2022-2023 Season

[jpfalcon09]

Bergeron lost 4-1 last night and 8-0 tonight at home against Nodak. In calendar year 2023 Miami State has been outscored 32-2.

Should of never left BG, going to be looking soon.

And by extension, Miami should have never joined the NCHC. That program is dead in the water given the behemoths they have to compete against in league play. Don't blame Berge for leaving, more money and the opportunity to turn around his alma mater, but I'd agree it would appear his time in Miami is probably coming to an end in the next couple years.

He's what, $400k/year there? Currently 3 years left.....

He has the rest of this year plus two more. Do they even have enough cash to buy him out early?

Who knows. Depends on how many donors care enough. Personally don't believe hockey holds the same relevance in Oxford as it did even ten years ago. The original CCHA disbanding probably has a lot to do with that. No more BG, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame visiting every year. Lost all those regional rivalries. Hard to get excited to see North Dakota, Duluth, St. Cloud when there's zero history there and they wipe the ice with the Redhawks every time they play.

[BillyLP]

Agree with the above sentiment - Miami the NCHC was never going to work.

Why, though? I see that reasoning a lot, but I see no reason they couldn't have made it work there. They were fresh off of back-to-back Frozen Four appearances, had a Hobey Baker winner, were putting people on the All-America team every single year. They have a beautiful arena and were funding their program at the level other NCHC schools were. Western Michigan plays in a barn and they have been finishing in the top half of the standings. Miami is the doormat of the conference, but I don't think they were doomed to be that from the beginning. I think they just failed at keeping up with the other programs.

[Critical Thinker]

They were fresh off of back-to-back Frozen Four appearances, had a Hobey Baker winner, were putting people on the All-America team every single year. They have a beautiful arena and were funding their program at the level other NCHC schools were.

All of that was before they had to book a flight every other weekend and lost their 4-8 annual home games against Big Ten/Notre Dame teams. Interest from the casual fan took a massive dive, expenses went way up, and the TV revenue was a wild goose chase. Failure in the NCHC was much more likely than success.

[pdt1081]

They were fresh off of back-to-back Frozen Four appearances, had a Hobey Baker winner, were putting people on the All-America team every single year. They have a beautiful arena and were funding their program at the level other NCHC schools were.

All of that was before they had to book a flight every other weekend and lost their 4-8 annual home games against Big Ten/Notre Dame teams. Interest from the casual fan took a massive dive, expenses went way up, and the TV revenue was a wild goose chase. Failure in the NCHC was much more likely than success.

And, with the exception of Western, hockey is THE sport on campus at every other school in that league. And lately, even Western seems to be moving that way.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

From the @BGAthletics Twitter account:

"Stop by Fricker's tonight for the Coaches Show! Todd Walker and Coach Huger will talk men's basketball at 6 p.m. via a pre-recorded segment before Ty Eigner and Kevin Piel take over at 6:30 inside Fricker's!"

Link to a form to ask a question that will likely be ignored: https://bgsufalcons.com/sb_output.aspx?form=120
Link to original Tweet: https://twitter.com/BGathletics/status/ ... 2404599808

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Swankler for Hobey...keep voting, he's currently third.

https://twitter.com/HobeyBakerAward/sta ... 9557019648

[Bgsu2016]

Who knows. Depends on how many donors care enough. Personally don't believe hockey holds the same relevance in Oxford as it did even ten years ago. The original CCHA disbanding probably has a lot to do with that. No more BG, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame visiting every year. Lost all those regional rivalries. Hard to get excited to see North Dakota, Duluth, St. Cloud when there's zero history there and they wipe the ice with the Redhawks every time they play.

Well said. Miami joining the CCHA needs to happen for everyone’s sake, like you said conference realignment doesn’t work all the time with fans. You had great long time rivalries gone overnight.

Would love to see Miami join along with that Augustana U, and have Arizona State replace Miami in the NCHC

[BGFalconfromCincy]

Who knows. Depends on how many donors care enough. Personally don't believe hockey holds the same relevance in Oxford as it did even ten years ago. The original CCHA disbanding probably has a lot to do with that. No more BG, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame visiting every year. Lost all those regional rivalries. Hard to get excited to see North Dakota, Duluth, St. Cloud when there's zero history there and they wipe the ice with the Redhawks every time they play.

Well said. Miami joining the CCHA needs to happen for everyone’s sake, like you said conference realignment doesn’t work all the time with fans. You had great long time rivalries gone overnight.

Would love to see Miami join along with that Augustana U, and have Arizona State replace Miami in the NCHC

Would a conference of small D1 and non-D1 schools where hockey is the #1 sport want Arizona State?

[pdt1081]

Would a conference of small D1 and non-D1 schools where hockey is the #1 sport want Arizona State?

Short answer, yes. ASU has shown they actually want to play, and are committed to play, D1 hockey. The issues with the UA_s were the constant threat of them not playing the next season. The travel sucked, but it is what it is. Traveling to play good teams should not be that big of an issue. All three either cut or were very close to cutting (closer than it was ever was here) their program before it was "saved." But once it was "saved," they just continued to exist. There was no public showing of solidifying them as programs moving forward. ASU came in and said they were committed to playing D1 hockey, and rather quickly built a new arena. It's not the #1 sport on campus, but the school isn't merely letting them exist, a la OSU through the 80s and 90s.

[jpfalcon09]

JST is officiating the Red Wings game tonight.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I played around with my standings calculator and came across the following scenarios:

BG Wins the MacNaughton if
o BG wins out AND
o Bemidji sweeps Mankato at Bemidji AND
o Tech/Mankato split in Mankato

Tech Wins the MacNaughton if
o Tech wins out including a sweep at Mankato

Mankato Wins the MacNaughton if either of the above two scenarios don't play out.

What about home ice for the first round of the playoffs? Well, it looks like we control our own destiny. If BG loses out:
BG Finishes 5th if
o Bemidji finishes 4-1 OR
o Ferris finishes 3-2

Short answer is we need 1 win the rest of the way to secure a first round home playoff series or we need help from Bemidji and Ferris if we go 0-fer.

Can we finish second? It's possible, but I think Tech has to lose out. If we finish 2-1 and Tech finishes 1-2 we end up in a tie but it appears we lose on tiebreaker 3.
BG Finishes Second if:
o BG wins out OR
o Tech loses out AND BG splits with Northern

Thought I'd take HJs advice and post something positive

EDIT: More positive news, with last night's shortie we're now tied for second in the nation with 7.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Update on standings. We are out of the running for the MacNaughton. The simple answer is if Tech sweeps Mankato (in Mankato), they're the champs. The complex answer is "it depends" when factoring in OTW/OTL. Suffice it to say the MacNaughton is Mankato's to lose. Again. The good news is they didn't clinch it in December like last year.

I think the best we can do is finish 3rd. If we sweep Northern and Tech gets swept, we both end up in a tie for second with 47 points. However, I think we lose on tiebreaker #3 which is the best winning percentage. We would end up 14-10-2 for .577 while Tech would end up 14-8-4 for .615. It comes down to one crummy point.

To be a 100% lock for home ice in the first round we need to sweep Northern. If Bemidji wins out against Mankato and the Rico's and we win out we end up in 3rd by a point. Bemidji running the table is a tall order so a strong Mankato performance next weekend relieves a lot of pressure. The Mavs need those wins to keep Tech at bay so motivation won't be a problem even though the games are in Bemidji.

Ferris is another matter. They finish up at Northern and home against the Lakers. If Ferris wins out, which is a higher probability than Bemidji, they have a realistic shot at third if we stumble. In that case we absolutely have to sweep (OK, we actually need 5 out of 6 from Northern). If you're scoreboard watching this weekend you're cheering like hell for the Wildcats. I can't flippin' believe Bob Daniels has put that team in this position. Gotta hand it to the guy, that could be a COY performance.

tl;dr We control our own destiny but nothing is guaranteed.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Keep voting...Swanks is in third and there is quite a dropoff between 3 and 4.

https://hobeybaker.com/awards/vote-for-hobey/

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Trips to the Schott are now on borrowed time.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-sta ... y-programs

[mbenecke]

Trips to the Schott are now on borrowed time.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-sta ... y-programs

That's great news. The Schott is a terrible college hockey (and basketball) venue. They need something much smaller and more intimate, so it's good that they are getting that. I would be thrilled if they built a smaller arena that lent itself to a great environment for us to smack them around in.