Vermont athletic director Jeff Schulman, chair of the NCAA men's Division I ice hockey committee joins hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) to talk about the process that went into the selection of this year's championship field of 16, attendance, and discussions about going to on-campus sites in the future.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Division I Men's Frozen Four, April 11 and 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Visit ncaa.com/mfrozenfour
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Division I Men's Frozen Four, April 11 and 13 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Visit ncaa.com/mfrozenfour
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Usccho dot com. Welcome to USCCHOSpotlight for Sunday, March twenty fourth,
twenty twenty four. I'm Ed Trevskeralongside Jim Connolly. This podcast is sponsored
by the NCAA Men's Division one Frozenfour April eleventh and thirteenth at Xcel Energy
(00:29):
Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.Visit NCAA dot com slash Mfrozen four to
get your tickets Today. Jim,it's Selection Sunday. The selections, the
brackets have been announced, and nowwe get to talk to the chair of
the committee to explain how the processworks. Joining us now the chair of
(00:49):
the Men's NCAA Division One Ice HockeyCommittee, Athletic director at the University of
Vermont, good friend Jeff Shulman.Jeff Busy day selections on. So it's
kind of your super Bowl day toget this. This tournament kicked off in
rolling. Before we get into alot about why teams went where and how
(01:11):
how decisions were made, can youjust the not as educated take us through
some of the guidelines that really shiftand moved decisions when you're making up this
NCAA tournament bracket. Sure, youknow, I guess the first thing to
emphasize, obviously a lot of thepeople work close to the college hocket community
(01:34):
know, is that the actual selectionsof the team teams for the tournament,
you know, are very objective,which is a little different than most really
all other sports in college hockets.So we go strictly by the pair wise
rankings to determine the sixteen teams inthe tourna metal alone with obviously the automatic
(01:55):
qualifications, so you know, that'sthat's the starting point. Internes actually selected
when it comes. So there's nota lot of intrigue right about who the
sixteen teams are going to be.Once we get through the games on Saturday
night the Conferense Championships, we knowwho that those teams are going to be.
But there's a lot that goes intothe bracket, and I think that's
(02:15):
what you're specifically asking about. Imean, there's several bracketing principles and parameters
that we apply that really drive theultimate the final bracket that we ended up
with this year and that haven't thepast. And first of all, you
know, bracket integrity is in primaryimportance, so we're trying to do everything
we can. They have competitive equity, and reward teams that performed at the
(02:38):
highest level throughout the season. Alongwith that, we're also balancing a couple
of other key factors. You're onebeing that as long as there's not more
than four teams from a particular conferencein the tournament, we avoid intra conference
matchups in the first round games.We all also have committed to keeping schools
(03:05):
that are serving as the host institutionsat any of the regionals at their post
site, so that that was obviouslya critical factor this year, and keeping
you mass at home in scrape Fieldwell post institution and a law at all
and suit falls because they're the postINSTITUTIONSIP. And then we're also trying to
(03:27):
balance creating a really exciting championship atmosphereat each of these regional sites, and
so again while maintaining bracket integrity,while avoiding the ulture conference matchups keeping post
schools at all, We're also tryingto make chure each site as good attendance
and an exciting atmosphere that's fitting ina national championship. So those are the
(03:47):
factors that go into our decision.How as the chair, do you personally
approach this? Do you do thingsindividually and bring it to the committee.
Do you this meet is a committee? How was how when did the committee
meet? Throughout the week and thisweekend? Uh? Can you just kind
of give us a little bit behindthe scenes on the process? Uh to
(04:10):
even start? Sure? Pretty simple, I, you know, I open
up the us eh O and lookand see what you guys tell us that
not uh we you know. ISo I'm working really closely. We've got
a great committee that's representative of thevarious confexes in college Hock. You have
a mix of coaches and administrators.We're talking throughout the year about about how
(04:33):
things are shaping up. But asyou know, it ultimately comes down to
where the numbers sit on on theafter the final game has been played.
And then we're all sort of uhsketching out on our own brackets, you
know, and get and we're knowingwhat the principles are. We're all looking
at it. We're coming up withconcepts and uh, you know, then
(04:55):
we get together on a call andwe kind of hash it out and again
factoring with the different principles, listeningto each other's opinions, and ultimately,
you know, through consensus, comeup with the bracket. That we think
UH best fits the National Championship.What were the biggest conversations in the meeting
(05:16):
UH this morning whenever it took placetoday. So there, you know,
there are a few things I think, you know, when you look at
the bracket, obviously Denver stands outhaving to move east and and be UH
out west, and you know,those are things that we take lightly.
We know that at these are twoof the best four teams in the country
(05:39):
and they deserve credit for that,and we have to apply the principles that
that we're bound by. And sowhen you do that, this is kind
of this is you know, obviouslywhat we thought was ultimately best for the
tournament. You know, the challengewith keeping Denver in the West was that
(06:01):
it would would have ultimately adversely affectedother teams that you know, teams that
were even more highly ranked than inDenver. And so so that you know
that that creating a challenge for us, and because we need to do a
need to keep your masks in Springfield, we needed to avoid a first round
(06:23):
n CHC Verson HC match up.And so when you factored all of that
in, it would have likely meantthat BU was was not matched up with
our I T and likely would havebeen matched up with Western Michigan, and
that community felt strongly that it beyou as the as the number two overall
(06:46):
seed Dessert to play the number fifteenteam in the brad. Yeah. I
don't know how much you have followedas you're getting in. I assume you
were probably watching this on a weekby week basis, even though the really
the only time that hair wise matterswas last night when you knew the sixteen
teams and in their seeding. Butit looked like it could have been a
mess at times. You know,I think in one of my bracketology columns,
(07:10):
I think I had the number oneseed playing the number of fourteen seed
because that was the closest you couldget without you know, destroying the conversation.
You do. You have to justkind of take a deep breath now
and say, maybe we got alittle bit lucky, but it, you
know, it does work on this. I wrote last night that I thought
it was one of the easier bracketsto figure out. But was there some
(07:35):
stress going through your mind in thecommittee's mind as we came down the stretch
of the season. Yeah, youknow, I try not to get too
stressed about it, like you said, until the final of Airwise, and
obviously I was monitoring it close inyou what some of the possible scenarios looked
like. And yeah, certainly therewas a time at which it looked like
there was a good chance that therecould be five on the HC teams in
(07:58):
the in the turn of that.You know, there were other times at
Hockey EASTEAD it's far or six thatwere in the mix, and that you
know, those scenarios certainly would havecreated challenges for us, But we do
have a principle that says if there'smore than four teams a particular conference,
we have the flexibility to match teamsup an interconference way in the first round.
(08:22):
So yeah, it's uh, youknow this, it just showed there's
so much parenting couch hockeyt you know, the difference between teams is so slight.
I think in the end you massended up getting the last that large
spot by like four one hundreds ofa of a point in the r p
I S. So you know,lots of different permutations, and I think
(08:46):
you're right again, the brackets sortof played itself out given our various parameters
and the teams that ultimately fall thechampionship more with Jeff Schulman in a Moment.
This podcast is sponsored by the nc a A Men's Division One Frozen
four April eleventh and thirteenth at XcelEnergy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
(09:11):
Where are my hockey fans at?Welcome to fandom one oh one. It's
NCAA Ice Hockey Championship time, whenthe hottest teams in the country faced off
under one group. Be there tosee your squad hoist the ultimate trophy overhead
the NCAA Men's Frozen Pool, Aprileleventh and thirteenth in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
(09:31):
Attendance is encouraged, Passion is mandator, Buy your seas today at NCAA
dot com slash m Frozen Pool.Class dismissed and we're back with Jeff Schulman,
University of Vermont Athletic Director. JeffLooking at Minnesota, Omaha as two
(09:54):
three in a region and also withMaine and Cornell. Do you feel that
you've got in brackets they're going togive you the best attendance result after following
all the rest of the parameters likebracket integrity. Yeah, I actually all,
all four regions are well positioned forstrong attendance, and you know suit
(10:16):
Falls, you know laws that maybetwo and a half hours for them from
suit Falls. The Gophers fans obviously, uh, travel really well. One
of those teams is going to bein the regional final, so I think
that that site is well positioned.You know, uh, Maryland Heights the
same newest bracket is. It's somebig brand teams and as you know,
(10:41):
a little bit of a smaller vendingcapacity there. So I think they'll they'll
be banged out both nights for thatregion. Providence with d C and Quinnipiac
and Wisconsin that alums everywhere, soI think they'll they'll do well. And
Springfield obviously the game mass of hostand the main courtell both travel well.
Main fans you know, showed upin big numbers at the Garden this weekend
(11:07):
and Courtell federals they always travel well. And you know, obviously the Bassment
civil some close to Springfield. SoI think the regionals are really well set
up from the attendants standpoint. Andyou know that's been a real point of
emphasis for the committee over the pastseveral years, just wanting to create a
real championship atmosphere at these BRIGA sitesthat fits in a national championship. Yeah,
(11:31):
we're talking about this just championship.But before I left, you go
have to ask kind of the pertinentquestion that a lot of people are talking
about in the future. I knowyou've assigned a couple of more regions for
the next couple of seasons, butthere's it seems like there's such a strong
discussion these days of possibly moving atleast the opening round to a campus site.
(11:52):
Is that even something that's feasible withwhat the committee has and how serious
of a discussion do you think thatwill be as meetings take place in in
Naples and then among the committee inIndianapolis. Yeah, as you know that,
it's that conversation around PO Central campussites and there's a few different ways
you can do that. It's beenongoing for many years, and it ebbs
(12:16):
and flows, and I think,you know, it seems to be gaining
some momented over the past year orso. I know, we're some people
who really strongly believe in it,and we'll continue as a committee to have
those conversations and talk to and listento the college hocket community, and you
know, we're all just seeing thisbe the best championship that it can possibly
(12:39):
be, and there's a lot ofways to approach that in a lot of
different opinions all that, so,I think it's an important conversation for college
hockey community to always be having.And you know, ultimately it's it's a
decision the committee to make with theMC double A looking like the major change
in format. So yeah, it'sit's it's part of the broader conversation about
(13:07):
the best direction and chentlemanship to workwell this year's championship. It will kick
off this Thursday, and we're veryexcited. I know the college hockey world
is very excited. I think you'veyou've got a great field with four great
regionals. Jeff Shulman, we knowthat this is a long day, it's
a busy day, so we appreciatea little bit of your time. We'll
hope you enjoyed the championship and we'llsee you in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
(13:31):
Thanks guys, look forward to it. And that's University of Vermont athletic director
Jeff Schulman. He's the chair ofthe men's D one ice Hockey Committee.
Jim, I think it was prettytransparent how the committee came up with this,
and you know, obviously it matchedyour bracket, so you were thinking
along the same lines. Maybe justthe swapping of in the middle of Maine
(13:56):
and Cornell and getting a Minnesota withhome that really sort of fixed everything attendance
wise and made the bracket feel prettygood. I wholeheartedly agree, obviously,
when I came up with this onSaturday evening late and you know, it
was trying to explain my ration outsto a lot of people around the Hockey
(14:18):
East tournament or post gathering, andI understand where they went. And sometimes
if you can do it, andit's one thing I've learned about the committee
over the years, if they cando it, they will make the changes
as simple as possible. You hadto change Omaha, you had to get
(14:39):
them away from North Dakota, soyou swapped them with Michigan. And then
once you've done that, it wasjust swapping two pairings out to get two
of the eastern teams east and twoof the western teams west. That has
protected all of the attendance concerns thatwill create great atmospheres. I really do
agree with Jeff that if you haveany concern. Maybe it could have been
(15:03):
Sioux Falls, but I think you'regoing to see some pretty good crowds there,
especially as you kind of highlighted thereat Omaha in Minnesota, both of
those within a four and a halfhour drive, Omaha even closer, and
as the host in the region.So I think when all of a sudden
done, you have set up anear perfect bracket for a year that looked
(15:26):
like it was going to be anightmare. You got into the topic with
Jeff about on campus sites. It'sjust something that gets kicked around a little
bit. On one hand, withthe committee doing a good job with attendance,
that becomes less of an issue.But you think of first round games
with these top four seeds with aGanis or Magnus or Mun or Kanti forum,
(15:48):
and how banged out those buildings wouldbe. Yeah, you know,
I was looking at this last night, and you know you mentioned a Kandi
Forum, Aganis, Magnus Arena,Mon, you know, or no,
the alphon angle set arena three AMarena. Uh and then who was number
eight was? Oh Wisconsin, Imeaner building if they Cole Center, you
(16:14):
know, you fill that up.It's it's a very interesting future. I
do feel, and Jeff didn't addressit directly. You know, they've awarded
bids, and for teams to bid, they have to promise certain amounts of
revenue to the nc DOUBLE a yearsin advance. They don't have to come
up with it years in advance,but they have to promise it, and
(16:36):
that's tied to the amount of attendancethat you'll have in that region. I
would think that because there is thatcontract, it will also be kind of
a reversal of the contract and thatthe NCUBA cannot suddenly take regional bids away
from cities in the next two years, so anything that's awarded. I basically
(16:57):
what I'm saying is I don't thinkwe can see campus sites obviously this year,
but not for the next two years, maybe three years down the road,
and we'll learn that pretty soon.December, I think, is when
the committee is certainly going to awardthe next few frozen fours. That would
probably be the right time for themto award the next few regionals that would
(17:22):
begin starting in the cycle of twentytwenty seven, So we might know by
December ish if that's going to happenor if we don't find out that there's
been any regionals awarded. That givessome time to possibly at least discuss it
more. I think I've always enjoyedthe regionals. I've liked the thought of
knowing where you're going to work atleast that's a very selfish thing. But
(17:47):
for fans, you know, howmany fans of North Dakota have already bought
tickets to suit Balls and they're nowtrying to unload them and trying to find
a way to get into a twentyfive twenty six hundred seat building in Maryland
Heights. How many fans of BostonUniversity was so convinced that they would be
out in Springfield that they've bought theirtickets already. So it's difficult, you
know, but you know, Iget it. The atmosphere and all of
(18:14):
those eight buildings that I just letlisted out would be banged out, sold
out buildings, and those are somebig buildings, And I think maybe the
conferences are going to be the experimentationthe Petri dish for it. Only one
of the preset final four buildings reallywas full, and that was TD Garden,
(18:36):
which was crazy short of disappointing.I'd have to think for the NCHC
and ECAC. Meanwhile, Michigan State, EMIGI and RIT hosted sold out buildings
with incredible atmospheres, and listen,I give Hockey East some credit, but
sometimes you have to get lucky toyou know, you have unbelievable talent.
You have two of the best teamsin the country, had taught three of
(18:57):
the top five in the pairwise thatthe end of the season, and for
the top fourteen, and even whenyou had some teams below that, they
were pretty close to the border.This was a good year for Hockey East.
But the you know, nearly eighteenthousand fans at night and TD Garden
is not the norm. You know, the norm is usually between somewhere between
maybe eleven and fifteen thousand, sothis was a little bit extreme. That's
(19:21):
still a fantastic crowd, don't getme wrong, but you know, you
looked at the NCHC crowd. That'sa big arena at the Excel Energy Center
and they'll be moving to campus sitesin two years, so I can kind
of see why certain buildings don't workanymore, especially geographically leagues that are so
spread out. So you know,you mentioned it what you saw at Bemidgie,
(19:45):
what you saw at rit and whatyou saw Montareena at Michigan State.
Unbelievable crowds. Bottom line, ifwe grade the committee on how they handled
this this time around, a Aplus, it seems like they did a
terrific job. Yeah, AARA plusis fine by me because you know that
that's the way. It just seemedthat they didn't do anything that didn't seem
(20:10):
relatively obvious. They weren't trying todo something crazy and make some sort of
a statement. They followed their guidelinesto the t. And because of that,
I think you have four good regions, four competitive regions that North Dakota,
Michigan, Michigan State, Western MichiganRegion. Undoubtedly the bracket of Death,
(20:33):
one of the toughest regions that we'veseen in quite some time, but
you know it's going to create agreat atmosphere and some good hockey. Well
with that, we'll wrap up thisspecial edition of US E h O Spotlight.
This podcast has been sponsored by theNCAA Men's Division. One Frozen four
April eleventh and thirteenth at Xcel EnergyCenter in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Visit
(20:57):
NCAA dot com AM Frozen four toget your tickets today for Jim Conley.
I'm Ed Trevsker and this has beenusc CHO Spotlight
Usccho dot com. Welcome to USCCHOSpotlight for Sunday, March twenty fourth,
twenty twenty four. I'm Ed Trevskeralongside Jim Connolly. This podcast is sponsored
by the NCAA Men's Division one Frozenfour April eleventh and thirteenth at Xcel Energy
(00:29):
Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.Visit NCAA dot com slash Mfrozen four to
get your tickets Today. Jim,it's Selection Sunday. The selections, the
brackets have been announced, and nowwe get to talk to the chair of
the committee to explain how the processworks. Joining us now the chair of
(00:49):
the Men's NCAA Division One Ice HockeyCommittee, Athletic director at the University of
Vermont, good friend Jeff Shulman.Jeff Busy day selections on. So it's
kind of your super Bowl day toget this. This tournament kicked off in
rolling. Before we get into alot about why teams went where and how
(01:11):
how decisions were made, can youjust the not as educated take us through
some of the guidelines that really shiftand moved decisions when you're making up this
NCAA tournament bracket. Sure, youknow, I guess the first thing to
emphasize, obviously a lot of thepeople work close to the college hocket community
(01:34):
know, is that the actual selectionsof the team teams for the tournament,
you know, are very objective,which is a little different than most really
all other sports in college hockets.So we go strictly by the pair wise
rankings to determine the sixteen teams inthe tourna metal alone with obviously the automatic
(01:55):
qualifications, so you know, that'sthat's the starting point. Internes actually selected
when it comes. So there's nota lot of intrigue right about who the
sixteen teams are going to be.Once we get through the games on Saturday
night the Conferense Championships, we knowwho that those teams are going to be.
But there's a lot that goes intothe bracket, and I think that's
(02:15):
what you're specifically asking about. Imean, there's several bracketing principles and parameters
that we apply that really drive theultimate the final bracket that we ended up
with this year and that haven't thepast. And first of all, you
know, bracket integrity is in primaryimportance, so we're trying to do everything
we can. They have competitive equity, and reward teams that performed at the
(02:38):
highest level throughout the season. Alongwith that, we're also balancing a couple
of other key factors. You're onebeing that as long as there's not more
than four teams from a particular conferencein the tournament, we avoid intra conference
matchups in the first round games.We all also have committed to keeping schools
(03:05):
that are serving as the host institutionsat any of the regionals at their post
site, so that that was obviouslya critical factor this year, and keeping
you mass at home in scrape Fieldwell post institution and a law at all
and suit falls because they're the postINSTITUTIONSIP. And then we're also trying to
(03:27):
balance creating a really exciting championship atmosphereat each of these regional sites, and
so again while maintaining bracket integrity,while avoiding the ulture conference matchups keeping post
schools at all, We're also tryingto make chure each site as good attendance
and an exciting atmosphere that's fitting ina national championship. So those are the
(03:47):
factors that go into our decision.How as the chair, do you personally
approach this? Do you do thingsindividually and bring it to the committee.
Do you this meet is a committee? How was how when did the committee
meet? Throughout the week and thisweekend? Uh? Can you just kind
of give us a little bit behindthe scenes on the process? Uh to
(04:10):
even start? Sure? Pretty simple, I, you know, I open
up the us eh O and lookand see what you guys tell us that
not uh we you know. ISo I'm working really closely. We've got
a great committee that's representative of thevarious confexes in college Hock. You have
a mix of coaches and administrators.We're talking throughout the year about about how
(04:33):
things are shaping up. But asyou know, it ultimately comes down to
where the numbers sit on on theafter the final game has been played.
And then we're all sort of uhsketching out on our own brackets, you
know, and get and we're knowingwhat the principles are. We're all looking
at it. We're coming up withconcepts and uh, you know, then
(04:55):
we get together on a call andwe kind of hash it out and again
factoring with the different principles, listeningto each other's opinions, and ultimately,
you know, through consensus, comeup with the bracket. That we think
UH best fits the National Championship.What were the biggest conversations in the meeting
(05:16):
UH this morning whenever it took placetoday. So there, you know,
there are a few things I think, you know, when you look at
the bracket, obviously Denver stands outhaving to move east and and be UH
out west, and you know,those are things that we take lightly.
We know that at these are twoof the best four teams in the country
(05:39):
and they deserve credit for that,and we have to apply the principles that
that we're bound by. And sowhen you do that, this is kind
of this is you know, obviouslywhat we thought was ultimately best for the
tournament. You know, the challengewith keeping Denver in the West was that
(06:01):
it would would have ultimately adversely affectedother teams that you know, teams that
were even more highly ranked than inDenver. And so so that you know
that that creating a challenge for us, and because we need to do a
need to keep your masks in Springfield, we needed to avoid a first round
(06:23):
n CHC Verson HC match up.And so when you factored all of that
in, it would have likely meantthat BU was was not matched up with
our I T and likely would havebeen matched up with Western Michigan, and
that community felt strongly that it beyou as the as the number two overall
(06:46):
seed Dessert to play the number fifteenteam in the brad. Yeah. I
don't know how much you have followedas you're getting in. I assume you
were probably watching this on a weekby week basis, even though the really
the only time that hair wise matterswas last night when you knew the sixteen
teams and in their seeding. Butit looked like it could have been a
mess at times. You know,I think in one of my bracketology columns,
(07:10):
I think I had the number oneseed playing the number of fourteen seed
because that was the closest you couldget without you know, destroying the conversation.
You do. You have to justkind of take a deep breath now
and say, maybe we got alittle bit lucky, but it, you
know, it does work on this. I wrote last night that I thought
it was one of the easier bracketsto figure out. But was there some
(07:35):
stress going through your mind in thecommittee's mind as we came down the stretch
of the season. Yeah, youknow, I try not to get too
stressed about it, like you said, until the final of Airwise, and
obviously I was monitoring it close inyou what some of the possible scenarios looked
like. And yeah, certainly therewas a time at which it looked like
there was a good chance that therecould be five on the HC teams in
(07:58):
the in the turn of that.You know, there were other times at
Hockey EASTEAD it's far or six thatwere in the mix, and that you
know, those scenarios certainly would havecreated challenges for us, But we do
have a principle that says if there'smore than four teams a particular conference,
we have the flexibility to match teamsup an interconference way in the first round.
(08:22):
So yeah, it's uh, youknow this, it just showed there's
so much parenting couch hockeyt you know, the difference between teams is so slight.
I think in the end you massended up getting the last that large
spot by like four one hundreds ofa of a point in the r p
I S. So you know,lots of different permutations, and I think
(08:46):
you're right again, the brackets sortof played itself out given our various parameters
and the teams that ultimately fall thechampionship more with Jeff Schulman in a Moment.
This podcast is sponsored by the nc a A Men's Division One Frozen
four April eleventh and thirteenth at XcelEnergy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
(09:11):
Where are my hockey fans at?Welcome to fandom one oh one. It's
NCAA Ice Hockey Championship time, whenthe hottest teams in the country faced off
under one group. Be there tosee your squad hoist the ultimate trophy overhead
the NCAA Men's Frozen Pool, Aprileleventh and thirteenth in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
(09:31):
Attendance is encouraged, Passion is mandator, Buy your seas today at NCAA
dot com slash m Frozen Pool.Class dismissed and we're back with Jeff Schulman,
University of Vermont Athletic Director. JeffLooking at Minnesota, Omaha as two
(09:54):
three in a region and also withMaine and Cornell. Do you feel that
you've got in brackets they're going togive you the best attendance result after following
all the rest of the parameters likebracket integrity. Yeah, I actually all,
all four regions are well positioned forstrong attendance, and you know suit
(10:16):
Falls, you know laws that maybetwo and a half hours for them from
suit Falls. The Gophers fans obviously, uh, travel really well. One
of those teams is going to bein the regional final, so I think
that that site is well positioned.You know, uh, Maryland Heights the
same newest bracket is. It's somebig brand teams and as you know,
(10:41):
a little bit of a smaller vendingcapacity there. So I think they'll they'll
be banged out both nights for thatregion. Providence with d C and Quinnipiac
and Wisconsin that alums everywhere, soI think they'll they'll do well. And
Springfield obviously the game mass of hostand the main courtell both travel well.
Main fans you know, showed upin big numbers at the Garden this weekend
(11:07):
and Courtell federals they always travel well. And you know, obviously the Bassment
civil some close to Springfield. SoI think the regionals are really well set
up from the attendants standpoint. Andyou know that's been a real point of
emphasis for the committee over the pastseveral years, just wanting to create a
real championship atmosphere at these BRIGA sitesthat fits in a national championship. Yeah,
(11:31):
we're talking about this just championship.But before I left, you go
have to ask kind of the pertinentquestion that a lot of people are talking
about in the future. I knowyou've assigned a couple of more regions for
the next couple of seasons, butthere's it seems like there's such a strong
discussion these days of possibly moving atleast the opening round to a campus site.
(11:52):
Is that even something that's feasible withwhat the committee has and how serious
of a discussion do you think thatwill be as meetings take place in in
Naples and then among the committee inIndianapolis. Yeah, as you know that,
it's that conversation around PO Central campussites and there's a few different ways
you can do that. It's beenongoing for many years, and it ebbs
(12:16):
and flows, and I think,you know, it seems to be gaining
some momented over the past year orso. I know, we're some people
who really strongly believe in it,and we'll continue as a committee to have
those conversations and talk to and listento the college hocket community, and you
know, we're all just seeing thisbe the best championship that it can possibly
(12:39):
be, and there's a lot ofways to approach that in a lot of
different opinions all that, so,I think it's an important conversation for college
hockey community to always be having.And you know, ultimately it's it's a
decision the committee to make with theMC double A looking like the major change
in format. So yeah, it'sit's it's part of the broader conversation about
(13:07):
the best direction and chentlemanship to workwell this year's championship. It will kick
off this Thursday, and we're veryexcited. I know the college hockey world
is very excited. I think you'veyou've got a great field with four great
regionals. Jeff Shulman, we knowthat this is a long day, it's
a busy day, so we appreciatea little bit of your time. We'll
hope you enjoyed the championship and we'llsee you in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
(13:31):
Thanks guys, look forward to it. And that's University of Vermont athletic director
Jeff Schulman. He's the chair ofthe men's D one ice Hockey Committee.
Jim, I think it was prettytransparent how the committee came up with this,
and you know, obviously it matchedyour bracket, so you were thinking
along the same lines. Maybe justthe swapping of in the middle of Maine
(13:56):
and Cornell and getting a Minnesota withhome that really sort of fixed everything attendance
wise and made the bracket feel prettygood. I wholeheartedly agree, obviously,
when I came up with this onSaturday evening late and you know, it
was trying to explain my ration outsto a lot of people around the Hockey
(14:18):
East tournament or post gathering, andI understand where they went. And sometimes
if you can do it, andit's one thing I've learned about the committee
over the years, if they cando it, they will make the changes
as simple as possible. You hadto change Omaha, you had to get
(14:39):
them away from North Dakota, soyou swapped them with Michigan. And then
once you've done that, it wasjust swapping two pairings out to get two
of the eastern teams east and twoof the western teams west. That has
protected all of the attendance concerns thatwill create great atmospheres. I really do
agree with Jeff that if you haveany concern. Maybe it could have been
(15:03):
Sioux Falls, but I think you'regoing to see some pretty good crowds there,
especially as you kind of highlighted thereat Omaha in Minnesota, both of
those within a four and a halfhour drive, Omaha even closer, and
as the host in the region.So I think when all of a sudden
done, you have set up anear perfect bracket for a year that looked
(15:26):
like it was going to be anightmare. You got into the topic with
Jeff about on campus sites. It'sjust something that gets kicked around a little
bit. On one hand, withthe committee doing a good job with attendance,
that becomes less of an issue.But you think of first round games
with these top four seeds with aGanis or Magnus or Mun or Kanti forum,
(15:48):
and how banged out those buildings wouldbe. Yeah, you know,
I was looking at this last night, and you know you mentioned a Kandi
Forum, Aganis, Magnus Arena,Mon, you know, or no,
the alphon angle set arena three AMarena. Uh and then who was number
eight was? Oh Wisconsin, Imeaner building if they Cole Center, you
(16:14):
know, you fill that up.It's it's a very interesting future. I
do feel, and Jeff didn't addressit directly. You know, they've awarded
bids, and for teams to bid, they have to promise certain amounts of
revenue to the nc DOUBLE a yearsin advance. They don't have to come
up with it years in advance,but they have to promise it, and
(16:36):
that's tied to the amount of attendancethat you'll have in that region. I
would think that because there is thatcontract, it will also be kind of
a reversal of the contract and thatthe NCUBA cannot suddenly take regional bids away
from cities in the next two years, so anything that's awarded. I basically
(16:57):
what I'm saying is I don't thinkwe can see campus sites obviously this year,
but not for the next two years, maybe three years down the road,
and we'll learn that pretty soon.December, I think, is when
the committee is certainly going to awardthe next few frozen fours. That would
probably be the right time for themto award the next few regionals that would
(17:22):
begin starting in the cycle of twentytwenty seven, So we might know by
December ish if that's going to happenor if we don't find out that there's
been any regionals awarded. That givessome time to possibly at least discuss it
more. I think I've always enjoyedthe regionals. I've liked the thought of
knowing where you're going to work atleast that's a very selfish thing. But
(17:47):
for fans, you know, howmany fans of North Dakota have already bought
tickets to suit Balls and they're nowtrying to unload them and trying to find
a way to get into a twentyfive twenty six hundred seat building in Maryland
Heights. How many fans of BostonUniversity was so convinced that they would be
out in Springfield that they've bought theirtickets already. So it's difficult, you
know, but you know, Iget it. The atmosphere and all of
(18:14):
those eight buildings that I just letlisted out would be banged out, sold
out buildings, and those are somebig buildings, And I think maybe the
conferences are going to be the experimentationthe Petri dish for it. Only one
of the preset final four buildings reallywas full, and that was TD Garden,
(18:36):
which was crazy short of disappointing.I'd have to think for the NCHC
and ECAC. Meanwhile, Michigan State, EMIGI and RIT hosted sold out buildings
with incredible atmospheres, and listen,I give Hockey East some credit, but
sometimes you have to get lucky toyou know, you have unbelievable talent.
You have two of the best teamsin the country, had taught three of
(18:57):
the top five in the pairwise thatthe end of the season, and for
the top fourteen, and even whenyou had some teams below that, they
were pretty close to the border.This was a good year for Hockey East.
But the you know, nearly eighteenthousand fans at night and TD Garden
is not the norm. You know, the norm is usually between somewhere between
maybe eleven and fifteen thousand, sothis was a little bit extreme. That's
(19:21):
still a fantastic crowd, don't getme wrong, but you know, you
looked at the NCHC crowd. That'sa big arena at the Excel Energy Center
and they'll be moving to campus sitesin two years, so I can kind
of see why certain buildings don't workanymore, especially geographically leagues that are so
spread out. So you know,you mentioned it what you saw at Bemidgie,
(19:45):
what you saw at rit and whatyou saw Montareena at Michigan State.
Unbelievable crowds. Bottom line, ifwe grade the committee on how they handled
this this time around, a Aplus, it seems like they did a
terrific job. Yeah, AARA plusis fine by me because you know that
that's the way. It just seemedthat they didn't do anything that didn't seem
(20:10):
relatively obvious. They weren't trying todo something crazy and make some sort of
a statement. They followed their guidelinesto the t. And because of that,
I think you have four good regions, four competitive regions that North Dakota,
Michigan, Michigan State, Western MichiganRegion. Undoubtedly the bracket of Death,
(20:33):
one of the toughest regions that we'veseen in quite some time, but
you know it's going to create agreat atmosphere and some good hockey. Well
with that, we'll wrap up thisspecial edition of US E h O Spotlight.
This podcast has been sponsored by theNCAA Men's Division. One Frozen four
April eleventh and thirteenth at Xcel EnergyCenter in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Visit
(20:57):
NCAA dot com AM Frozen four toget your tickets today for Jim Conley.
I'm Ed Trevsker and this has beenusc CHO Spotlight
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