B1G Hockey announces conference tourney schedule

The only question is where will the NCHC have their conference tourney now that the schedule has been released by the B1G? Personally, I am hoping that it’s not going to be the Target Center.

Release courtesy of Big Ten Conference
With men's ice hockey set to become an official Big Ten sport with the 2013-14 academic year, the conference office announced today that the Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournaments will be held at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn., in 2014 and 2016, and at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich., in 2015 and 2017.

The inaugural Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament will be held March 20-22, 2014, at Xcel Energy Center. The tournament moves to Joe Louis Arena the following year and will be held March 19-21, 2015, and March 16-18, 2017, in Detroit. The 2016 event will return to Saint Paul and be held March 17-19. Tickets for the 2014 Big Ten Men's Ice Hockey Tournament in Saint Paul are expected to go on sale in the summer of 2013.

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.

The Sioux and a Comment on Officiating (RW77)

First the good news:

Despite the ugliest series of the entire year for UND discipline wise (probably the same goes for DU as well), the Sioux leave Denver with 2 points. I think Eidsness played very well on Friday and, unless the score doesn't tell the story, ok but not great on Saturday. I now firmly believe that Dell will take at least one of the games next weekend. In any case, despite this there is good news:

Home ice is ours for the WCHA playoffs. Brad Schlossman and I think Jason Hejdu calculated that it is impossible for CC and MTU to move past us so as to have us drop out of the top 6. That's great news.

However, there is a very good possibility that we will be down to 17 skaters for the rest of the year. Sure, Dickin's not the most prolific scorer and he may not normally be missed if everyone else was healthy but... they're not. And going into the playoffs, consistent and timely play as well as depth (which means fresher legs late in the game) are key. The Sioux do not have depth at all... but our IR list would be a great line or two on most teams in the nation. So we go short bench from here on out.

Good thing Gleason is playing great right now. He looks more and more like Genoway every single game.

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A note on Officiating:

Yeah, yeah, UND fan talking about officiating again, but I'm not going to rag on Todd Anderson, Brad Shepherd or Don Adam. I'm simply going to state my conspiracy theory and watch closely as I expect it will become more and more true as we get closer to the BTHC and NCHC becoming a reality.

I believe that the officials, led by Greg Shepherd, will follow the rule book as required but will not do their professional best nor be held accountable for mistakes when it comes to any game involving NCHC or BTHC teams. They will care less if it is NCHC vs. NCHC, NCHC vs. BTHC, or BTHC vs. BTHC and care more as the permutations get closer to WCHA vs WCHA.

The reason is simple: They only are biding time with the NCHC and BTHC teams but are still trying to pander support among the WCHA teams (and future WCHA teams). So there is more incentive and intention to perform better administratively (which includes officiating) towards WCHA teams than there is to be towards future NCHC and/or BTHC teams.

So, in other words, expect really poor officiating if your NCHC or BTHC team is involved. If you are a WCHA team, there will still be brutal games but that will be because the WCHA officials are idiots and know very little about consistency.

It's like my tinfoil hat saying: Every weekend we have to beat our opponents and the officials.

Shake-up coming in college hockey?

Some one posted this article over on Sioux Sports.

LSJ.COM --- Depending on which hockey source you talk to, Penn State will have a varsity hockey team by 2014, and the Nittany Lions' presence could turn the college world as we know it upside down. Penn State has a sole donor ready to ante up $80 million for a 6,800-seat arena.

For sure there will be a six-team Big Ten league at that point. What is unknown is what will happen to the CCHA and WCHA. The NCAA has restricted regular season schedules to 36 games and most believe that number will not increase.

Can Big Ten schools also play for other league titles? Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State are in the CCHA could come in as the 12th member. Minnesota and Wisconsin are in the WCHA. So, are enough games available to determine two titles? No one knows at this point but many are convinced Penn State will add Division I hockey. I don't see how the CCHA can flourish without a Big Ten presence and what happens with Notre Dame? The school will soon complete a gorgeous 5,400-seat arena and needs quality teams to help fill it for home games. Would Notre Dame remain in a CCHA without a Big Ten presence? Stay tuned.

It seems like we have heard about the Big Ten Hockey Conference forever. Personally; I am tired of hearing about it, time to put up or shut up. This was one reasons UNO gave for wanting to move to the WCHA; in case there ever was a Big Ten Hockey Conference, UNO felt at least they would be in a viable hockey conference. More than likely the WCHA could stand on it's own without Wisconsin and Minnesota. The CCHA minus Michigan and Michigan State isn't that attractive, you would have Miami and Notre Dame.

I believe that College hockey is eventually going to have to discuss these issues. To the self serving narcissists that think College hockey is all about the Big Ten Schools are wrong; the Big Ten Schools are just one piece of a very big puzzle but not an end all to be all.

One option I could see is the Big Ten schools playing all of their non-conference games against the Big Ten Schools. Wisconsin and Minnesota already play Michigan and Michigan State so they could just have their show case tourney on steroids during non conference play.

Also, while I think that Damien Cox is a great NHL beat writer who's beat covers the Toronto Maple Leafs he should stick to covering the Maple Leafs.

Penn St. is starting a program in September 2011, Indiana University is considering doing the same and there’s hope that some of the 421 U.S. colleges that have club teams in the American College Hockey Association may consider converting those to full-scholarship, Division I programs.

Penn State is "talking" about starting a college hockey program, there is a big difference between starting a hockey program and talking about having one.