Does Big Ten Deputy Commissioner Brad Traviolia really understand the frustration of college hockey fans?

It is October and we all know what that means, hello hockey season! 

This year, the Minnesota Gophers enter their fourth season in what I like to call the debacle that is known as the Big Ten Conference. I've stated in a previous blog post that I am NOT a fan of the Big Ten conference (as I've stated here).

Recently, I came across an article from earlier this year about Big Ten Deputy Commissioner Brad Traviolia. 

In reading this article, I don't think Brad Traviolia gets the frustration of Gopher hockey fans (or college hockey fans in general).

First of all, Traviolia doesn't have a hockey background and he admits it. He made this statement in the previously mentioned USCHO.com article from Feb.10, 2016 (Big Ten's Traviolia weighs in....) Traviolia states:

 "Coming from a non-hockey background, it’s kind of hard for me to imagine a fan in the state of Minnesota who wouldn’t be excited to see a Michigan or a Michigan State come in to play..."

What is he thinking? Does he honestly think that Mariucci Arena is going to sell out for a series against Michigan or Michigan State? Because it is the Gophers, there is going to be a decent crowd there. However, a two-game series against Michigan and Michigan State just isn't going to sell out because there isn't a true rivarly between Minnesota and these two schools. Yes, there is some history between Minnesota and Michigan (with having met in the semi-finals of the 2002 and 2003 Men's Frozen Four tournaments), but these rivalries aren't just going to happen overnight. Rivalries will draw fans to games (i.e. the Minnesota-North Dakota series scheduled for Nov. 4 and 5 at Marriucci Arena). 

(Just in case anybody was wondering, Traviolia was a wrestler at Northwestern University). 

Traviolia also stated this:

“In a perfect world, we’d have great national success in the early years of Big Ten hockey and it’d be perceived by the vast majority as the greatest move ever...Those things didn’t coincide. I understand that there is some frustration from the various fan bases that see the alignment of Big Ten hockey with the lack of national success that some of our programs are used to having and equate the two."

No, Traviolia doesn't get it. He conveniently forgets that one of the most successful and storied college hockey conferences was basically destroyed with the creation of the Big 10 hockey conference. That conference being the old WCHA conference (when it consisted of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Mankato State, Colorado College, Denver, et al.) For a school like Minnesota, those games were constant sell outs because of the rivalries between those schools--especially the in-state rivalries and the storied rivalry between Minnesota and North Dakota. 

This is coming from the guy who doesn't buy into a theory of " the lack of attendance is that fans simply aren’t intrigued enough with the new conference foes to make the effort to actually go to games." I'll be honest with you, watching Minnesota play Penn State is like watching an exhibition series to me. Penn State is only entering their 5th year as a D-1 hockey program. They have a LONG way to go when it comes to developing rivalries. 

Brad Traviolia just doesn't get it when it comes to hockey...and the tradition of college hockey.

Big Ten Hockey Conference—poor attendance at Tournament in Detroit and hurting the Gophers in the Pairwise?

Here we are on the eve of the NCAA Men’s hockey tournament selection show, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Men’s hockey team beat the University of Michigan Wolverines for the Big Ten Hockey tournament title (ending Michigan’s season) and earned an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Minnesota will be the only team from the Big Ten Conference in the NCAA tournament this year. 

This year’s Big Ten hockey conference tournament was held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. With what I have seen on TV for the Ohio State/Penn State quarterfinal game and the Minnesota/Michigan championship game (with pictures that were posted on Twitter), the attendance was horrible.

I don't think the "Road to the Joe" worked out very well this year.

One would think that with both the University of Michigan and Michigan State both within a 90 minute drive from Detroit's Joe Louis Arena that Michigan and Michigan State fans might have had more fans in attendance. Judging from the arena shots on television and the pictures from twitter, there were a LOT of empty seats for this tournament. From what I saw of the championship game (the third period), there were a "few" more fans in attendance. However, there were still a LOT of empty seats.  For a hockey conference that is only in its second year of existence, that has to be embarrassing.  I was at the WCHA Final Five tournament at the Xcel Energy Center and there were more people in attendance for the first semi-final game between Michigan Tech and Bowling green than for the semi-final games for the Big Ten Tournament. 

Picture from the Michigan-Wisconsin Big Ten Semi-final game
(courtesy of Twitter)

I found this surprising statistic on Twitter on Friday night. The following picture shows the attendance for the Big Ten Hockey Tournament between last year at the Xcel Energy Center and this year at Joe Louis Arena (the attendance for the entire Big Ten Hockey Tournament at Joe Louis Arena was 16,120). 

That is a significant drop in attendance between last year and this year. Does one think that anybody from the Big Ten Conference will look at the attendance and see how bad the attendance was this year? One sure hopes so. This doesn't bode well for a hockey conference only in its second year of existence. 

I wrote an article on My thoughts going into the second season of the Big Ten Hockey Conference. and why I am not a big fan of Big Ten Hockey. I stated previously that there are real no rivalries with the Gophers and the other teams. Yes, the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry/border battle is still there. Minnesota does have some history with Michigan (especially with having met the Wolverines in the semi-finals in both the 2002 and 2003 Men's Frozen Four). There are no rivalries with Michigan State and Ohio State. Penn State is only in its third year as a Division I hockey program. Those rivalries are not going to develop overnight. They are going to take years to develop, if they develop at all. 

Another interesting point was brought up about the Big Ten and that this whole Big Ten Hockey Conference is about money. It could very well be. It could also be because of the Big Ten Network and the Big Ten getting those games aired on that network (which to me, is a joke--but I'm not going to go there).  I was involved in a conversation on my personal twitter account about the Big Ten and that how the Big Ten was potentially hurting Minnesota's Men's hockey. One thing that was pointed out is how Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin are all big football schools in the Big Ten and their support for hockey is not really there. (Michigan State and Wisconsin also have teams in the NCAA Men's basketball tournament, which started on March 18). 

One way the move to the Big Ten Hockey Conference has hurt Minnesota is in the PairWise rankings. Out of the six teams in the conference (in the latest PairWise rankings), Minnesota is the only team from the conference in the top ten in the PairWise. (Michigan was ranked #19, Michigan State was tied for 31st, Penn State was 33rd, Ohio State was tied for 36th, and Wisconsin was 55th). The entire PairWise rankings from uscho.com are here. Because of where the other five teams are ranked, the Gophers' conference schedule can considered weak, which could affect recruiting. A twitter user (@timtjack44) stated that because of the lesser conference competition, this could have an effect on high level recruits who could decide to pass on playing for Minnesota and decide to go to another Division I school because of better competition. 

As of right now, I do think the Big Ten Hockey conference was not a great idea. I really don't care what the conference charter says about any six member schools having a team in a particular sport. They should have allowed Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan State remain in their old conferences and allowed Penn State to join a conference like the Hockey East, instead of destroying two well-established hockey conferences, along with established and well-known college hockey rivalries. 

My thoughts going into the second season of the Big Ten Hockey Conference.

Along with the start of the NHL season being right around the corner, so is that of the college hockey season. The Minnesota Golden Gophers open the 2014-2015 season with an exhibition game on Saturday against Northern Alberta Institute of Technology at Mariucci Arena.

This season marks the second season of the Big Ten Hockey Conference. I will be honest with you, I am NOT a fan of the Big Ten Hockey Conference at all. (I am also not a fan of the hockey game broadcasts on the Big Ten Network—that could be a whole other blog post in itself, actually).

For those who are wondering, could Minnesota (and Wisconsin) have stayed in the WCHA conference if they wanted to? The answer is no. The Big Ten Conference has in their charter that if any six member schools have a team in a particular sport, those member schools would have to join the Big Ten conference in that sport. (Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State had to leave the CCHA to join). I knew it was inevitable when Penn State announced that they were moving their men’s hockey program from ACHA to NCAA Division 1 status.

As an alum of the University of Minnesota (class of 2002), I was used to attending WCHA conference games at Mariucci Arena (along with some trips to St. Cloud, Duluth, and Grand Forks) while I was in college—along with the big rivalries with St. Cloud State, UMD, North Dakota. (The rivalry with Minnesota State-Mankato became another big one in recent years). The WCHA (as I knew it) was one of the most storied conferences in collegiate Hockey history with Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin winning NCAA championships and Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, and UMD have all made appearances in the NCAA tournament.

When it was announced that the Big Ten Hockey conference was starting in 2013, I was disappointed. The reason why is that Minnesota and Wisconsin would have to leave the WCHA, the status of the big rivalries between North Dakota and the in-state schools were put into limbo—were those going to be allowed to continue in some form? (There are no worries about the border battle because that would still continue).  There isn’t really a rivalry with Michigan State and Ohio State in men’s hockey, even though there is somewhat of a rivalry with Michigan.

In looking at the schedule for this season, Minnesota will play UMD on October 10, but that game will be in South Bend, IN. Minnesota will also play Bemidji State at Mariucci on October 24-25, then have a home-and-home series with St. Cloud State the weekend of Halloween. The Gophers will have another home-and-home with Minnesota-Duluth on November 14 and 15. The second annual North Star Cup will consist of Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota St.-Mankato and Bemidji State this season. Minnesota and North Dakota will not be playing against each other this year again in regular season action (Minnesota and North Dakota did face off against each other in the Frozen Four—remember the goal scored with .6 of a second left on the clock??) (Schedule information courtesy of gophersports.com). Minnesota and North Dakota won’t face each other again in the regular season until the 2016-17 season at Mariucci. (Minnesota and North Dakota will also face off in the 2017-18 season at Grand Forks).

In looking at the upcoming season, Minnesota will face its Big Ten conference foes twice. The usual Border Battle Rivalry with Wisconsin is still intact.  The series that are going to be hard for me to be excited about are the series between Penn State and Ohio State. Penn State needs to establish its men’s hockey program and I think it will be a few years before that series becomes any sort of a rivalry. I really don’t see much of a rivalry with Ohio State because Minnesota has beaten Ohio State in the series between the two teams and really didn’t meet a whole lot in the regular season before the start of Big Ten play.

Minnesota did come away with the first Big Ten regular season title (even though they lost in the first game of the Big Ten Conference tournament) and Minnesota is also the pre-season favorite to win the conference title again this season.

The Big Ten Hockey Conference tournament will be held this season in Detroit, which is something else I don’t understand. Other than it being hosted at Joe Louis Arena, I don’t get why it’s in Detroit this year. When Minnesota and Wisconsin were in the WCHA, the WCHA tournament has been hosted in St. Paul every year since the Xcel Energy Center opened and those tournament games sold out every year (that’s part of the reason why Minnesota calls itself the “State of Hockey”).

Time will tell if my attitude towards the Big Ten Hockey conference will change. Right now, I’m not a big fan of the Big Ten Hockey conference.