April 11, 2025 • 15 mins
Join USCHO as the Weekend Review crew of Ed Trefzger, Jim Connelly and Derek Schooley along with St. Lawrence coach Brent Brekke discuss the annual State of the Game press conference that was held as part of the 2025 Frozen Four in St. Louis. Topics include roster limits, NIL, recruiting challenge, NCAA regional sites and the transfer portal.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Friday at the Frozen Four. Later in the day
there are awards, but today we've been talking about the
state of the game with some people who are involved
in finding direction for college hockey. Welcome to USCCHO live
on Friday at the Frozen Four. I'm Ed Trevsker, along
with Jim Connelly from USCCHO, Robert Morris University head coach
(00:25):
Derek Scooley, and St. Lawrence University head coach Brent Breckey.
It was an interesting time today. We had four guests
on the dais to take questions from the media. Tim Troville.
He is from Harvard and he is the chairman of
the Men's D one Hockey Committee, longtime Minnesota The Louth
(00:45):
head coach and committee member Scott Sandlin, Steve Metcalf who
is the chairman of the Hockey Commissioners Association and Commissioner
of Hockey East and representing the NHL and the host city.
Steve Chapman, who is a executive vice president of the
Saint Louis Blues.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
They talked about a lot of things, but one of
the things they hit on first had to do with
the House versus NCAA decision which still has another week
or so to go, plus the change in the CHL
eligibility and Jim, that brought up some questions and some
comments from the day it did.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
And you know, I think the biggest thing you heard
we're waiting on the judge and that this is going
to be really about individual campuses. Tim Trovell, who's the
chair of the committee, he's from Harvard, represents kind of
a university itself. Let's take a listen to what he
said about individual schools having you made decisions.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
So I'd add, I think what's unique about college hockey
is we have many different levels of membership. We have
Division three institutions playing Division one hockey, we have non
scholarship institutions participating. And if I just look at the
league that I represent, the ECAC, we have six IVY
hockey playing schools plus six ECAC hockey playing schools, some
(02:00):
of those Division one out of the Patriot League and
some out of the Livery League and Division three. And
I think what will end up happening is we'll all
make that determination on campus what's best for our campus.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
In well, there really is a lot of wait and see,
and I'm sure for you as head coaches, there's some
wait and see too.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Yeah, you can't make a lot of your key decisions
that you can. You can make some hockey decisions, but
you can't make key decisions as far as what kind
of players are going to keep, who you're going to have,
where you're going to do it. And especially when everybody
thought April seventh was going to be a final ruling
and now it gets pushed a lot longer and they
were told to come back by this coming Monday with
(02:39):
some roster limitations, maybe some grandfathering, and we'll see where
it goes from there. And right now it's like a
lot of wait and see.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Brent, is it uncomfortable as a coach to be in
such a state of limbo? I mean, this could take
effect right away, it could be a couple of years
down the road. You could be in a position as
a coach where you're cutting players from your current ross.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
That's not comfortable.
Speaker 7 (03:01):
No, that's not comfortable at all. And those decisions, it's
both sides. It's not just the coaches. The players want
to know as well. They're sitting there watching the Internet
and some of the things that's been talked about as well.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
But you're getting near the end of the school year.
Speaker 7 (03:14):
You know they're getting into finals, and you want to
have discussions face to face.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
With the kids before they leave campus.
Speaker 7 (03:18):
The other piece is if there's decisions that are made,
they're going to be effective immediately. There's admissions processes for
a lot of schools that come into play as well,
So there's some different dynamics that are just non hockey stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
They're tied to institutional decisions as well.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I think that ties to the second topic that was
the biggest one is the Canadian Hockey League Major Junior
and the ability for major junior players to play and
not surprising, just like the house versus NCAA question, the
answer really was, well, it's kind of a wait and
see and I guess Derek, I'll start with you. We've
been thinking about this is that, Okay, now we can
(03:53):
recruit CHL players, but you forget that there's bargaining.
Speaker 6 (03:57):
In the NHL, in professional.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Elective bargaining rules that relate to the NCAA. How complicated
is it beyond just oh, hey, we have a new
player pool that we can recruit from.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Well, I think there's a lot of things that go
in to play that people don't think of. When these
players originally decided they want to play major junior hockey,
they did not want to play college. That's what they decide.
Now they're shifting gears. But how they do in school?
Did they do as well as they should? Is everybody
eligible and you've got to do a lot of case
by case basis. You also have to you can take
(04:29):
America Link players as long as they haven't had an
agent represent them in some collective bargaining things. So yeah,
there's a lot of play, but I still think there's
a lot of wait and see. But we are so
much more in a lot of I mean, just think
of everything that's happened in the last year since we're
here talking about major junior nil's revenue sharing, I mean
(04:51):
now transfer portal again, house limits or limits on the rosters.
I mean, that's a lot to take in in one year.
I think this has been a very controversial year in
college hockey as far as the rules go.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Brent, you're in a situation now where you have a
bigger recruiting pool, but you also have players who did
what they thought was the right thing to stay eligible,
and you have other players maybe with some bonus eligibility.
And then you also perhaps where you're located in the
North Country in New York State, you have some players
who maybe took the QMJHL route who now could stay
(05:26):
closer to home and play NCAA hockey. I guess a
lot of moving parts for you to work through right now.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, there is.
Speaker 7 (05:33):
I mean, we're in a great location for that. I
mean obviously close to Ottawa, close to Montreal. I mean,
we've got a lot of teams that are in our
backyard per se, and so that becomes a benefit for sure,
you know, but it is. You know, Derek mentioned just
a little bit ago the things that we're overlooked with
some of that. There's a lot of kids we talked
to in the front end. As soon as they made
that decision that the CHL was going to be an option.
(05:54):
A lot of those kids did not stay on track
for the academic piece. They were taking courses, but not
necessarily the right courses. The right number of courses progress
towards degree is a big piece of that. So there
was a number of kids right from the start weren't
even eligible, and so you know, there's a lot of
digging that it has to be done the guy in
the scenes to really find out are these kids going
to be the right fit for our institutions. Specifically may
be different for others for what the academic requirements are,
(06:16):
but the overall nc double A requirements become you know,
they're cutting dry. You need these many credits in this
each year as you lead up to graduate from high school.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
I mean, you're also talking about guys that have played
with half shields, have played that fighting has been a
legitimate part of the game. There's a lot of different things,
not just off the ice. On the ice that's going
to take place too well, there's.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
Plenty more we can talk about.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Hey, surprisingly regional bids in the NCAA tournament that came out,
as did nil money. When us EHL Live returns from
the Frozen Four.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
I'm Cold Kawfield and I played college hockey. I'm Adam
Fox and I played college hockey.
Speaker 8 (07:00):
Jake Densel and I played college hockey. I'm Kelbacar and
I played college hockey. Whether you're a fan or a player,
nothing compares to college hockey.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Yeah, I think so. And you know, last year we
had a regional and Maryland Heights and we're we're always
looking to sell illicit bids for regionals, and certainly there's
more Eastern cities interested than maybe some in the West,
and we're doing a lot of active outreach to try
to get some of those cities and towns to bid.
And we want to grow college hockey and we want
(07:46):
to get it into places where people can access it.
And I've said this is why having the Frozen Four
here and essentially located Saint Louis is really fantastic and
it's easily accessible, and I think we look at the
same for the regionals, like how can we provide a
good experience, and particularly think about it from a geography standpoint,
(08:07):
but we'll actively solicit to try to get more Western
cities and arenas to bid on it.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Welcome back to us CECHO live at the Frozen Four.
That is Tim Troville, the chair of the Men's Ice
Hockey Committee, talking about regionals and it's an interesting conversation.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
We have it a lot, Brent.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
We were just talking off there were the big topic
a few years ago was are we moving to campus sites?
Are we taking the regionals away? We're going back to
campus sites now it seems regionals are the more prominent discussion.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
And more so than they ever have been.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
Yeah, well, the student athlete experiences is an important one.
You've planned some great venues and great buildings all year
long in your conference or even non conference games, but
when you go to regionals sometimes it's not what you
get as far as the attendance that you're hoping for,
and that's it's disappointing.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
It's the biggest game of the years you're leading up
to getting to that point playing in the NCAAs.
Speaker 7 (09:00):
So the discussion always comes around are we better served
to be on campus, you know, at different institutions buildings,
and you know you're gonna get the good crowds, you know,
especially because you've got the whole team there if they've
qualified for it, and so the crowds typically are very
very good sellouts. But there's a huge advantage too if
that home team that bid for it, if it's at
their rink, it's a it's a pretty unique experience that
(09:22):
they haven't ever had.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
A lot of logistical questions go into that too, Derek,
I know you've been on the committee, so you've gone
through this when you when they're talking about regionals, and
we asked Tim Trovillis, and he's said in the affirmative
they do they try to recruit cities to try to bid,
because especially west of really Pennsylvania.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
Ohio, it's been hard to get cities to bid.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
How tough is it just to sometimes even get enough
cities to bid each air.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Well, we always seem to have a good group of
when I was on the committee, a good group of
cities to choose from. Like I brought up, also off campus,
everybody last year Maryland Heights was was too small, and
this year at like, hey, we're Maryland Heights.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
What a good deal.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
So you go for it back and forth and you
play with both things. I think everybody wants controversy, Like
we could have the best regionals in the world, and
then everybody's gonna say, oh, it should still be on
home sites, or we could go to home sites and
then go, oh, this isn't fair, we need to go
back to regionals. So everybody's going to have an opinion.
It is what is we get David carl here, we
know what opinion he's got. He wants to be on
(10:23):
home sites. I would imagine the top fifteen teams in
the nation want to be on home sites. But at
the end of the day, it's a national tournament. It's
not a campus, it's not a league, it's not a campus.
It's a national tournament.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
And I like that.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
I don't think it's I don't think it's broken, So
why change it.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Tim Troville did say open to non traditional markets for
the regionals that we get it in the Frozen four.
Maybe Saint Louis itself feels non traditional, will go to
Las Vegas next year. I don't think we can put
the regional in a market though, that doesn't have college
hockey really close by.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
I think you're talking though hockey cities. You've got some
Trementou des Moines is an unbelievable hockey city with the
American League, with the USHL. You've got cities like that
that have four or five thousand state buildings that have
college hockey ties. Fargo has that been a success, Sioux
Falls has been a success. So why not try to
take it into some of those other little areas like
(11:20):
maybe a Rockford, Illinois or something. I mean, where there's
an American League, there's hockey. I don't think it has
to be college hockey, but there has to be hockey.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
There when we get into this, Brint, do we have
to just kind of throw out the capacity of the building.
I mean, know that was such a big issue eight
ten thousand plus six thousand plus for a while. Do
we just have to throw capacity out?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
As coaches, we'd like to say that, But the NCAA,
there's money, just the tickets. It's the reality of it.
Speaker 7 (11:48):
So they're not going to shrink the size that seating
capacity by much. You know, they want to make sure
there's revenue coming from the NCAA regionals. Now that being said,
there is a ton of different ranks is specifically in
college hockey that can't host. The venue is not big enough,
we don't see enough and so and could be a
number of hotels available in small towns. And we're a
(12:08):
small market in New York. So there are some differences
that it's still kind of doesn't play to everybody's fairness.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I guess per se to be able to host. So
there's some things to think about that.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Scott Sandalin was asked different topic nil does he feel
like it's unfair?
Speaker 6 (12:25):
Does you feel like there's a balance, Is you worry
about it all? You really?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It was a neutral answer. He said, it gets brought
up a lot. You guys are both coaches out there
in the recruiting trail NIL.
Speaker 6 (12:36):
Where are we as we think state of the game.
How do we think the NIL plays out these days? Well,
we don't do it. So you're asking somebody who isn't
involved in it.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
I don't know if many as many people are involved
in as you would think. I think there's some small ones.
There's some small things, some small deals. I don't think
it's as large as what basketball, football and all that is.
I think you're talking and some small that might start
getting a little bit larger, but it's also going to
then separate the top of the bottom a little bit.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
The interesting piece that ties to that going back to
the kids coming from the CHL, those conversations and talking
to those kids that are no options for us for
college hockey. That's the question they're asking. Okay, on top
of my scholarship, how much am I making?
Speaker 6 (13:20):
Where's the rest of the money.
Speaker 7 (13:21):
I mean, that's legitimately asked by ninety percent of the
kids we've talked to out of the CHL. It's not
just okay, I'm expecting a full scholarship, but what else
is coming with that, how much other money might can
be able to make.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
One last thing that came up that nobody really had
an answer for was the transfer portal, and the question
was can anyone do anything with the nil with the
CHL eligibility with the transfer portal? Question for both of you,
how has that changed your job? How has it changed
the job of your assistance?
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Well, I think the minute the season was over, you
would take a week or two and take a break
and get away from the rink. With the transfer portal
happening happen, it's just onto the next year or the
day after you're done, and you've got to keep working,
and it's uh. I think Mike, one of the coaches
that lost in the NCAA tournament, said that. Ben Barr said,
we've got to get right back into it real quick here.
So I really believe that we just have to know
(14:15):
the new rules and we'll play by them. So tell
us what it is and we'll we'll do it.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
Yeah, we were kind of joking after Western one, they've
got the off day, like where you just go check out.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
The transfer portal for the day and act on the phone.
What's the what's the off day? You look like. But
that is the reality of it's.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Uh, it's a lot of moving parts that have things
happened quickly. We've already said it earlier in some of
the talks we've had that it's a bit of speed
dating and because decisions are made quickly, and you know,
when there's a prospect in there that's a very attractive
prospect and has numerous offers, but there's other kids that say, hey,
if if we're not getting this kid, we don't want
to miss out on the next kid. So there's a
lot of timelines being put in a place for those
(14:52):
kids to make decisions.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
You guys are in the portal every day.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
What's the percentage of players that are not even eligible
to be eligible is not the right word.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
They've already made a commitment, they know where they're going.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
A lot, I mean a lot has been already taken
care of. I don't see it. I don't know the
final numbers, but it's looking more like thirty three percent
of the kids that go in come out with us
with something right now.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But with that, we'll wrap up with Friday at the
Frozen four from USCCHO Live Tomorrow. Saturday is the National Championship.
Then we'll have a morning video previewing the matchup between
Western Michigan and Boston University for Jim Connolly, for Derek
Schooley for Brent Breckey. I met Trefsker from uscho dot
(15:39):
com inviting you to check out our coverage and we'll
see you next time.
It's Friday at the Frozen Four. Later in the day
there are awards, but today we've been talking about the
state of the game with some people who are involved
in finding direction for college hockey. Welcome to USCCHO live
on Friday at the Frozen Four. I'm Ed Trevsker, along
with Jim Connelly from USCCHO, Robert Morris University head coach
(00:25):
Derek Scooley, and St. Lawrence University head coach Brent Breckey.
It was an interesting time today. We had four guests
on the dais to take questions from the media. Tim Troville.
He is from Harvard and he is the chairman of
the Men's D one Hockey Committee, longtime Minnesota The Louth
(00:45):
head coach and committee member Scott Sandlin, Steve Metcalf who
is the chairman of the Hockey Commissioners Association and Commissioner
of Hockey East and representing the NHL and the host city.
Steve Chapman, who is a executive vice president of the
Saint Louis Blues.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
They talked about a lot of things, but one of
the things they hit on first had to do with
the House versus NCAA decision which still has another week
or so to go, plus the change in the CHL
eligibility and Jim, that brought up some questions and some
comments from the day it did.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
And you know, I think the biggest thing you heard
we're waiting on the judge and that this is going
to be really about individual campuses. Tim Trovell, who's the
chair of the committee, he's from Harvard, represents kind of
a university itself. Let's take a listen to what he
said about individual schools having you made decisions.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
So I'd add, I think what's unique about college hockey
is we have many different levels of membership. We have
Division three institutions playing Division one hockey, we have non
scholarship institutions participating. And if I just look at the
league that I represent, the ECAC, we have six IVY
hockey playing schools plus six ECAC hockey playing schools, some
(02:00):
of those Division one out of the Patriot League and
some out of the Livery League and Division three. And
I think what will end up happening is we'll all
make that determination on campus what's best for our campus.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
In well, there really is a lot of wait and see,
and I'm sure for you as head coaches, there's some
wait and see too.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Yeah, you can't make a lot of your key decisions
that you can. You can make some hockey decisions, but
you can't make key decisions as far as what kind
of players are going to keep, who you're going to have,
where you're going to do it. And especially when everybody
thought April seventh was going to be a final ruling
and now it gets pushed a lot longer and they
were told to come back by this coming Monday with
(02:39):
some roster limitations, maybe some grandfathering, and we'll see where
it goes from there. And right now it's like a
lot of wait and see.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Brent, is it uncomfortable as a coach to be in
such a state of limbo? I mean, this could take
effect right away, it could be a couple of years
down the road. You could be in a position as
a coach where you're cutting players from your current ross.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
That's not comfortable.
Speaker 7 (03:01):
No, that's not comfortable at all. And those decisions, it's
both sides. It's not just the coaches. The players want
to know as well. They're sitting there watching the Internet
and some of the things that's been talked about as well.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
But you're getting near the end of the school year.
Speaker 7 (03:14):
You know they're getting into finals, and you want to
have discussions face to face.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
With the kids before they leave campus.
Speaker 7 (03:18):
The other piece is if there's decisions that are made,
they're going to be effective immediately. There's admissions processes for
a lot of schools that come into play as well,
So there's some different dynamics that are just non hockey stuff.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
They're tied to institutional decisions as well.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I think that ties to the second topic that was
the biggest one is the Canadian Hockey League Major Junior
and the ability for major junior players to play and
not surprising, just like the house versus NCAA question, the
answer really was, well, it's kind of a wait and
see and I guess Derek, I'll start with you. We've
been thinking about this is that, Okay, now we can
(03:53):
recruit CHL players, but you forget that there's bargaining.
Speaker 6 (03:57):
In the NHL, in professional.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Elective bargaining rules that relate to the NCAA. How complicated
is it beyond just oh, hey, we have a new
player pool that we can recruit from.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Well, I think there's a lot of things that go
in to play that people don't think of. When these
players originally decided they want to play major junior hockey,
they did not want to play college. That's what they decide.
Now they're shifting gears. But how they do in school?
Did they do as well as they should? Is everybody
eligible and you've got to do a lot of case
by case basis. You also have to you can take
(04:29):
America Link players as long as they haven't had an
agent represent them in some collective bargaining things. So yeah,
there's a lot of play, but I still think there's
a lot of wait and see. But we are so
much more in a lot of I mean, just think
of everything that's happened in the last year since we're
here talking about major junior nil's revenue sharing, I mean
(04:51):
now transfer portal again, house limits or limits on the rosters.
I mean, that's a lot to take in in one year.
I think this has been a very controversial year in
college hockey as far as the rules go.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Brent, you're in a situation now where you have a
bigger recruiting pool, but you also have players who did
what they thought was the right thing to stay eligible,
and you have other players maybe with some bonus eligibility.
And then you also perhaps where you're located in the
North Country in New York State, you have some players
who maybe took the QMJHL route who now could stay
(05:26):
closer to home and play NCAA hockey. I guess a
lot of moving parts for you to work through right now.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, there is.
Speaker 7 (05:33):
I mean, we're in a great location for that. I
mean obviously close to Ottawa, close to Montreal. I mean,
we've got a lot of teams that are in our
backyard per se, and so that becomes a benefit for sure,
you know, but it is. You know, Derek mentioned just
a little bit ago the things that we're overlooked with
some of that. There's a lot of kids we talked
to in the front end. As soon as they made
that decision that the CHL was going to be an option.
(05:54):
A lot of those kids did not stay on track
for the academic piece. They were taking courses, but not
necessarily the right courses. The right number of courses progress
towards degree is a big piece of that. So there
was a number of kids right from the start weren't
even eligible, and so you know, there's a lot of
digging that it has to be done the guy in
the scenes to really find out are these kids going
to be the right fit for our institutions. Specifically may
be different for others for what the academic requirements are,
(06:16):
but the overall nc double A requirements become you know,
they're cutting dry. You need these many credits in this
each year as you lead up to graduate from high school.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
I mean, you're also talking about guys that have played
with half shields, have played that fighting has been a
legitimate part of the game. There's a lot of different things,
not just off the ice. On the ice that's going
to take place too well, there's.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
Plenty more we can talk about.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Hey, surprisingly regional bids in the NCAA tournament that came out,
as did nil money. When us EHL Live returns from
the Frozen Four.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
I'm Cold Kawfield and I played college hockey. I'm Adam
Fox and I played college hockey.
Speaker 8 (07:00):
Jake Densel and I played college hockey. I'm Kelbacar and
I played college hockey. Whether you're a fan or a player,
nothing compares to college hockey.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Yeah, I think so. And you know, last year we
had a regional and Maryland Heights and we're we're always
looking to sell illicit bids for regionals, and certainly there's
more Eastern cities interested than maybe some in the West,
and we're doing a lot of active outreach to try
to get some of those cities and towns to bid.
And we want to grow college hockey and we want
(07:46):
to get it into places where people can access it.
And I've said this is why having the Frozen Four
here and essentially located Saint Louis is really fantastic and
it's easily accessible, and I think we look at the
same for the regionals, like how can we provide a
good experience, and particularly think about it from a geography standpoint,
(08:07):
but we'll actively solicit to try to get more Western
cities and arenas to bid on it.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Welcome back to us CECHO live at the Frozen Four.
That is Tim Troville, the chair of the Men's Ice
Hockey Committee, talking about regionals and it's an interesting conversation.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
We have it a lot, Brent.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
We were just talking off there were the big topic
a few years ago was are we moving to campus sites?
Are we taking the regionals away? We're going back to
campus sites now it seems regionals are the more prominent discussion.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
And more so than they ever have been.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
Yeah, well, the student athlete experiences is an important one.
You've planned some great venues and great buildings all year
long in your conference or even non conference games, but
when you go to regionals sometimes it's not what you
get as far as the attendance that you're hoping for,
and that's it's disappointing.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
It's the biggest game of the years you're leading up
to getting to that point playing in the NCAAs.
Speaker 7 (09:00):
So the discussion always comes around are we better served
to be on campus, you know, at different institutions buildings,
and you know you're gonna get the good crowds, you know,
especially because you've got the whole team there if they've
qualified for it, and so the crowds typically are very
very good sellouts. But there's a huge advantage too if
that home team that bid for it, if it's at
their rink, it's a it's a pretty unique experience that
(09:22):
they haven't ever had.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
A lot of logistical questions go into that too, Derek,
I know you've been on the committee, so you've gone
through this when you when they're talking about regionals, and
we asked Tim Trovillis, and he's said in the affirmative
they do they try to recruit cities to try to bid,
because especially west of really Pennsylvania.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
Ohio, it's been hard to get cities to bid.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
How tough is it just to sometimes even get enough
cities to bid each air.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Well, we always seem to have a good group of
when I was on the committee, a good group of
cities to choose from. Like I brought up, also off campus,
everybody last year Maryland Heights was was too small, and
this year at like, hey, we're Maryland Heights.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
What a good deal.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
So you go for it back and forth and you
play with both things. I think everybody wants controversy, Like
we could have the best regionals in the world, and
then everybody's gonna say, oh, it should still be on
home sites, or we could go to home sites and
then go, oh, this isn't fair, we need to go
back to regionals. So everybody's going to have an opinion.
It is what is we get David carl here, we
know what opinion he's got. He wants to be on
(10:23):
home sites. I would imagine the top fifteen teams in
the nation want to be on home sites. But at
the end of the day, it's a national tournament. It's
not a campus, it's not a league, it's not a campus.
It's a national tournament.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
And I like that.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
I don't think it's I don't think it's broken, So
why change it.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Tim Troville did say open to non traditional markets for
the regionals that we get it in the Frozen four.
Maybe Saint Louis itself feels non traditional, will go to
Las Vegas next year. I don't think we can put
the regional in a market though, that doesn't have college
hockey really close by.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
I think you're talking though hockey cities. You've got some
Trementou des Moines is an unbelievable hockey city with the
American League, with the USHL. You've got cities like that
that have four or five thousand state buildings that have
college hockey ties. Fargo has that been a success, Sioux
Falls has been a success. So why not try to
take it into some of those other little areas like
(11:20):
maybe a Rockford, Illinois or something. I mean, where there's
an American League, there's hockey. I don't think it has
to be college hockey, but there has to be hockey.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
There when we get into this, Brint, do we have
to just kind of throw out the capacity of the building.
I mean, know that was such a big issue eight
ten thousand plus six thousand plus for a while. Do
we just have to throw capacity out?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
As coaches, we'd like to say that, But the NCAA,
there's money, just the tickets. It's the reality of it.
Speaker 7 (11:48):
So they're not going to shrink the size that seating
capacity by much. You know, they want to make sure
there's revenue coming from the NCAA regionals. Now that being said,
there is a ton of different ranks is specifically in
college hockey that can't host. The venue is not big enough,
we don't see enough and so and could be a
number of hotels available in small towns. And we're a
(12:08):
small market in New York. So there are some differences
that it's still kind of doesn't play to everybody's fairness.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I guess per se to be able to host. So
there's some things to think about that.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Scott Sandalin was asked different topic nil does he feel
like it's unfair?
Speaker 6 (12:25):
Does you feel like there's a balance, Is you worry
about it all? You really?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It was a neutral answer. He said, it gets brought
up a lot. You guys are both coaches out there
in the recruiting trail NIL.
Speaker 6 (12:36):
Where are we as we think state of the game.
How do we think the NIL plays out these days? Well,
we don't do it. So you're asking somebody who isn't
involved in it.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
I don't know if many as many people are involved
in as you would think. I think there's some small ones.
There's some small things, some small deals. I don't think
it's as large as what basketball, football and all that is.
I think you're talking and some small that might start
getting a little bit larger, but it's also going to
then separate the top of the bottom a little bit.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
The interesting piece that ties to that going back to
the kids coming from the CHL, those conversations and talking
to those kids that are no options for us for
college hockey. That's the question they're asking. Okay, on top
of my scholarship, how much am I making?
Speaker 6 (13:20):
Where's the rest of the money.
Speaker 7 (13:21):
I mean, that's legitimately asked by ninety percent of the
kids we've talked to out of the CHL. It's not
just okay, I'm expecting a full scholarship, but what else
is coming with that, how much other money might can
be able to make.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
One last thing that came up that nobody really had
an answer for was the transfer portal, and the question
was can anyone do anything with the nil with the
CHL eligibility with the transfer portal? Question for both of you,
how has that changed your job? How has it changed
the job of your assistance?
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Well, I think the minute the season was over, you
would take a week or two and take a break
and get away from the rink. With the transfer portal
happening happen, it's just onto the next year or the
day after you're done, and you've got to keep working,
and it's uh. I think Mike, one of the coaches
that lost in the NCAA tournament, said that. Ben Barr said,
we've got to get right back into it real quick here.
So I really believe that we just have to know
(14:15):
the new rules and we'll play by them. So tell
us what it is and we'll we'll do it.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
Yeah, we were kind of joking after Western one, they've
got the off day, like where you just go check out.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
The transfer portal for the day and act on the phone.
What's the what's the off day? You look like. But
that is the reality of it's.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Uh, it's a lot of moving parts that have things
happened quickly. We've already said it earlier in some of
the talks we've had that it's a bit of speed
dating and because decisions are made quickly, and you know,
when there's a prospect in there that's a very attractive
prospect and has numerous offers, but there's other kids that say, hey,
if if we're not getting this kid, we don't want
to miss out on the next kid. So there's a
lot of timelines being put in a place for those
(14:52):
kids to make decisions.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
You guys are in the portal every day.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
What's the percentage of players that are not even eligible
to be eligible is not the right word.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
They've already made a commitment, they know where they're going.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
A lot, I mean a lot has been already taken
care of. I don't see it. I don't know the
final numbers, but it's looking more like thirty three percent
of the kids that go in come out with us
with something right now.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But with that, we'll wrap up with Friday at the
Frozen four from USCCHO Live Tomorrow. Saturday is the National Championship.
Then we'll have a morning video previewing the matchup between
Western Michigan and Boston University for Jim Connolly, for Derek
Schooley for Brent Breckey. I met Trefsker from uscho dot
(15:39):
com inviting you to check out our coverage and we'll
see you next time.
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