Generic Off Season Thread

[Jim Hyla]

So Adam's article gets reprinted in the Lake Placid News. Although it looks like they're not really sure about the author's authenticity.

By ADAM?WODON

[Aaron M. Griffin]

So Adam's article gets reprinted in the Lake Placid News. Although it looks like they're not really sure about the author's authenticity.

By ADAM?WODON

They resorted to the original Norse.

[jtn27]

So Adam's article gets reprinted in the Lake Placid News. Although it looks like they're not really sure about the author's authenticity.

By ADAM?WODON

He's also "Special to the News." Nowhere does it mention that the article was published elsewhere.

[RatushnyFan]

Adam, I for one prefer Lake Placid.  Maybe it's just you and me and a few others.  I get gouged there for kids hockey tournaments and I still love it.  It has a lot of charm and I like the rink, the restaurants, etc.  I'm fairly close to Bridgeport in Northern NJ but I'll take LP any day.

I'm shocked at Q's rink capacity, I've been there and I would have guessed that it's much larger.  It's certainly very yellow, maybe that's throwing me off.

[Aaron M. Griffin]

Why need we become complacent with the level of success that the ECAC has?

BTW - Cornell has been even closer to the FF a bunch of times in the last 10 years - so using them as a yardstick is not saying much. Cornell has always been the standard bearer, sometimes by itself. Getting Union to the FF is the only thing different about this year compared to anything else in the last 10 years. Not much of a difference.  There's no question that the ECAC has been "competitive" as a whole over the last decade, so I don't see that as an issue.

When were they closer? I am not being contrary, I am sincerely curious when since 2002 you think that Cornell was closer. The only time that comes to mind is 2006 with Wisconsin in triple overtime. Cornell made the tournament in that span in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2012. 2003 is out of contention for the "closer" category, unless you are going to say it is infinitely close because Cornell made it that year. I was a student during 2009 and 2010. So, I am very familiar with those contests and the disappointment that followed. Both of those years, especially 2010, Cornell should have been closer, but it wasn't. That leaves 2002 and 2005, considering that we agree that taking the eventual national champion to three overtimes is closer than a goal induced from an inopportunely breaking stick.

2002, Cornell beats Quinnipiac to face UNH. Cornell loses to UNH, 4-3 in regulation. This involved Cornell beating a lower seeded Quinnipiac and losing to a higher seeded UNH.

2005, Cornell beats Ohio State to face Minnesota. Cornell loses to Minnesota in the first overtime, 2-1. This involved Cornell beating a lower seeded third seed and then advancing to face a one seed.

The reason why I would argue that this year felt psychologically closer was because Cornell entered as the lowest seed in the bracket, knocked off a team that many had said would be the only legitimate challenger to BC in the title game, and advanced to play a lower seed than the opponent that Cornell had beaten already. Both in 2002 and 2005, Cornell defeated an opponent and advanced to play an opponent seeded higher than Cornell's previous opponent. This year, it seemed like the hardest part of getting out of the Midwestern Regional was accomplished by beating Michigan. Also, considering this is all subjective, there's the psychological effect of momentum when one beats a national college hockey brand, like Michigan. Cornell advanced to play brands in 2002 and 2005 after eliminating teams that have not established themselves as national brands in the sport.

Adam, I for one prefer Lake Placid.  Maybe it's just you and me and a few others.  I get gouged there for kids hockey tournaments and I still love it.  It has a lot of charm and I like the rink, the restaurants, etc.  I'm fairly close to Bridgeport in Northern NJ but I'll take LP any day.

I'm on board with Lake Placid too, as I have said. My only concerns are if it will allow the ECAC to rebrand and remarket itself to a national audience through television and other media. I am not a big fan of the it-is-what-it-is mantra.

Also, others have voiced concerns with the locker rooms and other amenities with which the players will have to cope. I don't know anything about that fact, but that might affect how much wisdom I think there is in an otherwise appealing idea.

[Trotsky]

The reason why I would argue that this year felt psychologically closer was because Cornell entered as the lowest seed in the bracket, knocked off a team that many had said would be the only legitimate challenger to BC in the title game, and advanced to play a lower seed than the opponent that Cornell had beaten already.

Another reason it may have felt "closer" is the overall decline in the "big three" conferences.  I would say the odds of having an ECAC team go all the way over the next few seasons are far higher than at any time since the "super teams" out of Harvard and the North Country in the late 80's/early 90's.

[billhoward]

So Adam's article gets reprinted in the Lake Placid News. Although it looks like they're not really sure about the author's authenticity.

By ADAM?WODON

He's also "Special to the News." Nowhere does it mention that the article was published elsewhere.

Right. Lake Placid residents like feeling this was written special for them. Last time I drove by, the world HQ of the LP paper was the size of a mom & pop liquor store. This is not the Murdoch empire.

[billhoward]

Usually when the off-season thread loses steam, someone raises the spectre of Mike Schafer being recruited to the pros, or some cash-rich (before legal fees) places such as Penn State or The Ohio State offering him $500K and rights to hire the woman riding the back of Bobby Petrino's motorcycle.

[billhoward]

The locker rooms in Lake Placid (not Atlantic City)? They're okay for something used and overused by the youth hockey tournaments and CanAm camp in the summer. I couldn't imagine that being the deciding factor. Adam Wodon's point from his column remains key: We (ECAC) are no longer big stuff and we need to have realistic expectations for who'll welcome us and how many fans will show up for the tournament.

[billhoward]

Adam, I for one prefer Lake Placid.  Maybe it's just you and me and a few others.  I get gouged there for kids hockey tournaments and I still love it.  It has a lot of charm and I like the rink, the restaurants, etc.  I'm fairly close to Bridgeport in Northern NJ but I'll take LP any day.

I'm shocked at Q's rink capacity, I've been there and I would have guessed that it's much larger.  It's certainly very yellow, maybe that's throwing me off.

Nothing wrong with other people overspending. But how big should Q have built the arena? It's 3286 now and the mirror image basketball arena across the concours is 3586. (Only RPI and Cornell are above 4,000; Dartmouth is listed as 4500 but that's 3500 + 1000 standing.) Doubtful Q would let the hockey rink be 5000 without making hoops similarly large and the facility cost as built topped $50 million. Note photo of the rink as posted by the architects:

[clear]

This could either be attendance-as-usual or the third period of a sellout game and the students left at the second intermission to get ready for the parties.

[Beeeej]

Usually when the off-season thread loses steam, someone raises the spectre of Mike Schafer being recruited to the pros, or some cash-rich (before legal fees) places such as Penn State or The Ohio State offering him $500K and rights to hire the woman riding the back of Bobby Petrino's motorcycle.

And you're bringing it up because nobody's brought it up?

[billhoward]

Usually when the off-season thread loses steam, someone raises the spectre of Mike Schafer being recruited to the pros, or some cash-rich (before legal fees) places such as Penn State or The Ohio State offering him $500K and rights to hire the woman riding the back of Bobby Petrino's motorcycle.

And you're bringing it up because nobody's brought it up?

Conversation starter while waiting for more speculation on Rob Pannell's foot.

[RichH]

Adam, I for one prefer Lake Placid.  Maybe it's just you and me and a few others.  I get gouged there for kids hockey tournaments and I still love it.  It has a lot of charm and I like the rink, the restaurants, etc.  I'm fairly close to Bridgeport in Northern NJ but I'll take LP any day.

I'm shocked at Q's rink capacity, I've been there and I would have guessed that it's much larger.  It's certainly very yellow, maybe that's throwing me off.

Nothing wrong with other people overspending. But how big should Q have built the arena? It's 3286 now and the mirror image basketball arena across the concours is 3586. (Only RPI and Cornell are above 4,000; Dartmouth is listed as 4500 but that's 3500 + 1000 standing.) Doubtful Q would let the hockey rink be 5000 without making hoops similarly large and the facility cost as built topped $50 million. Note photo of the rink as posted by the architects:

[clear]

This could either be attendance-as-usual or the third period of a sellout game and the students left at the second intermission to get ready for the parties.

The student sections are still there, all wearing yellow in the back right of the photo.  They don't sit in other parts of the arena.  The visitor section is the one with the giant hole in it near the center of the image.

[Al DeFlorio]

Hockey rinks have a lifespan of at least fifty years (see Houston, Lynah, and Ingalls as notable examples).  I suspect when Lynah and Ingalls were built no one expected them to sell out consistently, and they certainly didn't during their first five years.  But I'll bet today both Cornell and Yale wish they had an additional 1000 or so seats.

Fifty years ago Quinnipiac was a small commuter school offering little but a business curriculum with not much of a reputation (started life in the 1920s as Connecticut College of Commerce and subsequently changed its name to Junior College of Commerce).  It actually shut down during World War II.  In the 1950s when I was growing up in New Haven its teams were part of the NAIA, if anyone here has heard of that.

The University has grown dramatically and ambitiously in the past fifty years, now offering 52 undergraduate majors, 20 graduate programs, and a JD program.  State-of-the-art facilities have been built for the law center and the communication and business programs.  Its new medical school is scheduled to open next year.  Its athletic programs are now NCAA Division I and it wasn't that many years ago that it moved up to ECACH from what was then viewed as the minor leagues.  Given the ambitiousness Q has demonstrated in trying to make themselves a nationally-known institution it just seems to me that it was short-sighted to build a 50+ year asset at the size they did.

[jtn27]

Fifty years ago Quinnipiac was a small commuter school offering little but a business curriculum with not much of a reputation (started life in the 1920s as Connecticut College of Commerce and subsequently changed its name to Junior College of Commerce).  It actually shut down during World War II.  In the 1950s when I was growing up in New Haven its teams were part of the NAIA, if anyone here has heard of that.

The University has grown dramatically and ambitiously in the past fifty years, now offering 52 undergraduate majors, 20 graduate programs, and a JD program.  State-of-the-art facilities have been built for the law center and the communication and business programs.  Its new medical school is scheduled to open next year.  Its athletic programs are now NCAA Division I and it wasn't that many years ago that it moved up to ECACH from what was then viewed as the minor leagues.

Sounds great! How do I apply? You do work for the Quinnipiac admissions office, right?