Big 10 Conference Playoff Structure

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MNHockeyFan
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Big 10 Conference Playoff Structure

Post by MNHockeyFan » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:10 am

Interesting article about the proposed playoff structure of the six team Big 10 conference, that begins play in 2013. Because the Kohl Center is a multi-purpose facility that hosts more than just Wisconsin men's hockey, the Badgers are not able to commit to what the other schools would like to do:

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/201 ... NTPAGE%7Cp

It's not decided yet, but it appears we will no longer have a monopoly on the Big Ten playoffs being held here, every year at the X. It looks like they will go to some kind of a rotating system, so us (spoiled) Gopher fans will need to travel most years if we want to see our team play in the "Final Four" of the Big Ten playoffs.

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Post by mulefarm » Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:36 am

I guess we will find out who the true fans are? I don't believe the Gophers will get the following like Wis or ND.

JSR
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Post by JSR » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:04 am

Rotating neutral sites really is th best option. Especially when it could be in cities like Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh. I love that idea. I have always hated the campus site idea for the tournament. it almost defeats the purpose of the tourney IMHO

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Post by MNHockeyFan » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:37 pm

JSR wrote:Rotating neutral sites really is th best option. Especially when it could be in cities like Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh. I love that idea. I have always hated the campus site idea for the tournament. it almost defeats the purpose of the tourney IMHO
I agree that when you have those other big city options a rotating schedule of playoff tournaments makes a lot of sense. I hope they can find a solution that addresses the problem Wisconsin has with their multi-purpose Kohl Center.

C-dad
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Post by C-dad » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:50 pm

mulefarm wrote:I guess we will find out who the true fans are? I don't believe the Gophers will get the following like Wis or ND.
Ha! Those WI and ND fans are not traveling. They live in the cities and go to the Final Five to see their teams play. The Twin Cities have been a magnet for folks from WI and ND looking for work for 25 years due to a stronger and more diverse economy (the past year of the ND oil boom notwithstanding). I've chatted with many of these fans at the X over the years and most of them live and work here.

When the B1G final four rotates to the X, it'll still have better attendance than other sites. Did you ever see the attendance figures from when the Final Five used to go to Milwaukee? They were significantly lower than when it was in St. Paul, and even worse when the Gophers did not make it, even when WI did and it was in Milwaukee.

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Post by JSR » Tue Jan 31, 2012 4:25 pm

C-dad wrote:
mulefarm wrote:I guess we will find out who the true fans are? I don't believe the Gophers will get the following like Wis or ND.
Ha! Those WI and ND fans are not traveling. They live in the cities and go to the Final Five to see their teams play. The Twin Cities have been a magnet for folks from WI and ND looking for work for 25 years due to a stronger and more diverse economy (the past year of the ND oil boom notwithstanding). I've chatted with many of these fans at the X over the years and most of them live and work here.

When the B1G final four rotates to the X, it'll still have better attendance than other sites. Did you ever see the attendance figures from when the Final Five used to go to Milwaukee? They were significantly lower than when it was in St. Paul, and even worse when the Gophers did not make it, even when WI did and it was in Milwaukee.
Sorry to disagree here but Badger fans and Sioux fans are notably the best "traveling" fans in all of college hockey, it's not even debateable. Badger fans are known to travel well in all sports actually, it's why they tend to get picked for better bowl bids over other "more deserving" teams at times (BCS bowls not applicable of course).

As for attendance for the Final Five at the Bradley Center you are way off base. First of all the Final Five was only played there 3 times from 1987 to present. ALL fo the other times it was played in Minnesota. So not alot of data to compare, BUT the event was held in MN in 1988, 89, 90, 91, 92 & 93 and attendance was between 40,000 and 50,000 all years with the high attendance number in those years being 52,807. The very first year at teh Bradley Center in Milwaukee in 1994 they drew a then WCHA attendance record 61,367. The playoffs then returned to MN the following year in 1995 where attendance was 55,908. The following year in 1996 back to the Bradley where attendance was at 47,304 (more than respectable and right in the range that attendance had been in MN). Then back to MN in 1997 where again decent but not a record attendance figure was achieved of 56,707. The a sort of anomoly happened two years in a row in 1998 they went to the Bradley Center where attendance dropped to 38,707 BUT the following year in 1999 they went back to MN where attendance was at a paltry 42,226. So logic dictates that something happened those two years to effect attendance number greatly and it wasn't "just because it was in Milwaukee" as history says Milwaukee's attendance was on par and actually better than what MN had been doing up til then. Because the following year in 2000 they stayed at the Target Center in MN and attendance was 49,717, again a more "normal" number. Then "it" happened, whatever "it" was, they moved to the Xcel Energy Center in 2001 when attendance jumped to 67,612 and from 2001 to 2010 they basically set new attendance records virtually every year with attendance regularly in the 70,000's and even over 80,000 a couple of years. Then last year in 2011 attendance sort "tanked" again (relatively speaking) back to 57,773. Anyway, the point being the WCHA tourney has definitely thrived at the Xcel Enerrgy Center BUT you assertion that attendance numbers were bad in Milwaukee is way off base and without any logic or fact behind it as attendance was actually quite good in Milwaukee for the times it was held there and the era we are talking about. The BRadley Center is now old and in much need of updating so I don;t advocate that it go back to Milwaukee (though the NCAA Final Four did really well there) but next time you speak you should check your facts because you were way off on this one.

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Post by Gopher Blog » Wed Feb 01, 2012 10:20 pm

JSR wrote:Sorry to disagree here but Badger fans and Sioux fans are notably the best "traveling" fans in all of college hockey, it's not even debateable.
It is easily debatable.

First of all, there is no real factual evidence of who travels best. It's not like there are specific statistics you can cite on the topic to consider it "not debatable". You are simply making assumptions based on a personal opinion.

Second, it can hardly be debated that a decent number of UW and UND alums leave their school's town for places like the Twin Cities or Denver (which seems to be another place where UND alums end up). That is as big of a reason as any for why it might appear those hockey fan bases travel well. The fans that actually do travel from their campus city are not nearly as plentiful as you act. Certainly no more than other places.

I do give props to UW on its fan travel for football. But I think any team riding a wave of success would have similar results. You can be assured UW fans weren't great traveling football fans prior to the Alvarez regime. But winning cures that.

The only reason last year's Final 5 suffered so much is the Gophers and UW were not in it. You're not going to get a major crowd when your biggest nearby fan base for the event is UND... and the other participants are UAA, Bemidji, CC, UMD, and DU. Basically all small schools. Which is probably what the NCHC should get used to. Even if they stay at Xcel for their playoff event, their numbers are going to take a healthy drop. Last year should be a clear sign of that.

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Post by MNHockeyFan » Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:38 pm

Updated information here:

Big Ten hockey tournament going to be at neutral site

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/138807719.html

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Post by MNHockeyFan » Wed Feb 08, 2012 9:48 pm

More info:

Big Ten Alters Hockey Playoff Plans

http://www.buckys5thquarter.com/2012/2/ ... yoff-plans

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Post by gorilla1 » Sun Feb 26, 2012 2:15 pm

Dont listen to Gopher blog-- he's a blow hard. Goofers can't even sell out their own rink. Wisconsin and Sioux fans do travel best. Gopher blog hasn't played hockey one day in his life. And Fred, your nickname is the Gophers and you're making fun of the Sioux?worse, you have a smiling buck toothed rodent on your jersey? Now that's funny...

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Post by MNHockeyFan » Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:07 pm

gorilla1 wrote:Dont listen to Gopher blog-- he's a blow hard. Goofers can't even sell out their own rink. Wisconsin and Sioux fans do travel best. Gopher blog hasn't played hockey one day in his life. And Fred, your nickname is the Gophers and you're making fun of the Sioux?worse, you have a smiling buck toothed rodent on your jersey? Now that's funny...
Gopher attendance is getting back to where it's been traditionally - sellouts (funny what winning will do). There were quite a few Gopher partisans who made the trip to Omaha this weekend. And it should be wild at Mariucci this coming weekend when Bucky comes to town.

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Post by Gopher Blog » Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:24 am

gorilla1 wrote:Dont listen to Gopher blog-- he's a blow hard. Goofers can't even sell out their own rink. Wisconsin and Sioux fans do travel best. Gopher blog hasn't played hockey one day in his life.
You couldn't be more wrong on how much hockey I played. However, I'm not sure what that has to do with this discussion. Usually going off in a direction away from the topic at hand exposes the individual's argument as being weak. I'd say that is par for the course on your part.

PS - I suggest you ask UNO fans from this past weekend how well Gopher fans travel. Many of the comments I heard is there was better representation from Gopher fans in Omaha than what they saw from UND fans down there for their series last season. :lol:

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Post by MNHockeyFan » Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:57 am

The playoff format is now set. For the first four years the post-season, single elimination tournament will be played in alternate years at the Xcel Energy Center and the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Big Ten Announces Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Sites
http://www.bigten.org/genrel/041912aab.html

"The tournament will feature all six teams - Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin - in a single-elimination format. Thursday's quarterfinals will feature the No. 3 seed facing the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed battling the No. 5 seed. The top two seeds will open tournament play in the Friday semifinals, with the No. 1 seed against either the No. 4 or 5 seed and the No. 2 seed facing the No. 3 or 6 seed. The championship game will be held on Saturday."

It will be interesting to see what kind of attendance this tournament draws compared to the WCHA. They will obviously be missing all the UND fans who in the past have helped fill the X to near capacity.

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Post by BodyShots » Fri Apr 20, 2012 4:33 pm

MNHockeyFan wrote:The playoff format is now set. For the first four years the post-season, single elimination tournament will be played in alternate years at the Xcel Energy Center and the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Big Ten Announces Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Sites
http://www.bigten.org/genrel/041912aab.html

"The tournament will feature all six teams - Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin - in a single-elimination format. Thursday's quarterfinals will feature the No. 3 seed facing the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed battling the No. 5 seed. The top two seeds will open tournament play in the Friday semifinals, with the No. 1 seed against either the No. 4 or 5 seed and the No. 2 seed facing the No. 3 or 6 seed. The championship game will be held on Saturday."

It will be interesting to see what kind of attendance this tournament draws compared to the WCHA. They will obviously be missing all the UND fans who in the past have helped fill the X to near capacity.
I think they will replace those fans quite nicely with Wisc, Mich, and Mich St. fans.

What will be interesting will be to compare the attendance of the Big 10 tourney to that of the other new leagues. My money is on the Big 10 to out draw the others. :wink:

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