Big Ten Hockey Conference

[Josh '99]

Maybe the ECAC should do something to raise its profile like move the tournament to a famous city with lots of night life.

I would definitely go if they held it in Paris.

Berlin has a better hockey rink, and unline the Metro, the U-Bahn runs all night on the weekends. ::drunk::

Like JTW, I endorse the all-night U-Bahn.  ::drunk::

(Just watch out for the aggressive hookers.  And not in the hockey sense of the word.)

[jtwcornell91]

Maybe the ECAC should do something to raise its profile like move the tournament to a famous city with lots of night life.

I would definitely go if they held it in Paris.

Berlin has a better hockey rink, and unline the Metro, the U-Bahn runs all night on the weekends. ::drunk::

Like JTW, I endorse the all-night U-Bahn.  ::drunk::

(Just watch out for the aggressive hookers.  And not in the hockey sense of the word.)

"What, you don't like women?"

[adamw]

UAH has an even WORSE chance than before, as I chronicled here ... http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2011/03/22_commentary_into_the_unknown.php

[billhoward]

Nice. Thoughtful.

UAH may be what the Air Force calls collateral damage.

Every time college hockey or lacrosse expands, it makes it tougher for Cornell to be prominent on the national stage. Cornell hockey a generation ago didn't have to worry about getting past a Miami, Notre Dame, or Ohio State in hockey. Or past Notre Dame in lacrosse last spring. (Did anyone see that ND lax juggernaut coming? I just thought Princeton had a bad day when they went down. Seeing their goalie against Duke made me a one-season believer and I figured they'd revert to norm once he left. Not so.)

We have to hope (the Ivies, Union, Colgate, RPI - places where you go for an education and hockey is a nice side-benefit) that the NCAA presidents and the NCAA pay a bit more attention to academic progresss in determining future scholarship awards. Or else give up and starting paying the players above the table.

Also, as Adam notes, Big Ten hockey will be inside the Big Ten office. Where hockey will be an afterthought. Never underestimate the power of bureaucrats to mess up and also suck up (revenue). Every time the office posts a press release using "facilitate" or "enable," I could see Big Ten hockey stumbling.

[css228]

Nice. Thoughtful.

UAH may be what the Air Force calls collateral damage.

Every time college hockey or lacrosse expands, it makes it tougher for Cornell to be prominent on the national stage. Cornell hockey a generation ago didn't have to worry about getting past a Miami, Notre Dame, or Ohio State in hockey. Or past Notre Dame in lacrosse last spring. (Did anyone see that ND lax juggernaut coming? I just thought Princeton had a bad day when they went down. Seeing their goalie against Duke made me a one-season believer and I figured they'd revert to norm once he left. Not so.)

We have to hope (the Ivies, Union, Colgate, RPI - places where you go for an education and hockey is a nice side-benefit) that the NCAA presidents and the NCAA pay a bit more attention to academic progresss in determining future scholarship awards. Or else give up and starting paying the players above the table.

Also, as Adam notes, Big Ten hockey will be inside the Big Ten office. Where hockey will be an afterthought. Never underestimate the power of bureaucrats to mess up and also suck up (revenue). Every time the office posts a press release using "facilitate" or "enable," I could see Big Ten hockey stumbling.

Notre Dame is less likely to join HE then the Big Ten. HE isn't going to want to expand their travel distance that much

[billhoward]

Notre Dame is less likely to join HE then the Big Ten. HE isn't going to want to expand their travel distance that much

Boston to South Bend is 900 miles. That's not a bus trip.

[Trotsky]

Notre Dame is less likely to join HE then the Big Ten.

If your point is the odds of both are zero, fine, but I'd point out ND isn't going to the Big Ten because Notre Dame football isn't going to the Big Ten because an independent Notre Dame football program grosses more than some small countries and the Big Ten makes everybody join in all sports.

[Jim Hyla]

More bad news for CCHA. USCHO reports that Comm. Anastos leaves to coach MSU.

[css228]

Notre Dame is less likely to join HE then the Big Ten. HE isn't going to want to expand their travel distance that much

Boston to South Bend is 900 miles. That's not a bus trip.

]

If your point is the odds of both are zero, fine, but I'd point out ND isn't going to the Big Ten because Notre Dame football isn't going to the Big Ten because an independent Notre Dame football program grosses more than some small countries and the Big Ten makes everybody join in all sports.

My point was that the odds of both are zero (as I know ND wants to join in everything but football and the Big Ten wont have that_. Increased travel distances even beyond that of a bus trip mean for increased costs. ND would be an outlier far from the HE heartland. Why would HE even want them?

[adamw]

If Notre Dame offers some sort of revenue deal - or they work things out schedule-wise, why wouldn't it go to Hockey East?  Notre Dame is in the Big East, after all -- and for more than just basketball. ND is in the Big East for many other non-revenue-generating sports.

[Trotsky]

If Notre Dame offers some sort of revenue deal - or they work things out schedule-wise, why wouldn't it go to Hockey East?  Notre Dame is in the Big East, after all -- and for more than just basketball. ND is in the Big East for many other non-revenue-generating sports.

Not drawn to scale, but HE is by far the most eastern of the conferences.

[ursusminor]

I don't think that this has been posted on this thread yet.

Battista said he has already begun negotiations with several teams throughout D-I hockey to fill not only the 14 non-conference games in 2013, but the entire 2012 independent season. Those schools include Connecticut, Holy Cross, Army, Air Force, RIT, Alabama-Huntsville, Princeton and Cornell.

[css228]

I don't think that this has been posted on this thread yet.

Battista said he has already begun negotiations with several teams throughout D-I hockey to fill not only the 14 non-conference games in 2013, but the entire 2012 independent season. Those schools include Connecticut, Holy Cross, Army, Air Force, RIT, Alabama-Huntsville, Princeton and Cornell.

So they're taking UAH's place I assume?

[Aaron M. Griffin]

Ryan Kennedy covered this topic a couple of days ago for The Hockey News in his blog.  I stated in a much earlier posts opinions that are similar to his.  He ends the article with stating:

The question now is whether hockey would ever consider starting an Ivy League conference - only Columbia and Pennsylvania are missing right now. That would crush the ECAC, but would again heighten the sport's exposure. Seems like there are only difficult questions when it comes to NCAA hockey these days.

Is there any impetus for the six Ivies of the ECAC going alone and creating their own conference?  I haven't heard about it in recent memory.  I think there were fears that it would happen about a generation ago but not recently.  I just wondered if anyone knew if there was movement for such a separation.  It could lend itself to a network like the BTN that can alleviate the suffering of poor RedCast coverage and create a bigger stage for the Ivy League and its constituent members.
 
I think a strong argument could be made because out of all of the ECAC teams, only the Ivies have even been able to look somewhat formidable against teams from the other conferences.   Cornell was the last team from the ECAC to make the Frozen Four, and Yale (2010, 2011) and Cornell (2005, 2006, 2009) have been the only ECAC teams in the last few years to even make it to the NCAA Regional Finals.

[css228]

Ryan Kennedy covered this topic a couple of days ago for The Hockey News in his blog.  I stated in a much earlier posts opinions that are similar to his.  He ends the article with stating:

The question now is whether hockey would ever consider starting an Ivy League conference - only Columbia and Pennsylvania are missing right now. That would crush the ECAC, but would again heighten the sport's exposure. Seems like there are only difficult questions when it comes to NCAA hockey these days.

Is there any impetus for the six Ivies of the ECAC going alone and creating their own conference?  I haven't heard about it in recent memory.  I think there were fears that it would happen about a generation ago but not recently.  I just wondered if anyone knew if there was movement for such a separation.  It could lend itself to a network like the BTN that can alleviate the suffering of poor RedCast coverage and create a bigger stage for the Ivy League and its constituent members.
 
I think a strong argument could be made because out of all of the ECAC teams, only the Ivies have even been able to look somewhat formidable against teams from the other conferences.   Cornell was the last team from the ECAC to make the Frozen Four, and Yale (2010, 2011) and Cornell (2005, 2006, 2009) have been the only ECAC teams in the last few years to even make it to the NCAA Regional Finals.

Don't really love the idea, because we lose a lot of great rivalries (Clarkson and Colgate for example) and we don't really gain much in exchange except a potentially easier route to an autobid. The truth is Cornell has been doing most of the work keeping the ECAC reputation afloat and would likely be doing the same in an Ivy League. Columbia and Penn would do nothing to give us a better SOS. Yale is probably done with their seniors graduating. Who else is going to step up and give the league credibility? Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard? We'd be losing quality overall. Just nothing about the move would make sense.