Detroit appears to lose out on hosting BigTen Hockey Championship.

**Atticus** · February-06-12, 10:53 PM

Even though the format has been changed, and a neutral hockey site will now be used for crowning the Big Ten hockey champion.....

It appears the Detroit & Joe Louis Arena would end up losing out on hosting the annual Big Ten Conference Hockey Championship. If true, it is too bad the UofM and MSU athletic directors are not fighting harder to keep business in our state.

Only 6 Big Ten schools will offer ice-hockey, making Detroit the most central location for such an event. Its also an event that could have brought a lot of business downtown during an otherwise slower business month in March.

Link: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/...t%7CGPG-Sports

**leland_palmer** · February-06-12, 11:09 PM

It still could happen eventually.

The three-day schedule — it could ultimately be moved to other neutral sites

**Atticus** · February-06-12, 11:18 PM

Maybe. But normally these things get locked in for 5-6 years at a time. And if the source is correct, I really think MSU and UM really dropped the ball on an opportunity to play in front of hometown fans in an event that could annually boost local businesses.

**Hamtragedy** · February-06-12, 11:41 PM

what happened to the CCHA? Doesn't make sense to have a Big 10 hockey league if there are only 6 teams. Then again, the NHL did that for decades.

**ghettopalmetto** · February-07-12, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

what happened to the CCHA? Doesn't make sense to have a Big 10 hockey league if there are only 6 teams. Then again, the NHL did that for decades.

A wealthy Penn State alumnus donated a lot of money for a hockey arena, so they're going to have a varsity program beginning next fall. By Big Ten rules, the addition of a sixth program among the conference's schools is sufficient quorum to form its own conference in hockey.

**WALD0123** · February-07-12, 10:57 AM

Although I'm not really in favor of a neutral site for post season hockey until you get to the NCAA Championship level [[an MSU-PSU matchup in the B1G championship, although unlikely, would draw about 600 fans to the Xcel Energy Center), I think this is a facilities issue. Xcel is a state of the art arena built in 2000. We're all aware of what the Joe is. If/when the Ilitch's build a new arena, Detroit is a lock for this event.

**rb336** · February-07-12, 11:04 AM

If the Big 10 decides to host the playoffs in the same location for several years, it will be an incredibly moronic decision.

**Atticus** · February-07-12, 06:18 PM

Newer arena or not, Xcel will be empty unless one of the schools playing is Minnesota.

Yes you might be able to say the same thing about JLA if its not UM/MSU, but your chances are much more likely that one of the two will be playing. And even OSU is within a 3 hour drive of JLA. There is no other school that is within a 3-hour drive of St. Paul.

All things being equal:
-Statistically speaking there is a 33% chance that Minnesota would be playing in any given game. [[So 2/3 of the time nobody is there if it is in St. Paul.)
-Statistically speaking there is a 60% chance that at least one of UM or MSU is playing. [[So more than half of the time JLA sells tickets.)
-And though this is stretching it, if the game were at JLA, statistically speaking there is an 80% chance that at least one of the teams playing is within in a 3-hour drive of JLA [[compared to 33% for Xcel).