CSNbbs

Given that it seems to be in vogue to play your conference championship in a NHL arena I busted out my trusty map and took a look to see which cities with NHL teams are in the footprint of the NCHC. I came up with Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Saint Louis, and possibly Detroit and Columbus. It seems really unlikely that it will be in detroit or columbus, and the wcha is already in minnesota. That leaves Chicago, Saint Louis and Denver. I hope it doesn't go to Denver, given that it would essentially be home ice for CC and Denver each year. Chicago however is closer for both minnesota schools, us and miami, and essentialy equidistant from denver for both UND and Omaha, it is also a major hub unlike saint louis and more of a hockey town then saint louis. My fingers are crossed that Chicago gets the nod for the location of the Conference championship. (But I would bet money it'll end up in denver)

(09-21-2011 09:18 AM)BroncoFaithful Wrote: [ -> ]Given that it seems to be in vogue to play your conference championship in a NHL arena I busted out my trusty map and took a look to see which cities with NHL teams are in the footprint of the NCHC. I came up with Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Saint Louis, and possibly Detroit and Columbus. It seems really unlikely that it will be in detroit or columbus, and the wcha is already in minnesota. That leaves Chicago, Saint Louis and Denver. I hope it doesn't go to Denver, given that it would essentially be home ice for CC and Denver each year. Chicago however is closer for both minnesota schools, us and miami, and essentialy equidistant from denver for both UND and Omaha, it is also a major hub unlike saint louis and more of a hockey town then saint louis. My fingers are crossed that Chicago gets the nod for the location of the Conference championship. (But I would bet money it'll end up in denver)

I vote for Van Andel, although it probably won't be in the running, with Chicago second (although Minnesota is a pretty nice flight). But you're right, it looks like Colorado owns the conference at this point. We have two years to try to influence them.

North Dakota's home arena. Seats 11,640 and would be a guaranteed sellout. Don't count that out.

Here's the map of the NCHC schools, including WMU and St. Cloud State. Schools are in green and NHL arenas are the blue pins...



If you want to play around with it on Google, go here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=2028...,25.466309

(09-21-2011 09:45 AM)bronconick Wrote: [ -> ]

North Dakota's home arena. Seats 11,640 and would be a guaranteed sellout. Don't count that out.

You can count on it getting lobbied for heavily.

(09-21-2011 06:07 PM)MileHighBronco Wrote: [ -> ]

(09-21-2011 09:45 AM)bronconick Wrote: [ -> ]

North Dakota's home arena. Seats 11,640 and would be a guaranteed sellout. Don't count that out.

You can count on it getting lobbied for heavily.

While Sioux fans would definitely like to host, with the addition of St Cloud, IMHO the odds on favorite for hosting would be the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, which has a capacity for 18,000+. St Cloud and Duluth fans would each buy 3000 tickets (if not more), while UND fans 6000+. MSP is the largest alumni location for each of those schools. The problem would be if none of the three qualified. The WCHA Final Five at the Xcel drew rather well last year even though Minnesota and Wisconsin did not qualify.

With it's current membership without St Cloud, it's doubtful the WCHA could gain much of a crowd at the Xcel. A smaller arena in Duluth or Green Bay would likely be more appropriate for that league.

Qwest Center in Omaha, with a capacity of 15,000, could also be a candidate, (and would be mostly UNO fans with some traveling UND fans) as well as Pepsi Center in Denver (18,000). There are also a lot of UND alumni in Denver, so a tournament there would draw DU, CC, and UND fans.

Probably depends on the playoff setup. Seems pretty likely if it's 8 teams that at least one of those three would be around each year.

Kind of a drag that two years from now the Joe will no longer be the end point, especially after Western had like 7,000 fans show up for the weekend. If the Broncos had been there sometime between 1994-2010 instead of NMU/LSSU/etc, maybe it wouldn't have been so embarrassing outside of MSU/Michigan matchups.

(09-22-2011 11:03 AM)bronconick Wrote: [ -> ]Kind of a drag that two years from now the Joe will no longer be the end point, especially after Western had like 7,000 fans show up for the weekend. If the Broncos had been there sometime between 1994-2010 instead of NMU/LSSU/etc, maybe it wouldn't have been so embarrassing outside of MSU/Michigan matchups.

Yup, those two games at the Joe this year were awesome.

I really hope we get to see a Bronco crowd like that at a NCHC championship game some day...

(09-21-2011 09:45 AM)bronconick Wrote: [ -> ]

North Dakota's home arena. Seats 11,640 and would be a guaranteed sellout. Don't count that out.

I agree that it would likely sell out, I was amazed at the Souix turnout in greenbay last year (I'd say 60% of the people there were UND fans). But I don't see the other 7 teams agreeing to it, first to literally give home ice to a team every championship is a little nutty, and second because they are they are way off in the corner of the league footprint almost no one would make the trip to bismark. A more reasonable thing for the Souix to lobby for is to put it in th scheels center in Fargo, this would get support from the minnesota schools and it is a relatively new arena (Opened in 2008), the downside is it only seats 5,000.

One other location that could be added to the discussion is the Bradley center in Milwaukee, The reasons this one makes sence is it doesn't offer a clear advantage to anyone, it is pretty much centrally located to the league, and it hosted the NCAA Frozen Four three times, so I'm guessing it's a pretty good venue.

(09-22-2011 12:41 PM)BroncoFaithful Wrote: [ -> ]

(09-21-2011 09:45 AM)bronconick Wrote: [ -> ]

North Dakota's home arena. Seats 11,640 and would be a guaranteed sellout. Don't count that out.

I agree that it would likely sell out, I was amazed at the Souix turnout in greenbay last year (I'd say 60% of the people there were UND fans). But I don't see the other 7 teams agreeing to it, first to literally give home ice to a team every championship is a little nutty, and second because they are they are way off in the corner of the league footprint almost no one would make the trip to bismark. A more reasonable thing for the Souix to lobby for is to put it in th scheels center in Fargo, this would get support from the minnesota schools and it is a relatively new arena (Opened in 2008), the downside is it only seats 5,000.

One other location that could be added to the discussion is the Bradley center in Milwaukee, The reasons this one makes sence is it doesn't offer a clear advantage to anyone, it is pretty much centrally located to the league, and it hosted the NCAA Frozen Four three times, so I'm guessing it's a pretty good venue.

With St. Cloud in, I'm going to have to probably agree with NoDak that Minneapolis will be given a hard look. The WCHA is probably going to have to go with the Resch Center in Green Bay in two years, and the NCHC could slide right in and get probably get it at least 2/3 full, with the rest depending on how well they can market it to us newcomers who never saw a WCHA Final Five, which routinely blew the CCHA finals out of the water both in ratings and in ticket sales (18k at double what the CCHA charged, I believe)

(09-22-2011 12:41 PM)BroncoFaithful Wrote: [ -> ]

(09-21-2011 09:45 AM)bronconick Wrote: [ -> ]

North Dakota's home arena. Seats 11,640 and would be a guaranteed sellout. Don't count that out.

I agree that it would likely sell out, I was amazed at the Souix turnout in greenbay last year (I'd say 60% of the people there were UND fans). But I don't see the other 7 teams agreeing to it, first to literally give home ice to a team every championship is a little nutty, and second because they are they are way off in the corner of the league footprint almost no one would make the trip to bismark. A more reasonable thing for the Souix to lobby for is to put it in th scheels center in Fargo, this would get support from the minnesota schools and it is a relatively new arena (Opened in 2008), the downside is it only seats 5,000.

One other location that could be added to the discussion is the Bradley center in Milwaukee, The reasons this one makes sence is it doesn't offer a clear advantage to anyone, it is pretty much centrally located to the league, and it hosted the NCAA Frozen Four three times, so I'm guessing it's a pretty good venue.

If Fargo ever bid on a NCHC championship, it would be in the Fargodome, which can be configured for hockey with 18,000 + possible. But the issue again would be that it would be home field for UND. (Fargo is full of Sioux fans - even though it is home of NDSU.) Grand Forks also has a domed stadium that could have temporary ice, but the sightlines wouldn't be nearly as good as the Ralph.

Could see Bradley working if Miami and WMU were preseason favorites. If neither are there, the environment would be more like that Green Bay regional was, but with more empty seats.

Bradley? Do they even have hockey?

I'm about 75% certain that the NCHC conference tournament will be played at the X in St. Paul. It has three things going for it:

1. Close proximity for UND, UMD, St. Cloud, and Omaha
2. Major airport with direct flights from major airports
3. Creates exposure in the most fertile recruiting area of the country

(09-29-2011 06:18 PM)DG3 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm about 75% certain that the NCHC conference tournament will be played at the X in St. Paul. It has three things going for it:

1. Close proximity for UND, UMD, St. Cloud, and Omaha
2. Major airport with direct flights from major airports
3. Creates exposure in the most fertile recruiting area of the country

It is an easy flight from Kalamazoo. I'm in favor.

(09-23-2011 11:28 PM)Charm City Bronco Wrote: [ -> ]Bradley? Do they even have hockey?

Bradley Center in Milwaukee

(09-29-2011 07:41 PM)broncos24 Wrote: [ -> ]Bradley Center in Milwaukee

Forgive me. Yes, Bradley Center is a logical choice. I'm going with Minneapolis or Denver.

(09-29-2011 06:55 PM)Bronco1974 Wrote: [ -> ]

(09-29-2011 06:18 PM)DG3 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm about 75% certain that the NCHC conference tournament will be played at the X in St. Paul. It has three things going for it:

1. Close proximity for UND, UMD, St. Cloud, and Omaha
2. Major airport with direct flights from major airports
3. Creates exposure in the most fertile recruiting area of the country

It is an easy flight from Kalamazoo. I'm in favor.

There's a direct flight from Dayton, works for me!