Here are a couple Ice Breaker Tourney videos courtesy of College Hockey Inc. The first video features all goals from all of the games. The second video are highlights of the Notre Dame–Nebraska-Omaha championship game. Enjoy!
Question: At about :52 seconds of the above video, why do the college officials have to go ALL THE WAY into the timekeepers' bench to watch a video replay? That's terribly inconvenient.
Since the tournament:
Army 2-3-1 overall, 4th in Atlantic Hockey
Notre Dame 6-2 overall, 1st in CCHA
Nebraska-Omaha 4-3-1 overall, 3rd in WCHA
Maine 1-8 overall, last in Hockey East. Only victory against Army in Consolation Game.
Disappointment was my initial feeling. Then sleepy. Then apathetic. Then...meh. Go hockey. I hope this isn't true, but there were only 2,254 at the Sprint Center (according to the box score) last weekend for the Ice Breaker tournament. That can't be right, can it? Last year, on a college campus of a school in the finals, 9,000+ people attended. Surely KC could have gotten half of that number to show up. Either way, bully for those of you who got to see the games in person.
Before we freak out too much, it's worth a look at the attendance numbers when the Ice Breaker was in St. Louis, a neutral site, two years ago. The final featured Boston University and Notre Dame, and only had just over 2,000 people attend (again, according to the box score). The tournament was also in an NHL-sized arena -- Scottrade Center -- so, yeah. Don't feel too bad, Kansas City hockey fans. We beat the average!
But, I for one hoped more people would attend, especially for a televised event. But, we can't always get what we want. That didn't take away from the good times had by those in attendance, I'm sure. Alas, there are other things to do on a Friday and Saturday night in Kansas City, despite popular belief. The only real issue with people not showing up to the Ice Breaker is that hockey folks around town assumed people would pack the house for the Rangers-Avalanche game scheduled for the Saturday before. Of course, the NHL is different than the NCAA for a variety of reasons, so fans found something else to do or went on living their lives instead of exchanging their tickets. Here's a theory: It is my experience that people do not like the band Creed, much like the whole Internet has a problem with the band Nickelback. I would argue that people do not like Creed mainly because the lead singer Scott Stapp has a history of being a huge douche. That makes sense. Those people suck. But, one shouldn't be so quick to ignore that Mark Tremonti is a great alt-rock guitraist (thus, I would suggest one listen to Alter Bridge or Tremonti's band, two other sources of similar entertainment without the nuisance of having to support Stapp -- but alt-rock may not be your thing, so whatever).
The NCAA is kind of like Scott Stapp. Millions of people around the country are devoted fans to a particular college, but it's just not the same as rooting for professionals. The NCAA isn't the highest level of athletics in the world, and in fact can be fairly annoying at times (as an institution), so fans may not have an inclination to just go to a particular event. They go watch the Mavericks instead (Tremonti, in this analogy). Just a theory.
Anyway, a packed lower bowl would have surprised me, but it would have been awesome to see. Oh well. I guess all of the incredibly informed people around the hockey-internet-o-sphere will point at this as a reason Kansas City is a vast wasteland not fit for life, let alone hockey.
The attendance issue -- which really isn't that much of an issue in hindsight -- aside, here are a few other problems I had with the presentation of the game. Just some intangibles that could have made the experience better.
Bands This one is tough, obviously, because the bands either had something else to do, or they couldn't travel logistically or financially. It would have been cool, though, had Nebraska-Omaha brought a band or something since they don't have football and are only a couple hours away (more on that later). The fight songs after a goal was a nice touch in their absence, though.
National Anthem I don't know if there is some kind of rule in college forbidding anthem singers, so forgive me, but there seriously wasn't one, two, or four people around town that could have sang the National Anthem before each game? Instead we get the pre-recorded anthem. And I don't even think it was the one they use for the Olympics. C'mon, where is the glee club, or the 25 year old Mariah Carey wannabe when you need them?
Merch No merch tables? What the hell? There I was, with a fistfull of dollars, ready and willing to buy a Maine shirt or Notre Dame crap or whatever, but there was nothing. What kind of capitalist country is this? Even the MO Mavericks table was giving away free stuff. Bummer, man.
Public Address Announcer No argument here. Steve Garrett is awesome and should PA announce for every sport in the city for the rest of forever. I miss "KAAAAAAAANSAAAAS CIIIIITTTTYYYYY GOOOOAAALLLLLLLLLLLL" so hard you don't even know.
UNO Cheering Section Fine the first night. Actually funny at times. The second night...how many times can you chant "U-N-O Mavericks" before it gets repetitive. Three. The answer is three times. Though the exasperated "GOOOO WIZARDSSSSS" chant every now and then was a nice change of pace.
Ushers I have no problem with these people. They let us sit wherever we wanted. Good on them. I take umbrage with the three ushers who removed us from the upper deck like we were going to start a riot. As if at any time a three-on-three Mortal Kombat death match could occur. Well, maybe so of I wasn't in a hoodie, but next time bring it on. I'll be ready for ya then.
Do you not have a favorite college hockey team? Well, you came to the right place, champ. All 59 NCAA Division 1 hockey programs represented in the preceding flowchart. SCIENCE was not used in determining this chart. EMOTION was though, so that's good. College sports fandom is based on EMOTION. The green arrows are 'yes' answers to the questions presented. The red arrows are 'no' responses. Yes, the flowchart looks like Africa and southwestern Asian continent. Yes, that is a coincidence.
Remember: THE ICE BREAKER TOURNAMENT IS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY!!!!
The schedule is as follows:
All games will be televised on NBC Sports Network.
Check out each school's primer for the Ice Breaker while you are here:
Are you going to the Ice Breaker Tournament games at the Sprint Center on October 12th and 13th? Well, you should, because aside from the Mavericks, that may be the only non-rec league hockey we get to see in our fair metropolitan area this fall/winter. But, if you can't make it out, don't worry because NBC Sports Network has you covered.
Three of the tournament games – including the tournament championship – will be shown on NBCSN. Here is the schedule, via SBNation:
So, this is nice. Every team gets at least one game on television. For Army, this will be their only NBCSN televised game.
This will not only give Kansas City hockey fans a nice change of pace from the NHL exhibition games every year, but also expose the Sprint Center ice its first television audience. The barn may not be completely full for these games, but this will give a section of the national hockey-loving public a taste of what Kansas City has to offer as a hockey town.
To the best of my research, other than Mavs and Blades games that have been televised locally on MetroSports, I cannot find the last actual nationally televised hockey game in Kansas City history. Has there been one? My knowledge of the 1970s is a bit fuzzy, but television coverage for the Scouts may have been minimal, if not nonexistent (just ask Aaron over at the NHL in KC). Please correct me if I'm wrong, though.
Go be a part of Kansas City hockey history and sit in the stands, or watch, the first (maybe) nationally televised hockey game in Kansas City history!
NBCSN channels in KC: Time Warner: 55, 323, 1323 U-Verse: 640, 1640 Dish: 159 DirecTV: 603
Remember, the NCAA Hockey Ice Breaker Tournament is this October 12-13 at the Sprint Center. Yay! It's a two day tourney to – more or less – open the NCAA Hockey regular season featuring four teams from four different conferences (cool!). We should be so honored to host this here in our fair city, so don't take it for granted. Heck, the NHL season might not get under way for a while (please play please play please play), so you may not get a chance to go to a preseason game this year at the Crystal Kool-Aid Bowl. There is a host of reasons why a lockout might be detrimental to KC hosting a preseason game in the future, but let's not get into that right now, 'k?
I think Saturday's schedule means any one of those teams could play any of the other teams at any given time.
Anyway, this tournament is sure to get lost in the shuffle among KC sports fans more interested in the world of college football that will be well underway once the Ice Breaker rolls around (even though, y'know, Kansas...). Since no area schools have an NCAA hockey program (although club teams abound – look to the links on the right), it may take more of an understanding to help get you emotionally invested in something you don't understand but totally should because I said so. So, let's compare the two sports, shall we? Oh, we shan't? No no, that won't do, for you see, knowledge is power. Open your mind, mofo.
Jump for learning.
NCAA Football and NCAA Hockey are the same. They are also different. (Best. Thesis. Ever.)
Levels: Football – NCAA Football has three divisions, with two subdivisions in Division 1. Division 1 Bowl Subdivision has Mizzou, Kansas, K-State, Michigan, USC, etc. Division 1 Championship Subdivision has Missouri State, Northern Iowa, etc. Division 2 features NW Missouri State, Pitt State, etc. Division 3 features Mount Union, UW-Whitewater, Washington University in StL, etc. For further discussion, we will only refer to D1 FBS.
Hockey – NCAA Hockey has three divisions, but D2 only has six teams and does not sponsor a championship. D1 features all of the teams in the Ice Breaker tourney – Maine, Nebraska-Omaha, Army, and Notre Dame. D3's closest school is Lake Forest College in Illinois. There are 138 member schools for men, and 86 for women. For further discussion, we will only refer to D1.
Conferences: Football – NCAA Football has...hold on... (*checks) eleven conferences – still? – with four independent schools. In total, there are 124 member schools in D1 FBS. But remember, with all of the conference instability, this could still happen one day.
Hockey – There are five conferences in D1 hockey, and six beginning next year. There are two independent programs. 59 member schools in total. There is no Sun Beast.
Playoff: Football – haha almost. Four teams starting next year decided by a committee that everyone will soon hate because they are old and white and from Texas.
Hockey – The Frozen Four, a sixteen team tournament, also selected by a committee. Resembles playoff format of D1 FCS, D2, and D3 football, with regions and all of that good stuff. Conference tournament champions get automatic bids, with at-larges filling in the rest. Sixteen spots for 59 schools is pretty good, eh?
Bowls: Football – Yes.
Hockey – No.
Championship Trophy: Football – AFCA National Championship Trophy
Now with detachable crystal ball!
Hockey – Generic NCAA trophy with hockey guy on it
Via (not pictured: Penn State – that's not a joke, see below)
Penn State: Football – What, you don't know?
Hockey – Former club team, beginning its first year of play at the Division 1 level as an independent. Will be a part of the newly formed Big Ten (Hockey) Conference next season.
Schedule Football – Usually a twelve team schedule, plus one bowl game. Possibly with a conference championship game unless you are the Big XII.
Hockey – Most teams play about forty games, playing multiple games at a location and typically over the course of a weekend. Teams will then play in the conference tournament at the end of the season, which could see a best of three series throughout the tournament. However, the Frozen Four is a one and done tournament. The season runs about 25 weeks.
College to Professional: Football – The NCAA is the minor league of the NFL, for all intents and purpose. Players from colleges at every level literally make up the entire NFL. Rarely does a player from another country or league (i.e. NAIA or CIS) find work in the NFL. Hockey – Typically, NCAA players are not as attractive to NHL clubs as amateur players in the Canadian Hockey League or those in Europe or Russia. About thirty percent of the NHL is made up of players with an NCAA background, which is a growing number. Though many do get drafted – as this chart will show – they are not the centerpiece of the draft by any means. Take, for example, Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, a Hobey Baker Award recipient in 1999 and Team USA goalie, was drafted 138th overall. More recently, the last two Hobey Baker winners have gone undrafted.
Fighting: Football – Fighting is illegal in college football. Hockey – Fighting is illegal in college hockey.
Overtime: Football – Each offense starts at the 25 yard line and attempts to score more than the other team. Works like an inning system in baseball. Must go for two point conversion after second OT.
Hockey – Five minutes of OT. After that, TIES!!!
Native American Mascots Football – Allowed
Hockey – WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?!?!?! Now you should be able to talk about NCAA Hockey around the water cooler or to your friends with confidence! Stay tuned for more posts in the "Getting to Know U" series to become somewhat invested in NCAA Hockey. It's really more like NCAA Basketball in that you don't have to know everything to act like you care.
As always, visit USCHO for ALL relevant NCAA Hockey info.
For lack of another/better choice, many people in the area (including your humble writer) are subject to the random channel switching and rate hikes of Time Warner Cable. Ugh. It is still not cool what they did to the Travel Channel. And how many people had problems with their cable boxes over the summer when TWC did a system "update" that crashed the older hardware? Anyway, those problems aside, there is an issue that directly addresses sports fans in the city. Most notably, hockey fans.
Time Warner's problems with other sports-specific networks are well documented, but I cannot find any reason why Kansas Citians who pay for the cable provider's digital package cannot watch the NHL Network. The NHL Network is a premium channel for some reason, even though Time Warner shows NBA TV with no NBA team within hundreds of miles of their KC customers (also, there is no NBA at the moment, if you haven't noticed). Each season, the NHL Network has done its best to broadcast multiple games featuring a decent balance of teams. This gives locals a chance to watch more live hockey games, making the sport that much more visible in the area. Without this access, the only option is to watch games on NBC and Versus (soon to be NBC Sports Network). The game selection is not as diverse on NBC/Versus, but you probably love it if you are a fan of a team in the Northeast or Detroit. The point being, not showing the NHL Network significantly reduces the visibility and exposure of the NHL to Kansas City. One would think the NHL (or AEG) would have something to say about this if they cared about hockey in Kansas City (I know they don't, but let's pretend for a second that they should).
But, maybe that is being too nit-picky. I mean, the channel is offered, but just at an additional cost. Well, that still does not answer why the channel was available last season for a period of time. Speaking of reduced access to channels, Time Warner has revoked our CBS College Sports Network privileges. This is a network that carries many collegiate hockey tournament games, along with some early Frozen Four games. Oh, not to mention regular season matches. Tonight featured one between Yale and Cornell's hockey programs, but you had to pay if you wanted to watch it.
Just two weeks ago I watched the Saginaw Valley State versus Ashland Division II football game on CBS College Sports. Now, the channel is gone. Well, not gone, but out of my price range because I refuse to pay additional fees for a channel that I had TWO WEEKS AGO AND FOR THE ENTIRE PAST YEAR! Oh, and also the year before that. Heaven forbid ESPNU carry any NCAA hockey games this season, because there goes another channel.
So why now? Why is that channel gone as we enter the chill of late fall, when our only sports options in a few months will be hockey and college basketball? It's disappointing, and frustrating.
The point of all of this is how can the city expect to gain interest in the game of hockey if it is not a visible part of the population's viewing options. Does it make sense for a cable provider to carry the MLB Network and NBA Network, but force their customers to pay extra for the NHL? There is no excuse for two of the major sports to have available networks, while the NHL's network costs extra. I wholeheartedly agree with pucKChaser that the game needs to grow at a grassroots level here, but how is it possible to get people interested in a sport they can hardly watch? Yes, NBC is doing a better job of showing more games against different teams this season than they have in the past, and no, TWC has not taken away Versus (yet), but hockey viewing options continue to be limited in this city. Not only are community rinks closing, but televised hockey is at a premium.
But, KC hockey fans, let's not play the victim, because that's lame. My suggestion would be to stream your favorite NHL team online through sites like Ilemi or First Row Sports. You can feel kind of like a rebel while watching hockey at the same time. It's a two-foot putt!
But, for you law abiders, watch NBC/Versus's hockey coverage. The Blues will be on FSN more once the football season ends. Watch them, and if you aren't a fan, cheer for their demise. If you get ESPNU, watch NCAA hockey. Hockey is hockey. Go to a Mavs game. Hell, go ice skating this winter. Or learn to play hockey. Or write a hockey blog. Do something!
.png)
