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Post by cruskater31 on Sept 30, 2022 7:13:05 GMT -5
We are fortunate to have had a chance to test the "Join the (Big East, Hockey East, CAA FB, etc.) and they (quality players who can win in a tougher league) will come" theory with the women in HE. So far those talented enough to win hockey players haven't come to HC. The experiment is ongoing however. The exception that didn't have a chance to prove the rule is the original BE invite. We would have started out on equal or favorable footing with the other charter invitees. To be fair to Coach Lachapelle, she is only entering her third season as head and fifth overall, so we are slowly starting to see the fruits of her recruiting efforts as her first recruits as HC are now juniors. I like to give coaches a chance to see a full four year cycle. Hopefully her connections with USA Hockey continue to pay off. I believe we have one of the stronger recruiting classes we've had since my time on the Hill. Hope Riga, who seems to have worked wonders as a recruiter at Q can do the same at HC. Talking to family of players, it seems like there is growing belief and team building that was lacking previously. Locker rooms: Definitely inadequate and too small. The lounge and "film/tv room" are more like a dorm room than anything else. Even the visitors locker rooms are too small. It consists of two rooms connected with showers. If a club hockey or high school game is taking place, they must each take an undersized room and share the showers. Surprised their was never a fight in the showers! At least they upgraded in the last decade from hooks and benches (similar to the Bowdoin room pictured previously) to actual wooden "lockers." Onward! Go Cross |
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Post by bfoley82 on Sept 30, 2022 8:27:42 GMT -5
If HC does a) right, I am pleased to hear it. Kit was more detailed in describing the inadequacies on the men's side, than MB., The gist of Kit's description was that they are second-rate, if not third-rate (Kit has more than once mentioned he played youth hockey at the Hart.) Option e.) that I briefly mentioned reflects Kit's belief that fans, these days, want more of an experience when they come to a game than just sitting in a seat..  Kit was a four year letterman in lacrosse at Bowdoin. This is the old men's lacrosse locker room at Bowdoin. I suspect he knows a bit about inadequate facilities. Wasn't that the visiting locker room for football recently at Holy Cross too? |
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Post by bfoley82 on Sept 30, 2022 8:32:07 GMT -5
Just pointing out that perennial AHA league champion AIC skates in the DCU's sister arena, the Mass Mutual Center in downtown Springfield (another mutual company spending their customer/owners' money on naming rights instead of lower premiums or dividends). So if impartial college sports expert B. Foley rates AIC as more likely than HC to receive an invite from H.E., on campus facilities are not the Be All and End All to having a successful hockey program and moving up to a better league. I would guess Sacred Heart would be the one that will make the jump before AIC. New building on campus, school sponsors every sport (it seems) so money isn't an issue etc... |
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Post by Tom on Sept 30, 2022 8:49:19 GMT -5
Just pointing out that perennial AHA league champion AIC skates in the DCU's sister arena, the Mass Mutual Center in downtown Springfield (another mutual company spending their customer/owners' money on naming rights instead of lower premiums or dividends). So if impartial college sports expert B. Foley rates AIC as more likely than HC to receive an invite from H.E., on campus facilities are not the Be All and End All to having a successful hockey program and moving up to a better league. Option G; Discontinue women's ice hockey, and have men's ice hockey play at the DCU. (AIC doesn't play women's ice hockey.) Title IX ramifications |
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Post by sader1970 on Sept 30, 2022 10:26:27 GMT -5
Oh, Phreek, I thought that was a picture of the visiting football locker room at Fitton!  |
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Sept 30, 2022 12:11:17 GMT -5
Option G; Discontinue women's ice hockey, and have men's ice hockey play at the DCU. (AIC doesn't play women's ice hockey.) Title IX ramifications They could re-allocate the 19 women's scollies to other women' sports. For the women's sports other than hoops and ice hockey, it would take $2.4 million in additional spending to bring HC's spending up to the Patriot League average for these sports. Fewer scollies account for most of the shortfall. In no women's sport, other than hoops,(ice hockey excluded) is HC spending at, or above the PL average. |
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Post by longsuffering on Sept 30, 2022 12:45:02 GMT -5
They could re-allocate the 19 women's scollies to other women' sports. For the women's sports other than hoops and ice hockey, it would take $2.4 million in additional spending to bring HC's spending up to the Patriot League average for these sports. Fewer scollies account for most of the shortfall. In no women's sport, other than hoops,(ice hockey excluded) is HC spending at, or above the PL average. Option G has a certain strategic logic. I am opposed to dropping any sport. I think it ends up as a net negative and often gets reversed. But this move would be like a corporation selling off one expensive but poorly performing division to reinvest in and shore up five or six other divisions who have potential to gain market share with added resources. A wildcard is what dropping a sport does to the psyche of the whole college community and the mantra of "You can have it all at Holy Cross." I would try at least one new enthusiastic head coach (hopefully at the end of the current head coach contract if performance doesn't improve) before considering dropping the sport. |
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Post by longsuffering on Sept 30, 2022 12:54:46 GMT -5
We are fortunate to have had a chance to test the "Join the (Big East, Hockey East, CAA FB, etc.) and they (quality players who can win in a tougher league) will come" theory with the women in HE. So far those talented enough to win hockey players haven't come to HC. The experiment is ongoing however. The exception that didn't have a chance to prove the rule is the original BE invite. We would have started out on equal or favorable footing with the other charter invitees. To be fair to Coach Lachapelle, she is only entering her third season as head and fifth overall, so we are slowly starting to see the fruits of her recruiting efforts as her first recruits as HC are now juniors. I like to give coaches a chance to see a full four year cycle. Hopefully her connections with USA Hockey continue to pay off. I believe we have one of the stronger recruiting classes we've had since my time on the Hill. Hope Riga, who seems to have worked wonders as a recruiter at Q can do the same at HC. Talking to family of players, it seems like there is growing belief and team building that was lacking previously. Locker rooms: Definitely inadequate and too small. The lounge and "film/tv room" are more like a dorm room than anything else. Even the visitors locker rooms are too small. It consists of two rooms connected with showers. If a club hockey or high school game is taking place, they must each take an undersized room and share the showers. Surprised their was never a fight in the showers! At least they upgraded in the last decade from hooks and benches (similar to the Bowdoin room pictured previously) to actual wooden "lockers." Onward! Go Cross I read this after I made my latest comment. The pandemic slowed everything down. I was thinking Coach LaChapelle had been head coach for longer. You've provided reason for optimism for both the men and women. It doesn't take much to keep hope alive for a Crusader fan. Go Cross! |
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Post by cruskater31 on Sept 30, 2022 13:02:24 GMT -5
Yessir! I am a purple colored glass-half full guy!
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Post by beachbound on Sept 30, 2022 18:23:36 GMT -5
We are fortunate to have had a chance to test the "Join the (Big East, Hockey East, CAA FB, etc.) and they (quality players who can win in a tougher league) will come" theory with the women in HE. So far those talented enough to win hockey players haven't come to HC. The experiment is ongoing however. The exception that didn't have a chance to prove the rule is the original BE invite. We would have started out on equal or favorable footing with the other charter invitees. To be fair to Coach Lachapelle, she is only entering her third season as head and fifth overall, so we are slowly starting to see the fruits of her recruiting efforts as her first recruits as HC are now juniors. I like to give coaches a chance to see a full four year cycle. Hopefully her connections with USA Hockey continue to pay off. I believe we have one of the stronger recruiting classes we've had since my time on the Hill. Hope Riga, who seems to have worked wonders as a recruiter at Q can do the same at HC. Talking to family of players, it seems like there is growing belief and team building that was lacking previously. Locker rooms: Definitely inadequate and too small. The lounge and "film/tv room" are more like a dorm room than anything else. Even the visitors locker rooms are too small. It consists of two rooms connected with showers. If a club hockey or high school game is taking place, they must each take an undersized room and share the showers. Surprised their was never a fight in the showers! At least they upgraded in the last decade from hooks and benches (similar to the Bowdoin room pictured previously) to actual wooden "lockers." Onward! Go Cross This is Coach Lachapelle’s 4th year as head coach and 6th with the program. Her bio on the Athletics website is 1 yr out of date. Big year for her, but I don’t think we know where the program is on the ramp up to 18 scholarships. If they ramp up 2 or 3 per year, then she is at 10 or 15 scholarships for the program. If 4 per year, this is the first year with 18 for the program. Considering they won 1 game last year, I am assuming they are adding 2 to 3 a year. Currently up 1-0 after one. Go Cross |
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Post by beachbound on Sept 30, 2022 19:22:09 GMT -5
Nice 4-3 opening night win for the HC Women. Need to stay out of the box. New recruit Alexia Moreau is a player. Wish the men could get on ESPN+ too
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Post by bfoley82 on Nov 15, 2022 10:11:51 GMT -5
Update on Sacred Heart's rink
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Post by purplehaze on Nov 15, 2022 13:55:01 GMT -5
The pic above is not how the arena looks today - check out the 5 live cameras here to see where they stand - might be tight for the Jan 14 opener vs. BC - We are scheduled to play games 2 and 3 in the new arena Jan 20/21 share.earthcam.net/tJ90CoLmq7TzrY396Yd88PMYg7ZL7pCyQ2-G0t64nAo!/2517_-_shu_-_new_hockey_arena/hockey_camera_-5/view_1 |
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Post by longsuffering on Nov 15, 2022 14:16:53 GMT -5
A heck of a nice frozen cee-ment pond.
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Post by cruskater31 on Nov 15, 2022 21:31:44 GMT -5
Love the investment. Maybe a touch too big for AHA, but "if you build it they will come." Too small for Hockey East.
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Post by bfoley82 on Nov 16, 2022 1:18:32 GMT -5
The pic above is not how the arena looks today - check out the 5 live cameras here to see where they stand - might be tight for the Jan 14 opener vs. BC - We are scheduled to play games 2 and 3 in the new arena Jan 20/21 share.earthcam.net/tJ90CoLmq7TzrY396Yd88PMYg7ZL7pCyQ2-G0t64nAo!/2517_-_shu_-_new_hockey_arena/hockey_camera_-5/view_1 That interior cam (#4) has not updated since September 26th and cam 5 since 9/7/2022. The tweet is what the rink looks like today. |
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Post by HC92 on Nov 16, 2022 7:43:14 GMT -5
Whenever this gets decided, I hope we pick a real option that is competitive with the likes of SHU. Seems like a waste to spend $25M to get us to a spot that still isn’t competitive if we could spend $60M and get something nice that would put us on equal or better footing with others. I made those numbers up so don’t shout at me but, whatever they are, let’s git r dun once and for all and beat the bushes to raise the necessary funds. With 100+ extra kids in the current freshman class, we should also have some extra money floating around.
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Post by sader1970 on Nov 16, 2022 10:03:00 GMT -5
We’ll put you down for $25M, ‘92!😂
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Nov 16, 2022 10:27:54 GMT -5
The Martine Family Arena at SHU is costing $70 million, Kit has already said HC is not spending what UConn is spending ($48 million) for their new on-campus rink, so SHU is north of that when it comes to cost.
Of course, if a very generous donor pays for more than the lion's share of a $70 million rink, then it might happen.
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Post by nhteamer on Nov 16, 2022 10:32:42 GMT -5
We need a Penn State type hockey donor
Around eight years ago: "here's 55 million."
"great, thanks"
"Understand it goes to hockey and hockey only: new program, new arena."
"But we have other needs"
"Cool, but listen closely, either it goes to hockey only or you get zero."
"OK"
(PSU now #2 in the country)
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Post by matunuck on Nov 16, 2022 10:58:57 GMT -5
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Nov 16, 2022 11:12:24 GMT -5
Baker was head of the athletic committee of the BoT, and instrumental, IMO, in the development of the strategic plan for athletics, and the go-ahead for Sasaki's architectural and engineering review of the rink. He is no longer on the BoT, but under BoT rules, could continue to be a member of the Athletics Committee. I do not know whether he continues to be a member, nor do I know who is the current chair of the Athletics Committee.. |
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Post by HC92 on Nov 16, 2022 14:04:55 GMT -5
We’ll put you down for $25M, ‘92!😂 They are welcome to allocate my current $80K/year to a hockey arena if they wish. |
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Post by longsuffering on Nov 16, 2022 14:45:33 GMT -5
Update on Sacred Heart's rink Have any if those overhead Jumbotrons (anvils) ever fallen? |
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Post by Crucis#1 on Nov 16, 2022 17:55:07 GMT -5
Six weeks ago, I was on the campus of both Sacred Heart and Fairfield. It appeared both arenas were behind schedule for completion for their respective openings. Glad to see they accelerated their projects to ensure completion on time.
The Sacred Heart Arena is on the campus they acquired from GE, about a half mile south of their original campus.
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