Big Ten Hockey Conference

[RichH]

Why would UMD play in the second tier Mini-Mi conference when they can play with the bigger boys in Hockey West?

Yeah, I guess to implement this, one would have to suspend the fact that there are egos and strong/weak concepts. I thought of moving NoDak to Mini-Mi since they're right on the Minn border anyway. The state-pride aspect of especially the "state of hockey" is a powerful selling point. Also remember that Notre Dame, Omaha, and Miami (and even UMD to an extent) have only recently become "national powers." It's conceivable any of them could drop back into the obscurity pool. It happened to '90s powerhouse LSSU.

The BTHC has forced this situation that there will be redistribution of the powers on some scale. I think the sport would be better off not making yet another "big boy" conference. Doing so creates a "reject" conference, right?

Why am I reminded of the movie "Twins" at this point?

[Trotsky]

If the Left Behind of the CCHA and WCHA merge (and kick out the Alaskans since with greatly diminished revenues they won't be able to afford them), they might be able to produce decent teams with a fairly high rate of churn, in the same way that the ECAC does.  If they did it right away, it's possible they might even save Notre Dame, making them that much stronger.

[Chris '03]

I think the best way to save alaskan schools is to cross your fingers that UBC and Simon Fraser or two other NW/Canadian schools go D-I. You could then run an 8 or 12 team league with divisions that minimize travel through insular conference scheduling within divisions.

[ugarte]

IYSAHOEIYA:

ECAC (12) no change
HE (10) no change
AH (12) no interest (except John)
BTHC (6) Mich, Wis, Minn, OSU, PSU, Mich State
"Hockey West" ( CC, Den, UMD, NoDak, UNO, Mia, WMU*, NDU*
Rump CCHA (5) Ferris, NMU, UAF, LSSU, BG
Rump WCHA (5) UAA, St. Cloud, Bemidji, Mankato, MTU
Still Screwed (1) UAH

I like how this is coming into focus.  The thing I think is apparent at this point is to make a Michigan-Minnesota (Michisota? MI-MN? MichMinn?) conference.

Code Select Expand


Michisota Hockey West
   UMD    CC
   WMU    DU
   FSU    UND
   NMU    UNO
   LSSU    Mia
   SCSU    ND
   BSU    BGSU
   MSU-M    UAA
   MTU    UAF
   UAH(?)


Hockey West would obviously be more of a "flying" conference anyway so I moved the Alaska schools there. I guess you could put them in the MI-MN conference and subsidize their travel instead. I think that's rather elegant.

Why would UMD play in the second tier Mini-Mi conference when they can play with the bigger boys in Hockey West?

For the autobid?

[Swampy]

Why would UMD play in the second tier Mini-Mi conference when they can play with the bigger boys in Hockey West?

Yeah, I guess to implement this, one would have to suspend the fact that there are egos and strong/weak concepts. I thought of moving NoDak to Mini-Mi since they're right on the Minn border anyway. The state-pride aspect of especially the "state of hockey" is a powerful selling point. Also remember that Notre Dame, Omaha, and Miami (and even UMD to an extent) have only recently become "national powers." It's conceivable any of them could drop back into the obscurity pool. It happened to '90s powerhouse LSSU.

The BTHC has forced this situation that there will be redistribution of the powers on some scale. I think the sport would be better off not making yet another "big boy" conference. Doing so creates a "reject" conference, right?

Why am I reminded of the movie "Twins" at this point?

I don't think any of this is, on balance, for the benefit of the sport. I also think HE might be a possibility for ND.

Long-term, if the BTHC is a success, one has to wonder how if other, non-hockey conferences like the BE might respond.

[jkahn]

The new conference with Denv., CC, No. Dak., UMD, UNO, Miami as founding member is officially announced.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=568973&navid=mod-rr-headlines

[David Harding]

IYSAHOEIYA:

Help out an old timer who can't even find the significance of IYSAHOEIYA with Google or Yahoo.

[Trotsky]

IYSAHOEIYA:

Help out an old timer who can't even find the significance of IYSAHOEIYA with Google or Yahoo.

If You're Scoring at Home..or Even If You're Alone

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

The new conference with Denv., CC, No. Dak., UMD, UNO, Miami as founding member is officially announced.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=568973&navid=mod-rr-headlines

Interesting that Notre Dame is not there.

[Chris '03]

The new conference with Denv., CC, No. Dak., UMD, UNO, Miami as founding member is officially announced.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=568973&navid=mod-rr-headlines

Interesting that Notre Dame is not there.

Not there yet. Seems they're playing the field to see what works best for their interests between HEA, CCHA leftover, and the new conference. I just can't see Notre Dame in HEA though or in the CCHA remainder league. There's also the (very?) outside chance the big east is thinking about a hockey conference...

Conventional wisdom seems to be that WMU's fate is tied to Notre Dame's decision too as they'd be the likely 8th to the new conference if it snags ND.

[ithacat]

There's also the (very?) outside chance the big east is thinking about a hockey conference...

Is any other school talking about starting a program, other than Syracuse? More importantly any other football schools talking about hockey? There seems to be lots of chatter about the football schools breaking off.

[Chris '03]

There's also the (very?) outside chance the big east is thinking about a hockey conference...

Is any other school talking about starting a program, other than Syracuse? More importantly any other football schools talking about hockey? There seems to be lots of chatter about the football schools breaking off.

There are a ton of moving parts and big east hockey is not likely in the short term cards.  The push for a lax league and the formation of a tv network would both suggest that they would consider hockey if the conditions were right, which they probably aren't right now. They see what the B10 network has become and are likely to follow the $$.

Now, of course, there are only 3 big east teams that play men's hockey: PC, UConn, and ND. I wouldn't rule out UMass coming over despite their recent move to MAC football. SU has the potential to add a men's team down the road.  They'd need to pull in at least another affiliate to make it work (BGSU?) and there's really little in it for ND except potential tv and east coast exposure, which they already get a decent amount of.

I don't see why HEA would want to take on a geographic outlier like ND. They're most likely to go to the new conference, especially with the rumors that Alaska and NMU may desert the CCHA too.

[Swampy]

There's also the (very?) outside chance the big east is thinking about a hockey conference...

Is any other school talking about starting a program, other than Syracuse? More importantly any other football schools talking about hockey? There seems to be lots of chatter about the football schools breaking off.

There are a ton of moving parts and big east hockey is not likely in the short term cards.  The push for a lax league and the formation of a tv network would both suggest that they would consider hockey if the conditions were right, which they probably aren't right now. They see what the B10 network has become and are likely to follow the $$.

Now, of course, there are only 3 big east teams that play men's hockey: PC, UConn, and ND. I wouldn't rule out UMass coming over despite their recent move to MAC football. SU has the potential to add a men's team down the road.  They'd need to pull in at least another affiliate to make it work (BGSU?) and there's really little in it for ND except potential tv and east coast exposure, which they already get a decent amount of.

I don't see why HEA would want to take on a geographic outlier like ND. They're most likely to go to the new conference, especially with the rumors that Alaska and NMU may desert the CCHA too.

Basketball, and to a much lesser extent football, makes the Big East run. I can't see it taking in UMass for hockey but not b-ball, and I don't see b-ball happening. Marcus Camby is long gone.

[David Harding]

Looking for something entirely different I stumbled on this newspaper article claiming Penn Sate Ice Hockey Team Not Anticipated.

[jeff '84]

Looking for something entirely different I stumbled on this newspaper article claiming Penn Sate Ice Hockey Team Not Anticipated.

Not to mention the Ivy group becoming a football league (page 6)....