Bemidji

[Schadenfreude]

Won the game in the first ten minutes. Bemidji played a good series and likely deserved a better fate tonight. BG fell 6 spots in the Pairwise. Elite programs don't struggle against ones they should beat. Have a feeling we'll look back at the loss Thursday and wonder what if.

We have a few like that. Lake Superior State comes to mind, too.

[jpfalcon09]

Won the game in the first ten minutes. Bemidji played a good series and likely deserved a better fate tonight. BG fell 6 spots in the Pairwise. Elite programs don't struggle against ones they should beat. Have a feeling we'll look back at the loss Thursday and wonder what if.

We have a few like that. Lake Superior State comes to mind, too.

BG would be 10th right now if they didn't lose to RMU. That loss, the tie to UAA and loss to Bemidji are what hurts them. Lake is better than people think.

[pdt1081]

The non-conference schedule for the WCHA is completed, and it really pains me to post this..... The league had a winning percentage of 34.4 % in nonconference games.....

Hats off to Bowling Green, Lake Superior State and Mankato for carrying the torch this year. The rest of us, well, we sucked.......

2018-19 WCHA Non-Conference Schedule

29 NCHC Games (5-22-2)
17 Big10 Games (9-6-2)
8 Hockey East Games (5-3-0)
7 Atlantic Hockey Games (3-3-1)
4 ECAC Games (0-4-0)
5 Independent Games (0-4-1)
1 Interleague Games (Not counted in league total)
9 Exhibitions (Not counted in league or team total)
TOTAL: 22-42-6 0.344

ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE (0-8-0)
-at Miami (2) L 1-5, L 0-4
-at Colorado College L 0-1
-at Denver L 0-6
-Arizona State (2) L 1-2, L 1-5
-vs Vermont L 1-4 (TD Bank Catamount Cup, Burlington, VT)
-vs Northeastern L 0-2 (TD Bank Catamount Cup, Burlington, VT)

ALASKA (0-5-1)
-at Arizona State (2) L 0-3, L 0-5
-St. Cloud State (2) L 2-3, L 2-6
-at Denver (2) L 1-4, T 3-3

ALASKA-ANCHORAGE (1-5-0)
-Colorado College (2) L 2-10, W 4-3
-at North Dakota (2) L 2-5, L 3-4
-at Nebraska-Omaha (2) L 0-3, L 0-4

BEMIDJI STATE (2-4-2)
-Lakehead (EXH) W 5-1
-North Dakota W 2-1
-at North Dakota T 1-1
-Merrimack (2) W 8-3, L 0-1
-at St. Cloud State (2) L 0-2, L 4-7
-at Air Force (2) T 3-3, L 3-6

BOWLING GREEN (5-1-1)
-at Mercyhurst W 8-2
-at Western Michigan W 6-2
-at Robert Morris L 2-3
-Robert Morris W 6-0
-Western Michigan W 4-1
-at Ohio State W 8-2
-Ohio State T 2-2
-at US Under 18 Team (EXH) W 5-4
-Windsor (EXH) W 7-3

FERRIS STATE (3-5-0)
-US Under 18 Team (EXH) W 3-1
-Lethbridge (EXH) W 5-2
-Western Michigan L 3-4
-at Western Michigan L 0-5
-Mercyhurst (2) W 5-2, L 1-3
-at Michigan State L 3-5
-Michigan State W 4-1
-at Minnesota (2) L 3-5, W 3-2

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE (5-1-0)
-at Merrimack (2) W 5-4, W 1-0
-Ni****ing (EXH-2) W 3-1, W 4-0
-Michigan (2) W 5-2, L 3-5
-at US Under 18 Team (EXH)
-vs. Michigan State W 4-3 OT (Great Lakes Invitational, Detroit, MI)
-vs. Michigan Tech W 6-3 (Great Lakes Invitational, Detroit, MI)

MICHIGAN TECH (1-6-1)
-Minnesota-Duluth (2) L 1-2, L 2-5
-at Wisconsin (2) W 6-2, L 2-6
-at Clarkson (2) L 1-3, L 1-3
-vs. Michigan T 2-2 (Tech wins shootout) (Great Lakes Invitational, Detroit, MI)
-vs. Lake Superior State L 3-6 (Great Lakes Invitational, Detroit, MI)

MINNESOTA STATE (5-2-1)
-Mount Royal (EXH) W 7-3
-Boston University (2) W 4-3, W 5-3
-at North Dakota (2) W 7-4, L 3-4
-at Minnesota W 5-1
-Minnesota W 2-1
-vs. Minnesota-Duluth L 3-4 OT (Desert Hockey Classic, Glendale, AZ)
-vs. Arizona State T 2-2 (Shootout loss) (Desert Hockey Classic, Glendale, AZ)

NORTHERN MICHIGAN (1-6-0)
-at Michigan State (2) L 2-4, W 4-3
-at St. Cloud State (2) L 1-4, L 0-5
-Cornell (2) L 1-3, L 2-3
-at Notre Dame L 1-2 OT

The above was posted on USCHO. BG, Mankato, and LSSU accounted for 15 of the 22 non-conference wins. The rest of the league went 7-38-4 in non-conference games. Any loss to one of those teams is hard to make up.

[mbenecke]

^THIS is why we should be looking to get out of this conference. Games are simply too far away, which hurts the fan experience, and there's no help from almost anyone else in the conference as far as getting an at-large bid to the national tournament.

I understand that we sometimes do it to ourselves, but we would have room for error like other conferences do if some members of our league would at least have a pulse and go .500 out of conference.

[AZIce]

BG would be 10th right now if they didn't lose to RMU. That loss, the tie to UAA and loss to Bemidji are what hurts them. Lake is better than people think.

If Ohio State had not blown a 3 goal lead with 6 to play on Friday to tie a bad MSU team we'd be 11th........many moving parts to the Pairwise.

[jpfalcon09]

^THIS is why we should be looking to get out of this conference. Games are simply too far away, which hurts the fan experience, and there's no help from almost anyone else in the conference as far as getting an at-large bid to the national tournament.

I understand that we sometimes do it to ourselves, but we would have room for error like other conferences do if some members of our league would at least have a pulse and go .500 out of conference.

Where would BG end up? The NCHC has the same issues geographically. Trips to St. Cloud, Duluth, Denver, Colorado College, UNO? That's worse than the WCHA currently. Only solution is to pry Miami and WMU away and take the other regional teams from the WCHA to form a new league. Maybe the remaining NCHC and WCHA schools can consolidate then? I don't see that happening though.

New league:
Bowling Green
Miami
Western Michigan
Ferris State
Michigan Tech
Northern Michigan
Lake Superior State
Alabama-Huntsville (maybe?)

WCHA/NCHC:
St. Cloud
Minnesota State
UMD
UNO
Denver
Colorado College
North Dakota
Bemidji State
Consolidate UAF/UAA into one program

Could you absorb Merrimack or Niagara to expand the footprint? Who knows. This conference is still pretty weak on paper, although the travel is considerably easier to deal with. It's a hard sell to get Miami and Western to leave the NCHC given the typical quality of competition. Fact is, BGSU is where they are because of the years of neglect. Easiest path is to try and keep building the program to dominate the WCHA and quit having the same pitfalls every year.

[Schadenfreude]

Where would BG end up? The NCHC has the same issues geographically. Trips to St. Cloud, Duluth, Denver, Colorado College, UNO? That's worse than the WCHA currently. Only solution is to pry Miami and WMU away and take the other regional teams from the WCHA to form a new league. Maybe the remaining NCHC and WCHA schools can consolidate then? I don't see that happening though.

New league:
Bowling Green
Miami
Western Michigan
Ferris State
Michigan Tech
Northern Michigan
Lake Superior State
Alabama-Huntsville (maybe?)

...
Could you absorb Merrimack or Niagara to expand the footprint?

My sense is that Miami and Western Michigan like being in a super strong league, but the travel isn't great. If the NCHC ever adds Arizona State and another clearly western team, I wonder if they would consider getting into a league with a more reasonable footprint.

Why do you name Merrimack and Niagara? Seems to me we might be able to get quite a few schools in western new York to listen. Robert Morris and RIT come to mind. (But I'm speculating.)

[jpfalcon09]

Where would BG end up? The NCHC has the same issues geographically. Trips to St. Cloud, Duluth, Denver, Colorado College, UNO? That's worse than the WCHA currently. Only solution is to pry Miami and WMU away and take the other regional teams from the WCHA to form a new league. Maybe the remaining NCHC and WCHA schools can consolidate then? I don't see that happening though.

New league:
Bowling Green
Miami
Western Michigan
Ferris State
Michigan Tech
Northern Michigan
Lake Superior State
Alabama-Huntsville (maybe?)

...
Could you absorb Merrimack or Niagara to expand the footprint?

My sense is that Miami and Western Michigan like being in a super strong league, but the travel isn't great. If the NCHC ever adds Arizona State and another clearly western team, I wonder if they would consider getting into a league with a more reasonable footprint.

Why do you name Merrimack and Niagara? Seems to me we might be able to get quite a few schools in western new York to listen. Robert Morris and RIT come to mind. (But I'm speculating.)

No specific reason on those two, they just popped into my head first.