(01-28-2013 02:04 PM)7 Wrote:  Doesn't Northwestern have a women's lacrosse dynasty? Or am I confusing my sports?

Yep and the Lady Cats have won 7 national championships

Lacrosse is a sport that could actually bring in decent attendance with a reasonable start up cost. Make baseball an optional MAC sport and get Lacrosse started.

What does NIU have now for Lacrosse? A club-level team? When I was in school in the 80s one of the guys down the hall was on the Lacrosse team.

(01-28-2013 04:00 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  I'm just not convinced that a facility owned and operated by The Ohio State University, in a population center, and in a capital city with all its avenues for employment, is comparable to NIU and DeKalb / Sycamore.

Maybe it is? But I am not feeling it.

Fair enough but the concept also works in Oxford Ohio and Bowling Green Ohio

We went to the last game of the year today. Beat St. Louis University 5-3. Trailed 3-1 with 3 minutes left. NIU scored 3 in the last 3 minutes, all on long shots, added an ENG in the last minute to win 5-3. Near brawl after 0:00. This will be a destination next year when there are no Saturday games during FB season and after.

Ice rink was considered for the Convo but cost of installation and cost of maintenance put it out of budget..Little sources of revenue eg ice shows and hockey

Cut basketball and take Montgomery's 300k toward hockey


I heard they actually are pretty good. Not sure about this year saw the 7-2 post but a couple years ago when I was there they were beating decent teams

That's still not going to cover ice hockey costs. Basketball is far cheaper.

Hockey you have the ice, the boards, and then the ton of equipment they wear. It's a damn expensive sport.

(02-09-2013 11:06 PM)HuskieFan84 Wrote:  That's still not going to cover ice hockey costs. Basketball is far cheaper.

Hockey you have the ice, the boards, and then the ton of equipment they wear. It's a damn expensive sport.

These are facts, I just spent about $800 yesterday doing some long overdue upgrading and replacing of some of my gear. I didn't even get the top of the line stuff either...

My brother spends an average of $4000 per kid to play hockey. Ice time, travel espense, camps, equipment, private coach time, and hotel rooms will suck you dry. I doubt if DeKalb population has the means to support youth hockey at that level. If it did, somebody would have built a link.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Sycamore-Illinois.html
http://www.city-data.com/city/DeKalb-Illinois.html

As much as many of us would love to see NIU add hockey (would almost certainly outdraw hoops), Lacrosse would be a far less expensive alternative and since it's a fall sport it could supplement the dearth of fall Saturday daytime football games being played.

With 5 Huskie home games you know that the Sat 9/21 EIU home opener will be a night game, at least 1 of the Nov home games will be a night game and the season finale home game will be played the Friday after Tday (11/29) not Sat 11/30. That means there may only be 2 Saturday daytime home games this year. Lacrosse games on Saturday afternoons would be a great way to make up for that.

(02-10-2013 05:40 PM)Poliicious Wrote:  As much as many of us would love to see NIU add hockey (would almost certainly outdraw hoops), Lacrosse would be a far less expensive alternative and since it's a fall sport it could supplement the dearth of fall Saturday daytime football games being played.

With 5 Huskie home games you know that the Sat 9/21 EIU home opener will be a night game, at least 1 of the Nov home games will be a night game and the season finale home game will be played the Friday after Tday (11/29) not Sat 11/30. That means there may only be 2 Saturday daytime home games this year. Lacrosse games on Saturday afternoons would be a great way to make up for that.

I could get behind Lacrosse. Hockey is just way too difficult to fit in the budget.

(02-10-2013 05:40 PM)Poliicious Wrote:  As much as many of us would love to see NIU add hockey (would almost certainly outdraw hoops), Lacrosse would be a far less expensive alternative and since it's a fall sport it could supplement the dearth of fall Saturday daytime football games being played.

Lacrosse games on Saturday afternoons would be a great way to make up for that.

Why don't you make up for those free Saturday (or Sunday 1 pm) free times by getting behind a Huskie men's soccer program that is hosting a national powerhouse (Akron) every other year in addition to facing four or five other ranked programs.

Plus there's no way a winning basketball program isn't going to outdraw a winning hockey program, so let's hope our hoops program gets better rather than even entertaining the notion of a hockey program that is so financially unfeasible. For everyone so amped about seeing hockey, go online, find the schedule, and go watch the current NIU club programs. They can use your support.

(02-10-2013 05:40 PM)Poliicious Wrote:  As much as many of us would love to see NIU add hockey (would almost certainly outdraw hoops), Lacrosse would be a far less expensive alternative and since it's a fall sport it could supplement the dearth of fall Saturday daytime football games being played.

With 5 Huskie home games you know that the Sat 9/21 EIU home opener will be a night game, at least 1 of the Nov home games will be a night game and the season finale home game will be played the Friday after Tday (11/29) not Sat 11/30. That means there may only be 2 Saturday daytime home games this year. Lacrosse games on Saturday afternoons would be a great way to make up for that.

We cannot...we host the IHSA championships on 11/29 and 11/30 this year.

If we have a home game that week it will be Tuesday night 11/26 or Wednesday afternoon 11/27. If not then it will be an away game.

...but you are likely correct with your point.

(01-29-2013 10:39 AM)Poliicious Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 04:24 AM)Spudskie Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 02:17 AM)NIU17 Wrote:  

(01-26-2013 07:42 PM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  I wish they could have a school sponsored D1 team. I know the Hockey club has been around for a while and has had some success.

We would suck at hockey every year if we had a D1 team. No good players would want to play for NIU. Illinois isn't exactly a hockey hotbed, and what players from other states would want to go to NIU for hockey.

We have quite a few Chicagoland high schools that have hockey. Having the Blackhawks (and let's not forget the Wolves and Rockford Ice Hogs) be successful can only increase hockey's footprint. I believe if NIU ever fields a D1 team, you would see quite a few high school players come here.

I hope it happens someday and I believe we can be successful. And just imagine Bill Baker calling a game!

Illinois is 5th or 6th in Division 1 hockey players produced behind only Minny, MS, MI & MY (about tied with PA), I have no doubt the state could support at least 1 good program.

That's funny. I never would have thought that Mississippi would be fertile ground for developing hockey players.