Big 10 to start hockey conference in 2013

[berniebrewer4life]

With the Big 10 Network this was bound to happen...

 

Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin will be the charter members.

 

http://insidecollegehockey.com/inch/2011/03/19/bigten/

[ttsather]

I hadn't been following it all that closely or anything, but I didn't expect it to happen by 2013. Should be interesting. I'm excited to play Michigan and Michigan State more often.

[Funketown]

You have to imagine the likes of Colorado College, UMD, North Dakota, etc. aren't too thrilled about this.

[cwolf2012]

"You have to imagine the likes of Colorado College, UMD, North Dakota, etc. aren't too thrilled about this. "

 

Maybe. The WCHA is still really powerful with ND, CC, Denver, Duluth, St Cloud, and Nebraska-Omaha. I think this hurts the CCHA much worse than it hurts the WCHA.

 

I feel bad for Penn State, though. Just start a new program and get thrown into a conference with these powerhouses? OUCH.

[trwi7]

Yeah the WCHA will be fine. There's not a lot in the CCHA after MSU, MU and OSU leave. Miami, Notre Dame and maybe BGSU?

[paul253]

This is very exciting news, but I wonder if they can survive as a 6 team conference. Either way, I'd much rather watch weekends series against Ohio St, Penn St and Michigan then Bemidji St, Minnesota St and Michigan Tech.

[trwi7]

Hopefully this provides better coverage too. The coverage right now is a joke. We got maybe 5 games this year, we also get the Minnesota announcers when they play them. Get some games on Big Ten Network every Friday and Saturday during the conference season and get agreements with FSN in the Big Ten markets to broadcast games throughout the season.

[paul253]

I think Illinois has a pretty decent club team don't they? And Iowa has a club team too. I wonder if either of them have any interest in D1 Hockey.

Hopefully this provides better coverage too.

 

I have to imagine there'd be at least one game on the Big 10 network every Friday night. There isn't a whole lot of decent programming to put on on Friday nights during the winter. College Basketball doesn't usually have games on Friday nights.

[dadofandrew]

It takes 5 years to transition from club to D1. Club is just a bunch of guys having fun, D1 is top o' the line.

[danzig6767]

Hopefully this provides better coverage too. The coverage right now is a joke. We got maybe 5 games this year, we also get the Minnesota announcers when they play them. Get some games on Big Ten Network every Friday and Saturday during the conference season and get agreements with FSN in the Big Ten markets to broadcast games throughout the season.

I'm not sure how i feel about this because we lose being in the conference with long time foes like North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, and Duluth. I especially hope that we can continue playing ND every year, it's the series i look forward most to each year, even more so than the Gophers.

 

That said, i love Badgers hockey and i get very frustrated at how many games aren't televised. Road games rarely ever are televised except for against Minnesota. So if the result is that all games between Big Ten teams are televised, i see that as a major improvement, as will be forming rivalries with OSU, Michigan, and Michigan St.

[sbrylski]

It will just make me so happy to have the upper hand on OSU in a sport for a change.

[NeedMoreFans]

Even with moving out of the WCHA, my guess is they will still regularly schedule teams that remain there. With only 6 teams in the conference, we will have 20 conference games. The Badgers played 36 regular season games this year...they have to make up those other 14-16 games somehow.

[logan82]

My gut reaction is I hate it. I love the WCHA. I think the Big 10 has something to do with the poor hockey coverage we have been getting over the last few years. Just like coverage tanked for football and basketball when BTN started up. I used to be able to get games on PBS late at night at the very least. Even those have all but disappeared. If we get 90%+ tv coverage I will be happy though. I really think this benefits the CCHA teams more than the teams moving from the WCHA.

 

I imagine there will be a trip to Colorado where we play CC one night and Denver the next and Minnesota plays the other team or those 2 teams coming over to play Minnesota and Wisconsin.

[paul253]

Just like coverage tanked for football and basketball when BTN started

up. I used to be able to get games on PBS late at night at the very

least. Even those have all but disappeared.

 

Really? Just about every Big Ten football game in on tv now, even the Minnesota and Northwestern games. I am a huge Michigan football fan and the BTN has been a godsend for me, at least after my local cable provider picked it up. I know Michigan was on a lot before but now even when they play crap teams like Akron or Western Michigan I know the game is going to be on. I suspect that there will be at least two hockey games on the BTN a week, possibly more. Plus I'm sure it will cover the post season tournament. I think this is great but I hope more Big 10 teams add hockey.

[logan82]

Every game is on tv for people with BTN. I lost a year of football and basketball because of BTN. I used to get every single Badgers football game on tv before BTN. A few were on later on PBS but still on tv.

[danzig6767]

It will just make me so happy to have the upper hand on OSU in a sport for a change.

Don't be certain of that

 

Former Badgers assistant Mark Osiecki is now the head coach at OSU and he was highly regarded as both a teacher of the game and a recruiter. He was given a lot of credit for the bounty of talented defenseman that Wisconsin has brought in and developed over the last 5 years or so.

[owbc]

As a UW Alum living in Florida, the BTN has been a godsend. Every UW football and basketball game is televised either on the BTN or another major network. It is like I still live in Wisconsin. There were only ~2 Badger hockey games on BTN this year and therefore those were the only 2 games that I saw. I expect that at least 6-8 hockey games will be on BTN with the new conference and probably even more, not to mention the conference tournament.

[danzig6767]

As a UW Alum living in Florida, the BTN has been a godsend. Every UW football and basketball game is televised either on the BTN or another major network. It is like I still live in Wisconsin. There were only ~2 Badger hockey games on BTN this year and therefore those were the only 2 games that I saw. I expect that at least 6-8 hockey games will be on BTN with the new conference and probably even more, not to mention the conference tournament.

Here in Milwaukee, i'd guess that FSN televised about 8-10 Badgers hockey games this year.

 

When i first heard about this Big Ten hockey conference, i wasn't really happy about leaving the WCHA, but the one thing i liked was i expected that a lot more Badger hockey games would get televised via the BTN.

 

The more i think about it though, the less i think we'll see a bunch of college hockey on BTN. First of all, college hockey simply gets terrible ratings.

 

Well, the college hockey season overlaps partially with both college football and basketball. During the football season, Saturdays are all about football and there is zero chance that any hockey games with be aired. On Friday's, the BTN tends to run lots of coverage about the football games for the next day. My guess is this stuff would draw higher ratings than a hockey game and would be cheaper to put together than to televise a hockey game.

 

When the football season ends, college basketball gets going and there are always weekend basketball games for Big Ten teams. Basketball games will always get a higher priority than hockey. The BTN isn't going to pass on showing any conference basketball game to instead show a Michigan/Wisconsin hockey game.

 

So i have serious doubt that we'll end up seeing a large amount of hockey being shown on the BTN, thus i really will be bummed if this new conference forming will in any way prevent FSN from still broadcasting Badgers hockey games or lessen the number of games they show. I'm already irritated that over the last few years PBS greatly lessened the amount of hockey games they replay at 10 PM. Years ago, pretty much every conference home game was replayed on PBS and i'd just avoid finding out who won before the PBS replay.

 

My other beef is i love college hockey and this move is bad for the game by significantly harming both the WCHA and CCHA.

[owbc]

College basketball and football are not aired on the BTN on Friday and Saturday nights, so there shouldn't be any conflict.

 

My rationale for 6-8 games is that with 6 teams there are 3 games/weekend so the Badgers should get on about 1/3 of the time. I suspect they will always televise hockey on Friday and Saturday nights because they will now have a vested interest in promoting the new conference.

[logan82]

I have little hope BTN will show much hockey. They were showing women's volleyball last year instead of a hockey matchup of Big Ten teams playing hockey. Michigan and Michigan State came down to play the Badgers this year and no coverage. Over a decade ago before I had cable I saw more hockey games on tv just by watching tape delay on PBS.

[paul253]

The more i think about it though, the less i think we'll see a bunch of

college hockey on BTN. First of all, college hockey simply gets terrible

ratings.

 

I have to think there was some sort of agreement about the television before teams like Wisconsin and Minnesota agreed to leave the WCHA. Minnesota has a lot of games on FSN and I can't imagine they'd be willing to leave that behind just to join a Big 10 hockey conference. But I guess only time will tell.

[cwolf2012]

"I have to think there was some sort of agreement about the television before teams like Wisconsin and Minnesota agreed to leave the WCHA."

 

I agree. There's no way these teams agree to leave their established conferences without some sort of significant incentive. I'm guessing they're going to show a lot of games on TV, and that was probably the mover that got this conference put together.

 

The real question is what they're going to do with the logo. They should change the G to a 6. Bam, done.

[logan82]

The more i think about it though, the less i think we'll see a bunch of

college hockey on BTN. First of all, college hockey simply gets terrible

ratings.

 

I have to think there was some sort of agreement about the television before teams like Wisconsin and Minnesota agreed to leave the WCHA.

Minnesota maybe but Alverez has wanted a Big Ten hockey league since BTN started. He said it would be a good third big sport to add to basketball and football.

[danzig6767]

The more i think about it though, the less i think we'll see a bunch of

college hockey on BTN. First of all, college hockey simply gets terrible

ratings.

 

I have to think there was some sort of agreement about the television before teams like Wisconsin and Minnesota agreed to leave the WCHA.

Minnesota maybe but Alverez has wanted a Big Ten hockey league since BTN started. He said it would be a good third big sport to add to basketball and football.

I read the USCHO forums sometimes and let me tell you, Barry Alvarez is a hated man there because the vast majority of college hockey fans hate what this move will do to college hockey as a whole and they heap a lot of the blame on Barry for being a driving force behind it.

 

Obviously Alvarez alone couldn't get this done, but Barry and Wisconsin hockey in turn are not liked at all among many college hockey fans. There is a 40 plus page on USCHO about the BTHC and while all the ire isn't just directed at Barry/Wisconsin hockey, they are viewed as the ring leaders along with Penn St. for starting a hockey program which got this ball rolling.

 

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.php?91362-Big-Ten-Hockey-Conference-Pt-II-The-Exodus/page25

[paul253]

I find some of these comments odd. I haven't been following college hockey long, but it seems like the the only way to increase it's popularity is to increase it's exposure...i.e. television. It will never be college football or college basketball, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. The casual observer may be more interested in watching UW play a hockey game against Michigan or Ohio St because they have heard of them and, as dumb as this sounds, may just assume those programs are better than Minnesota-Duluth or Nebraska-Omaha. People complain about the lack of rivalries which is fine, but rivalries will form. In 20 years people will have forgotten all about that UW-Michigan Tech series. The conference does need to add more teams though if the more casual hockey fans are going to take it seriously.