~~2017-18 Big Ten Hockey Thread~~

[ELA]

I love college hockey and I love the new entrants and growth for the sport. But, as more programs add hockey I wonder what it does to the product? Does it get watered down? You have a limited number of states out there that sponsor the sport at a HS level. And in those states there is a very limited entry to who can even keep up with it. We have a mite level player (8 years old) in MN where ice time is more plentiful and less expensive and it cost $700, not including equipment, to go Nov - March. This doesn't include the year around business either. No youth sports are cheap these days but hockey is on a different level. The numbers get further watered down when you factor in those that go the JR or Minor League route permanently in the US and Canada (Tkachuk, Matthews).

It feels like the quality and skill level has dropped off a bit in the last decade. The top lines will always carry top NHL talent like Brock Boeser, Johnny Gaudreau. But the level of play from lines 2,3, and 4 seems to have fallen off.

Going strictly on the eye test for me there is no greater drop off from collegiate to professional than the NCAA hockey to the NHL.

The product has gotten nearly unwatchable over the past 15 or so years.  College hockey used to be a strong #3 for me.  I'd watch whenever it was on, and LOVED going to games at Yost.  Now, it's actually on tv, and I can't do it.  It's no different to me than a random softball game being on.  It's well behind baseball and women's volleyball as far as college sports I enjoy watching.
And yes, watering it down isn't going to help anything.  I think unless it becomes so expansive that it becomes the best route to the pros for Americans again.  BUt yes, too many programs, and more and more America kids not playing college hockey has really hurt the sport.
I remember after years of talking up college hockey to my wife, we went to a CCHA playoff game at Yost in maybe 2011ish?  Hockey is her favorite sport.  Like 5 minutes in, she was like "what is this crap?"  Unless you grew up with the better product, it's a hard thing to sell to someone new now.  It ain't good.

[HailHailMSP]

Agree. Funny you mention taking the wife to a game. I took mine to this one: (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK8Q2BJ_CPQ 

....on St Patricks Day of 2007. St Paul was rocking for St Patty's and WCHA Final Five. She says to this day this was one of the best sporting events she has attended in a full house XCEL Energy Center, and I have a hard time disagreeing with her.

On the ice that day were NHL all-stars TJ Oshie, Jonathan Toews, Blake Wheeler, Kyle Okposo, and Eric Johnson. There were a ton of role player NHL guys out there as well. This was also 1-2 years removed from the Sioux having Zach Parise and the Gophers having Phil Kessel. The talent on the ice in the top 3 lines and top 2 defensive pairings that day was staggering and the play showed it.

It's two teams and a single game, but a microcosm of how much the top to bottom talent has deteriorated in the last decade.

BTW, the last name of the Sioux goalie has become pretty famous as well. His twin sisters were pretty special in the recent Olympics.

[847badgerfan]

I took Mrs. 847 to a hockey game last year, in Madison.

Her comment was that it looked they were playing slow. My only response is that it was not the NHL.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Ohio State defeats Michigan for the 5th time this season.




http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-hockey/recaps/031018aaa.html


Ohio State advances to the Big Ten Championship game with a 3-2 overtime win over Michigan on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena. Matthew Weis scored 32 seconds into overtime off an assist from Tanner Laczynski to give the Buckeyes the thrilling victory.

[Brutus Buckeye]

[TyphonInc]

Let's Go Bucks!

[Brutus Buckeye]

[Brutus Buckeye]

So the auto-bids that won their respective Conference Tourneys are: 
Notre Dame, Boston U, Denver, Princeton, Michigan Tech and Air Force. 

[Anonymous Coward]

Of the 64 possible outcomes yesterday (i.e., 6 championship games, so 2^6 possibilities), only 1-in-64 had the potential to knock the Gophers out of the tournament. I'd call it astoundingly bad luck that this 1-in-64 constellation of outcomes is precisely the one that we got, but I suppose the Gophers made their own bed in the final 6-8 games of the season, and it would be a mistake to underestimate that.
Still, it's tempting to further emphasize Minnesota's poor fortune...they only ended up 13th in the pairwise by losing their T-12th tiebreaker with UM-Duluth due to a 0.0001 difference in RPI. That's crazy.
Very odd to read a bracket without Minny or NoDak.

[Brutus Buckeye]

[Brutus Buckeye]

So 4 Big Ten, 3 Hockey East, 3 Nacho, 3 Ecac, 2 Wcha and 1 Atlantic

By State: 3 Minnesota, 2 New York, 2 Colorado, 2 Massachusetts, 2 Michigan, 1 Ohio, 1 Rhode Island, 1 Indiana, 1 New Jersey and 1 Pennsylvania 

[Anonymous Coward]

The committee gave Michigan a significant assist. By straight seeding, M-Northeastern should be in Sioux Falls, with the winner scheduled against the nation's best team in my opinion (SCSU may be the best by far). But attendance concerns moved the double-Minnesota match there instead. And for Michigan (assuming they can get past Northeastern), the #1 seeds providing the most favorable matchup were always Notre Dame and Cornell.

Meanwhile, I need to take a second to acknowledge the rousing success of Pearson's first season. He inherited one of the worst teams in the nation and raised them to a 2-seed in less than one year. He brought a similar bump to Michigan Tech when he left Ann Arbor as Berenson's asst (similar in immediacy, though this bump has been bigger). But that immediate bump isn't what interests me most. That's the fact that he had a whole other gear to deploy a couple years later.

[HailHailMSP]

The Gophers were put out of their misery over the weekend. A new era is thrust upon Gopher Hockey. Don Lucia steps down after 19 seasons. He won two national titles, and had much success in WCHA and B1G conference play. I believe his tenure will be reflected on favorably as time goes on. It feels like both he and the program have lost some energy recently though.

It will be interesting to see where the search goes. Do they stay provincial and go with someone like Grant Potulny, Scott Bell, or Bob Motzko. Or do they look to someone with a track record of success but no MN hockey market ties like the Denver or Providence coaches.

[Brutus Buckeye]

Notre Dame knocked off Michigan Tech in the opening round, and will take on Providence in the Iced Eight.