I don't think Tenn has Hockey, so GORT might want to adopt the Fighting Irish Hockey team as his favorite NCAA team!! But this has been an amazing turn around for the Irish Hockey program. I certainly hope they reward the coach with the much needed improvements to the hockey areana. I have however been informed that winning the CCHA is like winning at AAA level. The major leagues for NCAA Hockey is the WCHA, where supposedly the top 6 teams would likely be better than the best team in the CCHA! Oh well! It's still exciting. They did it with a sweep this weekend of Alaska Fairbanks (The Nanooks), how's that for a road trip!!
Don't buy into Corey's propaganda about the supremacy of the WCHA. They have been the dominant conference the past two years but are not as strong as they were this year. The CCHA has had its share of national champions the past 15 years The latest national ranking list the Irish as No. 1: http://www.uscho.com/rankings/?data=uscho1m
:roll: This is amazing. That ice hockey rink at Notre Dame looks like a roller derby hall, its so small. I don't see how the Irish can compete with the kind of operation that Corey described when he was up at Minnesota-Duluth. This is incredible...
Something I never considered with regards to Hockey Rinks, was the quality of the Ice. I figured Ice was Ice, you have the floor, you flood it, somehow it freezes and you keep it frozen. You smooth it with a Zamboni! But apparently because of the configuration of the North Dome of the Joyce Center where the Hockey rink is located it's hard to keep the ice in good shape, which again I don't quite understand, but that's what they say. Maybe you Hockey fans can 'splain it to me. By the way I did see the Modern Marvels show on Ice, I did learn a few things there, and one of them is that Ice is one of the few substances that maintains it's strenght close to it's melting point and that it is the only solid that will float in it's own liquid. But they had nothing on the poor quality of the Joyce Centers Ice!
UMD plays in a 35 year old, "multi-purpose" convention center that seats 5300 people, the smallest in the WCHA. I guess the only question I have is WITF schedules conventions in Duluth? Maybe ice fishermen, the iron ore mining industry, and curling organizations. Probably, the two best arena are North Dakota's and Wisconisn's. Actually, North Dakota's arena probably is nicer than most NHL arenas. http://www.theralph.com/asp/default.asp?p=13 The Irish's facility is the second smallest in the CCHA. They probably would be better off moving the team to Fort Wayne which has a very nice arena for its minor league hockey team. Plus, that would make it easier for Sid to follow the team Since Terry has jumped on the bandwagon, some info about the CCHA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Collegiate_Hockey_Association
Always thinking of your friends, Bobda. You're the bomb! (By the way, wtf does "the bomb" mean? I heard Dick Vitale use that term over the weekend.)
Cripes...the Buckeyes have an arena with a seating capacity of 17.5K!! Almost as much at Neb-Omaha. What kind of attendance do those teams get?
This is clearly an offensive place The Ralph, my American Indian blood boils when I see this...well my mom always said we were a bunch of wild indians :lol: :lol: