(03-29-2015 05:38 PM)DexterDevil Wrote:  You guys think the reason why College baseball in the south is so popular because of the lack of pro Baseball teams? I know of people from North Carolina to Arkansas to Kentucky who are all Atlanta fans with no actual ties to the city or even Georgia.

Until MLB expanded into Florida (with 2 franchises that draw poorly) Atlanta was the only MLB franchise in the entire Southeastern US. Same with the NFL, until expansion of the league placed teams in Nashville, North Carolina, Jacksonville ; the NFL was almost non existent in the Southeast with franchises only in Miami(with the Dolphins success they have done well there) Tampa Bay (done ok) Atlanta (Falcons have been a failure) in any region with few pro sports teams, interest in college sports is greater.

(03-29-2015 07:50 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(03-29-2015 05:30 PM)gosports1 Wrote:  one interesting point, traditionally northern sports like hockey and Lacrosse are growing in popularity while baseballs popularity is shrinking

Lax facilities are available anywhere football and soccer fields are.

Hockey has special needs, that are frequently not available even in Northern States like Pa, OH, IN, IL, and IA. The cost to participate and the transportation time is out of most families budgets, except where outdoor ice is available for several months.

Ice Hockey participation has grown in Illinois as football participation has dropped. Many more High Schools have hockey teams than 20-30 years ago and the Chicago Black hawks help sponsor a State High School Title game. UIC used to have a team but UIC doesn't draw for any of the sports they play

The only Minnesota State I've ever heard of...

(03-31-2015 06:36 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  The only Minnesota State I've ever heard of...

Any hockey fan will know who Minnesota St is, shows the difference in culture eh.

(03-31-2015 07:18 AM)DexterDevil Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 06:36 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  The only Minnesota State I've ever heard of...

Any hockey fan will know who Minnesota St is, shows the difference in culture eh.

True. I think it's best summarized with this map.

(03-31-2015 06:36 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  The only Minnesota State I've ever heard of...

There is actually two Minnesota State - xxxx now.

Mankato and Moorhead. The Vikings training camp is at Mankato's football facilities. Moorhead wanted to start hockey, but couldn't raise $30 mill.

St Cloud St, Bemidji St, Winona St, and Southwest St could all be Minnesota States too.

(03-31-2015 07:21 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 07:18 AM)DexterDevil Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 06:36 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  The only Minnesota State I've ever heard of...

Any hockey fan will know who Minnesota St is, shows the difference in culture eh.

True. I think it's best summarized with this map.

Too small.
http://billsportsmaps.com/wp-content/upl...nces_n.gif

Ah! What is Hockey ?

(03-27-2015 11:11 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(03-27-2015 06:09 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  The hockey tourney today with games in Fargo and Manchester, NH now underway. Boston U escaped with a 3-2 OT win against Yale earlier; as I type this, Michigan Tech leads St. Cloud 2-1 in the third and Minnesota-Duluth is wiping the floor with Minnesota, winning 3-0 after just one period. One-bid Big Ten is really showing up well so far.

Quinnipiac-NoDak is later tonight, tomorrow we have the first round games in Providence (BC vs. Denver, Miami vs. Providence) and South Bend (Minnesota State-Mankato vs. Rochester Tech, Harvard vs. Nebraska-Omaha). Here's to an all-NCHC Frozen Four.

The NCHC is 3-0 so far, as Duluth wiped out the Big Ten, St. Cloud St won in overtime, and UND beat QU. Its either going to be an all-NCHC Frozen Four, or three Boston teams and one NCHC interloper.

The B1G has got to be really disappointed: they blew up college hockey to be on the outside looking in. Their conference tournament couldn't draw flies, while the NCHC and WCHA tournaments drew fans.

minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/03/23/can-attendance-issues-at-college-hockey-tournaments-be-fixed/

I think the B1G made mistakes in its tournament. They should hold it in Minnesota or on campus sites. Holding it in Detroit on the first weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament was a bad idea all around. Also, it appears that they just threw the tournament there and didn't bother to promote it at all. There were no fan activities or anything planned for the weekend. I'm sure the conference will learn from its mistakes and do things differently next time.

But overall the Big Ten is going to be good for college hockey. Since Pegula ponied up the money for PSU hockey, a second power conference program (Arizona State, no less) has received a similar donation for hockey. How cool is that? Who knows, maybe somewhere down the road Illinois, Indiana or Iowa will get a D1 team.

College hockey was in desperate need of a good kick in the ass. The WCHA and CCHA were led by people who were perfectly happy to keep the sport spinning its wheels rather than trying to grow it. People who waxed nostalgic about those old conferences didn't realize that after expansion, it wasn't like the old WCHA at all. It was a watered-down version of the WCHA.