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Post by alum on Jan 19, 2018 8:04:13 GMT -5
I went to the UCONN vs. PC men's game at the XL Center last night, courtesy of a Christmas present from one of my kids. (OK, so I noticed from the email with the tickets that he ordered them about five minutes before we started opening presents on Christmas morning, but it is better than a tie.) The upper sections are blocked off making the capacity 9000. I looked around the arena. There are 23 sections in the lower bowl. It did not appear to me that any had more than 100 people in them and many had under 50. There were some groups gathered in the bar sections on the ends, but not close to enough to justify the announced attendance of 3859. I would say that 1800 might be more accurate. The crowd was dead, especially since PC scored twice in the first five minutes and UCONN played lifelessly throughout. The fans seemed to include some younger UCONN alums, a good sized PC contingent, and some hockey fans wearing Whalers or Hartford Wolf Pack gear. It was a school night so there were not a lot of youth hockey groups.
We tell ourselves that Hockey East will be great, but I am not convinced that we would find this experience any more exciting than men's basketball unless we are challenging for the championship.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jan 19, 2018 8:23:23 GMT -5
From the way you describe it, if this were a Holy Cross athletic event posters would state that the attendance was maybe 500-600......
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Jan 19, 2018 9:19:11 GMT -5
With very few exceptions (Prov and sometimes UConn hoop, BC and BU hockey), no college athletic event in New England is going draw much on a cold January weeknight for a non-marquee opponent game.
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Post by lou on Jan 19, 2018 9:46:10 GMT -5
With very few exceptions (Prov and sometimes UConn hoop, BC and BU hockey), no college athletic event in New England is going draw much on a cold January weeknight for a non-marquee opponent game. Not a hockey fan, but wouldn't PC v UConn in the HE league which I guess is big, be a Marquee game?
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Jan 19, 2018 9:48:24 GMT -5
BC and BU are the "marquee" opponents in HE.
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Post by cruskater31 on Jan 19, 2018 10:20:24 GMT -5
Last season, the highest NCAA hockey attendances were out west. Lowell playing at Tsongas had the highest avg attendance at 5,542. BC was next in HEA followed closely by BU, UConn, Maine, and UNH all in the 4k range. Typically midweek games, even at HEA schools are not as well attended. I'm surprised UConn's attendance is so high considering they play off campus. Gives us hope playing at the DCU. www.uscho.com/stats/attendance/division-i-men/2016-2017/
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Post by Tom on Jan 19, 2018 10:33:04 GMT -5
Similar to Alum, I have scored a box for a Hockey East game tomorrow night. I can give a sense of how full, although I anticipate a Saturday night at Agganis to have a lot more people than a Thursday night in Hartford. Maybe I can get a sense of how well Merrimack travels
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 19, 2018 23:13:09 GMT -5
UConn has also never been a hockey school. They were in our conference until about five years ago. When Notre Dame announced it was bringing its program to HE, the league decided to add a 12th member and settled on UConn for two reasons. 1) It's UConn and 2) UConn women were already playing in Hockey East while the men were in the AHA.
Kind of ironic that basketball is the premier sport at UConn by a landslide, with tons of 21st century success M&W, but is now mired in a mediocre "major" conference. Meanwhile, hockey is an afterthought at that school yet they play in the most prestigious league in the country, to which they were admitted to after many mediocre seasons on the ice.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jan 19, 2018 23:14:56 GMT -5
Similar to Alum, I have scored a box for a Hockey East game tomorrow night. I can give a sense of how full, although I anticipate a Saturday night at Agganis to have a lot more people than a Thursday night in Hartford. Maybe I can get a sense of how well Merrimack travels I always found it to be a bit of a head-scratcher that BU can pack 3,000 people into Agganis night after night for hockey but can barely manage to draw a sixth of that for men's basketball, a sport in which they have consistently been above average in both the AE and PL. A school with an enrollment of what, 20,000?
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Post by bfoley82 on Jan 20, 2018 3:29:52 GMT -5
With very few exceptions (Prov and sometimes UConn hoop, BC and BU hockey), no college athletic event in New England is going draw much on a cold January weeknight for a non-marquee opponent game. Not a hockey fan, but wouldn't PC v UConn in the HE league which I guess is big, be a Marquee game? Providence doesn’t even sell out home games in their 2800 seat arena...PC should be a marquee team in Hockey East based on their success the last five years making the tourney unlike Boston College but they don’t get it
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Post by sader1970 on Jan 20, 2018 7:08:17 GMT -5
Could it be the PBruins syphon off interest in even very good college hockey in the Providence area? Granted they are top minor league hockey and associated with the Boston Bruins, but there is probably just so much hockey one will watch live. Hmmmm. HC-Railers?
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Post by bigfan on Jan 20, 2018 8:14:11 GMT -5
Last night I clicked on Channel 3 and the Railers were on, today's paper listed attendance as 3600, what I saw on tv I don't think there was 1000 people in the DCU. Hockey East would put more people in the seats.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jan 20, 2018 8:51:01 GMT -5
When UConn first joined HE, they led the league in attendance. Because of that, UConn got a pass on playing at a non-campus rink. However, several months ago, UConn asked for proposals to build a new on-campus rink that meets HE standards, so UConn apparently intends to exit the XL Center. evpacfo.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1608/2017/10/HockeyRFEI.pdfThere are alternate financing options outlined, including UConn leasing the venue rather than owning it. .
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Post by HC92 on Jan 21, 2018 20:39:25 GMT -5
UConn has also never been a hockey school. They were in our conference until about five years ago. When Notre Dame announced it was bringing its program to HE, the league decided to add a 12th member and settled on UConn for two reasons. 1) It's UConn and 2) UConn women were already playing in Hockey East while the men were in the AHA. Kind of ironic that basketball is the premier sport at UConn by a landslide, with tons of 21st century success M&W, but is now mired in a mediocre "major" conference. Meanwhile, hockey is an afterthought at that school yet they play in the most prestigious league in the country, to which they were admitted to after many mediocre seasons on the ice. UConn Men’s Basketball is absolutely dying in the AAC. I suspect the women will come crashing back to earth shortly after Geno retires. And football is obviously a train wreck. If they can’t get out of the AAC, they will be a hockey school soon enough.
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Post by hchoops on Jan 21, 2018 21:14:09 GMT -5
Will Geno coach until 80 ? Tha would give him 17 more years. No way he retires before 70
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