OT- NHL influence on college hockey | The Boneyard

OT- NHL influence on college hockey

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I wanted to start a general discussion about the influence the NHL has on college hockey. Recently, the NHL has sponsored feasibility studies for U. of Illinois and Oakland, (MI) University. This got me thinking to who are the other schools involved. I've heard Pitt with assistance from the Penguins. U. of Buffalo working with the Sabres.
Also, with the writing on the wall for a Seattle franchise, will U. of Washington look to upgrade their program? What about UNLV with the success of the Golden Knights?
 
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I wanted to start a general discussion about the influence the NHL has on college hockey. Recently, the NHL has sponsored feasibility studies for U. of Illinois and Oakland, (MI) University. This got me thinking to who are the other schools involved. I've heard Pitt with assistance from the Penguins. U. of Buffalo working with the Sabres.
Also, with the writing on the wall for a Seattle franchise, will U. of Washington look to upgrade their program? What about UNLV with the success of the Golden Knights?
Some good thoughts, it'd be great to see more schools start up programs. The biggest hurdle has always been and always will be facility and conference affiliation. With so few conferences in college hockey and two of them in very tenuous financial spots (WCHA/AHA) there aren't many open conference spots. As we've seen with Arizona State, not having either of these two things solidified when you start a program makes it VERY difficult to succeed. ASU has done so because they have Pac-12 money and they've accepted the early stages as an independent team playing only for pride. Their arena situation out there has been a major hurdle to success though it appears they finally have the plans and $ to build one. Not every school has to have a Terry Pegula drop $100M+ into their bank account like Penn State did, but in order to successfully start up a program, there has to be solid plans for a facility as well as a realistic conference spot. The conference issue is especially amplified out west with the travel costs/time.
 
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Misleading headline. They have not confirmed that the program will 100% for sure be started, they've made some big fundraising strides but still have a ways to go before being able to secure the $ to build an arena.
 
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Some good thoughts, it'd be great to see more schools start up programs. The biggest hurdle has always been and always will be facility and conference affiliation. With so few conferences in college hockey and two of them in very tenuous financial spots (WCHA/AHA) there aren't many open conference spots. As we've seen with Arizona State, not having either of these two things solidified when you start a program makes it VERY difficult to succeed. ASU has done so because they have Pac-12 money and they've accepted the early stages as an independent team playing only for pride. Their arena situation out there has been a major hurdle to success though it appears they finally have the plans and $ to build one. Not every school has to have a Terry Pegula drop $100M+ into their bank account like Penn State did, but in order to successfully start up a program, there has to be solid plans for a facility as well as a realistic conference spot. The conference issue is especially amplified out west with the travel costs/time.
I agree. Let's assume Seattle is granted a team. They could go the route of the Providence Bruins using Schneider Arena as a practice facility. A Seattle franchise could build UW an arena and use it as a practice facility.
 
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While most of us have probably seen this, I thought I would post it anyway. I know there are some posters on this board whose hearts flutter at the thought that UConn football might someday be good enough again to get an invite to the B1G because, among all the other reasons, at the moment that is one great hockey conference. Well, regardless of that angle and whether or not the B1G would consider 9 instead of 8 for their hockey conference, this is interesting anyway.

Illinois ‘hopes to green-light’ a new Champaign-based men’s D-I hockey program by the end of 2018
 
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I wanted to start a general discussion about the influence the NHL has on college hockey. Recently, the NHL has sponsored feasibility studies for U. of Illinois and Oakland, (MI) University. This got me thinking to who are the other schools involved. I've heard Pitt with assistance from the Penguins. U. of Buffalo working with the Sabres.
Also, with the writing on the wall for a Seattle franchise, will U. of Washington look to upgrade their program? What about UNLV with the success of the Golden Knights?
Actually Canisius is working with the Sabres. They now play at Harbor Center which was developed by the owners of the Sabres I believe, and is also used as their practice facility. Seats around 2000 but has lots of pro amenities I understand.
 

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