AA Rankings for 2/11/24

[CrimsonCakeEater]

Yep, I don't know if even Moorhead or Roseau care which is 1 or 2. It's not even good bulletin board material. (They put us at #2?!? We'll show them!!!) And it is a shame that there isn't a decent section final-sized venue available. Back in the 70's and 80's, the 6AA and 2AA finals would have been played in a single session at the Met Center. It was great back then, to see a Burnsville/Apple Valley/John Marshall final along with a Hill-WBL final on Friday night, then return at noon on Saturday to see and Jefferson-Kennedy followed by a Edina-Tonka final. That arena had great sight lines, everyone who wanted to was able to get in the building, and you got to see half of the tournament entrants. I still miss that arena.

2AA and 6AA should be at Ridder. They stopped getting even close to filling up Mariucci (though I’m sure they could this year) but Ridder is bigger than BIG or Braemar. I’m sure the new UST arena will get some section finals when that’s built too, probably 4AA or 3AA, if not both. Need more section final doubleheaders!

I'm sure the UST arena will get them, too. I would love to have the finals back at a St Paul venue, and a state-of-the-art one to boot. And at 4k for hockey (assume 4500 with standing room), thats almost perfect. How great would it be to have a 3AA and 4AA doubleheader in that area? Mac-Groveland is a great area of St. Paul - plenty of places to get good food and drink before/between/after the games.

Could potentially have a 2A/4A doubleheader at Ridder or UST too. At the very least, 2A needs to leave SLPRC and go back to Parade or another similar arena such as Braemar or BIG.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

All right, its' time for the adults in the room to bring this discussion back to reality.

There is no way to have a double header involving 4AA, outside of Mariucci. The seating capacity of Ridder is 3,400, I believe Aldrich is 3,600. I'm foggy on Braemar, but I think it's around 3K. I don't think those figures include standing room. But there is not a significant difference between those capacities. And the 4AA final is usually sold out well in advance of the puck drop. Well, as long a Gentry isn't involved. Double headers were great, but that ship has sailed, barring moving games to Mariucci.

A UST arena seating 4,500 would be an improvement, but not enough to accommodate two AA contests. But I still doubt you're going to get college arenas for Friday or Saturday.

And a B1GMistake - NCHC joint tournament? I'd love to have whatever you're smokin', but until I retire may need to take a drug test. Why would the NCHC want to sully it's reputation by consorting with a conference that can't win a national title? Besides, after 2025 the NCHC won't be having neutral site final four.

Y'all keep it real now or we'll have to lock this thread. Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.

[BlueLineSpecial]

So I'm thinking about a double-header differently than you are, I believe. I would envision it happening on the same day, not necessarily immediately after one another. So for example - 3AA starts at 3PM or 3:30PM, game lasts to 5:30PM or 6PM. 4AA starts at 7:30PM or 8PM. Plenty of time to clear the arena, and allow those that are attending both to go grab a bite to eat.

Aldrich has seating for approximately 3400 - call it 3500 with some standing room. If the UST arena will be able to comfortably hold 500-1000 more bodies than Aldrich, whats the problem with a double-header as described above? Most of the fans that went to the 3AA earlier game would clear out. It's not like everyone is going to stay for both.

The above would essentially just add 500-1000 attendance capacity to the games.

EDIT: I have no idea how challenging it would be to work around the potential for a college game and two high school games happening around the same time, but I have to believe that as the 9th most educated state in the union (random stat I found tonight) we could figure it out. I know it's up there will solving world hunger and colonizing mars, but I'll bet if we put our heads together we could come up with a plan.

[East Side Pioneer Guy]

Blue, are you talking about a split double header on a Saturday? As I said, I doubt any college will allow even a single HS section final on the weekend. Or are you talking about a Thursday? With the first game starting at 3? and the 2nd game at 8? That just seems impractical. And if the first game goes to 3 overtimes, ugh. Plus I suspect UST would find the whole thing to be a headache, with no upside for them.

[StanleyCup55]

They got around college games at Marriuci in the past because they had the section final double header on a Wednesday night. No college games on Wednesdays

[BlueLineSpecial]

Blue, are you talking about a split double header on a Saturday? As I said, I doubt any college will allow even a single HS section final on the weekend. Or are you talking about a Thursday? With the first game starting at 3? and the 2nd game at 8? That just seems impractical. And if the first game goes to 3 overtimes, ugh. Plus I suspect UST would find the whole thing to be a headache, with no upside for them.

Split double-header, yes. I get that something could happen, every once in a while - like a 3 OT game 1 - that creates a slight challenge, but this happens at State all the time and it gets figured out. The 8PM game sure never starts at 8PM. Neither does the 1PM game.

The upside for UST is there. For one, they are trying to build a D1 program. What better way to advertise your commitment to hockey, your campus, your state-of-the-art facility, and your goodwill than to let 4 teams use your building for a whopping 1 day out of 365 (0.27% of the year). People donated the money to build the arena, they could return the favor and donate it's use for 1 day. Plenty of D1 kids coming out of sections 3AA and 4AA. I would think UST would be happy to host them and show them what things could be like for them if they committed to the school.