How much of a fustercluck of a program is this that Red Savage, of all people, won’t stick around (or has been told by Detroit to go elsewhere)? If we can only buy out one staff, that money is probably better spent buying out Bergeron than Hendrix.
There is really no comparison between being a midmajor and a power conference in basketball and hockey. In hockey the best conference in the country, the NCHC, averages 3.25 tournament bids per year. The so called mid major CCHC averages 1.88 tournament teams. In basketball the MAC, often one of the better mid majors, has not had a second bid in this century. The last two years the Big Ten had 8 and 9 bids.
It’s the big 14,actually,football and hoops, right?
And their hockey is the big 7.
Some earlier posts made me curious about this whole number of teams in the tournament for the WCHA/CCHA and the NCHC. Dating back to when the leagues were formed, the 1.88/3.25 are spot on, but I was wondering what recent history looks like so I looked at the 5 most recent tournaments. A couple things jumped out. First, the WCHA/CCHA has been averaging 2.2 bids during that time while the NCHC has averaged 3.4 bids so both leagues have upped their game recently. While it also felt to me it was a Minnesota State/Michigan Tech stranglehold on the bids, it’s not really the case. Yes, Minnesota State is the big fish in that pond (can we try to hire their assistant coach please?), but the balance across the league for the other bids is, well, fairly balanced. Here’s the breakdown for both leagues during the past 5 years:
| Year | WCHA/CCHA | NCHC | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | (3) Michigan Tech | (3) Minnesota State | (1) Denver | (2) St. Cloud | (3) Western Michigan | ||||
| 2022 | (1) Minnesota State | (3) Michigan Tech | (1) Denver | (1) Western Michigan | (2) Duluth | (2) North Dakota | (3) St. Cloud | ||
| 2021 | (2) Minnesota State | (2) Lake Superior | (4) Bemidji State | (1) North Dakota | (2) Duluth | (2) St. Cloud | (4) Omaha | ||
| 2019 | (1) Minnesota State | (4) Bowling Green | (1) St. Cloud | (1) Duluth | (3) Denver | ||||
| 2018 | (2) Minnesota State | (4) Michigan Tech | (1) St. Cloud | (2) Denver | (3) Duluth |
No controversy here, I just thought it was an interesting exercise to see what the actual data looked like. Back to lurking.
For those horrified at the prospect of Miami competing in the CCHA with CCHA level recruits, we seem to be right around the corner from competing in the NCHC with CCHA level recruits.
This is getting worse, not better.
I wasn’t complaining at all, just pointing out a fact. Really cool kid to talk to.
It’s down to 3 “things”….to get this team resurrected.
Recruiting
Recruiting
Recruiting
I absolutely cannot agree more. It seems to work for every other NCHC member school.
To truly be a top program, it’s not just recruiting. College sports is littered with great recruiters who failed because that’s all they were. It’s three things: recruiting, player development and in-game coaching.
Now, I’ll agree that it begins with recruiting, and how is that looking moving forward? Our best players are fleeing the program, and our very best has most likely left because his NHL team told him that place is hurting you, get out. Top players wanting to play in the NCHC (and B1G and ECAC) is true. Whether top players want to come to Oxford and get their teeth kicked in every weekend in the NCHC when they have about 20 other options is another question.
Next year:
<10 wins overall
<5 NCHC wins
last place by give-or-take 10 points
I disagree. Unless of course by “recruiting” you mean…Goonstyle!!! Also, if we really want to win, we’d hand home fans /MU players ear plugs and for some reason play the theme from An Officer and a Gentleman over and over and over on the PA. All season long. For any goal we or the opposition scores. It would make our opponents go insane. You can almost imagine it now as you read this, can’t you…
Miami has already proved the team cannot win in the NCHC
FYP
Back to lurking.
I am not a big hockey fan, so I don’t know the answer to this, but is Miami hockey self-sustaining? And if not, how much of its yearly budget comes from private money as opposed to the athletic department budget? And does hockey have to play “buy games” like football and basketball do? Thanks.
Every sport at Miami (hockey included) is funded primarly from student fees.
Buy games in hockey do not exist in the way they do in football and basketball. If they did we would certainly be playing them.
Look up Merrimack. Around 5,200 total enrolled includes grad school.
Their rink seats around 2,500.
Did an excellent recruiting job last couple of years in particular.Players from all over.Plays in Hockey East Conference.
Made NCAA this year.
BU won the conference.
Merrimack was second in the Hockey East Conference. ( a tough one)
Northeastern,UConn,Lowell,Providence,BC,UMass and others trailed behind.
11 team conference.
If your point is we should hire Merrimack’s coach, I’m all ears. All I know is this current coaching staff couldn’t find fish in a sushi bar.
Back to lurking.
Let’s just say that team is up to their neck in Blue Blood hockey teams (being 20 minutes outside of Boston) and figured it out.
They didn’t join the CCHA,either.
These 5 players combined for 17 goals, of those 5 players only 2 account for those 17 (Cassetti 10 and Savage 7). Holland didn’t play a game last season and played 4 the season before. Murray played half the games last year. Pletzke’s playing time declined each year except for his Jr year, he had a nice freshman year but was never able to put it together to play consistently. Cassetti increased his playing time each year with the team and had his best year last year. He is a senior and graduating. Savage didn’t set the world on fire this year with 7 goals and 7 assists.
Ludvig Persson out 