(07-09-2019 10:37 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-09-2019 06:37 PM)wmubroncopilot Wrote:  

(07-07-2019 07:37 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-07-2019 07:05 AM)MacLord Wrote:  Dude, respectfully I say, give it up. College hockey is a small enough community that any realignment affects every school on some level. Schools potentially having to drop hockey is bad news for everyone.

Real conference realignment news, sure.

As far as unicorn and fairy dust conferences built from wishful thinking, my apology to utpotts stands.

Well, except that he clearly doesn't care about college hockey anyway. So he can avoid reading any of it (unicorn and fairy dust or not) by just not clicking.

It's the only college sport I actually root for my alma mater but, no, I don't care deeply for "college hockey" in the abstract. It would be nice if an Alaska team could be salvaged from the serious mess of Alaska's state budget, but I'm not emotionally invested enough to cling to the scenarios that NoDak is peddling.

Was referring to utpotts

Why doesn’t Toledo sponsor a hockey team? This article states that hockey is big and growing in the Toledo area and Toledo has a >7000 seat arena downtown.

https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/walle...0190704011

Buffalo would have to have an appropriate sized arena to start hockey, but should have had it rather than its dropped baseball. The Canisius one that is the Sabre’s practice rink is just too small at <2000.

If only the new CCHA could swap their Minnesota schools for Miami and WMU--that would make for some true regionalization.

(07-10-2019 06:50 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Why doesn’t Toledo sponsor a hockey team? This article states that hockey is big and growing in the Toledo area and Toledo has a >7000 seat arena downtown.

https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/walle...0190704011

Likely because it costs money to start a hockey program and Toledo doesn't want to spend that money on doing so.

(07-15-2019 02:45 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-10-2019 06:50 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Why doesn’t Toledo sponsor a hockey team? This article states that hockey is big and growing in the Toledo area and Toledo has a >7000 seat arena downtown.

https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/walle...0190704011

Likely because it costs money to start a hockey program and Toledo doesn't want to spend that money on doing so.

I'd love it if they did, and Kent St and Ohio to bring their programs back.

(07-15-2019 06:21 PM)Bronco14 Wrote:  

(07-15-2019 02:45 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-10-2019 06:50 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Why doesn’t Toledo sponsor a hockey team? This article states that hockey is big and growing in the Toledo area and Toledo has a >7000 seat arena downtown.

https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/walle...0190704011

Likely because it costs money to start a hockey program and Toledo doesn't want to spend that money on doing so.

I'd love it if they did, and Kent St and Ohio to bring their programs back.

Kent State isn't bringing hockey back. After losing focus for a while there, they are back to where they should be, focusing on basketball first, then their preferred "long term alumni giving" sports like baseball and golf. If Kent State gets enough money to start up a Division 1 hockey program, it is going to fix up or build a new basketball arena.

High Point U will be building a DI hockey arena and starting the sport.

https://hpenews.com/news/11129/hpu-growt...nvestment/

Maybe UAH will have a new league with Liberty, Navy, Louisville, and Georgia, which all have been rumored to start hockey. Bowling Green might prefer that league than the new WCHA.

(09-18-2019 12:51 PM)NoDak Wrote:  Maybe UAH will have a new league with Liberty, Navy, Louisville, and Georgia, which all have been rumored to start hockey. Bowling Green might prefer that league than the new WCHA.

I'm glad to see High Point looking at Division I hockey. This has to be good news for Alabama-Huntsville.

(09-18-2019 12:51 PM)NoDak Wrote:  High Point U will be building a DI hockey arena and starting the sport.

https://hpenews.com/news/11129/hpu-growt...nvestment/

Maybe UAH will have a new league with Liberty, Navy, Louisville, and Georgia, which all have been rumored to start hockey. Bowling Green might prefer that league than the new WCHA.

Doesn't seem to be any clear reason why they'd prefer that to an eight school conference with three Michigan schools and a number of long time conference rivals.

(09-18-2019 06:04 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(09-18-2019 12:51 PM)NoDak Wrote:  High Point U will be building a DI hockey arena and starting the sport.

https://hpenews.com/news/11129/hpu-growt...nvestment/

Maybe UAH will have a new league with Liberty, Navy, Louisville, and Georgia, which all have been rumored to start hockey. Bowling Green might prefer that league than the new WCHA.

Doesn't seem to be any clear reason why they'd prefer that to an eight school conference with three Michigan schools and a number of long time conference rivals.

I guess big names in Louisville and Georgia.

(09-18-2019 06:04 PM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(09-18-2019 12:51 PM)NoDak Wrote:  High Point U will be building a DI hockey arena and starting the sport.

https://hpenews.com/news/11129/hpu-growt...nvestment/

Maybe UAH will have a new league with Liberty, Navy, Louisville, and Georgia, which all have been rumored to start hockey. Bowling Green might prefer that league than the new WCHA.

Doesn't seem to be any clear reason why they'd prefer that to an eight school conference with three Michigan schools and a number of long time conference rivals.

That's my sense, too. And, to Bronco 14's point, Louisville isn't *that* big a name.

The fact that the WCHA teams are all DII except BGSU is embarrassing to BGSU means they want to leave.

Minot St (ND), U of Mary (ND) and St Thomas (MN)will probably be new WCHA members replacing the Alaska’s and UAH sickens the BGSU admin’s stomach.

Any Southern hockey League would be impressive to BGSU if it’s all DI schools.. Attaching itself to DII’s like Lake Superior St and the other schools is not smart marketing. If Oakland U starts a hockey team, that changes things

(09-18-2019 09:03 PM)NoDak Wrote:  The fact that the WCHA teams are all DII except BGSU is embarrassing to BGSU means they want to leave.

Source?

Quote: Minot St (ND), U of Mary (ND) and St Thomas (MN)will probably be new WCHA members ...

Source?

Quote: ... replacing the Alaska’s and UAH sickens the BGSU admin’s stomach.

Pretty sure changing the travel cost of the two Alaska's and Huntington Alabama to two ND schools and a Minnesota school would make the BGSU's administration happy. Their complaint would rather be that adding three schools on the western edge is not fair to Bowling Green or the Michigan schools, which is kind of what raises a caution flag on the assumption that Ninot St. U of Mary and St Thomas of MN are automatic shoe-ins ... indeed, on the assumption that the 7 are looking to add three rather than looking to add one.

Quote: Any Southern hockey League would be impressive to BGSU if it’s all DI schools..

If they wanted to join it, they'd use "all DI schools" as a cover story, but ditching the Alaska schools and UAH is a competitive upgrade ... joining a conference with UAH and a bunch of start-ups seems like a competitive downgrade.

Plus, there's going to be very little history of playing against schools that have just started a program.

(09-18-2019 09:03 PM)NoDak Wrote:  The fact that the WCHA teams are all DII except BGSU is embarrassing to BGSU means they want to leave.

Bowling Green has played in the same hockey conference with Lake Superior State since 1971 and with Ferris State since 1979. I don't sense any beefs with these schools or others just because they are Division II.

Obviously, the academic prestige of conference mates is always a factor to be considered, but I sense Bowling Green's primary focus is to get to a more reasonable conference footprint -- with Western Michigan and Miami, if possible.

(09-19-2019 06:35 PM)Schadenfreude Wrote:  

(09-18-2019 09:03 PM)NoDak Wrote:  The fact that the WCHA teams are all DII except BGSU is embarrassing to BGSU means they want to leave.

Bowling Green has played in the same hockey conference with Lake Superior State since 1971 and with Ferris State since 1979. I don't sense any beefs with these schools or others just because they are Division II.

Obviously, the academic prestige of conference mates is always a factor to be considered, but I sense Bowling Green's primary focus is to get to a more reasonable conference footprint -- with Western Michigan and Miami, if possible.

So being affiliated with Ohio St, UM, Notre Dame, and MSU didn’t overide affiliation with Lake Superior St, Ferris State and other DII’s?

BGSU’s conference allies are some schools the admin must be not like the lack of attention from them. As you said, MAC members would be better, but DI members, especially some P5, would be great for simple awareness. Higher DI schools are almost always much more preferred. UAH would be the only DII..

(09-19-2019 10:38 PM)NoDak Wrote:  

(09-19-2019 06:35 PM)Schadenfreude Wrote:  

(09-18-2019 09:03 PM)NoDak Wrote:  The fact that the WCHA teams are all DII except BGSU is embarrassing to BGSU means they want to leave.

Bowling Green has played in the same hockey conference with Lake Superior State since 1971 and with Ferris State since 1979. I don't sense any beefs with these schools or others just because they are Division II.

Obviously, the academic prestige of conference mates is always a factor to be considered, but I sense Bowling Green's primary focus is to get to a more reasonable conference footprint -- with Western Michigan and Miami, if possible.

So being affiliated with Ohio St, UM, Notre Dame, and MSU didn’t overide affiliation with Lake Superior St, Ferris State and other DII’s?

I didn't say that. If Bowling Green could put CCHA back together, complete with Notre Dame and the Big Ten teams, we obviously would. But this doesn't seem possible.

What does seem possible is to recreate a CCHA without the Big Ten schools. I imagine that's the goal here. If it isn't possible to get to eight or 10 schools in the old CCHA footprint, for whatever reason, then I imagine this new league will look around to other schools that are interested. Perhaps, at that point, outliers like Arizona State or a hypothetical Georgia begin to merit consideration. Or, perhaps, schools in the western part of Atlantic Hockey would consider a change.

That's my take. It's all hunches and stuff. I'm not aware of any official statements out there since the announcement.

(09-19-2019 10:38 PM)NoDak Wrote:  BGSU’s conference allies are some schools the admin must be not like the lack of attention from them.

Yes ... in particular Alaska Anchorage and Alabama-Huntington. The lack of attention that those schools paid to fielding competitive programs really hurt ... and would have made the expense and (for Alakaska) trouble of the travel especially galling.

But Ferris State and the three UP schools are much more attractive for recruiting than "Liberty, Navy, Louisville, and Georgia, which all have been rumored to start hockey" ...

... and take on top of the typical conversion rate of rumors you report into reality, the actual set of schools could easily end up being UAH and Liberty and hopes and dreams.