[NU Sports] Frozen Four

Wed Apr 16 13:58:54 CDT 2008

Maureen writes...
There may be a lot of ice available, but how is the team going to get
there and how will they get the fans there if it's in (as an example)
Gurnee?

Marc writes..
Btw the club hockey games at highland park are practically attendance free(some parents).  Even Robert Crown is a decent haul from campus and by the el(Main Street stop) you still have to walk a mile or so through a shady neighborhood at night.

-- airsnod at aol.com wrote:
A couple thoughts as another?former club player and arena manager:

1) There is PLENTY of ice in the greater Chicago Metro area. In addition to high schools and townships, there are many private venues as well. Don't forget the Blackhawks have a practice rink for Bulls conflicts. Building a rink would be a massive investment of time, land and resources. Ice rental can be had for $100 to $300 an hour.

2) 85% of Americans may not care about hockey, but I'd wager that the 15% who do create a?larger following?than Lacrosse (don't ge me wrong, I like Lacrosse, but it's got a Maryland/Colorado following mostly). Also, think of the advantage a place like Minnesota has with an ADDITIONAL revenue sport (making it three, with women's hoops not-quite-breaking even).? BU dropped it's unprofitable football program, but retains it's profitable hockey program. Chicago is a hockey city, like Denver, Boston, and the Twin Cities. Unlike those places which EACH have multiple D1 teams, Chicago has none. I can tell you that the crowd I played in front of at Arizona (4,000 people during the weekend that Arizona played Arizona State to go to the Rose Bowl) was larger than almost every crowd in front of which they ever played.... there is an interest there.

3) Back in '96 on my last day at ESPN (then WLUP AM) we had Rick Taylor on-air. My parting question was when would NU get a hockey team, his response was when we'd get $21 it would cost to fund it. I think it could be done. I'm sure inflation has raised this price some, but....

4) I think women's hockey would be an excellent counter on the schollies. That sport is growing as well, with Quinnipec, St. Lawrence, Syracuse all starting teams this year. (I think maybe Notre Dame, too?)

5) I too am depressed that former teams I played against now?field D-I or D-III teams. 

-----Original Message-----
From: SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
To: rstetson at capps-assoc.com; MHRJGScott at aol.com; nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Sent: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:32 pm
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Frozen Four

> Joe - 
> 
> The problem with Hockey is that 85% of Americans
> either don't understand it, or
> don't care.

Hey, I'd love to see an NU hockey team as much as
anyone. But the cost would just be too much for NU.
Forget about all the equipment or a practice rink -
where would we even play?

> I'd rather see us play Men's Lacrosse or maybe add
> Track.

Not sure about track - not a huge thing in Big Ten
country and we'd have to re-renovate the stadium.

But men's lacrosse should *definitely* be something we
push for - it's relatively cheap, it's growing rapidly
in popularity nationwide, its athletes are usually
higher-caliber students and NU eligible ... plus we
have a great model to go from in building our team
with the women's team.

I could definitely see NU adding men's lacrosse in the
future and being quite successful at it.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

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