2017 NCAA Hockey - MOD # 135 - The Road to Chicago

[HockeyMomx2]

UConn is already part of Hockey East and HE has not yet announced a replacement for Notre Dame. It appears that either Holy Cross or Bentley will replace ND and Bentley which is now building an on campus rink is making a strong case.

Everything on the women's side of it is leaning towards it being Holy Cross making the move to DI. They also already have their own on campus rink that seats the minimum requirement.

P.S. just wanted to say thinks for starting this thread, there is zero coverage of college hockey out here so I try to keep up on line, it's nice to have a thread in the same place as Bruins for it. But CHL/OHL/Quebec Pee Wee Tournaments ARE covered. Go figure.

 

[Bruins1233]

Everything on the women's side of it is leaning towards it being Holy Cross making the move to DI. They also already have their own on campus rink that seats the minimum requirement.

P.S. just wanted to say thinks for starting this thread, there is zero coverage of college hockey out here so I try to keep up on line, it's nice to have a thread in the same place as Bruins for it. But CHL/OHL/Quebec Pee Wee Tournaments ARE covered. Go figure.

ASU doesn't get coverage out there?
Nvm, PDX is Portland not Phoenix.
and yes, HC makes more sense because they are an overall DI school and can offer a full slate of scholarships if they wanted.

 

[Bruins1233]

It's 6496. I believe the 6003 number was from before they redid everything and added the Lowell Bank Pavilion. I don't think 1150 SRO sounds like too much; when you consider all the standing space in the Pavilion, the Talon Club and then the walkway around the arena, it sounds about right for a record capacity. Not sure how often you go to games, but Friday night's game will definitely have a crowd on that level (end of season games are monsters sales-wise) if you want to see it in action.

I've been to the Tsongas several times, and they do pretty much fill the place. It looks like they have about 200 seats left to sell for fri.
I am out at RIT so I will not be going this weekend, but I kind of wish I could, I like seeing Boston College lose at things.
So far I've been to games at the Tsongas Center (UML), Conte Forum (BC), MassMutual Center (AIC), and Gene Polisseni Center (RIT).

 

[Fenway]

Puck Daddy tries to make sense of Hockey East

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaa-h...omes-down-to-the-final-weekend-201557839.html

 

[northeastern]

Puck Daddy tries to make sense of Hockey East

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaa-h...omes-down-to-the-final-weekend-201557839.html

Wow. Kind of scenario that I just ignore and see how it shakes out in the end.

Either way the tournament should be some good Hockey with a lot of bruin talent involved.

 

[Terrier]

Puck Daddy tries to make sense of Hockey East

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaa-h...omes-down-to-the-final-weekend-201557839.html

Here is the chart showing each team's potential finish. There will be jockeying for everything, the regular season crown, first round byes and home ice in the first round. A typical conclusion to a Hockey East season. If you're at a game this weekend, you'll be peaking at the scoreboard on your phone quite often.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4_7J7ZW8AAfZid.jpg


The regular season championship trophy up for grabs.

http://www.hockeyeastonline.com/images/20082009/specials/regularseason.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UFx8mPRT3...mzTw4kVOobg/s400/HE+regular+season+tropy2.jpg

 

[BergyDGD]

Oh, I am definitely aware.

Scouting isn't the issue, but rather the ability the land the big recruits. It's quite difficult considering that two perennial powers are down the road. NU took a step back here when Coach Cronin left for the NHL resulting in Gaudreau (yes that one) and John Gillies de-committing right before their freshman season and playing at BC and PC respectively.

Madigan is doing a good job with that right now as NU has a handful of players in the top-10 for scoring in the nation. They are just incredibly top-heavy as a team. Next season, Cayden Primeau is expecting to come in and take over goaltending duties. He's projected to have a great career, but some believe that he might need one more year in the USHL. We'll see.

Wow I didn't realize the dominoes that fell when Cronin left. Losing two players like Gaudreau and Gillies is a damn killer. Both those guys were capable of winning National Titles on their own and did go on to win National Titles. Gillies carried that PC team on his back to the 2015 NCAA Championship. As a Friar fan we were a very fortunate beneficiary when we landed Gillies as a result of uncertainty at NU. Back to current times PC need a minimum of 3 points this weekend vs lowly UMass Amherst. A sweep would put them in good position for a top 4 seed in HE with Lowell and BC going head to head.

 

[GloryDaze4877]

I realize the majority of you don't care much for the women's game, however, yesterday my daughter played her final regular season game of her college career. She's always jokingly referred to herself as the 'Paul Bisonette' of women's ncaa hockey. I looked at her final stat line for her career. Equal amount of points as penalty minutes. She's not too far off in her self assessment. LMAO

If she has P-Biz's sense of humor and is on Twitter, let me know and I will give her a follow

Also, tell her congrats.

 

[Bruins1233]

So what's the Best/Worst games you've been to this year
for me (RIT)
RIT vs RMU-worst by far
RIT was leading 5-1 in with like 8:00 left in the 2nd, and got a slew of penalties and let up 4 PPGs in a span of 1:52, 3 of which where 5-3. so the end of the period it was 5-5, and RIT lost 6-5 with a RMU goal near the middle of the 3rd
Best vs Bentley
RIT was down mid-3rd, tied it then won in OT. which remain their only home points since Jan. 1st.

 

[Bruins1233]

UMass-Lowell beat BC 4-1. Now if they Tie/win tomorrow, or Providence somehow does not sweep UMass they clinch the bye.
If either BU or ND sweep they win HEA.
If ND and BU split and UML wins tomorrow, UML wins HEA

 

[Bruins1233]

There is a BU/ND UML/BC double header on NESN/ASN at 6 and 8:30.
Top 4 in Hockey East, and each have a chance to take the title, BU has their fate in their own hands, everyone else needs someone else to lose
UML needs a 2-2 Split Between BU and ND
ND needs to win and UML to at least tie
BC needs to win and BU to get no more than 3 points this weekend.
Also be noted this is Lowell's Winterfest weekend so if you are heading to the Tsongas, give yourself extra time.
The Lowell Game is looking almost sold out, probably 50 tickets left. Looking like a crowd of 7,000+ for the finale.

 

[Fenway]

Losing to Lowell last night pretty much puts BC in a situation that they must win the HE Tournament to advance to the NCAA.

They are now 19th in PWR - that won't do it.

http://www.uscho.com/rankings/pairwise-rankings/d-i-men/

 

[Bruins1233]

Notre Dame and UML won tonight, this means that if BU wins or ties tomorrow UML wins the HEA title, if Notre Dame wins, they get the HEA title.
UML played well, winning 3-1, as did Notre Dame
Northeastern beat Maine, securing home ice, and of course, UMass-Amherst lost.

In Atlantic Hockey, Sacred Heart is looking at a loss to Air Force, which means RIT will be hosting them next weekend.

Also of note, UMass Lowell finishes the regular season with an east-leading 5,757 average attendance, which is highest in program history.

 

[riverhawkey91]

Coming down to the wire for the Hockey East title.

UML, BC, Notre Dame and BU all clinch first round byes. Winner of Hockey East comes down the BU/Notre Dame game tomorrow night:

• UML wins if BU wins or they tie (H2H over BC, conf wins over BU and Notre Dame)
• Notre Dame wins if they win

Score one for parity this year.

edit - ah barely beat me to it Bruins1233

 

[HockeyMomx2]

If she has P-Biz's sense of humor and is on Twitter, let me know and I will give her a follow

Also, tell her congrats.

If you mean that self depreciating dry sarcastic sense of humor, yes, yes she does. She also keeps her Twitter private, not sure if she'd be happy with me giving it out.

 

[Bruins1233]

Coming down to the wire for the Hockey East title.

UML, BC, Notre Dame and BU all clinch first round byes. Winner of Hockey East comes down the BU/Notre Dame game tomorrow night:

• UML wins if BU wins or they tie (H2H over BC, conf wins over BU and Notre Dame)
• Notre Dame wins if they win

Score one for parity this year.

edit - ah barely beat me to it Bruins1233

Personally I am rooting for BU because I don't want Notre Dame to win any trophies on their way out.

 

[riverhawkey91]

Personally I am rooting for BU because I don't want Notre Dame to win any trophies on their way out.

I've never really had an issue with Notre Dame leaving. The way I look at it, if there had been a B1G conference back when the CCHA broke up, they would have gone there immediately anyways, so it's tough to blame them for doing it now...it makes way more sense for them. They were always an odd fit when it came to scheduling/travel and kind of messed everything up when they came in, so it doesn't bother me to see them go. I'd much rather bring an actual New England team (Quinnipiac or Holy Cross) in and go back to more home & homes.

That said, I'm obviously rooting for BU to crush them so UML wins HEA.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Best of 3

Maine and Vermont

 

[Fenway]

I've never really had an issue with Notre Dame leaving. The way I look at it, if there had been a B1G conference back when the CCHA broke up, they would have gone there immediately anyways, so it's tough to blame them for doing it now...it makes way more sense for them. They were always an odd fit when it came to scheduling/travel and kind of messed everything up when they came in, so it doesn't bother me to see them go. I'd much rather bring an actual New England team (Quinnipiac or Holy Cross) in and go back to more home & homes.

That said, I'm obviously rooting for BU to crush them so UML wins HEA.

Our Lady of the Lake (University of Notre Dame du Lac) is a very tough poker player.

What they want more than anything is to stay 'independent' in football and the NCAA has never clamped down saying that they had to choose a conference in football.

Logic would tell you that Notre Dame should be in the B1G across the board but Notre Dame will not give up that contract they have with NBC with football.

Rumors are flying that BC has been approached by the B1G which many of the power brokers at the school covet. The BC AD suddenly resigned this week adding more intrigue. The key is the Big Ten cable network which would love to add New England into their footprint and that UConn is also being sniffed at.

What I find curious is why Syracuse never got involved in Division 1 hockey - it would seem like a logical investment.

 

[Bruins1233]

Our Lady of the Lake (University of Notre Dame du Lac) is a very tough poker player.

What they want more than anything is to stay 'independent' in football and the NCAA has never clamped down saying that they had to choose a conference in football.

Logic would tell you that Notre Dame should be in the B1G across the board but Notre Dame will not give up that contract they have with NBC with football.

Rumors are flying that BC has been approached by the B1G which many of the power brokers at the school covet. The BC AD suddenly resigned this week adding more intrigue. The key is the Big Ten cable network which would love to add New England into their footprint and that UConn is also being sniffed at.

What I find curious is why Syracuse never got involved in Division 1 hockey - it would seem like a logical investment.

BC's AD resigned because Football and Basketball at BC are absolute dumpster fires, and no amount of Hockey success can bring in the sort of money a NCAA tournament run or football just existing can. Even though Hockey probably has 2x the interest on Campus than Basketball, I would be shocked if Basketball brings in less than 2x the revenue of Hockey.
and speaking of realignment, I don't think Holy Cross is a lock for Hockey East. Rumor has it RIT's new president wants to go full DI. If that were the case, the 9 team America East Conference would be a likely home, a conference with 4 HE schools already. I think if that were the case, RIT would probably join Hockey East to be with its America East conference mates.
Even though RIT is the western outlier, not by nearly as much as Notre Dame.

 

[riverhawkey91]

Our Lady of the Lake (University of Notre Dame du Lac) is a very tough poker player.

What they want more than anything is to stay 'independent' in football and the NCAA has never clamped down saying that they had to choose a conference in football.

Logic would tell you that Notre Dame should be in the B1G across the board but Notre Dame will not give up that contract they have with NBC with football.

Rumors are flying that BC has been approached by the B1G which many of the power brokers at the school covet. The BC AD suddenly resigned this week adding more intrigue. The key is the Big Ten cable network which would love to add New England into their footprint and that UConn is also being sniffed at.

What I find curious is why Syracuse never got involved in Division 1 hockey - it would seem like a logical investment.

I think Notre Dame can get away with the independent thing in football, but it seems like it'd probably be much tougher to do in hockey. Can't blame them one bit for not wanting to give up that NBC deal, but it'll be interesting to see if there's pressure down the road for them to join the B1G fully now that they've started integrating at least one of their teams.

I'd be perfectly fine with UConn walking and just going back to a 10-team conference. The Big 10 could make sense for both Notre Dame and UConn, but I do have a hard time seeing BC leaving HEA. I won't pretend to have much knowledge of how all of that works, but I've always thought hockey skated by naughty on conference allegiances since none of the teams/divisions really align with their counterparts in other sports. I feel like that's sort of changed a bit since the B1G came in and brought all their conference schools together. It might not be a big deal for UConn coming from the AAC, but for BC, I could see that presenting problems with the ACC...it would be weird to have them in your conference in one sport and in a rival one in all others. One would then have to imagine that at some point down the line, they'd have to considering bringing BC in across all sports, and that'd just get messy. I think BC (along with HEA) would be much better off pursuing some sort of legit TV deal of their own (or even just getting all games on ESPN3 or something)...obviously they aren't getting their own channel, but just some better deal than NESN gives them would be good.

And yeah I'm with you there, I've always been curious about a few schools in that regard. Location-wise Syracuse is definitely surprising; there's so much hockey around it'd only seem logical to jump in. Another one, since we're talking B1G, is Nebraska (Lincoln). I get they're super close to Omaha so it's not that big of a deal, but it's still a bit surprising they've never bothered making the investment, especially now with a full-on B1G conference.

 

[Bruins1233]

BU beat Notre Dame, that means for the first time in the history of Hockey East there is a 3 way tie for first.
BC/BU and UML all have 29 points.
UML wins both tiebreakers so they have #1. BU is #2 and BC is #3.
and Notre Dame finished their last season in their conference in 4th, as opposed to their football team, which is always 1st.

 

[Bruins1233]

With a win last night, Harvard is ECAC co-champs with Union, meaning every Beanpot school got a trophy (except NU), as been the story over the last 29 years.

 

[northeastern]

With a win last night, Harvard is ECAC co-champs with Union, meaning every Beanpot school got a trophy (except NU), as been the story over the last 29 years.

Hey! Nu won hockey east championships last year... They got a trophy. Nu has been out of the basement for a while now and have made 5 of the last 8 beanpot finals...

And NU is heading into the tournament hot again, not as hot as last year but their top line is among the best in the country with the 1st 5th and 6th overall in points. Zack Aston Reese should get some solid attention as the best free agent to come out of college hockey this year in my opinion.

 

[304]

With a win last night, Harvard is ECAC co-champs with Union, meaning every Beanpot school got a trophy (except NU), as been the story over the last 29 years.

As a Lowell fan, you certainly must remember the HE Championship game from just last year?