AUS 2015-16 Regular Season Thread

[AUS Fan]

We used to have one Acadia fan who would post here. Haven't seen him in years.
There was that reporter from Moncton whose name I forget. Haven't heard from him this season. Island Huskie used to post here quite often. Haven't seen him in a while.

STU fans used to make the second largest contingent. They are no longer around for obvious reasons.

Gulag was the Acadia guy. His kid played there and when he was finished....
Timbit was the UdeM guy. He is still involved with the team, but not as much. I'll send him a text to get him back on here.
Island Huskie is still on the Island, but he is a SMU guy. I talk to him on a regular basis after SMU games. He'll be over here next week.

 

[Antigonowhere]

I'm an anywhere guy, really. Anywhere AUS, that is.

To be fair, I didn't grow up in this hole quaint university town, and so I have a bit more breadth of knowledge and experience besides Highland Games, Piper's Pub, judging my neighbours, yapping about who is more Scottish, and how accurate Braveheart was and so I have the luxury of finding a comfy fence for the very most part, but I also had to choose a name and subtlety is not a strength I possess.

So yeah, it's always easy to cheer for the home team. Anyway, appreciate the welcomes.

 

[Drummer]

Well Rob & UNB Bruins fan tie for the win.

No one really had a chance with SFX winning the series.

I had to give the node to UNB Bruins fan who had the series in 3 compared to Rob who had a UNB sweep.

Rob - 2 plus 2+1 & 2 + 0= 7pts
UNB Bruins fan - 2 plus 2+1 & 2+ 0 = 7pts
Drummer - 1 plus 2+1 & 0 + 0 = 4pts
Red Army - remains at 2pts

 

[Rob]

Are the proposed division changes for next season 100% certain?

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Under that format, Dal will be in tough!

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

When the news about the potential change came out it made it sound like it was going to be discussed further and it wasn't official yet (don't know if it has to be voted on??), but it seems like it is pretty much a foregone conclusion.

 

[Rob]

I'm mainly curious about what the playoff format will look like. Will it be divisional or will they do crossovers? I guess that is something that will be voted on.

 

[Drummer]

"The three top teams in each division will qualify for post-season play. The format for the post-season match-ups as well as the names of the divisions will be determined at the AUS annual general meeting in May."

So, my guess. #2 vs #3 in the first round with #1's getting bye's.

The second round is a cross-over so a strong division can get two spots in the final. So, East #1 vs West 2/3 winner and West #1 vs East 2/3 winner.

I'm curious as to who gets home-ice in the finals. It could be head-2-heard record, then total wins, etc. Back in the 90s, they pre-defined the home team on a rotating bases between the divisions, but in those cases, they had division winners going at each other in the finals which isn't always the case if you have cross-overs in the semi's

 

[Drummer]

"The format for the post-season match-ups as well as the names of the divisions will be determined at the AUS annual general meeting in May."

Well - they will certainly have a lot to talk about on the hockey front.

I can't see them staying with a 3/4 spit. It would mean UNB would play PEI and UdeM 9 times and lead to a lot of double-header weekends.

 

[radapex]

Well - they will certainly have a lot to talk about on the hockey front.

I can't see them staying with a 3/4 spit. It would mean UNB would play PEI and UdeM 9 times and lead to a lot of double-header weekends.

Yeah, STU dropping out really puts a hitch in those plans. I wonder if there are even any schools that could fill the spot?

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

The easiest thing would probably be just having everyone play each other 5 times with the extra home game alternating every year. That would keep the proposed 30 game schedule.

 

[Rob]

The easiest thing would probably be just having everyone play each other 5 times with the extra home game alternating every year. That would keep the proposed 30 game schedule.

I don't think they will do that because it would mean more travel for all the teams.
Something they were trying to get away from.

 

[FreddyFoyle]

StFX d-man Bronson Maschmeyer signed with the Fischtown Pinguins of German Elite League (2nd Division).

I liked him as a player, but I don't know if he lived up to his billing when he was recruited.

 

[Drummer]

The easiest thing would probably be just having everyone play each other 5 times with the extra home game alternating every year. That would keep the proposed 30 game schedule.

I like this. You have six opponents, so each team gets 3 extra home games and 3 away games.

As Rob mentioned, the whole idea was to increase the schedule but have more local travel - not an additional long trip for everyone.

I think they have to revert to a balanced schedule - either 24 or 30 games (4 or 5 match-ups per team). There is no 'clean' way to get to 26 ro 28 with 7 teams in a 3/4 split.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Perhaps the biggest obstacle might be trying to make a decent schedule with an odd number of teams....obviously all teams can't play on a given night, and having the same travel "partner" throughout the year might not be possible.

I'm wondering if there will have to be more games scheduled on, what were typically, off-days such as Thursday and Sunday? If every team plays at minimum twice per week there will need to be games scheduled on at least three different days.

 

[Drummer]

Perhaps the biggest obstacle might be trying to make a decent schedule with an odd number of teams....obviously all teams can't play on a given night, and having the same travel "partner" throughout the year might not be possible.

I'm wondering if there will have to be more games scheduled on, what were typically, off-days such as Thursday and Sunday? If every team plays at minimum twice per week there will need to be games scheduled on at least three different days.

I think you'll see similar as to what CW had a few years ago when they weren't balanced - someone gets a weekend off. It's not fair for the team playing game 2 to meet a 'fresh' team.

 

[Hollywood3]

I think you'll see similar as to what CW had a few years ago when they weren't balanced - someone gets a weekend off. It's not fair for the team playing game 2 to meet a 'fresh' team.

The AUS has some advantages. They don't play double-headers. So 3 teams can play a "round-robin" each weekend, i.e. A v B on Friday, A v C on Saturday, and B v C on Sunday.

 

[Rob]

I would be fine with a 24 game schedule (4 each). However, does the CIS have any rule on the minimum amount of games that must be played? The two other conferences play 28 games.

 

[timbitca]

I'd much rather see a 30-game schedule than a 24-game schedule myself, from a fan's standpoint, the one big negative I keep hearing about players of the CIS is the lack of games played, remember the majority of these guys come from Junior where they routinely play 70-80 games a year and more counting exhibitions and playoffs.

Having said that...

Gulag was the Acadia guy. His kid played there and when he was finished....
Timbit was the UdeM guy. He is still involved with the team, but not as much. I'll send him a text to get him back on here.
Island Huskie is still on the Island, but he is a SMU guy. I talk to him on a regular basis after SMU games. He'll be over here next week.

I'm still involved just as much with the team, if not more than before. Not front line but I now have a full-time job with the Sports dept. at U de M which means I have to curtail some of my direct activities with the team, which mostly means I have to skip road games. It also means I have to watch my mouth a bit more, so while I don't comment here as much as did or would like to I still check in every day mostly to see what the gossip is.

On that point, a 24-game schedule would surely be beneficial for budgets for every school, STU folded but nobody can make claims to say that the sports budgets are in great shape at any AUS school sadly.

 

[Drummer]

24 or 30, in either case it's going to be hard to balance everyone getting a 2nd game vs a 'fresh' team.

If ACD & SMU come to NB/PEI then STU and UdeM were going to NS. Now it's just UdeM. That means they will play the second team 'fresh'.

I'm not sure if there are enough weekends to just play the one game (eg. UdeM vs Dal) and leave the other one for later (UdeM vs SFX) such that SFX gets a weekend off.

Also - this would always impact UdeM unless you switch-up their travel partner (which leaves the lone homer with a double-header - eg. UNB goes with UdeM which leaves PEI to play ACD & SMU back-2-back but SMU is a fresh team).

It might be fair to have the 'fresh' team be the traveler instead of the home team.

My guess - it drops to 24 to allow for more flexability with the schedule. Maybe 26 (24 plus 2 games vs local rivals) which means the schedule has the same number of games but is not 100% balanced (UNB/PEI/UDeM play each other once while the NS teams play 2 of 3 opponents, rotate the odd man out over a three year cycle).

Finally - a Premier-League idea, play the 24 and eliminate 1. Then have the top 6 play two games on the last weekend (1 Home/1 Away and different opponents). Teams get a last chance to improve their position before playoffs

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

24 game schedule is to short of a season!

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

Agreed...more games probably = more $$

 

[Rob]

Interview with UNB athletic director and AUS schedule make John Richard. He said that they scheduling issue will be talked about next week at an AUS executive meeting but a final decision won't be made until May. Mentioned that a 30 game schedule would be really expensive now.

If I had to guess I would say they will go with an unbalance 26 games schedule as a compromise.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I could also see them go with a 28 game schedule that looks something like this:

- Every teams play everyone else at least 4 times (24 games)

- The remaining 4 games are primarily based on geography with the following breakdown:

UNB - an extra home/home with Moncton and UPEI
UPEI - home/home with Moncton and UNB
Moncton - home/home with UNB and UPEI

Dalhousie - home/home with SMU and Acadia
SMU - home/home with Dal and St. FX
Acadia - home/home with Dal and St. FX
St. FX - home/home with Acadia and SMU

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

The easiest thing would probably be just having everyone play each other 5 times with the extra home game alternating every year. That would keep the proposed 30 game schedule.

A balanced 30 game schedule it is.

Sounds like playing a balanced schedule was more important to the participating teams than the extra costs associated with it.