WCHA Bound???

Falcon Fanatic · Post by **Falcon Fanatic** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 3:08 pm

Freddie wrote:
rally wrote:I have to agree with the comments above. The casual hockey fans in the stands won't know a Mercyhurst from a Mankato or a Buffalo from a Bemidji. They attend for the hockey experience and to see a win. Winning will take care of a lot of issues including attendance and finances. Personally, I find the prospects of a new-look CCHA (or whatever) rather exciting, having watched the old one grow from nothing to national power.

Ditto!

X 2!!

Falcon1970 · Post by **Falcon1970** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 3:24 pm

Drago seems to be concerned with attendance should we save the CCHA. Giving the conference new life, and a new face.
http://www.uscho.com/stats/attendance/d ... 2010-2011/

BGSU ranked 39th last year with 2169 per game
Mercyhurst 55th with 649 per game
Canisius 54th with 713 per game
Niagra 50th with 1,125 per game
Robert Morris 48th 1374
Alabama Huntsville 49th 1278 ( for first game this season they had 2300 I believe.)

Yet while I agree that for Huntsville a statement about the program being safe is required. I also agree that numbers for attendance do not look great. I also see that they would rise to the 2k mark (not huge but acceptable) with a rise in scholarships and competitiveness, just as evidence in Niagra in 2004 averaging over 2200 per game. That is with a student body of 4200. That ratio is great, and there is no reason to assume it is not maintainable when and if they were on level playing field in a competitive conference.

All that said. Even with the UB option coming I do not see BG haning around for this. I believe the wait was in hopes of a Hockey option, considering the numerous ties BGSU has to Hockey East.

rally · Post by **rally** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:09 pm

I really don't see how attendance applies. Heck, last year Kentucky led the NCAA men's BB attendance at over 23,000 per game. Gonzaga averaged 6,000 and placed 88th. Does it matter when it comes to the tournament?

Falcon Fanatic · Post by **Falcon Fanatic** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:16 pm

Some more things to read about ND going to Hockey East and other ramblings on this blog:
http://unitedstatesofhockey.com/2011/10 ... is-upsets/

Interesting news about the Merrill kid (suspended 12 game by the weasels) and the previous issues he's had. Definitely NOT the kind of kid we would ever have here. It also raises a lot of questions about getting kids to commit at age 14!

Falcon Fanatic · Post by **Falcon Fanatic** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:36 am

http://www.uscho.com/2011/10/04/amid-un ... n-2011-12/

I'll be glad when everything gets settled. This is driving me nuts.

VDub26Falcon · Post by **VDub26Falcon** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 12:41 pm

It's official...see the thread.

Class of 61 · Post by **Class of 61** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 1:16 pm

Toledo Blade is reporting that BG has "officially" joined the WCHA for the 2113-14 season.... I'm not the "expert" that some of you are re: Falcon Hockey...but it seems like the only logical step at this time as opposed to trying to "save" the CCHA by adding the smaller schools, i.e. Niagara et al.

BGFalconfromCincy · Post by **BGFalconfromCincy** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 1:43 pm

Class of 61 wrote:I'm not the "expert" that some of you are re: Falcon Hockey...but it seems like the only logical step at this time as opposed to trying to "save" the CCHA by adding the smaller schools, i.e. Niagara et al.

I agree, at this moment in time I think this was the right move

DetroitFalcon · Post by **DetroitFalcon** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 2:26 pm

Terrific. What is GC's next trick? Maybe now we can run down basketball to the point that we get invited to the Horizon league. This is a downgrade, plain and simple. It may be the best of bad options, but that's still bad.

joehockey · Post by **joehockey** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 2:38 pm

While I'm relieved we've finally found a conference to play in beyond next season, I can't help but feel sadened. This is either the re-birth of BGSU hockey, or the death of it. I don't see much middle ground and certainly hope this isn't the case, but should we end up being the doormats of the WCHA you would have to think that woulod all but end our program's viability. Let's hope that a winning product really can cure all.

Rightupinthere · Post by **Rightupinthere** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:17 pm

DetroitFalcon wrote:Terrific. What is GC's next trick? Maybe now we can run down basketball to the point that we get invited to the Horizon league. This is a downgrade, plain and simple. It may be the best of bad options, but that's still bad.

You haven't been paying attention enough to realize that if we didn't take this bid, we would have been independent or terminated sooner.

Read the news, don't assume it.

Falcon137 · Post by **Falcon137** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:23 pm

DetroitFalcon wrote:Terrific. What is GC's next trick? Maybe now we can run down basketball to the point that we get invited to the Horizon league. This is a downgrade, plain and simple. It may be the best of bad options, but that's still bad.

The Horizon League is a better basketball league.

sbkbghockey · Post by **sbkbghockey** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:42 pm

Falcon137 wrote:
DetroitFalcon wrote:Terrific. What is GC's next trick? Maybe now we can run down basketball to the point that we get invited to the Horizon league. This is a downgrade, plain and simple. It may be the best of bad options, but that's still bad.
The Horizon League is a better basketball league.

And the WCHA is a better hockey league than the alternative- going indy (how's that working for Huntsville?) or trying to save the CCHA with maybe adding some Atlantic Hockey members and an outside chance Buffalo restarts varsity hockey.

BGFalconfromCincy · Post by **BGFalconfromCincy** » Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:28 pm

DetroitFalcon wrote:Terrific. What is GC's next trick? Maybe now we can run down basketball to the point that we get invited to the Horizon league. This is a downgrade, plain and simple. It may be the best of bad options, but that's still bad.

Horizon League basketball is so much better then MAC basketball right now, that would be an upgrade

DetroitFalcon · Post by **DetroitFalcon** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 1:21 pm

Rightupinthere wrote:
DetroitFalcon wrote:Terrific. What is GC's next trick? Maybe now we can run down basketball to the point that we get invited to the Horizon league. This is a downgrade, plain and simple. It may be the best of bad options, but that's still bad.
You haven't been paying attention enough to realize that if we didn't take this bid, we would have been independent or terminated sooner.

Read the news, don't assume it.

Please re-read the post. It was clear and written at a level that most BG grads should be able to comprehend. I did not make a case for hockey to be independent. I only called attention to joining the WCHA as the latest milestone in the program's continued slide. My only mistake might have been using sarcasm to make my point, although I think both sarcasm AND metaphors were covered in IPCO 101, which was a required course for graduation from BG by the late 1980's.

Just to be clear and oversimplify my prior post for you, the "news" is that the long slide of the BG hockey program has now been capped off by a move to a weaker conference. That is what is meant by the sarcastic analogy of running basketball down to the point that we get invited to the Horizon league. I would agree that going independent would have been worse, as indicated by the statement "It may be the best of bad options, but that's still bad". The only thing that I am “assuming” is that the new WCHA will be much weaker than the current CCHA and the new NCHC.

If you think that BG should just accept that the NCHC to judged our program as not worthy of their membership, we will never agree. Our program has a proud history, and it is a travesty that it has fallen to the point that it is at now. I also don't have a problem holding our leaders accountable for what has happened and for turning it around. To me, GC seems to accept what has happened without ANY accountability or, even more importantly a sense of urgency to fix what is wrong. He may have gotten a good coach and we did make NECESSARY improvements to facilities, but is that too little to late? Apparently our ex-peers in the NCHC think so!

Sadly, I also agree that Butler's recent success probably puts the Horizon League out of reach for us, despite our long history of players in the NBA HOF and first round of the NBA draft. I do fear for our hoops future as well, but that is a subject for a different board!

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