Scheduling on USCHO

[Scersk '97]

From http://www.uscho.com/news/2004/10/28_008861.php :

"We're trying to help emerging leagues," said Berenson. "I think all of us have a responsibility to help college hockey. I'm of the old school where I just want to play the best teams and the best schools. But it's important to try to build up the emerging conferences. That's why it's been important to Atlantic Hockey that ECAC teams will play them. Do you think that Harvard would rather play UConn than Yale? It gives these younger leagues credibility. Once these leagues get established, we might go out there."

What a load of bull.  Let's look at the eastern opponents on the Michigan schedule since 1998-99, as far back as USCHO goes:

1999:  Niagara, Niagara (1-1)
2000:  Yale (1-0)
2001:  Colgate (Icebreaker), SLU, SLU, BC (GLI) (2-1-1)
2002:  Providence (Omaha), Harvard (1-0-1)
2003:  Niagara (Buffalo, Xerox), Merrimack, Merrimack, BU (GLI) (3-1)
2004:  Mercyhurst, Quinnipiac, Quinnipiac, Niagara, BC (GLI) (4-1)
2005:  Northeastern (Dayton), BU (Dayton), UNH, St. Lawrence, UNH (maybe, GLI)

Now, let's look at the standings placement of the ECAC teams in the two years prior to games (overwhelmingly in Ann Arbor):

Yale (2000):  1, 5
Colgate (2001):  6, 2
SLU (2001):  2, 1
Harvard (2002):  7, 3
SLU (2005):  9, 10

What I think this proves is that Red is scared of the big, bad, unpredictable ECAC(HL).  In 2000, they barely beat Yale in Yale's first game of the season.  Colgate tied them in the Icebreaker in 2001, they handly beat SLU (without their phenom goalie), and BC beat them at the GLI (in Detroit--another home game).  Harvard tied them in 2002.  Then, notice how the ECAC disappears from the schedule.  SLU makes it back on in 2005, after a couple of "safe" years.  The real story is, as above, that Red's boys are 4-0-2 against the ECAC(HL) with three of those wins coming against SLU.  I guess they really are SLU(T)s up in Canton:  Marsh and his boys let Red and his get what they want without reciprocation.

So, what was that about playing the best teams from the best schools, Red?  Where are Clarkson and Cornell?  Or was that tie in 1996 too scary.

Bah, Berenson's only interested in playing games in his own building that he knows he can win.

[The Rancor]

"My philosophy is that I won't play anyone who won't reciprocate," said Cornell head coach Mark Schafer. "Unless you can play a program both home and away, you're giving up something. Every school faces the same problem of wanting to face good schools to improve their own program. So they all want to get as many games at home as possible. Teams that do reciprocate help college hockey."


well said.... "Mark"

[Josh '99]

Gee Scott, if I didn't know better I'd think you didn't like Michigan hockey or something.   ::laugh::

[bigggreddd77]

When is the last time Cornell hosted a powerhouse when the students were actually in town???

[KeithK]

[q]"My philosophy is that I won't play anyone who won't reciprocate," said Cornell head coach M[ike] Schafer[/q]In fairness, have we really reciprocated with the AH teams that we've played over the last few years?

If the NC$$ wanted to improve competition and fairness they could try to impose a requirement that xx % of non-conference games have to be on the road, or perhaps yy % over z cumulative years.  But of course they're the NC$$ so this would never happen.

[Jordan 04]

Does the fact that we haven't mean that we won't though?

Just a thought...

[KeithK]

[q]Does the fact that we haven't mean that we won't though? [/q]Not at all.  But it would be pretty lousy if Schafer wasn't willing to reciprocate with Army or Mercyhurst.  Pot/kettle and all.  We certainly have reciprocated with other teams in the CCHA and HE though (e.g. WMU, Providence).

[Will]

Is there any particular reason why Army, Sacred Heart, or Mercyhurst might not want us to reciprocate?  

[KeithK]

[q]Is there any particular reason why Army, Sacred Heart, or Mercyhurst might not want us to reciprocate?[/q]Can't think of any.

I suppose it's possible that they're just happy to get a team like Cornell on their schedule, so they haven't pushed their luck by asking for reciprocity.  But based on Schafer's quote, if I'm Shaun Hannah I'd be asking for a rematch in CT.

[KeithK]

As I think about this issue, I'm thinking it's not too unreasonable for a team in one of the established conferences to insist on only home games against teams from the CHA and MAAC, at least for the first few years of their existences.  After all, you're essentially "wasting" a game on a new team for the sake of helping them get established.  There should come a point when this startup period wears off though, I think.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

I can think of one.  Let's say you're a new program trying to attract fans, and you wind up with an arena full of Lynah Faithful.

Can you say Bright Hockey Center?

[Josh '99]

[Q]Scersk '97 Wrote:
Bah, Berenson's only interested in playing games in his own building that he knows he can win.[/q]To back this up, other than neutral-site games, Michigan hasn't played a single game east of Columbus, Ohio since at least 1998-99.

[min]

i want to comment more generally on coach schafer's comment. the fact that cornell hasn't scheduled (or wasn't able to schedule) nc games with the so-called powerhouses (i think we all know who they are) in recent years, does that mean that those teams refuse to reciprocate with cornell?
 
i guess what i really want to know is which teams have refused to come to lynah, and why.  ::rolleyes::

[Jacob '06]

I think the full article on uscho elaborates on this pretty well. It costs those teams money to not have games at home, and then there are travelling costs on top of that. They can get teams to play in their rink without reciprocation, so why submit to reciprocation with us? Also, Lynah is a pretty hostile environment and a loss to us on the road would damage their RPI. Overall, its pretty understandable why these teams won't play us, but its still annoying.

[ithacat]

so that it rewards OOC road wins in a way that encourages teams to play tougher OOC games away from home. I know SOS factors into this but they need to figure something out for the good of the sport. I hate what's happening in college football where the BCS has given virtually no incentive for a Michigan to go to a place like Syracuse and instead stay in Ann Arbor collecting their Big House dollars against the San Diego States of college FB.

Short of that Cornell will need to either go on the road to play Minnesota or North Dakota or BC, or they can build a bigger Lynah (and figure out a way to fill it) to provide some incentive for the big boys to travel.

And btw, how does North Dakota fill a 10,000 seat arena? I know they play great hockey but they only have around 13,000 students.