA will add a 12th team and whether that team will come from the ECAC or AHA. Either get RPI by Friday (they've surely been talking all this time) or say that HEA is going to table the search until after the season.

I don't expect any of this to actually happen. HEA will add a 12th team, and add that team even if its during the season.

I agree. I get the feeling that Notre Dame isn't with Hockey East in the long term. Next conference shuffle and they will be looking at other options. Seems like a forced fit when they are so far away geographically with the rest at Hockey East. Stay at 11 teams.