Final Fours

[mustang54]

  Well now that the final four in basketball and the frozen four in hockey are set I checked the rosters to see which tournament has more of a Chicaoland flavor. As it turns out basketballs final four has only one player from the Chicagoland area while Bob Paulys favorite sport of hockey has five players from Chicagoland! Kentucky is the only team in basketballs final four with a player from Chicagoland while Minnesota Duluth has one in hockey and Notre Dame has four. Go Irish!!

[OakParkSpartan]

I wonder what is going to happen with ND and the CCHA, as the Big Ten has announced that MSU, UM, OSU, UW, PSU and Minny are starting the to play hockey under the B10 conference.  There'll be room for a lot of out of conference games (only 20 conf games), but the CCHA is left with a bunch of smaller schools.

I wish the B10 had stayed out of hockey.  I liked the mix of big and small schools in the CCHA.

[mustang54]

I wonder what is going to happen with ND and the CCHA, as the Big Ten has announced that MSU, UM, OSU, UW, PSU and Minny are starting the to play hockey under the B10 conference.  There'll be room for a lot of out of conference games (only 20 conf games), but the CCHA is left with a bunch of smaller schools.

I wish the B10 had stayed out of hockey.  I liked the mix of big and small schools in the CCHA.

I agree I would have left it alone. It will be interesting to see though if some of the Big Ten schools who have stayed away from fielding hockey programs will now start them. Those like Illinois and many others have fielded good club teams for decades but have chosen to stay away from making it a division one program. UIC should have never dumped its program. They had visions of grandeur for their basketball program and we all know where that program has gone.

[Robert Pauly]

Hockey?  College hockey - I didn't realize they played hockey in college.  You sure you're not talking about women's floor hockey?

Then again, the excitement the 8th place Hawks have created with their 40,000 fans has probably detracted from the college game.

[Bonster]

Then again, the excitement the 8th place Hawks have created with their 40,000 fans has probably detracted from the college game.

lol...too many fans (Cubs) and Bob doesn't like 'em.  Too few fans (Blackhawks) and Bob doesn't like 'em. 

[OakParkSpartan]

Are you a sox or cubs fan Bob?

BTW, check out the attendance for some college hockey games, the big ones might surprise you (MSU-UM outdoors was over 70k).

[Robert Pauly]

By curse birth, a Cubs' fan.

By choice, a Yankees' fan.

I did catch a few minutes of one of the games - Michigan and Colorado, I think.  I skate as fast as they do.

[OakParkSpartan]

By curse birth, a Cubs' fan.

By choice, a Yankees' fan.

I did catch a few minutes of one of the games - Michigan and Colorado, I think.  I skate as fast as they do.

It is Michigan for gods sake...enough said.

[mustang54]

  Bobs knowledge of ice ends when he drops some into a glass!!!

[mustang54]

  For the record Bob here are the number of Chicagoland players by league this season playing division 1.
Mens Hockey:
CCHA - 14  WCHA - 10  ECAC - 16  Hockey East - 7

Women's Hockey:
WCHA - 7   ECAC - 11  Hockey East - 12

Add on the independents and the college club teams and anyone can see that the sport is far from dead.

[Bonster]

UIC should have never dumped its program. They had visions of grandeur for their basketball program and we all know where that program has gone.

+1 Few truer words have ever been spoken.

[mustang54]

  All they had to do was move the program off campus for a few years to save money. The program was improving and the CCHA was getting bigger. Bonster could you imagine a UIC vs Notre Dame game at the pavillion, that game would draw big time. So would Michigan and Michigan State. So if you have to you still play the smaller schools off campus and save money.

[TyRy]

  All they had to do was move the program off campus for a few years to save money. The program was improving and the CCHA was getting bigger. Bonster could you imagine a UIC vs Notre Dame game at the pavillion, that game would draw big time. So would Michigan and Michigan State. So if you have to you still play the smaller schools off campus and save money.

The program could have taken off if given more time...it was getting better and so was the recruiting.  Hockey seemed (just from my unbiased observation ) to always draw better than the basketball team.  Schmidt being promoted to AD was the WORST thing that could have happened to the hockey program.  All he saw was glory with basketball, and the fact it was a cheaper sport...looks like he chose the wrong sport.  And I'm thankful every year that they are horrible. 

Notre Dame played a couple exhibition games with UIC before they were back in the CCHA in the late 80's/early 90's.  Always had a good crowd on hand for those.  I'll have my ND Hockey sweats on next weekend!

[OakParkSpartan]

I watched UIC and MSU play down here a couple of times and the crowds seemed pretty good.  It is a shame they shut down the program.

[The Jackal]

I was an intercollegiate athlete at UIC right around the time the hockey program shut down. I can tell you first hand that the hockey program drew much bigger crowds than basketball and was held in much higher esteem. BIG mistake for UIC to shut it down. TRAGIC, really.

[mustang54]

   Another tragedy of shutting down that program was it really hurt the young kids who lived around the UIC campus. The guys from Fontanos used to feed the UIC hockey players for free. They practically lived in that store.
The Fontanos would rent the ice at UIC and hold free clinics for all the kids in the area. The UIC players in return would come out every time and work with the kids. There was another young guy from the Chinatown area who through free clinics for the kids in that area. In fact I remember the Italian American club gave him ten grand to buy equipment for the kids who could not afford it. Shutting down that program was a huge loss for the young kids in that area.

[Bonster]

Go Bulldogs

[mustang54]

  WTG Bulldogs!!!!! 3 to 2 in overtime over Michigan!!

[OakParkSpartan]

  WTG Bulldogs!!!!! 3 to 2 in overtime over Michigan!!

Good guys win!

[TyRy]

  WTG Bulldogs!!!!! 3 to 2 in overtime over Michigan!!

Good guys win!

Yes they did!!!  It was a great game...even better that evil Red and his team lost!