Notre Dame to join the Big Ten hockey conference in 2017-18

No Fun Shogun

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misterchainsaw

Preparing PHASE TWO!
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Doubt Arizona State would be a member because of distance.

I dunno if distance is really that much of a deterrent anymore. I'm not sure it ever was, honestly. You had both Alaska schools in different conferences as recently as 3 years ago, for example. No matter which conference Arizona state ends up in, it's gonna be a trek for most conference members.

Regardless of whether or not the B10 ends up going after ASU or stays at 7, I hope this sets into motion the dominoes that sees RIT into the ECAC.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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Stunned by this as a life long B1G supporter and honestly hate this news. ND should join in all sports or none. This stinks and I am extremely disappointed they have allowed the Golden Domers into any league they have. Honestly wish they would stop playing them in all sports after the whole ACC deal and chopping down on their scheduling in football.
 

RabidBadger

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Stunned by this as a life long B1G supporter and honestly hate this news. ND should join in all sports or none. This stinks and I am extremely disappointed they have allowed the Golden Domers into any league they have. Honestly wish they would stop playing them in all sports after the whole ACC deal and chopping down on their scheduling in football.

I'm not shocked by this on any level. I somewhat insinuated it would happen in the Badger board. B1g hockey is all about media exposure and marketing. ND fits the bill nicely.

What I like is that it adds a credible team to what has, to this point, been a joke of a conference. Believe me, I have zero love for ND on any level but this move gives me hope b1g hockey may be remotely decent, after all.
 

nickschultzfan

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ND can get back to recruiting the Midwest and playing schools that at located in the same time zone. That's a good thing for them.

ND hockey rejoins a conference with Michigan and Michigan State (and Ohio State). That is good news for hockey fans.

Also makes Big Ten hockey move to 8 teams (with ASU), which is good for hockey fans.

As for ND and the Big Ten as a whole, that entire relationship had been twisted in such silly fashion by everybody involved. Nice to see a step back from all that and maybe this is the first step in a long road to sanity.
 

No Fun Shogun

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I'm personally not a fan of the Big Ten associating with Notre Dame either, but truth be told doing this was pretty clearly on the radar ever since they let Johns Hopkins lacrosse in. If not for the fact that North Dakota lags far behind academically from the Big Ten and doesn't really add anything from a market standpoint for the BTN, I was almost expecting them to do this very thing for them back when the whole conference realignment went down in first place.

That being said, I'm not sure that this really adds much for the Big Ten. Notre Dame's a solid hockey program, but they're not exactly a powerhouse, nor do they really add anything from a market standpoint. Almost have to think that they definitely have an 8th team on the horizon and wanted to get to an even number.
 

Dakota Sioux

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I'm personally not a fan of the Big Ten associating with Notre Dame either, but truth be told doing this was pretty clearly on the radar ever since they let Johns Hopkins lacrosse in. If not for the fact that North Dakota lags far behind academically from the Big Ten and doesn't really add anything from a market standpoint for the BTN, I was almost expecting them to do this very thing for them back when the whole conference realignment went down in first place.

That being said, I'm not sure that this really adds much for the Big Tenu. Notre Dame's a solid hockey program, but they're not exactly a powerhouse, nor do they really add anything from a market standpoint. Almost have to think that they definitely have an 8th team on the horizon and wanted to get to an even number.

My feelings exactly.
 

Unknown Caller

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Apr 30, 2009
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Would have much rather seen teams like Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc. every weekend than Vermont, Umass Lowell, New Hampshire, Maine, and Merrimack. I like it from a Notre Dame perspective.
 

ecemleafs

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I'm personally not a fan of the Big Ten associating with Notre Dame either, but truth be told doing this was pretty clearly on the radar ever since they let Johns Hopkins lacrosse in. If not for the fact that North Dakota lags far behind academically from the Big Ten and doesn't really add anything from a market standpoint for the BTN, I was almost expecting them to do this very thing for them back when the whole conference realignment went down in first place.

That being said, I'm not sure that this really adds much for the Big Ten. Notre Dame's a solid hockey program, but they're not exactly a powerhouse, nor do they really add anything from a market standpoint. Almost have to think that they definitely have an 8th team on the horizon and wanted to get to an even number.

notre dame has nbcsn games so the b1g could be after that exposure.
 

nickschultzfan

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Would have much rather seen teams like Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc. every weekend than Vermont, Umass Lowell, New Hampshire, Maine, and Merrimack. I like it from a Notre Dame perspective.
Yeah, from a Michigan perspective, I miss the days of UM-ND-MSU all scrapping it out with OSU and Miami-Ohio in the mix.

What Big Ten really should do is add back rivalries on the other side of the house with North Dakota instead of ASU as #8. :naughty:
 

RabidBadger

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Yeah, from a Michigan perspective, I miss the days of UM-ND-MSU all scrapping it out with OSU and Miami-Ohio in the mix.

What Big Ten really should do is add back rivalries on the other side of the house with North Dakota instead of ASU as #8. :naughty:

If NoDak is not an option Miami would be an excellent addition. I was always impressed with them scheduling difficult non-con games against NoDak, St. Cloud, etc when they were in the CCHA.
 

scRIbe

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Stunned by this as a life long B1G supporter and honestly hate this news. ND should join in all sports or none. This stinks and I am extremely disappointed they have allowed the Golden Domers into any league they have. Honestly wish they would stop playing them in all sports after the whole ACC deal and chopping down on their scheduling in football.

I have to admit that, when I was little and didn't know any better, I saw Notre Dame football playing against teams like Michigan and Michigan State so many times that I assumed it was part of the Big Ten.
 

nickschultzfan

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I have to admit that, when I was little and didn't know any better, I saw Notre Dame football playing against teams like Michigan and Michigan State so many times that I assumed it was part of the Big Ten.
Not an uncommon experience. Growing up all over the Midwest, was shocked when I found out Notre Dame wasn't in the conference, and even more shocked when they reached out to the East Coast. ND has more connection sportswise with the West Coast.
 

No Fun Shogun

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As do I. The Big Ten's attempting to elevate traditionally non-money sports into being moneymakers. Associate members in sports like lacrosse and hockey make sense in that regard. Who knows? Maybe they'll do the same eventually for baseball or field hockey or women's basketball or volleyball as well? Basketball and football have to be an all or nothing proposition for the Big Ten. Why split the big pot if you're not bringing a new school/market all in?
 

Big Z Man 1990

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Don't say anything at all
So soon after joining the ACC? I have my doubts.

ND will have to wait until the ACC's grant of rights contract runs out. I'm sure the Big Ten will be willing to take in the rest of ND's Olympic sports by then, and seeing how the football arrangement with the ACC is working, the B1G will probably be willing to have a similar arrangement with ND when that time comes.

Think about it, for football ND gets to play every ACC school once at least in a 3-year period. Most ACC cross-division match-ups get played once in a 6-year period. This could be further exacerbated if Cincinnati and Connecticut join the conference as football-playing members (which would allow geographic divisions in football).

Every Big Ten school would likewise want the opportunity to play ND as frequently as possible. So, the best solution for that would be for ND to keep its nominal independence but play 5 rotating Big Ten teams every year. Having ND and another school join in football would reduce some schools' frequency of playing the Irish.
 

YpsiWings

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Feb 5, 2016
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My post is going to mirror TZE because even a Spartan is right sometimes. The last two times the B1G has tried to attract ND it has gone like this...

1. We have this TV deal, makes too much money


B1G gets their Network, first of its kind making money hand over fist

2. Too comfortable with NBC

Part of me loves that the Big 10 hockey conference will be better, most of me hates that those Catholics wormed one of their sports in without the rest.
 

wildthing202

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May 29, 2006
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ND will have to wait until the ACC's grant of rights contract runs out. I'm sure the Big Ten will be willing to take in the rest of ND's Olympic sports by then, and seeing how the football arrangement with the ACC is working, the B1G will probably be willing to have a similar arrangement with ND when that time comes.

Think about it, for football ND gets to play every ACC school once at least in a 3-year period. Most ACC cross-division match-ups get played once in a 6-year period. This could be further exacerbated if Cincinnati and Connecticut join the conference as football-playing members (which would allow geographic divisions in football).

Every Big Ten school would likewise want the opportunity to play ND as frequently as possible. So, the best solution for that would be for ND to keep its nominal independence but play 5 rotating Big Ten teams every year. Having ND and another school join in football would reduce some schools' frequency of playing the Irish.

You do realize there is no other conference in college hockey that has major schools in it other than the B1G right? They weren't going to any of the other 3 east coast conferences and I doubt they would join the NCHC or the WCHA when they have a TV deal at risk here.

The ACC is not going to take Cincinnati and UConn if ever as long as the Big 12 exist. The possibility of expanding into Texas outweighs any gains that adding 2 mid-major schools ever would. Not to mention they have been trying to dismantle the tradition conference set-up in order to create a pod scheduling system to get teams to play each other more often and have a conference title between the top 2 teams in the conference rather than between the division winners.
 

YpsiWings

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Feb 5, 2016
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You do realize there is no other conference in college hockey that has major schools in it other than the B1G right? They weren't going to any of the other 3 east coast conferences and I doubt they would join the NCHC or the WCHA when they have a TV deal at risk here.

Notre Dame was in the CCHA for a long time, a conference full of "non major schools."
 

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