UB's last AD said he thought Hockey at UB would be sefl sustaining but the school does not have the resources to build a faculity and the one across the street used by out ACHA squad would be serviceable but a very poor venue.

How far from campus is the First Niagara Center?

(07-28-2013 03:45 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Both of these article are 5 years old, but there has been more recent chatter and tweets.

Iowa State:

Colorado State:

How about Kansas? Missouri?

This board has discussed partnering with the Big 12 for wrestling and soccer but I think it would make sense to add hockey to that list.

MAC Hockey (10)
BGSU Falcons
Miami Redhawks
WMU Broncos
New York Bulls
NIU Huskies
Iowa State Cyclones (Possible wrestling affiliate)
WVU Mountaineers (Soccer affiliate, possible wrestling)
Oklahoma Sooners (Possible wrestling affiliate)
Kansas Jayhawks
Missouri Tigers (Wrestling affiliate)

(07-28-2013 07:02 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  How far from campus is the First Niagara Center?

It's about a 20 minute drive off rush hour and a 25 minute train ride from UB's south campus. I don't know what the Sabres would want from UB to use the ice..

(07-28-2013 02:52 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 02:35 PM)jjmc85 Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 01:20 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Maybe down the line MAC hockey could eventually develop, but I don't think Miami, WMU, or BG are interested in a hockey conference with three brand new teams. That being said, ISU, NIU, and UB have good potential for successful programs, and if UMass were to join the MAC then there's a possibility that it it could happen down the line.

(07-28-2013 01:33 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Miami and WMU are not interested.

UMass is even less interested.

I've made it a point in other threads to say that if MAC Hockey became a reality, I wouldn't expect UMass to be a part of it. OOC games sure, but I wouldn't want to mess with the Hockey East thing they have going.

Men's basketball on the other hand...

I would like some home and homes in hockey with the MAC schools. Imagine for a second rivalry weekends. Hosting Miami hockey at Mullins Friday night, Miami football at McGuirk Saturday afternoon, and hockey again Saturday night. Do the same thing at Miami the next year. The repeat with WMU and BG. That would be awesome.

I don't really care about basketball, but maybe for those of you who do the b-ball teams can play that Wednesday or Thursday or something?

(07-28-2013 07:58 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 03:45 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Both of these article are 5 years old, but there has been more recent chatter and tweets.

Iowa State:

Colorado State:

How about Kansas? Missouri?

This board has discussed partnering with the Big 12 for wrestling and soccer but I think it would make sense to add hockey to that list.

MAC Hockey (10)
BGSU Falcons
Miami Redhawks
WMU Broncos
New York Bulls
NIU Huskies
Iowa State Cyclones (Possible wrestling affiliate)
WVU Mountaineers (Soccer affiliate, possible wrestling)
Oklahoma Sooners (Possible wrestling affiliate)
Kansas Jayhawks
Missouri Tigers (Wrestling affiliate)

The advantage of MAC hockey would be to limit travel costs and strengthen regional rivalries. However, in order to get Miami, BG, and WMU to even think about it would require MAC hockey to maintain (if not raise) their revenue and be as strong of a hockey conference as the NCHC will be (or the watered down WCHA for BG). I just cannot see how that would happen in a conference with two elite programs, a historically decent one, and seven startups.

Penn State brought up their team to DI only after they had years of a great club, were promised a big chunk of revenue from the BTN, and recieved an $88 million gift to build a state-of-the-art arena and fund the team for the near future. After all of that, they finished under .500 this last season as an NCAA Independent. How many universities listed above would be able to do something similar to this, and if so, what's the timetable? If it's a reasonable length, how long would it take for three of them to do this? Until you see at least three new schools have good facilities, appropriate funding, and sustained success on the ice, MAC hockey isn't even a possibility.

The only way this could've possibly happened in the near future is if Ohio and Kent State kept their hockey programs in the CCHA and were doing well now. That way, all we'd have to do would be to add an old CCHA team (Ferris State, Lake Superior State, etc) as an affiliate, add UMass as a full member and attach their team with us, convince a MAC school to create a program, or convince a big state school to create a program and affiliate with us. All of this would hinge on whether or not we could negotiate a good TV deal.

(07-28-2013 10:59 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  The advantage of MAC hockey would be to limit travel costs and strengthen regional rivalries. However, in order to get Miami, BG, and WMU to even think about it would require MAC hockey to maintain (if not raise) their revenue and be as strong of a hockey conference as the NCHC will be (or the watered down WCHA for BG). I just cannot see how that would happen in a conference with two elite programs, a historically decent one, and seven startups.

Penn State brought up their team to DI only after they had years of a great club, were promised a big chunk of revenue from the BTN, and recieved an $88 million gift to build a state-of-the-art arena and fund the team for the near future. After all of that, they finished under .500 this last season as an NCAA Independent. How many universities listed above would be able to do something similar to this, and if so, what's the timetable? If it's a reasonable length, how long would it take for three of them to do this? Until you see at least three new schools have good facilities, appropriate funding, and sustained success on the ice, MAC hockey isn't even a possibility.

The only way this could've possibly happened in the near future is if Ohio and Kent State kept their hockey programs in the CCHA and were doing well now. That way, all we'd have to do would be to add an old CCHA team (Ferris State, Lake Superior State, etc) as an affiliate, add UMass as a full member and attach their team with us, convince a MAC school to create a program, or convince a big state school to create a program and affiliate with us. All of this would hinge on whether or not we could negotiate a good TV deal.

Wow. I feel like the Kit-Kat of hockey. I kind of feel like I should apologize.

(07-28-2013 08:46 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 07:02 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  How far from campus is the First Niagara Center?

It's about a 20 minute drive off rush hour and a 25 minute train ride from UB's south campus. I don't know what the Sabres would want from UB to use the ice..

http://harborcenter.tumblr.com/

http://www.buffalonews.com/20130314/comi...e_ice.html

Still just as far away as the F'N Center, but adds 2 more sheets of ice to the Buffalo market. Worst case scenario, when the Sabres leave Amherst for Hockey Heaven, UB may have more favorable negotiations with Audubon for ice time.

Noooo, you don't need to go there. Kit Kat actually follows college football and basketball teams, so he knows what's going on in those worlds of collegiate athletics. If he has a bizarre opinion, that comes from his strange conclusions stemming from what he sees going on and off the field and court. Toledo doesn't have a big hockey program like Miami, I wouldn't expect you or the average MAC fan to know much about the big college hockey picture unless you happen to follow college hockey a lot for another team.

That being said, I would love to see NIU, UB, or any other MAC school start a DI hockey program. I love hockey and the college game is a blast, other fans that I've gotten to know around here would love cheering on their Zips, Chippewas, or Cardinals on ice. If any of you get some kind of donor drive to commit to moving up to DI down the road, I applaud you. Good luck in that case, and I look forward to seeing the Redhawks whoop some a** at Goggin.

(07-28-2013 10:59 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 07:58 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 03:45 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Both of these article are 5 years old, but there has been more recent chatter and tweets.

Iowa State:

Colorado State:

How about Kansas? Missouri?

This board has discussed partnering with the Big 12 for wrestling and soccer but I think it would make sense to add hockey to that list.

MAC Hockey (10)
BGSU Falcons
Miami Redhawks
WMU Broncos
New York Bulls
NIU Huskies
Iowa State Cyclones (Possible wrestling affiliate)
WVU Mountaineers (Soccer affiliate, possible wrestling)
Oklahoma Sooners (Possible wrestling affiliate)
Kansas Jayhawks
Missouri Tigers (Wrestling affiliate)

The advantage of MAC hockey would be to limit travel costs and strengthen regional rivalries. However, in order to get Miami, BG, and WMU to even think about it would require MAC hockey to maintain (if not raise) their revenue and be as strong of a hockey conference as the NCHC will be (or the watered down WCHA for BG). I just cannot see how that would happen in a conference with two elite programs, a historically decent one, and seven startups.

Penn State brought up their team to DI only after they had years of a great club, were promised a big chunk of revenue from the BTN, and recieved an $88 million gift to build a state-of-the-art arena and fund the team for the near future. After all of that, they finished under .500 this last season as an NCAA Independent. How many universities listed above would be able to do something similar to this, and if so, what's the timetable? If it's a reasonable length, how long would it take for three of them to do this? Until you see at least three new schools have good facilities, appropriate funding, and sustained success on the ice, MAC hockey isn't even a possibility.

The only way this could've possibly happened in the near future is if Ohio and Kent State kept their hockey programs in the CCHA and were doing well now. That way, all we'd have to do would be to add an old CCHA team (Ferris State, Lake Superior State, etc) as an affiliate, add UMass as a full member and attach their team with us, convince a MAC school to create a program, or convince a big state school to create a program and affiliate with us. All of this would hinge on whether or not we could negotiate a good TV deal.

STOP IT! NO MEANS NO!

EDIT- UMass isn't even that good at hockey. You don't want us to be part of your league. Why don't you go after Notre Dame instead? They're good and none of the New England schools want to go out there to play. Take UConn too. Connecticut is barely New England and they're barely a D1 program.

(07-28-2013 11:10 PM)bullsnotbills Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 08:46 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 07:02 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  How far from campus is the First Niagara Center?

It's about a 20 minute drive off rush hour and a 25 minute train ride from UB's south campus. I don't know what the Sabres would want from UB to use the ice..

http://harborcenter.tumblr.com/

http://www.buffalonews.com/20130314/comi...e_ice.html

Still just as far away as the F'N Center, but adds 2 more sheets of ice to the Buffalo market. Worst case scenario, when the Sabres leave Amherst for Hockey Heaven, UB may have more favorable negotiations with Audubon for ice time.

It's not the cost of ice time it's the quality of the Arena... Heck UB's ACHA team affords the Ice Time..

(07-29-2013 02:09 AM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 11:10 PM)bullsnotbills Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 08:46 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 07:02 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  How far from campus is the First Niagara Center?

It's about a 20 minute drive off rush hour and a 25 minute train ride from UB's south campus. I don't know what the Sabres would want from UB to use the ice..

http://harborcenter.tumblr.com/

http://www.buffalonews.com/20130314/comi...e_ice.html

Still just as far away as the F'N Center, but adds 2 more sheets of ice to the Buffalo market. Worst case scenario, when the Sabres leave Amherst for Hockey Heaven, UB may have more favorable negotiations with Audubon for ice time.

It's not the cost of ice time it's the quality of the Arena... Heck UB's ACHA team affords the Ice Time..

Well, I don't want to sit here and parse out all of the "what if's", but my underlying point is that the addition of 2 additional sheets of quality ice to Buffalo offers UB possibilities that they don't have now.

(07-29-2013 01:24 AM)jjmc85 Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 10:59 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  The advantage of MAC hockey would be to limit travel costs and strengthen regional rivalries. However, in order to get Miami, BG, and WMU to even think about it would require MAC hockey to maintain (if not raise) their revenue and be as strong of a hockey conference as the NCHC will be (or the watered down WCHA for BG). I just cannot see how that would happen in a conference with two elite programs, a historically decent one, and seven startups.

Penn State brought up their team to DI only after they had years of a great club, were promised a big chunk of revenue from the BTN, and recieved an $88 million gift to build a state-of-the-art arena and fund the team for the near future. After all of that, they finished under .500 this last season as an NCAA Independent. How many universities listed above would be able to do something similar to this, and if so, what's the timetable? If it's a reasonable length, how long would it take for three of them to do this? Until you see at least three new schools have good facilities, appropriate funding, and sustained success on the ice, MAC hockey isn't even a possibility.

The only way this could've possibly happened in the near future is if Ohio and Kent State kept their hockey programs in the CCHA and were doing well now. That way, all we'd have to do would be to add an old CCHA team (Ferris State, Lake Superior State, etc) as an affiliate, add UMass as a full member and attach their team with us, convince a MAC school to create a program, or convince a big state school to create a program and affiliate with us. All of this would hinge on whether or not we could negotiate a good TV deal.

STOP IT! NO MEANS NO!

EDIT- UMass isn't even that good at hockey. You don't want us to be part of your league. Why don't you go after Notre Dame instead? They're good and none of the New England schools want to go out there to play. Take UConn too. Connecticut is barely New England and they're barely a D1 program.

I wasn't really thinking about taking UMass in practical terms, I was just trying to show one of the only scenarios in which we could conceivably have seen MAC hockey in the near future. One of the scenarios would be for UMass to join the MAC and have its hockey team join us, even if it's impractical in real life.

(07-29-2013 09:26 AM)bullsnotbills Wrote:  

(07-29-2013 02:09 AM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 11:10 PM)bullsnotbills Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 08:46 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(07-28-2013 07:02 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  How far from campus is the First Niagara Center?

It's about a 20 minute drive off rush hour and a 25 minute train ride from UB's south campus. I don't know what the Sabres would want from UB to use the ice..

http://harborcenter.tumblr.com/

http://www.buffalonews.com/20130314/comi...e_ice.html

Still just as far away as the F'N Center, but adds 2 more sheets of ice to the Buffalo market. Worst case scenario, when the Sabres leave Amherst for Hockey Heaven, UB may have more favorable negotiations with Audubon for ice time.

It's not the cost of ice time it's the quality of the Arena... Heck UB's ACHA team affords the Ice Time..

Well, I don't want to sit here and parse out all of the "what if's", but my underlying point is that the addition of 2 additional sheets of quality ice to Buffalo offers UB possibilities that they don't have now.

Its the stands at the NorthTown...

(07-27-2013 08:01 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  

(07-27-2013 06:57 PM)Miami (Oh) Yeah ! Wrote:  Now the U of Illinois ACHA team is saying they are having a "BIG" announcement tomorrow.

"Illini Hockey
ATTENTION ALL ILLINI HOCKEY FANS! BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING TOMORROW!"

http://illinihockey.com/

Big changes coming to college hockey. Likely Illinois and Nebraska to add to Big Ten Hockey. Pretty easy decision when the Big Ten Network guarantees $2 Million per year in payouts.

Sounds like this is not an D1 announcement.

https://twitter.com/chrismpeters/status/...4632996865

Still not sure about Eastern Illinois.

https://twitter.com/EIUHockey/status/361686781160202242

Quote:EIU Hockey ‏@EIUHockey

@TimOneal1977 @USCollegeHockey Unfortunately we are not the team moving. Rumor has it, it is the other Illinois squad. U of I.

Looks like EIU was the false alarm. Is it the Illini or did the original tweet jump the gun?

https://twitter.com/TheB1GTime/status/36...5160868864

Quote:The B1G Time ‏@TheB1GTime

Gotta love internet rumors Illini Hockey post on FB is magically gone today. If/when Jimmy John's founder ponies up $70 million it'll happen

Looks like it's not the Illini either.

I did a quick search on "Jimmy John's" and while their HQ is in Champaign, IL (Illini) the franchise actually started in Charleston, IL (Eastern Illinois).

I wonder if the rumors are related. Maybe "Jimmy John's" was going to be EIU's sugar daddy and the Big Ten stepped in (ME, ME, ME...ALL OF IT FOR ME!!!).

I've never seen NIU show any interest in having D1 hockey. Unless some donor ponied up some major dollars to build an ice arena i don't see it happening.

Our next major capitol project will likely be renovating Huskie Stadium, and that's going to cost a lot.

(07-29-2013 07:14 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  I've never seen NIU show any interest in having D1 hockey. Unless some donor ponied up some major dollars to build an ice arena i don't see it happening.

Our next major capitol project will likely be renovating Huskie Stadium, and that's going to cost a lot.

Where does the NIU ACHA D2 team play?

(07-29-2013 07:32 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  

(07-29-2013 07:14 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  I've never seen NIU show any interest in having D1 hockey. Unless some donor ponied up some major dollars to build an ice arena i don't see it happening.

Our next major capitol project will likely be renovating Huskie Stadium, and that's going to cost a lot.

Where does the NIU ACHA D2 team play?

NIU's club team plays at the Fox Valley Ice Rink in Geneva, which is about 30 miles east of campus.

(07-29-2013 03:33 PM)TARDledo Wrote:  I did a quick search on "Jimmy John's" and while their HQ is in Champaign, IL (Illini) the franchise actually started in Charleston, IL (Eastern Illinois).

I wonder if the rumors are related. Maybe "Jimmy John's" was going to be EIU's sugar daddy and the Big Ten stepped in (ME, ME, ME...ALL OF IT FOR ME!!!).

The ISU folks must be super pissed about Illinois stealing the State Farm $$$.