If we aren’t going east to play better competition, we have to play more than one team from that list in a season. We can’t just load up on nearby AHA teams. That was the point I was going for.
Back to lurking.
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I was skeptical when we joined NCHC over the long term health of the program not to mention financially. It seems fair to consider what would have been if we tried to keep the remnants of the CCHA together… possibly raid AHA or WCHA for a couple of teams instead. If we dominated that conference, hockey would be even more popular than it already is.
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We will be back in the CCHA sometime in the next 5 years. But, we won’t be the only team moving. The CCHA has Bemedji, Minny State and now the Fighting Rico’s. Until those 3 go to the NCHC, we aren’t going. Why Western has suddenly gotten good, so why would they want to leave the NCHC? Maybe the National adds Arizona State too and we move to the CCHA, but we save money and suddenly play in a shitty league.
Lurker (may I call you Lurker?) I like your insights here and there’s something about you that reminds me of the eyeglass billboard in The Great Gatsby. Given that’s one of my favorite books, I hope you see the compliment.
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I believe Lurker is mixing up Alaska-Anchorage and Alaska-Fairbanks. Fairbanks cancelled their season due to covid last year but did not fold and has the same coaching staff and from a quick glance retained a lot of their roster.
I’m also not sure where his SOS numbers are coming from. USCHO has Alaska at 30 and ours at 34. As an independent they have played a lot of highly ranked teams. Their’s will go down and our will go up as they have a ranked opponent this weekend and then none for the remainder of the year, including 4 against LIU and 2 against St. Thomas. While we have only one weekend left (CC) where our opponent is not ranked.
All that said it’s sad that we are worse than Alaska and they would probably beat us.
@YellowNumber5, I respond to Lurker and I’ve worn spectacles for a very long time!
@2XHawk, yes, I confused the two Alaska’s. Ugh. Point still stands though it’s on more shaky ground. SOS comes from College Hockey News KRACH. I think their stats are better than USCHOs. 2021‑22 KRACH Ratings : College Hockey News
Edit: Back to lurking…
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Any 1 see a win the remainder of the season? If a win happens it will be an upset. Losing breeds losing. Why would a talented recruit choose Miami over any 1 else in the NCHC?
Sure all on the roster are playing their hearts out, but the overall talent is not there to compete in their conference.
Waiting for Moll to weigh in…he may be preoccupied with carbonated beverages at Millet, tho.
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You keep referring to me and others who have similar concerns as I do, “haters” of Miami hockey. Where in the hell did I in any way claim I “hated” hockey? I referred to the NC game disappointment. My happiness at Miele winning the Hobey-Baker. The pride of seeing us listed as #1 in the country.
Think what you want but don’t make baseless comments about my or others alleged hatred of Miami hockey because we recognize and discuss a subject of concern to all mid-majors… READ MY DAMN POSTS!
Another Miami hockey memory. Back when Rico was playing, I took my young son (probably 7-8 yrs old) to Miami for a hockey/bball triple header. My son was dressed in his Miami hockey jersey, wearing his Miami hat. We were standing by the glass behind the goal. Rico skated up, saw my son and tapped his stick on the glass and smiled at my son. I was forever a Rico fan.
So yea, based on all I have said, I OBVIOUSLY hate Miami hockey. As do all others who have expressed the same concerns.
Maybe I could accuse you of hating Miami bball. After all, if a sport does have to go down a level or even lose the program, it’s clear from your comments that fball and hockey “survive” and bball goes down. I love Miami bball. Spent hours 2-3 days a week in Millett as a student watching Coach Hedric coach practice. Knew every player/coach, including asst, for decades. Attended every home game when at MU, and many away. So yea, I’d be upset if you prevailed and I lost something that has been, and is, important to me. But the current state of affairs is probably unsustainable. Whether you want to recognize it is your choice.
One of my fellow frat bros and friend for decades was the first captain of the men’s varsity soccer program. Played his entire life. Still laments the loss of his team. But Title IX forced us, and most other schools, to make these difficult decisions. But dropping the program was the only viable alternative. And no, I didn’t hate men’s soccer team or the women who forced the hand of schools to make some difficult decisions. Bet you don’t know what I am talking about. Your lack of history leads to ignorant comments. But you accuse me of being “incredibly out of touch” and one who has harbors “hatred” for hockey. My long history speaks for itself.
MightyMU - great post. By no means was I trying to insult you and apologize if that’s how it came off. I, like you, as a student attended as many sporting events as possible. I think the only sports I never made it to were women’s soccer and track & field, but attended everything else.
I do not have connections in the athletics department, and especially do not have a finance background. However, I don’t think canceling a sport makes a whole lot sense just yet. I think we need to see how football plays out… do P5 schools circle the wagons and completely change how FBS looks? If so, then I think you will see lots of other sports changing.
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First, thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it. Really. And no problem.
I agree with you. At the present time it doesn’t make sense to cancel anything. It’s not necessary to make any decisions now. Hopefully, never. I just like to take the long range view and try to identify issues with ICA before we get there and have some idea how to respond or ways to prevent any action that may be thrown at us with little notice. As you alluded to, the Power 5 are a group of greedy bastards who don’t give a damn about us and others in G5. They will do all they dare to take every last dollar. I believe the P5 will increase pressure on the NCAA (who is utterly worthless and gutless when it comes to Blue bloods) to allow them to further erode the sources of players and money. As coach Lane Kiffen commented about the NLI and transfer portal, it’s free agency. These issues are current and does have a negative effect on us.
The NCAA is scared to death of the power of the P5. They don’t dare deny them much of what they want for fear they will form a couple super conferences and maybe their own TV network. Anything is possible with the amount of money at stake. And the NW’s, the Vandys and Wake’s, maybe even UC if they don’t consistently produce, will be thrown aside with a big check.
Again, thanks. Be careful. I just heard two hours ago that my son tested positive late this afternoon. He’s vac, boosted, 38 yrs old and in great physical condition. Symptoms the last few days are like a bad cold. Even though he’s an adult, he’s still my kid. Admit I’m a little nervous. Anybody out there not vaccinated, I hope you have a damn good excuse. This is a mass killing machine. We’re going to be at 1,000,000 deaths in a relatively short time.
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The reality is that the status of the basketball program was created by Miami Athletics. Guys like Joel Maturi, Brad Bates and Steve Cady made choices and bet on the hockey horse. Miami built TWO hockey facilities while completely ignoring Millett Hall. Miami ICA decided to compete against the likes of Minnesota State. Quinnipiac. St. Cloud. Denver. Minnesota Duluth. UMass Lowell. Omaha. Michigan Tech. Bemidji State. Northern Michigan. AIC. Clarkson. And Bentley. It decided to spend a shitload of $$$ and compete against these schools as it deemed this investment the best chance for Miami to win a National Championship. It has been failing at that for quite some time.
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That’s incomprehensible……Miami’s earning potential is so much more with Mens BB and FB…
Financially maybe so, but not for a path to win a national championship… as proven by being 1 minute away from winning it all.
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I was excited as any when we made the NCAA hockey final, and at the time thought our investment in hockey was paying off…but that was then and here we are…so, what’s to be done going forward? No answers from me but in the short run Miami has hired a new Coach and committed to a power conference, even though we have no “name” rivals for the most part, as pointed out by Nickskin. Sadly, this has not helped in the last 6-7 years. .
It’s not Miami’s fault that the CCHA broke up with the formation of the B10 hockey league, but I really hurt. Oh, how I loved rubbing our dominance in CCHA hockey into the faces of my B10 buddies (particularly OSU alums!).
But basketball facilities were ignored, and our relevance and schedules reflected this…the younger among us here cannot begin to contemplate the sadness we old-timers have about the demise of our once proud hoops program.
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Excellent post. Summed up my feelings as an OG. Thanks.
Adding a P.S. to my following comment: The part that is hard to understand (that has been expressed by previous posters), is how we could go from perennially one of hockey’s best program (with one of the best facilities) to the worst (or certainly one of the worst). It’s hard to buy that COVID did it to us and not the others.
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I think one key deficiency is that our recruiting footprint is not broad enough. 17 players on our current roster are from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Tennessee. We are also very heaviy into the USHL and sometimes even into the NAHL. Compare our roster to 14-1 Quinnipiac, another mid-level program with a relatively new state-of-the-art facility.
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This may seem like a bit of a shallow comment, but I recall as our hockey program was revving up in the old CCHA 15 years ago there was some mention of Miami doing very well with Canadian recruits due to our relatively mild climate in Oxford compared to Ontario, etc.
whe. Recruits who came down in April from Canada was like “ wow, this is great!” . And the scenery around Oxford isn’t bad, either.
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We used to have a lot of kids from Ontario…Quebec is a traditional goalie mine. The NAHL feeds a lot of the D3 programs. There are really only two levels of college hockey - scholarship D1 and non-scholarship D3. The USHL and USNDP largely feed the D1 programs. The BCHL is an absolute hotbed of players.and a number of talented New England prep kids go out there to play a year or two before heading to both D1 and D3 programs. They fit both the hockey and academic profile of Miami. We’ve had a lot of success with local Midwest players in the past - Carter Camper comes to mind - but IMO we can’t rely too much on that recruiting base.