Being played tomorrow night at the United Center. My grad school alma mater the Denver Pioneers are playing the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. So GO PIONEERS!

NIU relevance - I wish that NIU was not so financially challenged. Building a hockey rink would be a great addition to the campus and DeKalb community. A school like NIU would have a legit shot at establishing a program that could eventually compete for a national championship in NCAA hockey as Miami did a few years ago.

(04-07-2017 01:36 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  Being played tomorrow night at the United Center. My grad school alma mater the Denver Pioneers are playing the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. So GO PIONEERS!

NIU relevance - I wish that NIU was not so financially challenged. Building a hockey rink would be a great addition to the campus and DeKalb community. A school like NIU would have a legit shot at establishing a program that could eventually compete for a national championship in NCAA hockey as Miami did a few years ago.

Took a tour of Miami of Ohio last week with my daughter. They make a point on the tour of stopping at their ice arena that is in the middle of campus. They have two rinks, one of which is for main events (hockey, ice shows, etc.). Very, very nice. Even better is that when the arena is not in use, students can lace up their skates and skate for free.

NIU does have a hockey club team. I agree it would be nice if they invested in a D1 program. Lots of Chicago people love Hockey.

(04-07-2017 01:36 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  Being played tomorrow night at the United Center. My grad school alma mater the Denver Pioneers are playing the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. So GO PIONEERS!

NIU relevance - I wish that NIU was not so financially challenged. Building a hockey rink would be a great addition to the campus and DeKalb community. A school like NIU would have a legit shot at establishing a program that could eventually compete for a national championship in NCAA hockey as Miami did a few years ago.

Maybe the Field House could hold a hockey rink.

If I ever hit the lottery I always thought it would be great to give the facilities plan a big boost.

When NIU played at the Fox Valley facility in Geneva, we went to a number of games. It was great. When they moved north, too far for us.

(04-07-2017 11:35 PM)NIU70 Wrote:  When NIU played at the Fox Valley facility in Geneva, we went to a number of games. It was great. When they moved north, too far for us.

I wish they played at that Fox Valley arena. I'd buy season tickets if they were offered.

(04-07-2017 01:36 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  Being played tomorrow night at the United Center. My grad school alma mater the Denver Pioneers are playing the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs. So GO PIONEERS!

NIU relevance - I wish that NIU was not so financially challenged. Building a hockey rink would be a great addition to the campus and DeKalb community. A school like NIU would have a legit shot at establishing a program that could eventually compete for a national championship in NCAA hockey as Miami did a few years ago.

UMASS and WMU both play Colorado College. Would be nice to have NIU play out here for me to have a chance to see them play.

I've been Avalanche game when Hawks are in town. Seems there are plenty of former Illinois residents in Colorado as there were more Blackhawk jersyets in the crowd than the Avs.

Fox Valley is a very nice arena. Always felt like it was being wasted until the Steel moved there.

My daughters learned to skate at the Fox valley ice facility before we moved to Ohio. When we moved to Columbus my older daughter continued skating and took lessons at the OSU rink. That rink was going at least 14 hours a day with youth hockey, figure skating, university men's and women's teams etc. I'll bet the university brought in enough revenue from the community to fund the majority of the rink's operating costs. This is something that NIU, Dekalb and Sycamore could collaborate on that would be a win/win/win. Probably won't happen but a guy can dream.

And while I am at it, congratulations to the Denver Pioneers on winning their eighth national championship last night, it was one of the best hockey games I have ever watched and I have watched a lot of hockey going back to watching the Blackhawks in in back and white in the early 1960s!

(04-07-2017 01:36 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  A school like NIU would have a legit shot at establishing a program that could eventually compete for a national championship

Everyone is entitled to dream, but this is a fantasy. IF it were so easy to take a program from scratch to "compete for a national championship", why ice hockey, why not lacrosse or something else. More significantly, what are all of our Olympic programs doing wrong?
Sorry, but we've got so many other sports on campus that the vast majority of the Dog Pound could care less about. The costs involved in funding an ice hockey program are astronomical and even modest efforts to provide skating by the DeKalb and Sycamore Park Districts or other city organizations have failed. Sorry, it would not be a win/win/win.
The purpose isn't to deny your dream, but considering the current reality -- the Master(bation) Plan is going nowhere, we're saddled with coaching contracts that virtually cap future success, the ever-increasing reality that the P5s will further distance themselves from everybody -- we need to be realistic.
Just curious, can you name the sports and the years in which NIU has won a national championship?

(04-09-2017 10:09 AM)bikechuck Wrote:  My daughters learned to skate at the Fox valley ice facility before we moved to Ohio. When we moved to Columbus my older daughter continued skating and took lessons at the OSU rink. That rink was going at least 14 hours a day with youth hockey, figure skating, university men's and women's teams etc. I'll bet the university brought in enough revenue from the community to fund the majority of the rink's operating costs. This is something that NIU, Dekalb and Sycamore could collaborate on that would be a win/win/win. Probably won't happen but a guy can dream.

And while I am at it, congratulations to the Denver Pioneers on winning their eighth national championship last night, it was one of the best hockey games I have ever watched and I have watched a lot of hockey going back to watching the Blackhawks in in back and white in the early 1960s!

Not really a fair comparison.. Columbus is a major city, hell they have their own NHL team. I'm sure the locals would use it, but it's not going to be anything close to what Columbus is doing.

(04-10-2017 10:54 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  Just curious, can you name the sports and the years in which NIU has won a national championship?

The 1963 football team.

The 1982 women's badminton team.

(04-10-2017 12:58 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(04-10-2017 10:54 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  Just curious, can you name the sports and the years in which NIU has won a national championship?

The 1963 football team.

The 1982 women's badminton team.

And we dropped the sport the next year, go figure.

(04-10-2017 02:05 PM)niu79 Wrote:  

(04-10-2017 12:58 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(04-10-2017 10:54 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  Just curious, can you name the sports and the years in which NIU has won a national championship?

The 1963 football team.

The 1982 women's badminton team.

And we dropped the sport the next year, go figure.

IMO, there is nothing better than women's badminton. There is nothing more exciting and yet graceful than to see the women grab the shaft and gently touch the shuttlecock using the rough side. It's a pretty exciting play. I am a big women's badminton fan and wish we could bring it back.

(04-10-2017 10:54 AM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(04-07-2017 01:36 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  A school like NIU would have a legit shot at establishing a program that could eventually compete for a national championship

Everyone is entitled to dream, but this is a fantasy. IF it were so easy to take a program from scratch to "compete for a national championship", why ice hockey, why not lacrosse or something else. More significantly, what are all of our Olympic programs doing wrong?
Sorry, but we've got so many other sports on campus that the vast majority of the Dog Pound could care less about. The costs involved in funding an ice hockey program are astronomical and even modest efforts to provide skating by the DeKalb and Sycamore Park Districts or other city organizations have failed. Sorry, it would not be a win/win/win.
The purpose isn't to deny your dream, but considering the current reality -- the Master(bation) Plan is going nowhere, we're saddled with coaching contracts that virtually cap future success, the ever-increasing reality that the P5s will further distance themselves from everybody -- we need to be realistic.
Just curious, can you name the sports and the years in which NIU has won a national championship?

Hmmmm, WMU, BGSU and Miami all have D1 hockey programs

Population of Bowling Green Ohio 31,246
Population of Oxford Ohio 22,104
Population of Kalamazoo 76,041

Population of DeKalb + Sycamore 60,923

Yes, Columbus is bigger than DeKalb/Sycamore. However Columbus has at least five profitable rinks.

There is no reason this could not happen for NIU, DeKalb and Sycamore in a public/private partnership.

Miami reached the final game of the frozen four a few short years ago and BGSU has had teams that were recently ranked. I am not as familiar with the WMU program.

I know that it is a fantasy but it is not an impossible dream. Come on Illinois get your financial act together!

Start-up costs for D1 hockey are astronomical. Only happened at Penn St because of billionnaire Terry Pegula.

Only way I ever see D1 hockey in Illinois is if one of the UofI rich donors fund it for the Illini.

NIU would never come close to breaking even on the start-up costs for D1 hockey. It's a non-starter.

I love hockey but it's just not realistic.

(04-10-2017 08:05 PM)bikechuck Wrote:  Miami reached the final game of the frozen four a few short years ago and BGSU has had teams that were recently ranked. I am not as familiar with the WMU program.

WMU was a top 5 team in the country for most of the year, won the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament and finished 3rd in their conference (behind Denver and Minnesota Duluth, the eventual national champion and runner up). WMU was upset in the 1st round of the NCAA tournament by Air Force but many had picked them to make the frozen four.

Here's some highlights of one of our games vs Minnesota Duluth

http://www.nchc.tv/wmu/video/westernmich...s---3-3-17