Ideal 2014-15 AHL Alignment

[Thunder God]

What is your ideal AHL Alignment for the 2014-15 Season. I will post mine later

Click to read more...

 

[flasah]

Eastern Conf.
Atlantic - Manchester, Portland, Providence, St. John's, Worcester
NE - Adirondack, Albany, Bridgeport, Hartford, Springfield
North - Binghamton, Lake Erie, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica

Western Conf.
East - Charlotte, Hershey, Lehigh Valley, Norfolk, WB/Scranton
Midwest - Chicago, Grand Rapids, Hamilton, Milwaukee, Toronto
West - Iowa, Oklahoma City, Rockford, San Antonio, Texas

 

[WolfKeeper]

Put everyone in the same division so everyone plays everyone.

 

[go comets]

Eastern Conf.
Atlantic - Manchester, Portland, Providence, St. John's, Worcester
NE - Adirondack, Albany, Bridgeport, Hartford, Springfield
North - Binghamton, Lake Erie, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica

Western Conf.
East - Charlotte, Hershey, Lehigh Valley, Norfolk, WB/Scranton
Midwest - Chicago, Grand Rapids, Hamilton, Milwaukee, Toronto
West - Iowa, Oklahoma City, Rockford, San Antonio, Texas

i like that but it wont happen, im hoping for this, but im thinking that adirondack may have to play in the west.....

manchester,providendce,st johns,portland,worcester
adirondack,albany,springfield,hartford,bridgport
bingo,scranton wb, hershey,lehigh valley, norfolk

utica,syracuse,rochester,hamilton,toronto
l erie, chicago,rockford,milwaukee,grand rapids
iowa, charlotte,okc,san antonio,texas

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Basically, I've given it some thought, and I think that unbalanced divisions/conferences is the way to go. Especially with relocations likely in the near future, might as well just go with an unexpected format just to give teams somewhat geographically sensible alignment, have a bit of fun with potential regional rivalries, and just ignore going for pure balance.

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division - 5 Teams, Pennsylvania & Connecticut
Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Hartford Wolf Pack
Hershey Bears
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Empire Division - 6 New York Teams
Adirondack Flames
Albany Devils
Binghamton Senators
Rochester Americans
Syracuse Crunch
Utica Comets

Northeast Division - 5 non-CT New England Teams
Manchester Monarchs
Portland Pirates
Providence Bruins
Springfield Falcons
Worcester Sharks

Western Conference
Midwest Division - 4 Teams, Iowa/Illinois/Wisconsin
Chicago Wolves
Iowa Wild
Milwaukee Admirals
Rockford IceHogs

Northern Division - 5 Teams, Canada & Michigan/Ohio
Grand Rapids Griffins
Hamilton Bulldogs
Lake Erie Monsters
St. John's IceCaps
Toronto Marlies

Southern Division - 5 Teams, South of the Mason-Dixon
Charlotte Checkers
Norfolk Admirals
Oklahoma City Barons
San Antonio Rampage
Texas Stars

Recaps....
- 14 teams in the West, 16 teams in the East, as in the NHL (and same division breakdown as used to be the case in MLB in terms of #s), and as geographically compact as possible with a few exceptions,
- St. John's with the other Canadian teams for ease of travel, as there's a direct flight for teams from Toronto to Newfoundland,
- Empire Division has six teams, but having an all-New York divisional battle might be damn fun,
- South Division is spread out, but kind of have to have something like this in order to fit everything together and an all-South division kinda makes sense.

Feel free to rip apart.

 

[go comets]

Basically, I've given it some thought, and I think that unbalanced divisions/conferences is the way to go. Especially with relocations likely in the near future, might as well just go with an unexpected format just to give teams somewhat geographically sensible alignment, have a bit of fun with potential regional rivalries, and just ignore going for pure balance.

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division - 5 Teams, Pennsylvania & Connecticut
Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Hartford Wolf Pack
Hershey Bears
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Empire Division - 6 New York Teams
Adirondack Flames
Albany Devils
Binghamton Senators
Rochester Americans
Syracuse Crunch
Utica Comets

Northeast Division - 5 non-CT New England Teams
Manchester Monarchs
Portland Pirates
Providence Bruins
Springfield Falcons
Worcester Sharks

Western Conference
Midwest Division - 4 Teams, Iowa/Illinois/Wisconsin
Chicago Wolves
Iowa Wild
Milwaukee Admirals
Rockford IceHogs

Northern Division - 5 Teams, Canada & Michigan/Ohio
Grand Rapids Griffins
Hamilton Bulldogs
Lake Erie Monsters
St. John's IceCaps
Toronto Marlies

Southern Division - 5 Teams, South of the Mason-Dixon
Charlotte Checkers
Norfolk Admirals
Oklahoma City Barons
San Antonio Rampage
Texas Stars

Recaps....
- 14 teams in the West, 16 teams in the East, as in the NHL (and same division breakdown as used to be the case in MLB in terms of #s), and as geographically compact as possible with a few exceptions,
- St. John's with the other Canadian teams for ease of travel, as there's a direct flight for teams from Toronto to Newfoundland,
- Empire Division has six teams, but having an all-New York divisional battle might be damn fun,
- South Division is spread out, but kind of have to have something like this in order to fit everything together and an all-South division kinda makes sense.

Feel free to rip apart.

Should be interesting... Does anyone know when this will be announced? Or when its voted on?

 

[JungleJON]

Should be interesting... Does anyone know when this will be announced? Or when its voted on?

Forget the realignment, what they need to do is shorten the season and not allow so many teams into the playoffs. People don't want hockey into June. All you have to do is look at the attendance.
Plus many teams have trouble scheduling games at their home rinks. And I don't think many teams are making $$$ during the playoffs, if any.

 

[go comets]

Forget the realignment, what they need to do is shorten the season and not allow so many teams into the playoffs. People don't want hockey into June. All you have to do is look at the attendance.
Plus many teams have trouble scheduling games at their home rinks. And I don't think many teams are making $$$ during the playoffs, if any.

Yes I saw that too..... The playoffs drag on forever with scheduling problems. And normally its the mid west and western teams that have trouble scheduling..... Sounds like finals in July with a western conference.......

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

People don't want hockey into June. All you have to do is look at the attendance.

That's not the reason playoff attendance is bad.

 

[Tommy Hawk]

Yes I saw that too..... The playoffs drag on forever with scheduling problems. And normally its the mid west and western teams that have trouble scheduling..... Sounds like finals in July with a western conference.......

Name one western conference team that has had scheduling issues. The AHL should do like the teams in Sweden. Schedule the entire season out including playoffs. You will know when the first round games are and the second round and the third round. No starting the second round until the first round for all teams is complete. THis give those that sweep or play less games an advantage over those that do not thus giving the higher seeds a theoretical advantage thus giving teams an incentive to perform better in the regular season instead of "squeaking in".

Also, the conference alignment makes zero difference for the regular season schedule but it is total BS if when you don't even play everyone in your own conference and then meet for the first time in the playoffs.

 

[Clinton Comets EHL]

Put everyone in the same division so everyone plays everyone.

:-( !!

 

[Coach Nate]

That's not the reason playoff attendance is bad.

Truth.

 

[wildthing202]

Name one western conference team that has had scheduling issues. The AHL should do like the teams in Sweden. Schedule the entire season out including playoffs. You will know when the first round games are and the second round and the third round. No starting the second round until the first round for all teams is complete. THis give those that sweep or play less games an advantage over those that do not thus giving the higher seeds a theoretical advantage thus giving teams an incentive to perform better in the regular season instead of "squeaking in".

Also, the conference alignment makes zero difference for the regular season schedule but it is total BS if when you don't even play everyone in your own conference and then meet for the first time in the playoffs.

Schedule the playoffs? Do you not realize that the odds of having 30 arenas having the exact same dates available for this so-called schedule is astronomically small. I get not starting the second round and such until the previous round is finished but there's no way in heck you can schedule dates for the playoffs as facilities do host other events other than hockey like concerts, auto shows, other indoor sports, etc. which wouldn't allow for even just a set amount of days to be selected beforehand.

 

[Tommy Hawk]

Schedule the playoffs? Do you not realize that the odds of having 30 arenas having the exact same dates available for this so-called schedule is astronomically small. I get not starting the second round and such until the previous round is finished but there's no way in heck you can schedule dates for the playoffs as facilities do host other events other than hockey like concerts, auto shows, other indoor sports, etc. which wouldn't allow for even just a set amount of days to be selected beforehand.

The hockey team can request the dates in advance if they know the dates. If the team decides NOT to schedule it they they would need to find an alternate venue to hold the games on those dates otherwise they can forfeit the game. I know Frolunda in teh SEL many times had to have play games in their practice facility that seats 4,000 instead of their 13,000 stadium.

 

[Sidekick]

No conferences. Just 4 divisions

WEST

Texas
Okla. City
San Antonio
Milwaukee
Chicago
Rockford
Iowa
Grand Rapids

EAST

St. John's
Providence
Hartford
Worcester
Springfield
Bridgeport
Portland
Manchester

NORTH

Toronto
Hamilton
Syracuse
Rochester
Albany
Utica
Adirondack

SOUTH

Binghamton
WBS
Allentown
Hershey
Lake Erie
Norfolk
Charlotte


1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3 for playoffs

Then have the 4 division winners ranked 1 - 4 and base the league semis on that.

 

[adsfan]

Yes I saw that too..... The playoffs drag on forever with scheduling problems. And normally its the mid west and western teams that have trouble scheduling..... Sounds like finals in July with a western conference.......

The problem this season was St John's. They delayed the finals 5 days between games 3 and 4. They are definitely not a Midwestern or western team.

 

[adsfan]

@No Fun Shogun: They only change that I would suggest in your alignment would be moving Grand Rapids in with the Admirals and Wolves division.

Chicago to Grand Rapids is 175 miles. Grand Rapids to Cleveland is 300 miles and to Hamilton is 322 miles.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

@No Fun Shogun: They only change that I would suggest in your alignment would be moving Grand Rapids in with the Admirals and Wolves division.

Chicago to Grand Rapids is 175 miles. Grand Rapids to Cleveland is 300 miles and to Hamilton is 322 miles.

Not going to lie, I strongly considered it, but ultimately my rationale for putting Grand Rapids in the North was that it made that division more than just the three Canadian teams and the one outlier on southern end of the Great Lakes.

And the distance is greater, sure, but I have a hard time imagining that they're much more difficult given the traffic that the Griffins have to deal with via busing through Chicago.

But solid point, there's definitely wiggle room in the plan I came up with. You might very well be right that minimizing the number of teams in a mostly airline conference with St. John's might be a better plan.

 

[adsfan]

Not going to lie, I strongly considered it, but ultimately my rationale for putting Grand Rapids in the North was that it made that division more than just the three Canadian teams and the one outlier on southern end of the Great Lakes.

And the distance is greater, sure, but I have a hard time imagining that they're much more difficult given the traffic that the Griffins have to deal with via busing through Chicago.

But solid point, there's definitely wiggle room in the plan I came up with. You might very well be right that minimizing the number of teams in a mostly airline conference with St. John's might be a better plan.

I tried to pick the closest cities for comparison. GR has played in a different division for a long time. You are right about Chicago traffic. I got stuck at 1 PM on a Friday a few weeks ago. I didn't see any accidents. Doesn't anybody work a full day in downtown Chicago? "The city that works", hah!

I agree with you about Cleveland and three Canadian teams. That thought occurred to me when I looked at it. You could still schedule GR and LEM for 4 to 8 games against each other. Milwaukee has had that set up when GR wasn't in the same division.

 

[Nightsquad]

Sorry folks, but Adirondack is headed to the Western Confrence....

 

[Clinton Comets EHL]

Sorry folks, but Adirondack is headed to the Western Confrence....

same division as Rochester and the comets?

 

[go comets]

Sorry folks, but Adirondack is headed to the Western Confrence....

the only reason to put adirondack in the west is to keep syracuse in the east. I'm sure the western teams will enjoy that trip.......

 

[Rumblick]

They really should go to uneven conferences. It really shouldn't even be an issue at this point. Simply put, there are WAY too many Eastern teams for it to be any other way without looking dumb (granted, that reasoning hasn't ever stopped them before).

 

[wildcat48]

EASTERN CONFERENCE:
Atlantic Division:
St. John’s
Portland
Manchester
Worcester
Providence

Northeast Division:
Springfield
Albany
Hartford
Bridgeport
Sryacuse

East Division:
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Norfolk
Hershey
Binghamton
Lehigh Valley


WESTERN CONFERENCE
North Division:
Adirondack
Toronto
Rochester
Hamilton
Utica

Midwest Division:
Chicago
Grand Rapids
Milwaukee
Rockford
Lake Erie

West Division:
Texas
Oklahoma City
San Antonio
Charlotte
Iowa

 

[go comets]

EASTERN CONFERENCE:
Atlantic Division:
St. John’s
Portland
Manchester
Worcester
Providence

Northeast Division:
Springfield
Albany
Hartford
Bridgeport
Sryacuse

East Division:
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Norfolk
Hershey
Binghamton
Lehigh Valley


WESTERN CONFERENCE
North Division:
Adirondack
Toronto
Rochester
Hamilton
Utica

Midwest Division:
Chicago
Grand Rapids
Milwaukee
Rockford
Lake Erie

West Division:
Texas
Oklahoma City
San Antonio
Charlotte
Iowa

makes no sense that syracuse would want to be in the northeast, when they can be with both utica and rochester..... but then again this is the AHL......