DU’s Carle Hits It Out of the Park on the CHN Podcast

The University of North Dakota hockey team is on a bye week, and some are looking for a way to fill the void. I've been catching up on various podcasts and YouTube videos. Last night, the University of Hockey tweeted this out. I decided to check it out. It's worth a listen. For the record, Adam Wodon of College Hockey News favors keeping the status quo. He's not a fan of home-site regionals. DU head coach David Carle favors having the higher seeds host regional games. It's a pretty fair concept. 

It would work like this: the top seed would face the 16th seed. The second seed would host the 15th seed. The third seed would host the 14th seed. The seeding would work its way through the field. It seems pretty reasonable. Wodon asked Carle if he would favor playing the Gophers on their home ice if they were a higher seed. He said yes. 

That sound you hear starting at 59:00, is Wodon's argument collapsing in on itself like a dying star. David Carle asks him pointed questions and absolutely puts him in a box... https://t.co/TqB03Zg3Dl pic.twitter.com/gSwhAVASrF

— University of Hockey (@UofHockeyBlog) February 9, 2024

If you fast forward to the 36:00 minute mark, you can hear DU head coach David Carle and Adam Wodon discuss the various issues in college hockey, more specifically, the current flawed regional hockey playoffs format. It's kind of interesting because Carle negates many of the arguments for keeping the status quo. I applaud Carle for being at the forefront of wanting to improve the game and the fan experience. Kudos to them for having a civil discussion. 

The CHN Insiders Podcast gets you ready for the weekend.https://t.co/PK8BAbBJjD ... follow the podcast Twitter feed @CHNsiders

— College Hockey News (@chnews) February 8, 2024

Here are a couple of quotes that stuck out for me. 

"We are in a very small minority of sports that do it this way, Carle said. College football is also neutral, but even the behemoth that it is, next year, expanding to 12. They are going to campus sites."

"We are vastly in the minority of not using home site top seeds hosting in any capacity," Carle said. "For the record, I'm against North Dakota being a one-seed this year and having three teams come into their building. That's worse than what we currently do—the top four seats hosting, you know, all the teams to four sites. It's worse when you talk about atmosphere, excitement, and the fan experience. I would just get we all host games all the time, right? The top eight would host the bottom eight."

Carle brought up a good point: when Miami was a number one seed, they had to play a four seed in Providence in Providence. They're against home teams hosting regionals, but Providence was playing in their hometown. 

"We talk about fairness," Carle said. "How is it fair that Miami has to go play Providence in Providence while Denver has to fly out east to play Boston College and Providence?"

"Schools like Yale and Cornell are all the teams I grew up following," Wodon said. "They're the ones who feel like these things often disfavor them. Eight, nine, seven, 10: Is it enough of a difference? As a coach, you're saying you don't care if you're going into a hostile environment; I know from talking to coaches in the past that others do care."

NCHC.TV: Good Enough Isn't Good Enough

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference began its inaugural season in October 2013. The NCHC was formed in response to the formation of the Big Ten Hockey Conference. After the announcement in the summer of 2011, the term " like-minded " was often thrown around. It became a buzzword that made some people ill, as was the phrase " fan experience." 

As we move to the next decade of the NCHC, some of the same tedious issues remain from the first 10 seasons. In year 11, a handful of member schools still can't produce what we consider a watchable webcast. It's not too much to ask schools to create a product worthy of paying a nominal yearly fee.  

This past weekend, UND traveled to Oxford, Miami, to take on the Miami University RedHawks in a pivotal two-game conference series. Miami has traditionally struggled with its webcasts, which are virtually impossible to watch without becoming nauseous or frustrated. This past weekend, they didn't disappoint. That's not a compliment. I tweeted this out.

Third period and we’ve gone 4 minutes without play-by-ply. Absolute gong show @MiamiOH_Hockey and @TheNCHC https://t.co/xqN6aEf2ES

— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) February 4, 2024

Biddco Tweeted out: you sure love discussing the broadcast this year. They're not all UND.

you sure love discussing the broadcast this year. They're not all UND

— Biddy 📐 🐶 (@Biddco) February 4, 2024

What is considered an acceptable standard? Are fans being unreasonable in expecting a decent product for which we play a significant amount of money? The league is making good money off of its streaming services. Where's the accountability from the league office? 

Is it unreasonable for us to expect the schools with substandard webcasts to up their game? I don't think it is. Having a decent streaming service is part of the "fan experience."

I am not the only one who complains about the quality. This past weekend on X, fans took to the platform to display their frustration with the Miami NCHC TV webcasts. Here's a great clip from the Lets Go DU fan blog posted in the summer of 2023. It hits on all of the arguments many of us are making. We're at the mercy of the member schools. 

Just like NCHC.TV production for SLN broadcasts will be the responsibility of each home institution and may include a digital-only telecast or the use of an institution's local TV partner (i.e., Altitude TV in Denver) production equipment/personnel. The issue here, much like NCHC.tv for hockey, will be the inconsistent production quality from program to program across the conference. (Link)

This blog post was a response to the Summit League Conference announcing a new streaming service this past fall, but the point remains. Fans value the products that their leagues put out. Fans want to see their favorite teams play when they're on the road. Streaming services are the reality in the post-COVID world. I have every streaming service under the sun and NCHC.TV is by far the worst product I have purchased. I am serious. I am considering moving from the DirecTV stream platform to Midco based on the number of UND hockey games they cover. 

On Saturday, I finally broke down yesterday and bought the Midco Sports Plus to watch the Summit League basketball game between NDSU and UND. The quality was excellent. The picture was clear; the webcast didn't make me nauseous. All for a yearly price tag of $79. For comparison's sake, an annual subscription to NCHC.TV is $116. Yes, I know, the game was produced by Midco Sports. So are North Dakota State, South Dakota, and South Dakota State's broadcasts. Should the NCHC fall under the Summit League? I am not there yet, but you could convince me and other fans that this might be a viable option. 

Poor streaming webcasts are a direct reflection of the school that produces them. Seriously, the biggest schools in the NCHC have the worst webcasts. These are MAC schools that have FBS football. 

Responding to Jim Rich’s Rant, the Students Weren’t the Problem

This past weekend, the University of North Dakota hockey team traveled to St. Cloud, Minnesota, to take on the St. Cloud State in a critical NCHC matchup. It was a fantastic weekend of hockey. The games were available on Midco Sports Net via Fox 9+ and NCHC.TV. 

For the most part, the video feed was pretty good; during the two broadcasts, there were a couple of kerfuffles. In the first period of Friday's game, the person running the camera missed Garrett Pyke's goal. Only after a replay were we able to watch the goal. The people doing the graphics also messed up a few of the UND players' schools by putting NDSU instead of UND. That's a big mistake, even for a student on the broadcast team.  

“Jackson Blake-NDSU”

Just when this broadcast couldn’t be more of a clown show pic.twitter.com/de1odfRedW

— UND Hockey Recruits (@UNDPuckCommits) January 20, 2024

Let's take a look at the men in the announcer's booth who had a tough weekend. Play-by-play announcer Jim Rich couldn't pronounce at least three of UND's players. Rich regularly screwed up Jake Livanavage, Carson Albrecht, and Riese Gaber. Rich is a veteran announcer and should be able to read a pronunciation guide from the game notes. His color guy, Geno Parrish, could pronounce all of the UND players' names. Try it; it's not complicated. I took this from the pronunciation guide from the UND hockey notes: LIVE-an-AH-vidge, gay-burr, ALL-breckt. 

Perusing X during the games, UND fans pointed out the broadcast's shortcomings all weekend. We're spoiled with who we have producing UND sports. It's no contest; they're the best in the business and have set the bar very high. 

SCSU broadcast crew has called Blake-Black and Gaber-Garber…maybe hire some professionals? My god it’s bad

— PT (@PThomas19) January 21, 2024

During one of the breaks in the first period, SCSU play-by-play announcer Jim Rich started a rant. 

"We have Midco Sports Net joining us again tonight, along with Fox Nine Plus," Rich said. "We'd like to remind all the viewers that this is a student production. All these kids are learning on the fly, just like the players. They make mistakes once in a while, but they all want to get to the next level. These guys want to get to the NHL. These kids are behind the camera and running graphics, TD, you name it. These guys are all going to be pros as well in this business." 

His Color guy, Geno Parrish, replied. 

"And they have they've done that," Parrish said. "I know Mark Parrish (NHL Analyst) and Kristen Kroll are there. A Katie Storm may also work in the National Hockey League and the NBA." 

Rich replied.

"Exactly," Rich replied. They may be a little green here, but they turn out to be dynamic just because this program does such a wonderful job." 

Look, there's no question that St. Cloud State puts out some great media people. Midco Sports has Taylor Budge, who reports for UND sports on Midco. She's a graduate of SCSU. Also, for the most part, the students weren't the problem this weekend despite a few minor mistakes that were cleaned up on Saturday night. During the Saturday night broadcast, no NDSU hockey players played for UND. The problem was the veteran TV guy in the announcer's booth. 

Finally, Jordan Schmaltz was not a member of the famed CBS Line. His brother Nick was. 

NCHC.TV Revisited: What Are We Going to Get When the Entire NCHC Playoffs Are on Campus?

Today, I read a comment from a reader that inspired me to post. It read like this: 

St. Cloud TV graphic people were terrible. They showed a graphic listing Blake as from NDSU and another spelling Persson's last name as Pehrson, as like our defenseman by that spelling. Rough.

This is a fear that I have when the NCHC playoffs go entirely to home sites. It's no mystery not every team has the infrastructure that UND has. I get it; we're lucky to have the media partners that we have. I also think the conference needs to find a way to hold on to CBS Sports Network. Their broadcasts are very professional and done the right way. 

Great game at Robson last night! A really enjoyable crew to work alongside at the rink in Colorado and in the control room in Connecticut. Thanks to everyone with @CCTigerHKY and @MiamiOH_Hockey for their help this week! Two college hockey programs moving in the right direction. pic.twitter.com/petcGQkZ3u

— Alex Heinert - Midco Sports (@AlexHeinert) January 20, 2024

On this subject, I am broken record, but Midco Sports outshines every other school's webcasts. It's not even close. The video feed for Saint Cloud State's webcasts is good, but their play-by-play team could be better. Frankly, last night, they were atrocious. 

The broadcast team (Fox 9 and or Huskies Productions) needed help identifying the right North Dakota school their favorite team was playing. NDSU doesn't have college hockey; from what I hear, they don't plan on having a hockey team. Ever. Do your prep; it's goalie Ludvig Persson and defenseman Keaton Pehrson. 

Jim Rich has been doing this for a long time, you'd think he'd be able to read a pronunciation guide and be able to pronounce Jake Livanavage's name. It's harder to spell it than it is to say it. The color guy, Geno Parrish, was an absolute cheerleader. It was hard to listen to these two call the game. Is it okay to be homers in the booth? Probably, but there's taking it too far. 

I've already discussed this in NCHC TV: The Conference Can Do Better. I've had people ask me if the conference going to push for a higher standard or if we are going to be stuck with good enough is good enough. How do we hold the other schools accountable? I am sure we will hear some excuse about how they can't afford to up their game and we are just lucky to have the games webcast. 

It's all about the Benjamins. The conference is making money off NCHC.TV, regardless of whether they hold the schools with the substandard webcasts accountable. My question to fans is, is the product we have seen this season worth paying $115 a year? I don't think so.