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Post by nhteamer on Sept 15, 2016 8:52:58 GMT -5
Lift High the Cross
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Sept 15, 2016 9:01:16 GMT -5
Railers have contract with first right for schedule dates...this will be a problem. Railers owner has been all over the city since team was announced and looks like he's going to be an excellent local owner. He has invested in real estate and is building a hockey facility in the canal district (Harding/Green Street area). This will be a major stumbling block since both Railers and HC need/want weekend dates. Hope it works out for both. Leagues set the schedules, not the individual teams. Plenty of available weekend dates for both teams will would be available. Even day/nite games on the same day. This won't be an issue at all.
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Post by bfoley82 on Sept 15, 2016 9:12:04 GMT -5
Railers have contract with first right for schedule dates...this will be a problem. Railers owner has been all over the city since team was announced and looks like he's going to be an excellent local owner. He has invested in real estate and is building a hockey facility in the canal district (Harding/Green Street area). This will be a major stumbling block since both Railers and HC need/want weekend dates. Hope it works out for both. Leagues set the schedules, not the individual teams. Plenty of available weekend dates for both teams will would be available. Even day/nite games on the same day. This won't be an issue at all. If BC can find hockey dates with FOUR teams playing in the same building, an ECHL team is the least of the problems.
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Post by unhfan on Sept 15, 2016 10:19:09 GMT -5
I'm very glad to hear this as I was concerned that HE was going to go with the sexier pick in Quinnipiac. I had heard that the school presidents wanted Holy Cross while a lot of league coaches and some AD's preferred QPac. It makes sense for Holy Cross to join as your an outstanding academic institution and in the geographic foot print of HE.
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Sept 15, 2016 10:41:29 GMT -5
I'm very glad to hear this as I was concerned that HE was going to go with the sexier pick in Quinnipiac. I had heard that the school presidents wanted Holy Cross while a lot of league coaches and some AD's preferred QPac. It makes sense for Holy Cross to join as your an outstanding academic institution and in the geographic foot print of HE. Q informed HE that it was not interested.
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Post by Ray on Sept 15, 2016 10:45:08 GMT -5
I get the impression from the article that the Railers concerns aren't about scheduling conflicts, but about competition for fans/ticket sales. As noted in the article, minor-league hockey has a few losses and a few draws in their direct competition with big-time college hockey, but no wins for the pro product were cited.
If you're affiliated with the Railers, this isn't good news for your viability in the market... and not because of ice time.
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Post by HC92 on Sept 15, 2016 10:59:09 GMT -5
Almost all of UConn's home games are on Friday night or Saturday afternoon and they share the XL Center with an AHL team. They seem to peacefully co-exist just fine. However, if I was the Railers, I wouldn't be thrilled about all of a sudden sharing a market with a Hockey East team. Not sure what the timing was of their creation but HC joining HE or ECAC had been talked about for a while so it can't be complete shock.
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Post by matunuck on Sept 15, 2016 11:24:30 GMT -5
I get the impression from the article that the Railers concerns aren't about scheduling conflicts, but about competition for fans/ticket sales. As noted in the article, minor-league hockey has a few losses and a few draws in their direct competition with big-time college hockey, but no wins for the pro product were cited. If you're affiliated with the Railers, this isn't good news for your viability in the market... and not because of ice time. My take, also. If the Railers' owner threatens to go home so-to-speak should HC go to the HE, will the city flinch? Would hope not since HE is better long-term. They will huff and puff and bluff (for a while at least) to keep the HE away so hope HC is ready.
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Post by clmetsfan on Sept 15, 2016 11:40:49 GMT -5
HC's discussions with HE are much further along than this article implies. Makes sense. Why else would the hockey rink be the only thing that's not going to be upgraded in the Hart renovation?
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Post by HC92 on Sept 15, 2016 11:41:04 GMT -5
My take, also. If the Railers' owner threatens to go home so-to-speak should HC go to the HE, will the city flinch? Â Would hope not since HE is better long-term. Â They will huff and puff and bluff (for a while at least) to keep the HE away so hope HC is ready. They have to be careful how they handle this. I assume the greater Worcester hockey community would be very excited to have a Hockey East club playing at the DCU. If the Railers try to make that difficult, the revolt could be swift and severe. They're probably better off putting on a happy face, talking about building hockey in Worcester at all levels and seeing what happens. If they have a better option after a couple of seasons, they can go.
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Post by HC92 on Sept 15, 2016 11:42:55 GMT -5
HC's discussions with HE are much further along than this article implies. Makes sense. Why else would the hockey rink be the only thing that's not going to be upgraded in the Hart renovation? My assumption has always been that they viewed the DCU as a short-to-mid-term option if they get out of Atlantic Hockey and that they can they see how that's working or if a significant investment in an on-campus barn makes more sense.
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Sept 15, 2016 11:44:54 GMT -5
They have to be careful how they handle this. I assume the greater Worcester hockey community would be very excited to have a Hockey Easy club playing at the DCU. If the Railers try to make that difficult, the revolt could be swift and severe. They're probably better off putting on a happy face, talking about building hockey in Worcester at all levels and seeing what happens. If they have a better option after a couple of seasons, they can go. Good point and I concur.
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Post by matunuck on Sept 15, 2016 11:51:05 GMT -5
Isn't it refreshing to talk about playing the likes of Navy etc in football and now Hockey East rather than where we were a few years back --
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Post by nhteamer on Sept 15, 2016 12:16:41 GMT -5
yes
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Post by cfrivals on Sept 15, 2016 12:45:44 GMT -5
Could Basketball be next in a few more years??
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Post by steve81 on Sept 15, 2016 13:16:54 GMT -5
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Post by HC1843 on Sept 15, 2016 13:40:31 GMT -5
Link?
Thanks.
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Sept 15, 2016 13:44:06 GMT -5
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Post by bfoley82 on Sept 15, 2016 13:53:22 GMT -5
Almost all of UConn's home games are on Friday night or Saturday afternoon and they share the XL Center with an AHL team. They seem to peacefully co-exist just fine. However, if I was the Railers, I wouldn't be thrilled about all of a sudden sharing a market with a Hockey East team. Not sure what the timing was of their creation but HC joining HE or ECAC had been talked about for a while so it can't be complete shock. The problem here is Lowell's AHL team was CRUSHING the Riverhawks at the Tsongas Center. Once UMass-Lowell took over ownership of the building, they JACKED up the rent on the AHL squad and booted them out of the building. Lowell's attendance and success on the ice has taken off since that move.
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Post by JRGNYR on Sept 15, 2016 14:02:14 GMT -5
Looks like Clock and td128 were right on the money with this. Great news for Holy Cross! 'Teamer, the first round at Funky Murphy's is on me next season! I'd like to see the ink on the contract (or something close but just as official) before celebrating anything but where there's smoke, there's fire. This would be wonderful. Count me in for a round.
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Post by nhteamer on Sept 15, 2016 15:56:25 GMT -5
I'll be there
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Post by Crucis#1 on Sept 15, 2016 17:51:30 GMT -5
Another factor into the equation that has not been stated, why Q did not pursue Hockey East is their arena size, which is listed as 3386.
I believe Hockey East has a minimum size facility of 4,000+. The nearest facility that could accommodate them would be Bridgeport, which currently has an AHL franchise, and is 45 minutes away. About the same distance as Uconn to Hartford.
Or maybe "Q" likes rubbing shoulders with Harvard, Dartmouth and Yale.
Hockey East will allow HC to renew rivalries with BC, Providence, as well establish a designated game in the Turnpike Trophy series.
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Post by timholycross on Sept 15, 2016 22:08:43 GMT -5
The m/o for Hockey East is the same as AHA in most cases; that is- 2 games a week, Friday and Saturday. That type of schedule is workable with another tenant, because you're away some weeks.
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Post by bfoley82 on Sept 15, 2016 22:33:00 GMT -5
Another factor into the equation that has not been stated, why Q did not pursue Hockey East is their arena size, which is listed as 3386. I believe Hockey East has a minimum size facility of 4,000+. The nearest facility that could accommodate them would be Bridgeport, which currently has an AHL franchise, and is 45 minutes away. About the same distance as Uconn to Hartford. Or maybe "Q" likes rubbing shoulders with Harvard, Dartmouth and Yale. Hockey East will allow HC to renew rivalries with BC, Providence, as well establish a designated game in the Turnpike Trophy series. I love how Hockey East had this minimum facility size while Merrimack and PC have facilities less than 3k, Northeastern holds 3500 or so, while Vermont is slightly above 4K at 4,035
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Post by matunuck on Sept 16, 2016 8:20:10 GMT -5
This update from USCHO was just posted. Anyone know what the real story is? Last ditch effort of HC opponents to kill the move or complete BS or just the case of getting things lined up before making it "official" or who the heck knows?? UPDATE (Sept. 15): Citing sources with knowledge of the situation, USCHO has learned that Hockey East has not approached Holy Cross and Holy Cross has not applied for membership in Hockey East. Read more: www.uscho.com/2016/09/14/report-holy-cross-to-replace-notre-dame-in-hockey-east/#ixzz4KQNSkM2A
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