How fun must it be to have a good hockey team to cheer on? Maybe we should abandon our hoops teams and turn the RAC into an ice rink
OT: BIG hockey
- Thread starter newell138
- Start date
I am a huge college hockey fan and would love if Rutgers added this program. With all the talent in the area and elsewhere, I think we could be very successful in the sport. That being said I am a huge fan/supporter of a program in the ECAC. The B1G is very much hated in the sport and everyone roots against the conference because of it's creation. It killed the great rivalries between North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin (amongst others). I just can't root for any B1G teams.
I liked for the short time when Notre Dame was in Hockey East and would fly 1,000 miles to Massachusetts to lose to teams their fans had never heard of like Umass Lowell and Merrimack. Not hard to predict that wasn't going to last.
Rutgers would need to build a 5,000 seat facility probably to be considered for inclusion. And NJ would be tough for recruiting. NJ has produced some very strong talent recently, but there isn't any depth to the talent pool. And a lot of NJ kids that make it first have to ship out of state to a NEPSAC high school or somewhere in the midwest, so for recruiting purposes they are not really NJ kids anymore anyway.
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That is what is so great about the sport today that schools like UM-L and Merrimack can make the NCAA tournament...and have deep runs like UM-L has done in the past. Quinnipiac beat Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota consecutively in the their NCAA tournament (and won the Natty) and beat Wisconsin last year. Penn St this year. Maine-Denver playing last night and today are huge games. Also great that I can watch all the Hockey East and ECAC games every Fri/Sat night on ESPN+ (the best reason to have it). Hockey is the perfect sport since it goes from early Oct - March with almost all games Fri/Sat nights.
Since there are only 64 D-1 programs, it's easy to recruit nationally. Plus you get all the kids from USHL and BCHL...and next year the CHL.
Hockey isn’t a sport where you need to get your recruits from your area as much as football.
I support the Maine Black Bears and they have some players from Maine and the rest of New England, but they have guys from all over Canada, the western US and Europe.
In addition, Canada is going to open up even more for recruiting because they just changed a rule that used to keep kids who played major junior hockey in Canada from ever being NCAA eligible.
Now, an 18 or 19 year old Canadian can see the writing on the wall about the chances he becomes an NHL player, and decide to take the college route instead.
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I was at Maine-Denver last night. Brutal loss, but it was a great game (not coincidentally because the refs let them play and only called 3 penalties).
I big supporter of an ECAC program? Would that be Princeton? Anyway, my son and I went to West Point last Saturday to see Princeton play Army. My wife, son and I have also been to Princeton to see men's and women's games more than a few times.
Yes. We moved up here a few years ago. About halfway between Augusta and Bangor (little under an hour to Orono).
Maine is a couple of scorers away from being a real national championship contender, they have everything else.
I definitely enjoy watching a team that works so hard and has a great forecheck after having to suffer through NY Rangers games.
My niece and her family moved to old orchard beach about 15 years ago. Since then my sister, brother (Rockland) and nephew along with each of their families have all moved up there and they all love it. Sis and bro are retired but niece and nephew are both in their 30s and working up there
The coast in Maine is great but still too crowded for my liking. I live out in the woods about 45 minutes from the ocean.
Quinnipiac. But every year I do buy a Princeton 3 pack. Love going to Hobey Baker. I was at the Army - Vermont game last Sunday. We watched Army Men's basketball beat UTSA earlier in the day. West Point double header. Army is another school with the dual basketball/hockey arenas.
My brother retired and moved to Otis Maine. Halfway between Bangor and Bar Harbor. Was fortunate to get to Alfond the last couple of years for games as well. Great arena.
The women's basketball team was practicing during the hockey game. Love the dual arena.
Never followed college hockey.
Grew up in WO and going to South Mountain Arena for HS games.
Great times.
Can I get a brief overview of who plays college hockey - for example considering the various minor leagues and NHL draft impacts on eligibility?
Grew up in WO and going to South Mountain Arena for HS games.
Great times.
Can I get a brief overview of who plays college hockey - for example considering the various minor leagues and NHL draft impacts on eligibility?
I still think that’s a little sour grapes on their part.
With the smaller size of the conference, as it relates to hockey, those games could still happen.
And let me be the first, as the biggest proponent of this idea, to say it’s nice to have a thread on the topic where the idea wasn’t poo pooed in the first few replies.
You are correct. UND tries to schedule Minnesota most years but there is still a lot of bitterness with the rest of the NCHC.
Since the creation of the B1G, no B1G team has won a Natty. But they have played for a bunch.
It seems Illinois has abandoned the idea of bringing hockey back.
They were, at one point, considered to be the next B1G program.
I’d keep an eye on Iowa as a possible next member considering the new venue recently built out there for a ECHL (AA level of the NHL) team. Their women’s volleyball program is already using it for their games now.
They were, at one point, considered to be the next B1G program.
I’d keep an eye on Iowa as a possible next member considering the new venue recently built out there for a ECHL (AA level of the NHL) team. Their women’s volleyball program is already using it for their games now.
That was a bummer for Illinois fans. Did not know that about Iowa but it makes sense. The B1G kept turning down ASU for hockey membership and now they are NCHC. B1G must feel there is hope for existing members to add hockey.
College “freshman” on D1 teams sometimes can be 21.
But with the changes @krup mentioned that could be younger Canadians now playing at the NCAA level.
The B1G wants it, the NHL wants it (more American D1 schools) and BTN and CBSSN want it for more live inventory.
The B1G has a 7 figure stipend if you have an on campus facility. Supposedly the NHL will offer some grass roots/start up funding as well…but can’t confirm that.
The only thing missing in downtown New Brunswick is an arena. It would make a great venue for concerts, the basketball teams can stay in Piscataway.
It was a possibility when the one in Trenton was being considered.
But agree on the second part (which I didn’t always) that basketball should play in a place for basketball. Anyone who went to the game last year against Princeton in Trenton should realize that.
College hockey is unique. Top talent will play in junior leagues (17-19 years old) like the USHL and BCHL (British Columbia Hockey league). Most kids need that experience/need to get bigger physically before the NCAA coaches will bring them in. Usually they are 20-21 year old as freshman. It is not unusual to see 24 year old college players as a result. Top programs like Minnesota, Michigan, Boston College, Boston University, North Dakota and Denver will get the 5* kids (think one/two year and done kids) to play when they are 17-19. If not already drafted, those 5*s get drafted after their first year and usually head to the NHL by the end of their sophomore year.
University of Maine does it but vice versa, the hockey team plays in an arena outside of Bangor while there is a more conventional arena downtown where most of the other indoor sports programs play.
So does UCONN, much to the chagrin of HockeyEast.
“Big” games at the XL in Hartford and regular ones in a revamped facility in Storrs.
The beauty of college hockey is you don’t need a huge arena. Most schools generally have 3-5K arenas. The B1G team arenas tend to be much larger but all Rutgers needs is something in the 5-7K range. It would be sold out for every game.
Just got back to this thread after watching a great win by Maine over Denver (on TV this time).
Maine actually splits the basketball between that arena in Bangor already mentioned and an old gym on campus. They are building a new on campus basketball facility, I don’t know if that means even more games will be in Orono.
Alford Arena in Orono has a capacity of 5125, and is considered one of the best game environments in college hockey.
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I went to a weekend series vs Notre Dame around 10 years ago. Great time.
Leaving the Saturday night game I will never forget, we were parked quite a distance from Alford Arena and when we arrived it was around 12 degrees and when I checked the weather in the 3rd period it was -8. With winds.
The walk back to the car was brutal.
I spent my undergrad years at an NAIA school in down east Maine during the late ‘70s. Rented houses off season in Biddeford Pool. Awesome times.
Our hockey team made national tournaments in consecutive seasons where they were destroyed by Bemidji State 22-0 and 11-2. The Bemidji team were all Canadians.
My daughter (RU Eng) and son-in-law live near Biddeford now.
They are in the middle of it now. The locker rooms and weight rooms are being rebuilt, as well as the entrance and concessions. No changes to the ice or seating.
Couldn't get a big donation or donations like PSU, so they abandoned plans after 5 yrs in 2022 (who knew it was that long ago):
‘A painful decision’: Illinois ending plans to add NCAA hockey
Monday’s announcement comes after a five-year process.
www.thechampaignroom.com
“After more than five years of extensive evaluation and intense effort to generate interest and support, we have determined that it is not viable to bring Division I men’s ice hockey to the University of Illinois at this time.
Since we began our exploration of hockey years ago, meaningful landscape changes have pushed us to this unfortunate conclusion. We have stated repeatedly that we would not advance the hockey project without a sound funding and financial plan. To date, we have been unable to generate the financial support necessary to greenlight the project — a concern that grew even more daunting through the pandemic, when we saw cost projections for the new facility increase by 30%.
In addition, as has been well documented, college athletics is now existing in an incredibly fluid, dynamic environment, including Alston awards, NIL, and student-athlete employment rights. We are investing heavily in new benefits for student-athletes, which increases the marginal cost associated with any new sport offerings. Such intense disruption has created ambiguity about the future, and we believe it unwise for Illinois Athletics to expand our sport model in such an uncertain environment.
And lastly, we have long championed the addition of hockey as an opportunity to address needs in our sports of volleyball, wrestling, and gymnastics. As a result, we have delayed other potential investments in those sports while we continued our pursuit of hockey and the downtown facility it would require. In recent months, as the odds of adding hockey have diminished, various opportunities to advance some of these other sports have developed. We are now choosing to pursue those opportunities, which effectively minimizes some of the intended value of the downtown facility to DIA.
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We believe the interest in hockey and the opportunity for the sport to succeed here is very real. You never say never in this business, and if the right opportunity were to present itself down the road, we would always be willing to reconsider. That said, due to other programmatic priorities and needs, we can no longer allocate human and financial resources toward the ongoing pursuit of this project. My heart believes that we can support hockey, but my head tells me it is time to direct our attention elsewhere. We must continue the upward momentum that Illinois Athletics has created in recent years, and that will require the focused energy of our staff and our community in the years ahead.
