2024-2025 season

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Willy was on the Coaches Show with Todd Walker tonight. Expect to see a road trip to Princeton in the future along with resuming the series with Miami State. Willy will also be hitting the ground running when the CHL thing gets resolved.

Edit: Also, we flipped to a new page and I wasn't sure everyone saw they had their annual chance to weigh in on the upcoming season. Pick the standings and number of wins

[pdt1081]

Willy was on the Coaches Show with Todd Walker tonight. Expect to see a road trip to Princeton in the future along with resuming the series with Miami State. Willy will also be hitting the ground running when the CHL thing gets resolved.

Princeton will be in BG also. BG is also scheduled to play the Icebreaker when UCONN hosts in a year or two.

[jpfalcon09]

Willy was on the Coaches Show with Todd Walker tonight. Expect to see a road trip to Princeton in the future along with resuming the series with Miami State. Willy will also be hitting the ground running when the CHL thing gets resolved.

Edit: Also, we flipped to a new page and I wasn't sure everyone saw they had their annual chance to weigh in on the upcoming season. Pick the standings and number of wins

Picking things back up with Miami makes sense after both programs have moved on from their respective staffs that caused that relationship to sour. BG absolutely needs to be playing both them and the Broncos annually.

[pdt1081]

Picking things back up with Miami makes sense after both programs have moved on from their respective staffs that caused that relationship to sour. BG absolutely needs to be playing both them and the Broncos annually.

In a way, I could see an in season tournament with UMASS making a lot of sense. Downside would be BG, Miami, and Western each giving up a fairly large draw home game to do it.

[mbenecke]

Picking things back up with Miami makes sense after both programs have moved on from their respective staffs that caused that relationship to sour. BG absolutely needs to be playing both them and the Broncos annually.

In a way, I could see an in season tournament with UMASS making a lot of sense. Downside would be BG, Miami, and Western each giving up a fairly large draw home game to do it.

I get what you're saying, with the MAC connection. I agree that giving up big gates probably makes it impossible, but hell, even just a scheduling agreement with those schools would be great. It would be awesome to get UMass, especially, in our building.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Poll results are in. No surprises in the standings, they pretty much mirror both the coaches and writers. Basically a 3-way tie for the MacNaughton between Bemidji, Mankato, and Tech with the Tommies grabbing the last home ice spot.

As far as the season, the average is 17.8 wins which is pretty darn good. Here's a breakdown of the series:

Mercyhurst - 1.5 wins
Augustana - 1 win
Western - zero wins
Ohio State -.5 wins
RIT - 1 win
UST - 2 wins (series split)
LSSU and FSU - 3 wins each
BSU - 1.5 wins
MnSU - .5 wins
Tech - 1 win
NMU - 2.5 wins

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I really like the upcoming series with Princeton. It's exciting to see a team from the east on our schedule again.

Where would we hold this proposed Hockey MACtion! tournament? I like the concept but not sure how the logistics would work?

[pdt1081]

Where would we hold this proposed Hockey MACtion! tournament? I like the concept but not sure how the logistics would work?

If it were 4 teams at one site, a Holiday tournament would be best. Toledo or Fort Wayne is the logical "most central" location. Or do it for 4 years with each school hosting once. Western and Miami would want to be separated for the first round in that type of tournament.

Other option would almost be more like a scheduling agreement over 2 years. Allow Miami and Western to use a conference series for their matchup instead of making them play 6 times. It would take up a large share of BG's non-conference schedule being 3 series locked in. But, BG would visit the other 3 buildings, and the other 3 would all visit BG.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Where would we hold this proposed Hockey MACtion! tournament? I like the concept but not sure how the logistics would work?

If it were 4 teams at one site, a Holiday tournament would be best. Toledo or Fort Wayne is the logical "most central" location. Or do it for 4 years with each school hosting once. Western and Miami would want to be separated for the first round in that type of tournament.

Other option would almost be more like a scheduling agreement over 2 years. Allow Miami and Western to use a conference series for their matchup instead of making them play 6 times. It would take up a large share of BG's non-conference schedule being 3 series locked in. But, BG would visit the other 3 buildings, and the other 3 would all visit BG.

I like that scenario!

[pdt1081]

I like that scenario!

The scheduling agreement would really only work for a couple years. It would take 6 out of the 8 non-conference games BG gets. Western and Miami would fair a bit better if they're only using 4.

[jpfalcon09]

I like that scenario!

The scheduling agreement would really only work for a couple years. It would take 6 out of the 8 non-conference games BG gets. Western and Miami would fair a bit better if they're only using 4.

I like the idea of throwing in UMass maybe every other year. Leaves room for a Mercyhurst, RoMo, to slot in along with an Ohio State or Michigan State. Carousel that around and it's a pretty solid non-conference schedule annually.

[pdt1081]

I like the idea of throwing in UMass maybe every other year. Leaves room for a Mercyhurst, RoMo, to slot in along with an Ohio State or Michigan State. Carousel that around and it's a pretty solid non-conference schedule annually.

Absolutely. 4-0, or 3-1 against the NCHC pretty much guarantees top 20 in PWR. Throw in 2-0 against the BiG, and the regular season would almost be a wash (let's face it, if you go 5-1 with that non-conference you're going to be top 3 CCHA).

I don't mind 2 games against the Atlantic. I really don't like 4 against the same conference, but given recent history, the NCHC is who you do that with. The way the PWR is setup, I think ideally you want 2 games against every conference. Playing 1 game against 2 different teams would be even better.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I listened to the new CCHA Show this morning. The guy from the Bemidji Pioneer had us 3rd on his media ballot and "couldn't figure out what everyone else was missing" with regards to us surviving last year and having a chance to finish 2nd, not losing anyone to the portal, the coaching staff setting the culture. The one thing we're missing is a top scoring line (yup). He had us ahead of Mankato (Tech was 5th) and said he'd rejigger his 3 and 4 with Mankato grabbing the Gopher's leading scorer.

Take it for what it's worth.

[pdt1081]

I listened to the new CCHA Show this morning. The guy from the Bemidji Pioneer had us 3rd on his media ballot and "couldn't figure out what everyone else was missing" with regards to us surviving last year and having a chance to finish 2nd, not losing anyone to the portal, the coaching staff setting the culture. The one thing we're missing is a top scoring line (yup). He had us ahead of Mankato (Tech was 5th) and said he'd rejigger his 3 and 4 with Mankato grabbing the Gopher's leading scorer.

Take it for what it's worth.

Speaking of media, is there just a general lack of interest from any local media? I've seen a total of one article written after media day, and that was by the Blade.

[jpfalcon09]

I listened to the new CCHA Show this morning. The guy from the Bemidji Pioneer had us 3rd on his media ballot and "couldn't figure out what everyone else was missing" with regards to us surviving last year and having a chance to finish 2nd, not losing anyone to the portal, the coaching staff setting the culture. The one thing we're missing is a top scoring line (yup). He had us ahead of Mankato (Tech was 5th) and said he'd rejigger his 3 and 4 with Mankato grabbing the Gopher's leading scorer.

Take it for what it's worth.

Speaking of media, is there just a general lack of interest from any local media? I've seen a total of one article written after media day, and that was by the Blade.

Not sure when Willy's weekly press conference is, could be today since football has Mondays at the moment. The open house is tomorrow, maybe some articles Thursday or Friday? I think it's more of a resources thing with local media than a lack of interest.