{"id":36324,"date":"2011-03-24T21:16:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-25T02:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=36324"},"modified":"2011-07-13T09:17:58","modified_gmt":"2011-07-13T14:17:58","slug":"commentary-lets-wait-and-see-what-big-ten-holds-but-dont-overestimate-its-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2011\/03\/24\/commentary-lets-wait-and-see-what-big-ten-holds-but-dont-overestimate-its-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary: Let’s wait and see what Big Ten holds, but don’t overestimate its teams"},"content":{"rendered":"
The wisdom learned by veteran experience is to wait and see, let things happen and then react. However, some of the propaganda about what the Big Ten Conference will do to save college hockey is starting to get, at the very least, ridiculous.<\/p>\n
Take the latest. A story in The State News<\/i>, the student newspaper at Michigan State, by Jeff Kanan (who happens to do a good job there) typifies what has been printed by respected writers in the past couple of days, and there needs to be at least some balance here. Those would be writers in Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Madison, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Columbus.<\/p>\n
A Big Ten Conference for hockey isn’t something I feel strongly about, and it is amazing how many really bright people working in college hockey feel that way but would probably get fired from their jobs for saying it publicly. <\/p>\n
Let us recall the Wall Street Journal<\/i> article from December that basically said the industry revolves around the Big Ten teams in college hockey. It just isn’t true. Good programs, track records of success, but not the hub.<\/p>\n
The WCHA put five teams in the NCAA tournament; Wisconsin and Minnesota are not among them. The CCHA put four teams in; only Michigan is in among the hat trick of Ohio State, Michigan State and the Wolverines.<\/p>\n
I give Wisconsin a pass — Mike Eaves runs a great program but he plays in a great conference. He was in a unique situation with seven seniors, four underclassmen, two great assistant coaches who left and still kept the program on track. Minnesota has done very little to up the competition ante lately. Not a critique, just a fact based on what that program used to be.<\/p>\n
Since Minnesota’s back-to-back national championship run in 2002 and 2003, the only two Big Ten teams to win it all are Wisconsin in 2006 and MSU in 2007. Michigan made a Frozen Four and lost to Notre Dame recently. Wisconsin made it last year and got beaten soundly by Boston College, which is in the midst of a run of two titles in three-year span and three since 2001.<\/p>\n
BC and Boston University combined have won as many national titles as all five Big Ten teams since 2001. Remember, Hockey East teams have made a national title game every year since 1999 with the exception of the all-WCHA Frozen Four in Columbus, Ohio, in 2004, which saw Minnesota, Denver, Colorado College, and North Dakota. The Gophers got beat by the Sioux in the semis.<\/p>\n
Enough of that. We all agree that the Big Ten programs are good ones. Michigan is a winner. Wisconsin is a winner. Minnesota should rebound soon. OSU is in great hands with Mark Osiecki.<\/p>\n
That turns our attention to MSU, and I’ll be brutally honest here. I like Tom Anastos and think he is the in the top three candidates for the smartest guy in college hockey. His hiring at Michigan State is a high-risk, high-reward deal because, as we saw with Barry Melrose coming back into the NHL without any bench experience in over a decade, being out of the trenches for a while isn’t a good thing. The game has changed completely since Anastos last patrolled a bench at the NCAA level.<\/p>\n
He could do well here. His strengths are that he is a good hockey guy, well supported by all levels of hockey and is a great seller of his product. This is a wait-and-see situation and, like all new head coaches taking over a program, he is owed time to get started and build. This one probably doesn’t succeed as fast as Dean Blais at Nebraska-Omaha or Jeff Blashill at Western Michigan, but it could work.<\/p>\n
That returns us to the labeling of Big Ten teams as powerhouse programs. At best, it’s stretching the truth. It is an opinion, not a fact.<\/p>\n
Historically, these were strong and at times dominant programs, but that is not the case as we approach the 2011-12 season. <\/p>\n
Boston College is a powerhouse. It has the hardware to prove it, and it just might get a third national title in four years in April.<\/p>\n