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Gophers need to win @ ND and then beat the winner of OSU/PSU.  PSU has given the Gophers fits.  But that would be on home ice.  OSU is the best team pointwise in the conference.  Gophers just swept them on their ice a couple weeks ago.  Either way....the only way into the tournament is a Big Ten Championship.

Oh.....and I'm also a Saint Cloud alum.  Trumps my love for the Gophers.  They're #1 and have a decent shot at a title.

Mrs. 847 is one of those.

Ah!  So while I hate on the Badgers and you hate on the Gophers.....we can at least root for the Huskies!

Notre Dame defeated the Gophers in OT, in the first semifinal. 

Sounds like you've always had that lean. I'm reading that your fan base is growing fast.

I'd be curious of your opinion on the shrinking UMinn hockey fan base, measured by plummeting attendance. It seems perfectly correlated with the Big Ten hockey inauguration, mixed in with poor decisions by the AD - ticket licensing, and mandatory combos for season hockey tickets with football.
My main curiosity is the affected demographics. Are we actually talking students and alumni fleeing UMinn hockey, or is this about the unaffiliated  Minnesotans leaving and flocking to other in-state teams like UMD and SCSU?

My guess would be that alumni/students are most likely to stick to their team despite unpopular decisions and non-alumni would be fastest to bail.

Ever since I attended school there.  The Huskies were fairly good when I went there.....but they've REALLY good for the past few years now.  Motzko was a great coach.....and since he bailed.....I'm glad he went to the Gophers.  Are you a Red Wings fan?  Nick Jensen graduated a year after me in high school and played for the Huskies.  I know that he plays for the Caps now.....but he was drafted in 2009 by the Red Wings.
And the Gophers attendance issues are pretty well known.  There are several reasons for that.  After the two titles in the early 00's.....Lucia started to get lazy and performance suffered.  But Motzko should be able to right the ship.  Another thing about the declining attendance has to do with the athletic department.  Huge chunks of the best seats in Mariucci go to corporate sponsors.  These tickets often go unused.  It doesn't help that UMD is consistently good.....and teams like SCSU and MSU Mankato are now really good as well.  Both are top 3 in the country....and they've been siphoning high end talent in the state.  But Motzko took some high end recruits with him when he went to the Gophers.  Another issue is the Big Ten.  A lot of the Gophers natural rivalries were in the WCHA, which became the NCHC when the Big Ten stole a couple of teams and the WCHA as it once was dissolved.  Finally....the Gophers tournament game was going on during the high school hockey tournament....which is a HUGE event here in MN. 

Ever since I attended school there.  The Huskies were fairly good when I went there.....but they've REALLY good for the past few years now.  Motzko was a great coach.....and since he bailed.....I'm glad he went to the Gophers.  Are you a Red Wings fan?  Nick Jensen graduated a year after me in high school and played for the Huskies.  I know that he plays for the Caps now.....but he was drafted in 2009 by the Red Wings.

I grew up an enormous(!) Red Wings fan. I haven't followed any professional sports in 15 years -- college has been easier and more than enough of a work load as fandom and "keeping up" goes -- but the next time I watch the NHL playoffs, it'll be because the Red Wings are doing well again ... and even then I'll have skipped the regular season.

And the Gophers attendance issues are pretty well known.  There are several reasons for that.  After the two titles in the early 00's.....Lucia started to get lazy and performance suffered.  But Motzko should be able to right the ship.  Another thing about the declining attendance has to do with the athletic department.  Huge chunks of the best seats in Mariucci go to corporate sponsors.  These tickets often go unused.  It doesn't help that UMD is consistently good.....and teams like SCSU and MSU Mankato are now really good as well.  Both are top 3 in the country....and they've been siphoning high end talent in the state.  But Motzko took some high end recruits with him when he went to the Gophers.  Another issue is the Big Ten.  A lot of the Gophers natural rivalries were in the WCHA, which became the NCHC when the Big Ten stole a couple of teams and the WCHA as it once was dissolved.  Finally....the Gophers tournament game was going on during the high school hockey tournament....which is a HUGE event here in MN. 

That's what I figured, though I didn't know about the state HS tournament. No doubt that distorted the narrative. The place looked as active as a mausoleum in the photo I saw.

Pretty huge for ASU hockey to make the tournament. What Coach Powers has done for the program is remarkable.

What Penn State and now Arizona State have done has made me wonder if it's better for MSU to scrap the program for a decade, then bring it back with excitement, rather than the stale thing it has become, with total fan apathy.