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Dean Blais just fired a missile across the bow of the Big Ten Hockey Conference. This author has been on record of being against a BTHC because I think it’s going to do a lot of damage to the CCHA and possibly to college hockey as a whole, there are schools barely hanging on by a thread. The BTHC is being driven by the Big Ten athletic directors that want make more money for their schools by showing more hockey games on their Big Ten television network, I would really like to know what is stopping them. By all means show more college hockey on the BTN. I would really like to know what is stopping you from showing more hockey hockey now. I don't by this argument that you need to have a BTHC conference to make more money off of the BTN.
I want to applaud Coach Blais, is saying what a lot of other have been saying about the Big Ten Hockey Conference. Since Blais is saying it, this become more credible because Blais is a college hockey coaching legend and a future hall of fame hockey coach. Check out this article by Tom Shatel of the World Herald newspaper.
WORLD-HERALD ---- UNO coach Dean Blais — a Minnesota alum — is staunchly on the side that says this would be a bad deal and could “ruin’’ college hockey.There is some blogger from PSU that believes I am a hater when it comes to everything Penn State University. It’s not about that at all, college hockey is bigger than the Big Ten Hockey Conference and it’s bigger than some school that doesn’t even have a division one hockey program yet. Some people are missing the point in a very big way. College hockey is about the small schools beating the big schools on the ice; David versus Goliath. In college hockey there are many schools that are Division II or Division III in all their other sports. These schools also use these games against the Big Ten schools to pad their bottom line and put butts in their stands and make money.
“It’s a TV issue,’’ Blais said. “There’s money. The big schools have money and they want a lot more. Is it good for college hockey? We’ll see.’’
Blais’ point: The cost of starting this mega made-for-TV league would come at the expense of the “little guys,’’ especially in the WCHA and CCHA.
There are 58 schools that play Division I men’s hockey. College hockey is not cheap. Many Mid-American Conference-level schools depend on the revenue from home games with Michigan or Wisconsin or Michigan State. If those teams don’t come around anymore, and hockey became too expensive, how many of those schools would drop the sport?
“It wouldn’t hurt Omaha, we’re going to be fine,’’ Blais said. “But this division could hurt certain teams. It would give an administration an excuse to drop hockey.’’
To ease that pain, the Big Ten apparently is working on a plan in which the Big Ten schools from the WCHA and CCHA would continue to schedule some teams in those leagues as nonconference games. But they couldn’t play everyone in their former leagues.
And, let’s face it, if Wisconsin has to play Murderer’s Row in the Big Ten, it’s not going to play North Dakota, Denver and UNO on the side.
“What pod are we in? Who are we going to play?’’ Blais said. “You have to think about the good of college hockey. Do the fans of Minnesota want to see North Dakota come in there and Omaha and Duluth? Absolutely. Do they care about Michigan and Ohio State? No.
“For Wisconsin to lose North Dakota, that’s their No. 1 rival. That would be terrible. And now that Miami is up there, people in Ann Arbor would rather see Miami now than Wisconsin or Minnesota.’’
Blais also makes this point: Most of the schools in a Big Ten hockey league are used to making the NCAA tournament, but that league would get only one or two bids as the teams beat up on each other.
“College hockey right now is pretty solid,’’ Blais said. “We’re third, I think, in the NCAA in revenue-producing. Are we going to jeopardize that, as a body? Minnesota and Wisconsin probably make $4 million to $5 million a year in hockey because of their buildings. If you give them $7 million, does that matter? They already have so much money. Is it worth the extra money to ruin college hockey?’’
College Hockey is one of the few sports were a team from Sault Sainte Marie can beat a team from Ann Harbor, Madison, East Lansing or South Bend. College hockey has to be very careful to no upset the delicate balance that has been created. Six Big Ten Schools could irreparable damage to the rest of college hockey for the sole purpose of greed and making more money. Maybe we all need to take a deep breath and work this out like adults.
Over on Goal Gophers, Chris Miller and Roman Augustoviz make their predictions for this weekend's series between the Seapuppies and the Fighting Sioux.
Alaska Anchorage at North Dakota
Chris: As long as I’m pumping up sportswriters, I got to say Doyle Woody of the Anchorage Daily News used to have quite the gig back when the ADN traveled with the Seapuppies, as far as frequent flyer miles go. As I recall, Doyle also missed a lot of flights thanks to his enjoyment of the WCHA night life, often returning to his hotel room long after the 4 a.m. wakeup call, but I would never say that publicly in case Doyle has a good lawyer.
In Duluth, we used to convene at the “smoke-free” Pioneer Bar and, in true journalistic style, Doyle met the future Mrs. Woody there one night when she was working for the News-Trombone. They are now happily married and, quite honestly, Doyle still has a ton of frequent flyer miles so after the season he’s always jetting off to Bora-Bora or some tropical locale. Enough insight about Anchorage, though.
North Dakota had last weekend off to watch Christina Aguilera screw up a song that most of us learned in kindergarten, so they’ll be rested and ready to sweep. If not, Dave Hakstol should be fired and replaced by Dean Blais. ... Sioux sweep
Roman: UAA has won three in a row, beating the Gophers 1-0 at Mariucci and Michigan Tech 4-1 and 4-2 in the Sully. The Seawolves' neutral zone trap or four-man picket fence at its blue line can hamper opponents. Tech was held to under 20 shots in both losses. But the Sioux smell another title. They are only one point back of UMD and Denver, tied for first place in the WCHA so ... A Sioux win and a tie
