Section 4AA

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

I'm not sure how special it is to play a consolation game in an empty Mariucci at 10AM.

[BodyShots]

Just to make sure it’s in the records, WBL shuts out HM 3-0 to advance to the 2024 State Tournament. Congrats to the new coaching staff!

[The51]

I'm not sure how special it is to play a consolation game in an empty Mariucci at 10AM.

Hmmm yeah empty Mariucci or empty Aldrich... no difference there...

[slacsap]

The early game Friday morning may have a small crowd, but the White Bear Lake fans will be so thrilled that they don't have to drive all the way to Mariucci, they will likely come out in big numbers.

[slacsap]

I completely missed this earlier.... what in the world. What was behind the decision to move the consolation to Aldrich? Just poor attendance at Mariucci?

Wanted to give WBL fans a shorter drive for their 2nd game.

Gophers will more than likely be hosting the first round of the BIG tournament that weekend

In addition to the Gophers playing at Mariucci in the evening, the WCHA women's tournament is at Ridder Friday afternoon

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

Wanted to give WBL fans a shorter drive for their 2nd game.

Gophers will more than likely be hosting the first round of the BIG tournament that weekend

In addition to the Gophers playing at Mariucci in the evening, the WCHA women's tournament is at Ridder Friday afternoon

Egads, this nonsense again? A evening Gophs game, whether playoff of regular season, in the evening does not prohibit high school games at 10 and noon. It does not take long to clear the building on consolation crowds.

[slacsap]

The point I was trying to make was that the women's tournament at Ridder has games at 1:00 and 4:30. Due to traffic and other concerns, they try to avoid having games in Mariucci and Ridder at the same time. Not saying it's a valid concern, just that it is a concern.

[inthetwine]

Gophers will more than likely be hosting the first round of the BIG tournament that weekend

In addition to the Gophers playing at Mariucci in the evening, the WCHA women's tournament is at Ridder Friday afternoon

Egads, this nonsense again? A evening Gophs game, whether playoff of regular season, in the evening does not prohibit high school games at 10 and noon. It does not take long to clear the building on consolation crowds.

If the gophers have an evening game, both the gophers and their opponents will have daytime skates. Give it up.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

In addition to the Gophers playing at Mariucci in the evening, the WCHA women's tournament is at Ridder Friday afternoon

Egads, this nonsense again? A evening Gophs game, whether playoff of regular season, in the evening does not prohibit high school games at 10 and noon. It does not take long to clear the building on consolation crowds.

If the gophers have an evening game, both the gophers and their opponents will have daytime skates. Give it up.

That was not a problem in the past. Why is it a problem now?

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

The point I was trying to make was that the women's tournament at Ridder has games at 1:00 and 4:30. Due to traffic and other concerns, they try to avoid having games in Mariucci and Ridder at the same time. Not saying it's a valid concern, just that it is a concern.

The 500 people at consolation are a crowd?

[kpryan888]

If you exclude the bands and families of the players, would the “crowd” be 500?

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

If you exclude the bands and families of the players, would the “crowd” be 500?

I was counting ticket takers, concessions workers, and the Zamboni driver.

[inthetwine]

Egads, this nonsense again? A evening Gophs game, whether playoff of regular season, in the evening does not prohibit high school games at 10 and noon. It does not take long to clear the building on consolation crowds.

If the gophers have an evening game, both the gophers and their opponents will have daytime skates. Give it up.

That was not a problem in the past. Why is it a problem now?

Never coincided in the past.

[SEC Scotty]

This all has to do with the Gophers joining the B1GMistake. Thanks to ESPG for that moniker. Not only has college hockey suffered. But it has a trickle down effect.

As a Gopher fan you never know what time the games are on, if you need B1GMistake+, or what announcers you get, or if you have to wait for the bouncy ball game to get over.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

If the gophers have an evening game, both the gophers and their opponents will have daytime skates. Give it up.

That was not a problem in the past. Why is it a problem now?

Never coincided in the past.

I could be wrong. But since 1994 this has never happened? The Gophs have never been at home the weekend of the tournament? I'm highly sceptical.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

I've just done a little bit of research, and it turns out, I was wrong. Actually, just kidding. I was right, and the nattering naybobs of negativity are wrong.

I checked three random years, and in all three years, Mariucci hosted Gopher mens games as well as MSHSL consolation games. I checked for 1995, 2008, and 2023. Take a look yourselves. The game in 2023, just last year, was on Saturday March 11, and it was even a B1GMistake playoff game. Huh, how about that? How'd the SPartans and GOlden Rats manage to get in that pre-game skate?

https://gophersports.com/sports/2018/5/ ... chive-html

https://history.vintagemnhockey.com/pag ... ar-by-year

Now, if y'all could stop barking at me to shut my maw, that'd be great. So just why is it that consolation is at Aldrich this year? Because B1GMistake playoffs don't seem to have anything to do with it.

(Come on, you can't deny me the right to needle y'all, given the grief I've gotten over this.)

[Doc Holliday]

The Gophers play Penn State in Game 2 at 3:30PM on Saturday.

You can blame the Big 10 because of TV scheduling I suppose...but I would say that a 3:30 game & the consolation finals would be too tight of a window on the Saturday.

I got nothing in terms of Friday; I suppose MSHSL would say they'd rather keep it at one spot for logistics.

[The51]

The Gophers play Penn State in Game 2 at 3:30PM on Saturday.

You can blame the Big 10 because of TV scheduling I suppose...but I would say that a 3:30 game & the consolation finals would be too tight of a window on the Saturday.

I got nothing in terms of Friday; I suppose MSHSL would say they'd rather keep it at one spot for logistics.

This was clearly the answer all along, can't believe it took so long to get there

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

Now this makes sense. I can easily see how the B1GMistake TV network would flex it's muscle, and TV revenue is the mother's milk of college and pro sports. And the Gophs allow themselves to get screwed, with the Saturday puck drop only 21 1/2 hours after the Friday puck drop. Not that I feel too sorry for them, they have some pretty fancy-shmancy facilities, they aren't cheap and the money has to come from somewhere.

This is yet another knock-on effect of B1GMistake hockey, which was created solely for secondary programming. And every time the conference expands by one or more non-hockey college, the relevance of hockey to the conference shrinks further. Yeah, Oregon and USC are going to be very interested in a well running hockey conference. It's hard to believe that the decision of the ADs for Minn, Michigan, Wisc, and Mich State to not tell the conference to pound sand looks even worse today then it did years ago. At least back then the hockey schools were a majority of the conference, now they're a firm minority. There's no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube, but we can still say this was a dumb idea.

Also, this is why I seriously doubt that any college program is going to go out of it's way to host section final games. They've all got their own agenda$, and they don't involve high school hockey.

[ClassAGuy]

Was Curious on who from Maht goes to hill-
Update got answers I needed now thanks everyone

[BlueLineSpecial]

I know of two for sure. Little hesitant to say here on the board just out of respect to the young kids and honestly don’t want to make it public in the event not everyone is aware

[ClassAGuy]

I know of two for sure. Little hesitant to say here on the board just out of respect to the young kids and honestly don’t want to make it public in the event not everyone is aware

Totally Understand just making my end of the year notes for Mahtomedi next year on who is coming up and was not wanting to cause harm more just know who will be a Zephyrs will have. Got answers needed thank everyone