UConn Hockey - Tim Taylor Cup?

[huskymedic]

Been batted around on here... may come to fruition.

From Chip Malafronte Sunday Gravy column in NHR:

>>"There’s been clamoring to develop a Beanpot-style college hockey tournament in Connecticut for some time. In the past it didn’t seem all that appealing. Talent differential was heavily in favor of Yale and Quinnipiac. (Although, to be fair, there’s no drama in the Beanpot, either.)

But with UConn a year away from Hockey East, giving the state representation from three conferences, it becomes an alluring idea.

Mike Cavanaugh, unveiled this week as UConn’s new hockey coach, is absolutely in favor of an all-Connecticut showcase and has already spoken to Sacred Heart coach C.J. Marottolo about it. Marottolo even has a perfect name: the Tim Taylor Cup.

“That would be very appropriate and a tremendous tribute to Tim,” Cavanaugh said. “I’m fully supportive of all of it.”<<

 

[Adios]

Do it.

 

[Waquoit]

Made by Binford!

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The trophy will be a tool belt and a first aid kit.

 

[huskymedic]

ManthonyCourantDec 29, 11:32pm via twitterfeed
An Annual All-Connecticut Tournament To Replace The UConn Hockey Classic? Maybe
http://www.courant.com/sports/colle...rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

[huskymedic]

JJ Column: Yale Holds The Key To All-Connecticut Hockey Tournament
http://touch.courant.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-78734576/

 

[FDNY99]

Sucks that this all hinges on Yale.....I can see them blowing this thing up and not really caring one bit. ALTHOUGH it would be kind of ironic if they did and it caused them recruiting issues in CT.

 

[huskymedic]

Sucks that this all hinges on Yale.....I can see them blowing this thing up and not really caring one bit. ALTHOUGH it would be kind of ironic if they did and it caused them recruiting issues in CT.

The two games that count towards the Ivy League max of 29 games is a legit hurdle though.. But I do agree that they wouldn't lose any sleep over not committing to it annually.

 

[FDNY99]

The two games that count towards the Ivy League max of 29 games is a legit hurdle though.. But I do agree that they wouldn't lose any sleep over not committing to it annually.

Do they have a RPI type rating in hockey that helps them get into the tournament for at large bids? If they did playing UCONN and Quinnipiac should help with once UCONN goes into HE. That tourney at Englls or Quinnipiac's rink would be AWESOME!!!

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

As fellow ECAC members, Yale and Quinnipiac already have scheduled games. Just make one a Tim Taylor Tourney game in honor of a fine man, great coach (Elis and Olympics), etc. Let them play at Ingalls 1 year, Hamden the next .. then UCONN's home arena and in Bridgeport or the XL, but engage CT youth hockey to fill more seats for the big arenas.

 

[freescooter]

The Ivy League game limit is a big problem for Yale, I think. They need to broaden their schedule and I do get why they don't want to be committed to potentially playing 2 of those games against A. another ECAC opponent already on the schedule twice, and B. an AHA opponent. They'd rather go to Minnesota or Michigan (or Boston for that matter). The Beanpot, too is a horrible comparison in some ways. First and foremost it pre-dates all these leagues, but beyond that its history goes to 4 schools who can practically spit from their campuses to the others and historically, if not currently, they were culturally very different institutions in an era when that was very significant still. Catholic BC vs Brahmin Harvard, Workingman's Northeastern vs Methodist BU...not sure you can or would even want to recreate some of the things that contributed to early growth of the Beanpot. So as long as you don't expect it to be another Beanpot I think it could work.

 

[FDNY99]

The Ivy League game limit is a big problem for Yale, I think. They need to broaden their schedule and I do get why they don't want to be committed to potentially playing 2 of those games against A. another ECAC opponent already on the schedule twice, and B. an AHA opponent. They'd rather go to Minnesota or Michigan (or Boston for that matter). The Beanpot, too is a horrible comparison in some ways. First and foremost it pre-dates all these leagues, but beyond that its history goes to 4 schools who can practically spit from their campuses to the others and historically, if not currently, they were culturally very different institutions in an era when that was very significant still. Catholic BC vs Brahmin Harvard, Workingman's Northeastern vs Methodist BU...not sure you can or would even want to recreate some of the things that contributed to early growth of the Beanpot. So as long as you don't expect it to be another Beanpot I think it could work.

If they play each other in the first game of the tournament and let it count as a conference game like Da said in his above post...that may let it work. I am actually surprised that the schools in the Ivy League haven't added a game or 2 to the limit to bring it into the 30-32 game range. They all play D-1 hockey. I'm for bouncing the tournament around the state to each team's facility (once UCONN builds their on-campus rink have it there). Sometimes it is fun to dream...but could you imagine a Frozen Four with UCONN, Quinnipiac, and Yale in it.

 

[kingdobbs]

Do they have a RPI type rating in hockey that helps them get into the tournament for at large bids?

Yes, and it's actually through a much more objective system than the two major ones (BCS football and NCAA men's basketball) people are used to, though not without its flaws. Everything's based on the NCAA's RPI formula, and they use a pairwise system of comparison for all teams under consideration (i.e. every team is compared to every other team on the basis of different criteria, including overall RPI rating, head to head victories, and common opponents, and the teams are all ranked in order of how many comparisons they win, using RPI to break any ties; there used to be a division of "teams under consideration", to represent "have you beaten anyone of substance", but they have dropped that in favor of running a pairwise with all NCAA teams, and attaching a quality win bonus straight to a team's RPI rating).

Yale got into the tournament last year as the "last one in" at #15 in the PWR (16 team tournament, one autobid is usually south of the #16 spot but the rest are almost always above it, so effectively everyone in the top 15 gets in). That being said, the ECAC is usually a 2-3 bid league from year to year, and its top teams rarely have trouble getting in based on their record as an at-large.