Badger Hockey

[hawing]

Yeah, so went the conversation between me and the S.O. Saturday night:

 

S.O.: Hockey team won.

hawing: What was the score?

S.O.: 6-0.

hawing: Ooh, ice cream goal!

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

They really needed the 2 wins this weekend. That puts them back into contention in the WCHA conference. As bad as the start has been they're still in 4th place and need to get at least one win this weekend in Duluth.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

3-3 tie in Duluth. I'll take a tie on the road any day.

[danzig6767]

Man, yet another lead in the third period that gets blown. Pretty amazing how many times the Badgers have lead in the third period this year, only to end up with either a tie or a loss. Come time for NCAA Tournament bids and the Badgers likely missing out, they'll have to look back and cringe at all these games early in the season that they simply couldn't close out.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Well they got a 4-1 victory tonight. That puts them in 3rd place in the WCHA. Not all is bad.

[tristarscoop]

Pretty impressive weekend. From the look of things, it looks like I wish we had the game broadcast here in Milwaukee. Couple of major penalties and guys getting thrown out. Nice to see the guys showing some life....

[logan82]

Not even on WPT. The TV coverage for college hockey is terrible this year.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Yeah. Maybe they'll start a WCHA network. hahahaha.

[logan82]

One or two more big ten teams with hockey programs and we would be big ten hockey instead of WCHA. Personally I think that would kind of suck because I like the WCHA, but it would be nice to get better coverage.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

The conference setup is kind of whacky as it is. I would think we should be in the same conference as Michigan, Michigan St, and Ohio St since we play them in every other sport. Teams like Denver and Colorado College can scram and find their own conference.

[BoKnowsBall]

The conference setup is kind of whacky as it is. I would think we should be in the same conference as Michigan, Michigan St, and Ohio St since we play them in every other sport. Teams like Denver and Colorado College can scram and find their own conference.

That would be nice and all but there is no way that I am giving up playing UND every year- big rivalry and storied program. And besides- those other teams would fight so hard to keep UW and minnesota in the conference because of the money that they bring in.

 

Edit- and we play Michigan and MSU every year anyways

[logan82]

I really like the teams in the WCHA. CC, Denver,and North Dakota(not to mention Minnesota and Wisconsin) have good teams almost every year and give the WCHA huge national credibility. I like the tradition. I like that it isn't the Big Ten.

 

I think they would only need one more Big Ten team to have Big Ten hockey. I believe that you need 6 teams to make a conference in Division I hockey. There are currently Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It sounds like Penn State has a hockey program but it isn't Division I.

 

One prominent figure in the hockey community thinks any talk of forming a Big Ten conference for hockey should be quickly laid to rest, because of the impact it would have on the teams that were left out. "It would be the death of college hockey," said former Badger coach Jeff Sauer.

[tristarscoop]

I wholeheartedly disagree that there should be a Big Ten hockey conference. There's no reason for it.

 

There are rivalries that already exist in the WCHA and have for decades. Those shouldn't be forsaken merely because people like the idea of the Big Ten and want hockey to fit in that "box."

[stoops17]

I also like the way the conference is. There is too much history and to make this big ten conference we'd have to blow up both the ccha and wcha, which just isn't feasible.

[fondybrewfan]

Sorry for being an idiot but what conference are OSU, MICH, and MICH State in? What teams in that conference would be adversely affected?

[Diskono]

They're in the CCHA - along with Directional Michigan, Notre Dame, Bowling Green, Miami, Lake Superior State, Ferris State, Nebraska-Omaha and Alaska-Fairbanks.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

That would be nice and all but there is no way that I am giving up playing UND every year- big rivalry and storied program. And besides- those other teams would fight so hard to keep UW and minnesota in the conference because of the money that they bring in.

Yeah I agree with the UND comment. I don't want a Big Ten conference for Hockey, but I'd like to have Michigan, Mich St, and Ohio State in our conference. This would be the perfect conference:

 

Minnesota

Minnesota State

Michigan

Michigan State

Ohio State

Minnesota-Duluth

Minnesota-St. Cloud

Wisconsin

North Dakota

Notre Dame

 

Then throw out Denver, CC, Michigan Tech, and Alaska-Anchorage and have them join conferences that make better geographic sense. Also, why wouldn't the 2 Alaska teams be in the same conference? It would be nice not to have to travel 3,000 miles for every road game.

[cwolf2012]

Then throw out Denver, CC, Michigan Tech, and Alaska-Anchorage and have them join conferences that make better geographic sense. Also, why wouldn't the 2 Alaska teams be in the same conference? It would be nice not to have to travel 3,000 miles for every road game.

The thing is, there isn't a more sensical geographical conference for those teams. There aren't any college teams west of Denver and CC except for the two Alaska teams. MN and WI are the western most states with hockey teams for them.

 

I think the reason they split up the Alaska teams was to even out the increased travel costs to 18 different teams instead of 8. If those other 8 teams in the conference had to make 2 trips to AK every year, it would cost them considerably more than any other teams in the nation (except the two AK teams).

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Why wouldn't this work?

 

Colorado College

Denver

AA

AF

Nebraska-Omaha

Michigan Tech

Miami

Western Michigan

Northern Michigan

Ferris State

Bowling Green

Superior

[BoKnowsBall]

Then throw out Denver, CC, Michigan Tech, and Alaska-Anchorage and have them join conferences that make better geographic sense. Also, why wouldn't the 2 Alaska teams be in the same conference? It would be nice not to have to travel 3,000 miles for every road game.

The thing is, there isn't a more sensical geographical conference for those teams. There aren't any college teams west of Denver and CC except for the two Alaska teams. MN and WI are the western most states with hockey teams for them.

 

I think the reason they split up the Alaska teams was to even out the increased travel costs to 18 different teams instead of 8. If those other 8 teams in the conference had to make 2 trips to AK every year, it would cost them considerably more than any other teams in the nation (except the two AK teams).

The Alaska schools pay for the opponents travel

[stoops17]

The Alaska schools pay for the opponents travel

Wow, I did not know that. It seems like an awful burden for the Alaskan teams, do they just pay part of it?

[Diskono]

Why wouldn't this work?

 

Colorado College

Denver

AA

AF

Nebraska-Omaha

Michigan Tech

Miami

Western Michigan

Northern Michigan

Ferris State

Bowling Green

Superior

Those schools would lose out on a ton of money by not playing games against big-name schools, so they would not vote in favor of this realignment.

[fondybrewfan]

It seems weird that Ferris State has a D1 hockey program and other schools like Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, and Iowa don't.

[tristarscoop]

See that's where you get into problems with assuming the Big Ten and looking at conference issues.

 

Look at how many schools that are maybe D3 in other sports have D1 hockey teams.

 

Minnesota-Duluth

Michigan Tech

St. Cloud State

Superior

Ferris State

Directional Michigan teams

Bemidji State

 

In addition, the more looming issue for conferences in hockey right now is the likely dissolving of the CHA that will leave Robert Morris, Alabama-Huntsville, Bemidji State and Niagara without a conference home.

 

The rumors currently swirling say Nebraska-Omaha will leave the CCHA and Ala-Huntsville will go there. Bemidji and Neb-Omaha, geographically, make the most sense for the WCHA and Niagra and Robert Morris have reportedly already applied to be part of the AHA.

 

The current CHA, with it's four teams, gets an automatic NCAA tournament bid for it's winner, despite the fact that their RPI is often much lower than other teams that get left out.

[Jimbo]

Michigan and Michigan State were in the WCHA at one time. I don't remember the reason they left. Travel costs?