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Post by jflare on Dec 11, 2016 10:50:21 GMT -5
Is there a Berard presser up anywhere yet after this weekend's debacle ?
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Post by bringbackcaro on Dec 11, 2016 11:34:28 GMT -5
Too many people are against HC joining HE. It would help in recruiting hockey players and we would get games on TV and better exposure in the press. I don't understand why people would be against trying to get into HE. The league that we are in does not generate any interest in fans, it's like the PL in basketball and football. We need to upgrade our league memberships. 1) Yes, we will improve our talent by being in the Hockey East, but we'll still be light years away from the BC's and BU's. Thinking we can catch them given our hockey facilities (and the DCU Center) is like thinking we can join the ACC in hoops and start recruiting with Duke. 2) It will get us TV games on NESN, some more press in the Boston papers (how much coverage does the Herald and Globe devote to HE?), and in the Burlington Free Press in VT and Durham Daily News in NH. Have you taken a look at the admissions numbers that Phreek has been posting recently? We don't need anymore press in Mass + other northern New England states, and hockey is not going to expand our national footprint. I don't think anyone would be against the Hockey East if there was a clear plan in place for how we could be successful. However, there does not appear to be one, and we are in the midst of a $95M investment in athletic facilities that includes very little for hockey. Our big chance for the hockey was joining the ECAC when Quinnipiac got in and then addressing facilities accordingly as part of this $95M project.
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Post by HC92 on Dec 11, 2016 11:42:31 GMT -5
Caro, on what could you possibly be basing your statement that there does not appear to be a plan to make the necessary commitment to be successful should we get into Hockey East? Have you and the AD and the President sat down to discuss their plans or lack thereof? Or is the appearance based mostly on the fact that we just got swept by Army? And, if we did become a player in Hockey East, we'd have a lot more name recognition in places like Michigan and Minnesota and Wisconsin and North Dakota than we do today.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Dec 11, 2016 11:47:05 GMT -5
Caro, you think the gap between HC hockey and BU/BC is that big and that more challenging to overcome than HC basketball compared to Duke? Absolutely clueless.
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Post by bringbackcaro on Dec 11, 2016 11:56:52 GMT -5
Caro, on what could you possibly be basing your statement that there does not appear to be a plan to make the necessary commitment to be successful should we get into Hockey East? Have you and the AD and the President sat down to discuss their plans or lack thereof? Or is the appearance based mostly on the fact that we just got swept by Army? And, if we did become a player in Hockey East, we'd have a lot more name recognition in places like Michigan and Minnesota and Wisconsin and North Dakota than we do today. 1) Pulling all facility improvements for the $95M plans and thus driving Pearl out. 2) Our inability to close the deal on the DCU Center/get an agreement done with the HE. According to The Insiders, there is mutual interest from all parties, so we should have been able to get a deal done by now if we were truly going "all out." If we still had Pearl and the ability to improve our on campus facilities, I think this would be a legitimate opportunity. However, without either of those two pieces, there is a tremendous amount of risk to making this move (Pine's 4 years at West Point accounts for the only experience be and his #2 Joe Bertolettti have at schools with a hockey program).
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Post by realism on Dec 11, 2016 11:57:13 GMT -5
Caro, you think the gap between HC hockey and BU/BC is that big and that more challenging to overcome than HC basketball compared to Duke? Absolutely clueless. The only reason HC WAS even in the discussion with BU/BC hockey is geography. There's no other "there" there. End of story.... HE is in the process of finding more relevant opportuinities on every other dimension that matters. Move on....it's over.
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Post by bringbackcaro on Dec 11, 2016 12:01:46 GMT -5
Caro, you think the gap between HC hockey and BU/BC is that big and that more challenging to overcome than HC basketball compared to Duke? Absolutely clueless. Compare the coaches, facilities, tradition, # of players in the pro's, and locations between HC and BU/BC.
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Post by deep Purple on Dec 11, 2016 13:24:05 GMT -5
They looked incredibly lethargic last night. It's probably not a good idea to schedule a trip to West Point to play a Friday night game and then bus back for a Saturday night game.
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Dec 11, 2016 13:24:09 GMT -5
HC beat 2 of the last 3 hockey National Champs this year. HC hoop would have ZERO shot of beating 2 of the last National Champs in hoops in ANY year.
And HC to HE is far from dead.
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Post by realism on Dec 11, 2016 13:30:01 GMT -5
HC beat 2 of the last 3 hockey National Champs this year. HC hoop would have ZERO shot of beating 2 of the last National Champs in hoops in ANY year. And HC to HE is far from dead. It is DEAD. And HE paying attention to HC was never about performance. It was simply about geography. HC is not a good Div.1 hockey program. HE's interest was only about geography-proximity to other HE schools. And HE quickly found out the consequences that HC is facing from its decades long insular policy, even with its own hometown. No new H.C. institutional strategies anywhere for decades. Poor leadership and governance within a rapidly changing climate for institutions like it. No vision equals no clout anywhere today. It took decades to get into this mess. The brand and any leverage it had has been trashed. I want to see a renaissance, like everyone else. But, I recognize the amount of cumulative damage that has been done. It won't be fixed in just a few years by throwing a couple of "hail mary's" ( in ice hockey, football scheduling, etc. ) Buckle yourself in.
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Post by deep Purple on Dec 11, 2016 13:43:47 GMT -5
HC beat 2 of the last 3 hockey National Champs this year. HC hoop would have ZERO shot of beating 2 of the last National Champs in hoops in ANY year. And HC to HE is far from dead. It is DEAD. And HE paying attention to HC was never about performance. It was simply about geography. HC is not a good Div.1 hockey program. How many games have you seen this year?
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Dec 11, 2016 18:42:40 GMT -5
1..) The original athletic facilities master plan (which called for demolishing the east stands at Fitton, and building a football practice facility / locker room on the east side and made significant changes to the seating configuration at the Hart) also expanded the rink to the west. From the very rudimentary sketch, the rink expansion probably added 800-1000 seats.
2.) Before Fr. B. and before ADNP, when the general plans for renovating the Hart Center and expanding the facility were prepared, Fr. McF. was asked why there were no plans to expand the rink, and his reply was, 'HC would expand the rink if donors came up with $10-12 million to pay for it'.
3.) When ADNP arrived, he made significant changes to the Hart Center design. The lead donors for this major renovation / expansion agreed with the overall design / changes. One can reasonably presume that if these donors wanted some of their money to go for a rink expansion, the rink would have been expanded. _____________________
4.) In all of Div I, there are 26 institutions* that play football and men's ice hockey. Fourteen of these are public institutions, only three of these (North Dakota, Maine, and UNH) are in FCS. Of the fourteen, six are members of the Big Ten, four are members of HE. Six of the fourteen do not field a women's hockey team. (*Excludes USMA and USAFA.)
The smallest U/G enrollment is Univ. of Maine at 8,000. The largest enrollment is 40,000+ at Ohio State.
Twelve of the 26 are private institutions. Two of these are in FBS (Notre Dame and BC). The other ten are FCS and play in either the ECAC or Atlantic Hockey. Of the 12, only Notre Dame does not have a women's hockey team.
The smallest U/G enrollment is Holy Cross at about 2,800 (Colgate is similar). The largest enrollment is 14,000+ at Cornell.
I have yet to see a strategy for how HC, which would have the smallest enrollment by far of any HE football school, can be successful in FCS football, PL basketball, and playing M/W ice hockey in HE. If there is such a strategy, which school does the strategy seek to emulate? ___________________________
5.) As I understand it, HE has set several criteria for new entrants. An on-campus rink (waived for UConn), and a rink that seats at least 4,000. How inflexible is HE with respect to these criteria? If Merrimack was admitted with a rink seating about 2,500, would HE allow HC in if it had a rink seating 2,500?
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Post by crusader12 on Dec 12, 2016 10:11:34 GMT -5
A total debacle this weekend. Just awful! All posters who say we shouldn't join HE because we need to win games first have no idea what they're talking about. Look at UCONN, did they ever win the Atlantic Hockey Championship? They won the MAAC once in 2000, but I believe that did not even get a bid to NCAAs. Now look at them. HC is committed to HE, it is the city of Worcester and Railers owner holding us up. HC is all in. However that is not to say HC has no blame in this if we don't get into HE. Failing to address the hockey rink during the renovations put us in this position.
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Post by jflare on Dec 12, 2016 18:14:06 GMT -5
The University of Connecticut has a brand and a reputation ( see mens and womens basketball ) that we are light years from. Their acceptance into HE was in large part due to that brand. Uconn has a history of making the move up first and then rising to the next level ( Big East Basketball in 1979 ) and Football ( FBS ) more recently. So HE knew or were pretty sure that Uconn would do the same in Hockey. We however have no such track record. As a matter of fact our track record is the complete opposite. We move down and then decline to the lower level ( Colonial/Patriot league in football 1986 ) ( Decline Big East Membership in Basketball 1979 ). We all know how have those moves have worked out. My point is that why would HE take us seriously now to undertake the commitment to upgrade our Hockey arena and devote all the additional financial resources necessary to get to the BU/BC level necessary to compete in HE when we have shown no historical willingness to do the same in football or basketball. Two sports with a much larger persona than hockey.
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Post by bfoley82 on Dec 13, 2016 2:21:01 GMT -5
The University of Connecticut has a brand and a reputation ( see mens and womens basketball ) that we are light years from. Their acceptance into HE was in large part due to that brand. Uconn has a history of making the move up first and then rising to the next level ( Big East Basketball in 1979 ) and Football ( FBS ) more recently. So HE knew or were pretty sure that Uconn would do the same in Hockey. We however have no such track record. As a matter of fact our track record is the complete opposite. We move down and then decline to the lower level ( Colonial/Patriot league in football 1986 ) ( Decline Big East Membership in Basketball 1979 ). We all know how have those moves have worked out. My point is that why would HE take us seriously now to undertake the commitment to upgrade our Hockey arena and devote all the additional financial resources necessary to get to the BU/BC level necessary to compete in HE when we have shown no historical willingness to do the same in football or basketball. Two sports with a much larger persona than hockey. UConn got the spot somewhat due to their women's program which was needed for the auto bid to the NCAA tourney. I think it was in the deal that if Hockey East was ever expanded in the men's side, they had first refusal
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