NCHC in Good Health After Two Seasons

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference held its second annual meeting. Here are a few things that piqued my interest. The NCHC first round and the Frozen Faceoff generated a fair amount of revenue.

 NCHC Tournament – Between the four quarterfinal campus-site series and the NCHC Frozen Faceoff, a significant portion of the NCHC’s revenue came from tournament ticket sales. All four campus sites drew strong crowds for the nine quarterfinal games while a total of 23,126 people attended the four Frozen Faceoff games in Minneapolis — nearly 6,000 more people than in 2013-14. Altogether, the NCHC Tournament generated over $1.2 million with roughly half coming from the quarterfinal round and the other half coming from the Frozen Faceoff.

The NCHC.TV also generated a pretty nice revenue stream.

NCHC.tv – A new revenue stream for the conference in 2014-15 was NCHC.tv, which helped diversify the NCHC’s overall revenuerather than being almost entirely reliant on the NCHC Tournament. In its first year, NCHC.tv subscriptions generated approximately $200,000 for the conference and member institutions. The majority of NCHC.tv revenue will be distributed back to the member schools.

In the future, look for more NCHC games to be on TV. Possibly in year three. Stay tuned. If I receive any information I will post an update.

Television – In the second year of our partnership with CBS Sports Network, CBSSN broadcasted 14 NCHC games in 2014-15, including both Frozen Faceoff semifinals and the championship game. The games were available across the country and the production quality/unique features are the best in the business. In addition to the CBSSN games, 20 more games were broadcast nationally on FOX College Sports, which was a new addition to the NCHC TV lineup this past season. Of those 20, nine games featuring Minnesota Duluth or St. Cloud State were also shown on FOX Sports North throughout Minnesota and the upper Midwest to help expand the NCHC brand. In all, 34 NCHC games were televised nationally, an increase of 16 games from 2013-14.

And finally, look for a few tweaks on the ice at the NCHC kicks off its third season of play. This is one thing that I like about the NCHC. While the WCHA refuses to add the shootout, the NCHC settled ties in league games via the shootout. Now, the NCHC looks to tweak their overtime procedures. The AHL is currently using the three-on-three overtime and fewer games are going to a shootout.

One change not mentioned here if the game is won in O.T.. I would like to see the NCHC adopt the NHL rule where the loser is given a single point.

 Overtime Structure – The NCHC is looking into the possibility of changing both its overtime procedures and point structure in the standings. Currently, if a conference game is tied following regulation, a five-minute overtime is played 5-on-5 with a three-man shootout to follow if no winner is decided. For conference games, the NCHC is looking at experimenting with a five-minute 3-on-3 overtime should the game remain tied following the NCAA-mandated five-minute 5-on-5 overtime. The NCHC has closely followed the success the American Hockey League (AHL) and junior hockey leagues have experienced with 3-on-3 overtime. If the game is still tied following the 3-on-3 overtime, the game would then go to a sudden death shootout to determine which team wins the extra point in the standings. The conference has already informed the NCAA Rules Committee of its desire to add an experimental rule to allow a 3-on-3 overtime format to be played. The NCHC Board of Directors will need to officially approve any overtime or point structure changes to the current model. This topic will be discussed more during the off-season.

I think this is a good rule change. Due to the NCHC being a meat grinder, injuries will happen. I see this as a positive.

Travel Roster – Due to the competitiveness of the NCHC, the Board of Directors voted to expand the travel roster for conference 23 players. The primary reason for the change was health and safety concerns for injured or sick student-athletes who might currently need to play on the road. The home team has access to its full roster of players as the expanded travel roster helps eliminate some of that “home-ice advantage.”

This is a move that I applaud. The new NHL nets take up a lot less room.

NHL Nets – The Board of Directors voted to use NHL-sized nets in all NCHC venues and at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff beginning with the upcoming 2015-16 season. The depth of an NHL-sized net is narrower than the nets that have been used to-date. Based on experiences from the NHL, the change could create more scoring opportunities.