UAH and CCHA - opinion

See opinion article: August 14th, 2010
I did smell B.S. – UAH stiffed by CCHA…

Here's an article about Penn State nearing the launch date:

[www.altoonamirror.com]

ithacat
Here's an article about Penn State nearing the launch date:

[www.altoonamirror.com]

And more from INCH, CHN, and two from USCHO. Personally I hope they come and join CCHA. Is that why the CCHA refused UAH?

Jim Hyla

ithacat
Here's an article about Penn State nearing the launch date:

[www.altoonamirror.com]

And more from INCH, CHN, and two from USCHO. Personally I hope they come and join CCHA. Is that why the CCHA refused UAH?

How quickly can a BTHC be put together?

ithacat

Jim Hyla

ithacat
Here's an article about Penn State nearing the launch date:

[www.altoonamirror.com]

And more from INCH, CHN, and two from USCHO. Personally I hope they come and join CCHA. Is that why the CCHA refused UAH?

How quickly can a BTHC be put together?

More importantly, how quickly can Schafer set up a home and home series?

Hope PSU isn't planning to steal another Cornell coach for its hockey program.

underskill
Hope PSU isn't planning to steal another Cornell coach for its hockey program.

just what I was thinking ...

ithacat

Jim Hyla

ithacat
Here's an article about Penn State nearing the launch date:

[www.altoonamirror.com]

And more from INCH, CHN, and two from USCHO. Personally I hope they come and join CCHA. Is that why the CCHA refused UAH?

How quickly can a BTHC be put together?

Hopefully soon enough to make next year's EA Sports college hockey game.

Trotsky

ithacat

Jim Hyla

ithacat
Here's an article about Penn State nearing the launch date:

[www.altoonamirror.com]

And more from INCH, CHN, and two from USCHO. Personally I hope they come and join CCHA. Is that why the CCHA refused UAH?

How quickly can a BTHC be put together?

Hopefully soon enough to make next year's EA Sports college hockey game.

The sad thing is that people on the USCHO board no longer get the joke. Can Harvard's move to Hockey East be far behind?

[sports.espn.go.com]

EJ Hradek from ESPN picked up the Penn State story.

jtwcornell91

Trotsky

ithacat

Jim Hyla

ithacat
Here's an article about Penn State nearing the launch date:

[www.altoonamirror.com]

And more from INCH, CHN, and two from USCHO. Personally I hope they come and join CCHA. Is that why the CCHA refused UAH?

How quickly can a BTHC be put together?

Hopefully soon enough to make next year's EA Sports college hockey game.

The sad thing is that people on the USCHO board no longer get the joke. Can Harvard's move to Hockey Rast be far behind?

FYP.

{Sigh}

Ronald '09
[sports.espn.go.com]

EJ Hradek from ESPN picked up the Penn State story.

There also has been some speculation other Big Ten schools might decide to take their hockey programs to the highest level sometime in the near future.

Other Big 10 schools:
Purdue (club,nearest ice rinks in Indy and somewhere in IL, maybe Champaing-Urbana)
IU I *think* Bloomington has a town rink, and I'm not sure if a club hockey team exists
IL-Champaign-Urbana
Northwestern
Iowa

Not sure what the person who said that was smoking at the time they were speculating about other Big 10 schools going D1 in hockey. There are only a handful (handful - 1 now ) of people in IN* who know what a hockey puck is and know anything about the game. So I think you can cross off Purdue and IU from that list.

I think it sucks that the CCHA didn't take in Alabama-Huntsville but will take Penn State if they go D1. I know, it is all about the $$$$. I, for one, am not excited at all about Penn State D1 hockey or a Big10 hockey conference.

* I think South Bend is considered part of Michigan. That region is called "Michiana".

scoop85

underskill
Hope PSU isn't planning to steal another Cornell coach for its hockey program.

just what I was thinking ...

I'm more concerned about the giant Jock Factory athletic dept's of the huge state schools edging the hockey world closer towards the state of football & basketball...and leaving non-scholarship & small schools unable to compete.

RichH

scoop85

underskill
Hope PSU isn't planning to steal another Cornell coach for its hockey program.

just what I was thinking ...

I'm more concerned about the giant Jock Factory athletic dept's of the huge state schools edging the hockey world closer towards the state of football & basketball...and leaving non-scholarship & small schools unable to compete.

Agree - and an upstart Jock Factory like PSU hiring a coach away from a school like Cornell would be a definitive symptom of that disease. All it takes is money. They have it, and we don't.

Robb

RichH

scoop85

underskill
Hope PSU isn't planning to steal another Cornell coach for its hockey program.

just what I was thinking ...

I'm more concerned about the giant Jock Factory athletic dept's of the huge state schools edging the hockey world closer towards the state of football & basketball...and leaving non-scholarship & small schools unable to compete.

Agree - and an upstart Jock Factory like PSU hiring a coach away from a school like Cornell would be a definitive symptom of that disease. All it takes is money. They have it, and we don't.

I wouldn't go so far as to say we don' have the money. I look at it as we would rather put our money in other places, that is in education. And no I'm not implying that you didn't know that, but if he gave close to $100 million for hockey, I wonder how much he gave for education.

I would have to hope, that unlike Tambroni and Donahue, who weren't Cornell alumni, Schafer is more likely to stay at Cornell rather than get poached to another DI program. Espcially considering his focus on the traditions and history of Cornell hockey, you'd expect that his emotional connection to Cornell is stronger than someone who didn't attend.

Do we have a "fingers crossed" smiley?

[www.centredaily.com]

What about CU quitting Ivy hockey/ECAC? Try to form an NY/PA league equivalent to Hockey East. Plenty of good schools comparable to us in many ways.

Or just bag it and go Div III.

Jim Hyla

Robb

RichH

scoop85

underskill
Hope PSU isn't planning to steal another Cornell coach for its hockey program.

just what I was thinking ...

I'm more concerned about the giant Jock Factory athletic dept's of the huge state schools edging the hockey world closer towards the state of football & basketball...and leaving non-scholarship & small schools unable to compete.

Agree - and an upstart Jock Factory like PSU hiring a coach away from a school like Cornell would be a definitive symptom of that disease. All it takes is money. They have it, and we don't.

I wouldn't go so far as to say we don' have the money. I look at it as we would rather put our money in other places, that is in education. And no I'm not implying that you didn't know that, but if he gave close to $100 million for hockey, I wonder how much he gave for education.

Of course - poor phrasing on my part. WE have the money, but our Athletic Department does not.

Robb
an upstart Jock Factory like PSU hiring a coach away from a school like Cornell would be a definitive symptom of that disease. All it takes is money. They have it, and we don't.

I'd think they are more likely to poach a CCHA coach familiar with recruiting to their academic profile (or lack of one).

I worry about Schafer accepting an NHL associate coaching position, not going to another college.

So in the end, UAH is still screwed, right?

judy
So in the end, UAH is still screwed, right?

Probably. It would seem that if the BTHC happens, there should be room in either the WCHA or the CCHA for them, but the problem is that without their meal ticket schools, the remaining schools might be even more concerned about adding the travel costs to Huntsville every year.

Robb

judy
So in the end, UAH is still screwed, right?

Probably. It would seem that if the BTHC happens, there should be room in either the WCHA or the CCHA for them, but the problem is that without their meal ticket schools, the remaining schools might be even more concerned about adding the travel costs to Huntsville every year.

If they wanted to save net travel, the CCHA could always kick out Alaska and admit PSU and UAH as a pair. Have a west coast min-conference conference including the 2 Alaska schools, UBC, Simon Fraser. We could finally see whether Cornell fans would travel to Vladivostok.

I don't think they have a team here yet.

But I'd go if I could get a visa.

Jeff Hopkins '82
I don't think they have a team here yet.

But I'd go if I could get a visa.

There's a rink, though, and it's no worse than Union's. (Warning: accompanying music is pig swill, mute with extreme prejudice.)

New York Times reporting Penn State will begin D-1 men's and women's hockehy programs in the 2012-2013 season.

NY Times

Further info about possible Big Ten Conference from The Grand Forks Herald.

Interesting quote about PSU's Women's team.

The Big Ten's women's programs at Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio State would not be affected. Those schools will stay in the WCHA, and Penn State likely will join a conference that makes more geographical sense, such as Hockey East or the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

Jim Hyla
Further info about possible Big Ten Conference from The Grand Forks Herald.

Makes it sounds like a fait accompli in 2014-15.


BTHC (6)

Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Penn State

WCHA (10)

Minnesota-Duluth
Mankato
North Dakota
Denver
UNO
Michigan Tech
Colorado College
St. Cloud
Alaska-Anchorage
Bemidji

CCHA (8)

Miami
Notre Dame
Alaska
Northern Michigan
Ferris
Lake Superior
Western Michigan
Bowling Green

though the Big Ten's 11 schools

It's been 20 years, and this still cracks me up.

But on a hockey-related note... back when the MAAC (predecessor to Atlantic Hockey) was created, the NCAA had a two-year waiting period that new D1 conferences had to go through before teams from that conference would be eligible for the NCAA tournament. (This may have been a hockey-only rule, I'm not sure) The late-lamented CHA was created a year or two (?) after the MAAC, but in the interim, IIRC, the NCAA increased this waiting period to eight years. I remember a great deal of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth before it was determined somehow (grandfathered in?) that the CHA would only have to wait two years. I'm wondering if the prospective BTHC would have an eight-year wait. Given that at least most of the five other schools that would be in the BTHC are frequent tourney-qualifiers, I would guess that if this rule exists, the BTHC would find a way around it. It would probably be considered a "re-shuffling" rather than a for-real new conference.

Do you really have to ask? If the B10,er12HC forms they will request and immediately be granted a waiver of the NCAA rule. I can't say what wording they'll put in for a justification but I'm confident that it will happen.

KeithK
Do you really have to ask? If the B10,er12HC forms they will request and immediately be granted a waiver of the NCAA rule. I can't say what wording they'll put in for a justification but I'm confident that it will happen.

Probably something to the effect of "We're the Big Ten, bitches."

Give My Regards

though the Big Ten's 11 schools

It's been 20 years, and this still cracks me up.

But on a hockey-related note... back when the MAAC (predecessor to Atlantic Hockey) was created, the NCAA had a two-year waiting period that new D1 conferences had to go through before teams from that conference would be eligible for the NCAA tournament. (This may have been a hockey-only rule, I'm not sure) The late-lamented CHA was created a year or two (?) after the MAAC, but in the interim, IIRC, the NCAA increased this waiting period to eight years. I remember a great deal of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth before it was determined somehow (grandfathered in?) that the CHA would only have to wait two years. I'm wondering if the prospective BTHC would have an eight-year wait. Given that at least most of the five other schools that would be in the BTHC are frequent tourney-qualifiers, I would guess that if this rule exists, the BTHC would find a way around it. It would probably be considered a "re-shuffling" rather than a for-real new conference.

Was this rule a waiting period before the conference got an autobid (Autobids? Was this still during the two-autobids-per-conference era? I can't remember.) or before the teams in the conference could qualify at-large? I thought it was the former - didn't Niagara get an at-large bid one year when they weren't in a conference that was eligible for an autobid? If that's the case, you'd have to figure that the usual suspects from the hypothetical BTHC (Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin) would earn themselves at-large bids fairly frequently and make it not too much of an issue.

Trotsky
CCHA (8)

Miami
Notre Dame
Alaska
Northern Michigan
Ferris
Make Superior
Western Michigan
Bowling Green

That's not an awful conference for hockey (LSSU and BGSU and NMU have all won the NCAA tournament, a higher proportion than that of ECAC schools that have done so, and Miami and Notre Dame have been strong lately though without a banner to show for it), but it's pretty bad for marketing purposes, with those schools losing out on ticket sales from home dates with the Big Televen teams. I wonder whether they could maintain some interlocking scheduling though; a conference with six teams leaves you with a lot of nonconference games.

KeithK
Do you really have to ask? If the B10,er12HC forms they will request and immediately be granted a waiver of the NCAA rule. I can't say what wording they'll put in for a justification but I'm confident that it will happen.

I recall talk that if the Ivies ever broke off they'd immediately qualify for an auto bid without any waiting period. This would be a little different, though, since the rationale was all the teams have existed for a long time, whereas PSU will be brand new to D-1.

The CCHA is going to be in tough shape.

Trotsky

KeithK
Do you really have to ask? If the B10,er12HC forms they will request and immediately be granted a waiver of the NCAA rule. I can't say what wording they'll put in for a justification but I'm confident that it will happen.

I recall talk that if the Ivies ever broke off they'd immediately qualify for an auto bid without any waiting period. This would be a little different, though, since the rationale was all the teams have existed for a long time, whereas PSU will be brand new to D-1.

From what I've seen (linked article and elsewhere) they would wait for a couple years after PSU started playing before starting up the Big Tweleven. (PSU presumably as an independent until then.) That takes care of some of the "brand new" issue, enough for appearances anyway.

Trotsky
The CCHA is going to be in tough shape.

My thoughts exactly.

Will

KeithK
Do you really have to ask? If the B10,er12HC forms they will request and immediately be granted a waiver of the NCAA rule. I can't say what wording they'll put in for a justification but I'm confident that it will happen.

Probably something to the effect of "We're the Big Ten, bitches."

Maybe they'd give them the CCHA's bid, to add insult to injury?

Josh '99
Was this rule a waiting period before the conference got an autobid (Autobids? Was this still during the two-autobids-per-conference era? I can't remember.) or before the teams in the conference could qualify at-large? I thought it was the former - didn't Niagara get an at-large bid one year when they weren't in a conference that was eligible for an autobid? If that's the case, you'd have to figure that the usual suspects from the hypothetical BTHC (Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin) would earn themselves at-large bids fairly frequently and make it not too much of an issue.

Right, my bad. It was autobids that had the waiting period. Niagara got an at-large bid in the CHA's first season as a conference, when the conference hadn't been granted an auto-bid yet.