[Fangers]

Mr Ricochet, on 29 July 2010 - 08:37 PM, said:

First AND second place teams earn a buy?!?!?

haven't looked at the schedule to form an opinion, but this at least gives some meaning to the regular season accomplishments...

[hockey4u2]

Jamie, on 29 July 2010 - 07:21 PM, said:

hockey4u2, on 29 July 2010 - 08:12 PM, said:

Saints play teams in their division (Western)18 times, and teams in the Eastern Division 42 times. And their travel schedule is horrendous. One instance, Souix city on Friday @ SC and then back home in DBQ for U 17 on Saturday. I realize the scheduling was probably a nightmare but OMG. I'm sure Saints aren't the only team whose travel schedule sucks.

Thats normal!!!!! Thats probly only a 4 hour bus trip from Dub to SC. Green Bay and Indy use to do it all the time and thats a 7 hour trip!!!!!

Actuall DBQ to SC is about 6 - 7 hours.

[Mr Ricochet]

Steel gotta be happy with this schedule as I see it so far. FORTY FIVE games in conference!!

Weeknights: 4 @ home 2 road= Total 6

Friday home 11

Saturday home 10

Sunday home 5


FORTY FIVE games in conference!!

Musky 7 games: 4 home 3 away

Green Bay 4 games: 2 home 2 away

Ytown 7 games: 4 home 3 away

Cedar Rapids 4 games: 2 home 2 away

Indy 7 games: 3 home 4 away

Dubuque 4 games: 2 home 2 away

Waterloo 4 games: 2 home 2 away

USA-U17 5 games: 2 home 3 away

USA-U-18 2 games: 1 home 1 away

[Mr Ricochet]

Fangers, on 29 July 2010 - 09:00 PM, said:

Mr Ricochet, on 29 July 2010 - 08:37 PM, said:

First AND second place teams earn a buy?!?!?

haven't looked at the schedule to form an opinion, but this at least gives some meaning to the regular season accomplishments...

Yea, you play for home ice!!! Winning 4 series to win the Cup is a tough task for the non-buy clubs.

[jhi82]

Mr Ricochet, on 29 July 2010 - 06:10 PM, said:

Will Dubuque's arena be ready by Oct 22nd?

Yes and, the grand opening is September 11th! I think they wanted to see what would happen the last month before the season started and make sure everything runs smoothly.

This post has been edited by jhi82: 29 July 2010 - 10:19 PM

[-skee-]

The Lumberjacks have 13 home games before the end of the New Year. 5 of which are on football days and one on a Wednesday night. Not a good sign...

[Mr Ricochet]

Muskegon Chronicle/Ron Ropp Jacks' Schedule

Quote

The Muskegon Lumberjacks are describing their first United States Hockey League schedule as “fan-friendly.”

Of the 30 home dates, the Jacks will play 28 games on Friday, Saturdayor Sunday at L.C. Walker Arena. The two remaining home games will be onWednesday nights.

The Lumberjacks were hoping to avoid Friday nights in October whenMuskegon-area football fans flock to high school stadiums throughoutthe county. Muskegon’s only Friday night home game during the highschool football regular season is Oct. 8 against Sioux Falls.

Keloland.com Sioux Falls' Schedule

Quote

The Sioux Falls Stampede are pleased to announce their schedule for the upcoming 2010-11 season. The Herd will once again play an unbalanced 60-game schedule with 30 home and 30 away games.

This year’s schedule is very family friendly with 25 of the 30 home dates being played on weekends. 10 games will be played on Friday’s, 10 on Saturday’s and 5 on Sunday’s. In addition, the Stampede will play 5 home games on Wednesday nights.

[Mr Ricochet]

SC Journal Muskateers Release Schedule

Quote

The 30-game regular-season home schedule is highlighted by 25 weekend home games, including 10 Friday games, 13 Saturday games and two Sunday contests. The schedule features 25 sets of back to back games, including a home series with the Tri-City Storm on Oct. 29-30.

Vindy.com Phantoms Release Schedule

Quote

The Youngstown Phantoms will open their second USHL season with four road games, then play their home opener on Oct. 16 at the Covelli Centre.

The first home opponent will be the Green Bay Gamblers in a 7:30 p.m. contest. The next day, the Phantoms will be home against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in a 5 p.m. game.

[gbpuckfan]

Prince's quote in the release:

"...and still insure that 90% of the games are played on weekend dates both to keep the stands full, and to make sure that the USHL players excel in the classroom as well as on the ice."

Reality:

I count 63 of the 480 games as being Monday-Thursday. That's more than 13%. That's some generous math.

[Thunderbolt]

gbpuckfan, on 30 July 2010 - 07:46 AM, said:

Prince's quote in the release:

"...and still insure that 90% of the games are played on weekend dates both to keep the stands full, and to make sure that the USHL players excel in the classroom as well as on the ice."

Reality:

I count 63 of the 480 games as being Monday-Thursday. That's more than 13%. That's some generous math.

Perhaps he's counting holiday season games as weekenders, which makes sense from the student-athlete side of the argument. I don't know either way... just throwing that out there.

UPDATE: To answer my own question... I'm counting 54 games Mon-Thurs that are not MLK, Thanksgiving Wed-Thurs, or over Christmas Break. That gets you down to 11.25%, or six more than needed for a perfect 10%. It's close, and given the expansion, still pretty impressive.


That said... I have no definite answer as to why the USHL changed the alignment from the one discussed extensively here following the winter meetings in Indianapolis, but I have a theory. I suspect that the owners were not happy with the playoff options provided by a three-division alignment. There was little discussion of playoffs in Indianapolis, with just a brief mention of an eight-team setup similar to NHL conference playoffs, where division winners get the first three seeds and best remaining records determine 4-8. This admittedly has two problems. First, only eight teams get in. Second, there was a significant chance of extensive travel (e.g., Fargo vs. Youngstown) for first round pairings. Two divisions and twelve playoff teams fixes both issues, but I'm not sure I like the idea of first round byes, which penalize the best teams by denying them two or more home dates.

I have not seen a complete schedule matrix yet, but based on some of the team vs. team pairings I have looked at, I'm amazed at how balanced the schedule really is. In fact, it resembles some of the matrix options floated under the three-division format. To me this reinforces the idea that the changes were about the playoffs.

TB

This post has been edited by Thunderbolt: 30 July 2010 - 09:28 AM

[Mr Ricochet]

Thunderbolt, on 30 July 2010 - 10:16 AM, said:

That said... I have no definite answer as to why the USHL changed the alignment from the one discussed extensively here following the winter meetings in Indianapolis, but I have a theory. I suspect that the owners were not happy with the playoff options provided by a three-division alignment.

When I read 4 teams will get a buy I thought this stinks. But as I put pencil to paper I think I ran across the same problems the league did with a 3 division format as far as playoffs options are concerned.

Divisions of 5, 5 and 6 teams, then what? If you had 2 conferences within there were divisions you could make that work, but you can't do that with only 3 divisions.

Or two conferences like they have and only one team gets a buy, then you have 5 teams left and can't play 2 or 3 1st round series' with 5 teams.

If you did the top 12 teams total and seed from there you risk a travel nightmare as Tbird points out. With that in mind adding 2 more teams to the playoffs would be needed to have only one team get a buy.

Looking at the options I can't see any other way to go than what the league did. But, I just can't get comfortable with 2 teams in each conference getting a buy, but see why that's probably the only way to go unless you add more teams to the playoffs, and that isn't a great option either!!

[boxcar22]

I am sure it will work better next season when the USHL adds two more team

[gbpuckfan]

Boxcar may have hit on the head ... give the USHL credit for this: it's willing to try something, evaluate it, and then change.

The year every team made the playoff was, IMO, horrible. Talk about negating the regular season, and the format was so screwy. (I don't think they ever did answer what if all three games in the round robin ended 1-0...) But, they tried it, it didn't make people happy and they changed it.

Regardless of if teams are added or next year, they'll look it and adjust.

I'm not sure if 16 of 18 teams making the playoffs would be the answer in case of expansion, but that's waaaaaay down the road.

[gbpuckfan]

UPDATE: To answer my own question... I'm counting 54 games Mon-Thurs that are not MLK, Thanksgiving Wed-Thurs, or over Christmas Break. That gets you down to 11.25%, or six more than needed for a perfect 10%. It's close, and given the expansion, still pretty impressive.


OK, I'll give you that in terms of school, yes. But weeknight games, whether it's the night before Thansgiving or the Wednesday between Christmas & New Year's still usually draw like weeknight games. They don't draw like Fridays and Saturdays and aren't as convenient. (New Year's Eve is the exception, in my book, because it's a night people go out.)

Green Bay had a weeknight game last year when school wasn't in session. Drew 1,000 (plus 1 bat ). I don't recall the night before Thanksgiving game drawing well - and we've had that for years.

Go back to 54 games and every team has three fewer weeknight games. Problem all but solved. And if you are drawing diddly on a weeknight game, you aren't making money with the added date.

[hockey4u2]

boxcar22, on 30 July 2010 - 10:11 AM, said:

I am sure it will work better next season when the USHL adds two more team

What other cities want to join the USHL next year?

[Mr Ricochet]

hockey4u2, on 30 July 2010 - 11:40 AM, said:

boxcar22, on 30 July 2010 - 10:11 AM, said:

I am sure it will work better next season when the USHL adds two more team

What other cities want to join the USHL next year?

For sure the league is in the Evansville, IN sweepstakes. They will have a new 9,000 seat arena ready for hockey next year and the USHL is trying to be the league to place a franchise. As of now reporting has the USHL and CHL (AA pro) as the primary candidates.

What I will always keep an eye on is Michigan, especially now that Muskegon and Team USA have joined the league. Flint and Port Huron lost their pro teams this year and have been replaced by NAHL clubs.

I don't expect Flint or Port Huron to be in the USHL next year, but wouldn't be surprised a bit if they are in a few years.

[-skee-]

Thunderbolt, on 30 July 2010 - 11:16 AM, said:

gbpuckfan, on 30 July 2010 - 07:46 AM, said:

Prince's quote in the release:

"...and still insure that 90% of the games are played on weekend dates both to keep the stands full, and to make sure that the USHL players excel in the classroom as well as on the ice."

Reality:

I count 63 of the 480 games as being Monday-Thursday. That's more than 13%. That's some generous math.

Perhaps he's counting holiday season games as weekenders, which makes sense from the student-athlete side of the argument. I don't know either way... just throwing that out there.

UPDATE: To answer my own question... I'm counting 54 games Mon-Thurs that are not MLK, Thanksgiving Wed-Thurs, or over Christmas Break. That gets you down to 11.25%, or six more than needed for a perfect 10%. It's close, and given the expansion, still pretty impressive.

Some kids still have school the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so they will be missing school if they have to travel for a game that day. The number probably doesn't count the Sunday games where someone like Fargo plays in Muskegon at 5:15 pm and won't get back until Monday morning some time, they don't fly, do they?

[-skee-]

Mr Ricochet, on 30 July 2010 - 12:52 PM, said:

hockey4u2, on 30 July 2010 - 11:40 AM, said:

boxcar22, on 30 July 2010 - 10:11 AM, said:

I am sure it will work better next season when the USHL adds two more team

What other cities want to join the USHL next year?

For sure the league is in the Evansville, IN sweepstakes. They will have a new 9,000 seat arena ready for hockey next year and the USHL is trying to be the league to place a franchise. As of now reporting has the USHL and CHL (AA pro) as the primary candidates.

What I will always keep an eye on is Michigan, especially now that Muskegon and Team USA have joined the league. Flint and Port Huron lost their pro teams this year and have been replaced by NAHL clubs.

I don't expect Flint or Port Huron to be in the USHL next year, but wouldn't be surprised a bit if they are in a few years.

If Evansville does well in a tiny building like they have for this season, the USHL should back out, just my opinion. Same would be true if it were the ECHL that wanted to go in there.

[gbpuckfan]

-skee-, on 30 July 2010 - 11:31 AM, said:

Some kids still have school the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so they will be missing school if they have to travel for a game that day. The number probably doesn't count the Sunday games where someone like Fargo plays in Muskegon at 5:15 pm and won't get back until Monday morning some time, they don't fly, do they?

The USHL teams do not fly.

There are occaisions that the Team USA squads fly, although this isn't as advantageous as it was pre 9/11...

===

Besides Evansville, I think those other IHL cities might be looked at. A lot may depend on how well Muskegon embraces the USHL on if the league is willing to try it again.

I think the league would prefer to find another team in the Mich/Indiana/Ohio region to help with travel costs out there.

Wausau, WI, isn't happening soon, unfortunately.

[Thunderbolt]

-skee-, on 30 July 2010 - 11:31 AM, said:

Some kids still have school the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so they will be missing school if they have to travel for a game that day.

How is that different than having a road game on a Friday?