OT: Quinnipiac, St. Cloud State, UMass-Lowell and Yale?

[Gurleyman]

No that's not a crappy preseason hoops tournament at Mohegan Sun next year. That's hockey's Final (Frozen) Four.

Talk about a ratings nightmare. Hockey diehards will watch, of course, and it may indeed have some perfectly entertaining matchups for those who follow the sport (I'm aware of Quinny's rise to No. 1, which is a compelling storyline to a degree). But man - if you want to see a plucky underdog school competing with the big boys on the big stage in a niche sport, you need a big boy.

At least the state of Connecticut has a 50-50 chance at a title.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I hate Quinnipiac.
But I have to admit I watched their game with Caniusis
It was very entertainung.

 

[Gurleyman]

I hate Quinnipiac.
But I have to admit I watched their game with Caniusis
It was very entertainung.

I'd honestly be compelled to watch Quinny play Michigan, for example. Would have a compelling angle to it - a one-trick pony battling a, um, a team of Clydesdales with a lot of tricks?

But if they play St. Cloud State, who the heck is the "little engine that could"?

Even when I think of Ivy schools that have had hockey success, I tend to think of Harvard and Cornell.

 

[upstater]

UMass-Lowell has future NHL'ers on that team. They are excellent. I think they take it, they are battle tested and playing great. These aren't all underdogs.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Based on the teams who are suceeding it would seem hockey offers big oportunity for a school to rise quickly.
Kind of like early womens BB. It might even be a money maker in the future.

 

[superjohn]

Ratings and College Hockey in the same sentence. Is this a joke?

 

[upstater]

Ratings and College Hockey in the same sentence. Is this a joke?

Back in the 1990s, when ESPN showed the Frozen Four, I can remember the BU and Northern Michigan game got a huge number. Chris Berman was touting it because the game blew people away. It was the best hockey game I've ever seen, at any level.

 

[Gurleyman]

UMass-Lowell has future NHL'ers on that team. They are excellent. I think they take it, they are battle tested and playing great. These aren't all underdogs.

Yeah - underdog is the wrong word. I went to Colgate, so I'm familiar with DI hockey producing powers in small athletic departments (RPI and St. Lawrence from my years were top notch) It just helps to have a big name school in there. I haven't followed the NHL since the Whale left, other than rooting for Ron Francis with the Penguins, so my interest in college hockey has dwindled to zero. I'll watch a Final Four in almost any sport just for the drama, but it's harder without a compelling storyline to outsiders.

I'm not a big lacrosse guy - but when an upstart team like Denver makes the Final Four, it is somewhat intriguing to see them go up against Syracuse or Virginia. If they had a Final Four of Denver, Hobart, Stony Brook and Loyola (all good programs in lax hotbeds), you'd have to really love lax to watch.

 

[Edward Sargent]

No that's not a crappy preseason hoops tournament at Mohegan Sun next year. That's hockey's Final (Frozen) Four.

Talk about a ratings nightmare. Hockey diehards will watch, of course, and it may indeed have some perfectly entertaining matchups for those who follow the sport (I'm aware of Quinny's rise to No. 1, which is a compelling storyline to a degree). But man - if you want to see a plucky underdog school competing with the big boys on the big stage in a niche sport, you need a big boy.

At least the state of Connecticut has a 50-50 chance at a title.

So much for the poster a few weeks back who commented on the downfall of hockey in the Northeast.

 

[tzznandrew]

Again, he was talking about high school...

 

[Waquoit]

Back in the 1990s, when ESPN showed the Frozen Four, I can remember the BU and Northern Michigan game got a huge number. Chris Berman was touting it because the game blew people away. It was the best hockey game I've ever seen, at any level.

So 20 years ago there was a good game? Awesome.

 

[upstater]

So 20 years ago there was a good game? Awesome.

Try reading better next time. High ratings.

 

[upstater]

Again, he was talking about high school...

Sigh. Thanks.

Yes, I was. These kids are mostly Canadians.

 

[Waquoit]

Try reading better next time. High ratings.

High ratings 20 years ago? Super awesome.

 

[upstater]

High ratings 20 years ago? Super awesome.

Yes, back then when they had prime talent on the rink. Maybe not so much now. It's a good question whether people realized that several future long time NHL stars played in that game; college hockey fans didn't, the average fan maybe did. As I said, college hockey isn't what it used to be. Used to be more popular.

 

[freescooter]

Sigh. Thanks.

Yes, I was. These kids are mostly Canadians.

Not really the case with all these teams. They sort of reflect their communities in many ways. St Cloud is largely mid-western kids, especially Minnesotans. Yale has mostly Americans from across the country as you'd expect from an Ivy League school. Lowell has a bunch of New England kids especially from eastern Massachusetts, some midwestern kids. It is true all have a handful of Canadians and the odd European. Quninipiac on the other hand is mostly Canadians. Pecknold has always recruited Canada well and he focused on older Canadian players to make a quick impact and it seems to have worked. A lot of people, inlcuding me, thought that his approach had a ceiling. It appears we were right, though we just didn't know it was as high as it might end up being!

 

[upstater]

Not really the case with all these teams. They sort of reflect their communities in many ways. St Cloud is largely mid-western kids, especially Minnesotans. Yale has mostly Americans from across the country as you'd expect from an Ivy League school. Lowell has a bunch of New England kids especially from eastern Massachusetts, some midwestern kids. It is true all have a handful of Canadians and the odd European. Quninipiac on the other hand is mostly Canadians. Pecknold has always recruited Canada well and he focused on older Canadian players to make a quick impact and it seems to have worked. A lot of people, inlcuding me, thought that his approach had a ceiling. It appears we were right, though we just didn't know it was as high as it might end up being!

Have the Ivies changed that much? Harvard used to be a home for Canadians as well way back.

 

[nomar]

Ratings and College Hockey in the same sentence. Is this a joke?

Yeah, it's a big problem -- the ratings are going to go from 0.07 to 0.04.

 

[IMind]

I can't see any schools outside of the a few Big 10 schools and Notre Dame really boosting ratings that much for college hockey. It's not like NBC sports even does much promotion beyond mentioning it in a couple "Look at all the stuff we got" commericals.

 

[freescooter]

Have the Ivies changed that much? Harvard used to be a home for Canadians as well way back.

Right and Cornell was too.Maybe even moreso. The old joke was that the hockey team was Cornell's international program. But if you look at Yale's roster, there are maybe 4 Canadians, a Swede I think and the rest are from the US. Quinnipiac's numbers are the opposite.

 

[upstater]

Right and Cornell was too.Maybe even moreso. The old joke was that the hockey team was Cornell's international program. But if you look at Yale's roster, there are maybe 4 Canadians, a Swede I think and the rest are from the US. Quinnipiac's numbers are the opposite.

Boston U. has switched over to more Americans as well. It used to be almost 2/3rd Canadian.

 

[Waquoit]

. Quninipiac on the other hand is mostly Canadians. Pecknold has always recruited Canada well and he focused on older Canadian players to make a quick impact and it seems to have worked. A lot of people, inlcuding me, thought that his approach had a ceiling. It appears we were right, though we just didn't know it was as high as it might end up being!

That could work for UConn. They can take recruits to Chez Ben for the poutine.