urbanSTL

Sound like this was a very big success which is great. I hope the Blues try you host the NHL Draft next. St.Louis is definitely a top 10 Hockey hot bed now maybe a distance 5th if I’m not over reaching. Finally I think it’ll be fun to have the winter classic at Mzzou with any of the original 6 or original expansion 6


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^Glad it went off well and I hope the Blues continue to do well this season.

The Blues should be talking to Mizzou about adding Men’s/women’s hockey. Replace the Hearnes with a smaller capacity, intimate arena that could host hockey, wrestling, volleyball, etc

Is Hearnes not still hosting volleyball, wrestling, etc? There's been talk for years of demolishing it, but it would cost a lot of money to replace all of the facilities there. (Gymnastics, wrestling, the fieldhouse, the weight rooms, the practice gym . . . the arena itself is really only a portion of the building.)

For what it's worth, shows have installed ice floors in the building before. There's no particular reason it couldn't be done, and it's about the right size already for volleyball. The volleyball program was pretty well filling the A, B, and even C sections when I was last working there. And D and E can be closed off easily enough. It's not perfect, by any means, but it's really not a bad little space. And it has the advantage of being already built. The biggest problems were always related to loading shows, which 

Speaking about Mizzou hockey got me thinking why SLU doesn’t go all in on D1 college hockey. I may be ignorant on the reasons SLU hasn’t jumped on NCAA D1 hockey in the past, but it seems like a no-brainer. They obviously have the on-campus facility. They have the local NHL presence and the local talent. Has anybody ever heard why SLU doesn’t start a D1 hockey program? I know they have a club team, but that is not the same. Considering many small schools have D1 programs, I can’t imagine why SLU doesn’t explore this. That would be a great addition to our local sports portfolio.

Neither Hearnes or Chaifetz can fit a 200x85 sheet of ice.  Both buildings were designed to be basketball arenas and have a floor area that is too small.  They could be retrofitted at a large cost, but likely would not be ideal (New York Islanders tried this when they moved to the Nets new arena in Brooklyn).  

I'd really like to see SLU get into football.  The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a D-1 Football conference which just happens to have it's HQ in St. Louis.  Two fellow Atlantic-10 schools (Dayton and Davidson) already play in the conference.  Other schools, such as Butler, Drake and Valparaiso have past ties with SLU.  Maybe the games could be played in the new MLS stadium.    

We went downtown Saturday and I must say I was very proud of the Blues and this city.   It was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No the competition is what it is.  Like sc4Mayor said the athletes basically want to leave with all limbs in one piece.

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Jan 27, 2020

^ There are plenty of other sheets of ice in town that could be used though.  Lindenwood has DI hockey and plays at Centene.

I've always wished there were some type of more accessible hockey but with big crowds, be it college or big-time juniors or whatever (but don't screw up Chaifetz. Non-hockey basketball arenas are soooo much better for watching basketball. Hate those behind-the-basket seats with no vertical rise at Enterprise and every other hockey arena).

A bit of an aside. I know little about collegiate hockey. But Lindenwood plays in something called the ACHA, which looks to be separate from NCAA. Wikipedia calls it club hockey.

^I believe Lindenwood is in the process of going up to D1. Now that they have a top notch home rink, that will likely happen soon.

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Jan 27, 2020

^ I thought they already had DI...or is it DII and a club team with DII moving towards DI?  Now I'm not sure lol.

As eee123 mentions, the mens team is in ACHA division 1. Not NCAA. 

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Jan 27, 2020

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Jan 27, 2020

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Jan 27, 2020

^ I thought they already had DI...or is it DII and a club team with DII moving towards DI?  Now I'm not sure lol.

As eee123 mentions, the mens team is in ACHA division 1. Not NCAA. 

Yeah I got that...but Lindenwood has two Men's Ice Hockey teams.  ACHA DI and NCAA Division II, which is why I asked if their DII team was working on moving up to DI.

So currently it is DII and a club (ACHA) team.

I don’t see anything on their website about a men’s NCAA team. They have a women’s one that is.

1) SLU is in the Atlantic 10 Conference, which doesn't sponsor hockey. 
2) Chaifetz Arena wouldn't fit a hockey rink as STLinCHI said.
3) There isn't another DI hockey team within 5 hours of St. Louis, meaning expensive team travel and few traveling fans. 
4) SLU is working to address significant projected budget deficits, which have resulted in multiple recent rounds of cost cuts to educational programs. 

So it wouldn't have an on-campus facility for home games, away games would be a lot of far flung travel to play schools that it otherwise doesn't compete with, which would cost money SLU doesn't have (hockey isn't a "revenue" sport, like basketball). 

SLU's best bet is to continue investing in its basketball, soccer, baseball and volleyball programs as it has been. Particularly basketball, which has the ability to drive alumni engagement, donations, national exposure/awareness for the school as well as revenue which can help pay for the other sports. No need to spread the resources for its existing non-revenue programs any thinner. 

Go Blues. 

wabash wrote: ↑

Jan 28, 2020

1) SLU is in the Atlantic 10 Conference, which doesn't sponsor hockey. 
2) Chaifetz Arena wouldn't fit a hockey rink as STLinCHI said.
3) There isn't another DI hockey team within 5 hours of St. Louis, meaning expensive team travel and few traveling fans. 
4) SLU is working to address significant projected budget deficits, which have resulted in multiple recent rounds of cost cuts to educational programs. 

So it wouldn't have an on-campus facility for home games, away games would be a lot of far flung travel to play schools that it otherwise doesn't compete with, which would cost money SLU doesn't have (hockey isn't a "revenue" sport, like basketball). 

SLU's best bet is to continue investing in its basketball, soccer, baseball and volleyball programs as it has been. Particularly basketball, which has the ability to drive alumni engagement, donations, national exposure/awareness for the school as well as revenue which can help pay for the other sports. No need to spread the resources for its existing non-revenue programs any thinner. 

Go Blues. 

Alabama-Huntsville has D1 hockey. SLU would be kind of in the middle of that league (but not real close to any teams).

DI hockey seems to operate totally independently of NCAA conferences and divisions in other sports. Except the Big Ten teams, every one of these teams is in another league for basketball and all other sports. There are tons of teams in the upper midwest that are D-II in everything but hockey. So NCAA divisions and conferences are irrelevant in hockey, apparently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_N ... y_programs

As for point No. 3, you're describing their current league. But they have to maintain a sense of superiority to the Missouri Valley schools, so they're in a geographically absurd league that's slightly better than the MVC.

This team is going to be very hard to beat in the playoffs, especially since they’ll all get Tarasenko back. It’s hard to go back to back in the NHL but this team is built for it. The style they play is just brutal for the opposing team.