| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| jsun51 |
Posted - 06/24/2014 : 1:30:29 PM
The Board of Governors approved the following conference and divisional alignment for the 2014-15 season.
Eastern Conference
North Division
Cincinnati Cyclones, Elmira Jackals, Reading Royals, Toledo Walleye, Wheeling Nailers
South Division
Florida Everblades, Greenville Road Warriors, Gwinnett Gladiators, Orlando Solar Bears, South Carolina Stingrays
Western Conference
Midwest Division
Colorado Eagles, Evansville IceMen, Fort Wayne Komets, Indy Fuel, Kalamazoo Wings
Pacific Division
Alaska Aces, Bakersfield Condors, Idaho Steelheads, Ontario Reign, Stockton Thunder, Utah Grizzlies
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| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Puckhead60 |
Posted - 07/21/2014 : 9:35:42 PM
Great minds, think alike DBC. When I saw this I thought the exact same thing, except with doubt that the ECHL was "surprised" by Vegas being out a year. I would think that everyone would have put the odds on them not being active this year over being active. Our eventual home will surely be in the Midwest division once the numbers even out. One could argue that it should have been Kalamazoo in the North division and us in the Midwest this year, but apparently the league office didn't have any maps readily available when they shook this out. As for expansion, i'd love to see some of the lower leagues either fold outright or have defections to the ECHL. The league really needs to shore up its numbers and picking off some strong franchises and folding them into the fray would be excellent, especially if some of them are in flyover country. We'd need a whole division of teams in that area for it to work, probably 4. The Pacific Northwest seems like it'd be a great spot as well for some minor league hockey if enough teams could be found to toss in a division with Alaska.
I also see this realignment as a clear vehicle to bring us the rather terrible divisional playoff system, which I also hate in the NHL and am saddened to see trickle down the ECHL now as well. Hopefully it won't last. It'd really be amusing to see Colorado win the East this year though if the 'Clones can't do it. |
| cMan2KellyCup |
Posted - 07/04/2014 : 9:16:52 PM
oh and PsychFan, I have a way to counteract that too... why not have a Kelly Cup Semifinal instead of the standard East-West final.... regardless of division, you can reseed and have 1 play 4 and 2 play 3 and the winners meet in the Final... I never liked the term "Conference Champions" anyway... its just a positive spin on the term "runners-up" |
| cMan2KellyCup |
Posted - 07/04/2014 : 9:02:12 PM
Elvis and I FINALLY agree on something.... sharing in the vision for a hostile takeover of the CHL!!! That would fill in the gaps that the ECHL cant seem to find and make it a true superleague... the CHL is already a sinking ship and should have already been absorbed by the ECHL, which has annually become the clear winner at the AA level...
seriously, the teams in Iowa and Texas and Kansas would fill the gaps and create a AA super-league, like what happened when the AHL took the IHL in similar hostile fashion... a superleague actually HELPED the triple A level...
and a final scenario... the Federal League is a miserable failure! I went to see the Dayton "Demonz" a few times... four teams, and Dayton won their title after having the only decent arena in that godforsaken tank and running over everyone consistently for three seasons... It can benefit from having the SPHL merge into one true single-A league... and the other three can come too provided they offer up decent ARENAS (not practice facilities becoming regular playing arenas)
think about it, ladies and gentlemen, ONE league for all levels...
To recap: SPHL for A, ECHL for AA, AHL for AAA...
Live from Chicago: C-Man OUT! :D |
| PsychFan |
Posted - 06/28/2014 : 10:49:37 AM
quote:
Originally posted by dbc
Elvis
No I read your previous comments about the schedule coming out first but I think they are two separate issues. As a minor league you want your schedule out as soon as possible because unlike the Cyclones very few teams own their building and the sooner you can book the dates the better dates you get. I respect your opinion that you don't think a release prior to the playoffs being over makes sense. I have no problems with it personally however and in fact would be fine if they released the 15-16 schedule tomorrow. I also don't have a problem with them being in the Western Conference or whatever name they want to use. It is just a convenient way to divide things up. The Reds played in the West for years under the old alignment of MLB
What I do have a problem with is the new divisional alignment and the lack of correlation it has in 14-15 with the Cyclone schedule. What I was trying to point out was that I believe it is a one year patch work solution as shown by the fact that the Cyclones are playing a schedule that fits perfectly with being in the Midwest Division with 36 of their games against that division while only 20 are against the east and 15 against the South (plus Utah for a game), and Colorado, which is in the Midwest Division next year, plays all of its games except three against the Pacific Division teams which fits perfectly with a team that was in that Division. Why would they do that to both teams if they did not intend to move those two teams in 15-16 back into the geographically correct divisions?
The reason they could not do so this year I believe is that they are short a team in the East in their attempt to mimic the NHL and AHL and have divisional playoffs in the first two rounds thereby building rivalries and cutting down on travel. To move Cincinnati and Colorado back into the Divisions in 15-16 where they play the majority of their games now and where they belong geographically, they need to add a team to the East next year and my guess is that that is their top priority for expansion.
While I understand it, it causes some real absurd scenarios. The most absurd and likely is that Colorado qualifies for the playoffs in the Midwest Division after playing only three games against the other divisional teams and then has to play two rounds against divisional teams it has never played!!. It might then win the Division and play the Pacific Division Champion where it has essentially played all year long. Oh well--lets hope it is only for one year
You seem to get hot and bothered over really stupid things. SMH. Things change in the ECHL every summer. It'll probably be different next summer. And the summer after that. Sheesh. SMH. |
| dbc |
Posted - 06/27/2014 : 09:03:17 AM
Elvis
No I read your previous comments about the schedule coming out first but I think they are two separate issues. As a minor league you want your schedule out as soon as possible because unlike the Cyclones very few teams own their building and the sooner you can book the dates the better dates you get. I respect your opinion that you don't think a release prior to the playoffs being over makes sense. I have no problems with it personally however and in fact would be fine if they released the 15-16 schedule tomorrow. I also don't have a problem with them being in the Western Conference or whatever name they want to use. It is just a convenient way to divide things up. The Reds played in the West for years under the old alignment of MLB
What I do have a problem with is the new divisional alignment and the lack of correlation it has in 14-15 with the Cyclone schedule. What I was trying to point out was that I believe it is a one year patch work solution as shown by the fact that the Cyclones are playing a schedule that fits perfectly with being in the Midwest Division with 36 of their games against that division while only 20 are against the east and 15 against the South (plus Utah for a game), and Colorado, which is in the Midwest Division next year, plays all of its games except three against the Pacific Division teams which fits perfectly with a team that was in that Division. Why would they do that to both teams if they did not intend to move those two teams in 15-16 back into the geographically correct divisions?
The reason they could not do so this year I believe is that they are short a team in the East in their attempt to mimic the NHL and AHL and have divisional playoffs in the first two rounds thereby building rivalries and cutting down on travel. To move Cincinnati and Colorado back into the Divisions in 15-16 where they play the majority of their games now and where they belong geographically, they need to add a team to the East next year and my guess is that that is their top priority for expansion.
While I understand it, it causes some real absurd scenarios. The most absurd and likely is that Colorado qualifies for the playoffs in the Midwest Division after playing only three games against the other divisional teams and then has to play two rounds against divisional teams it has never played!!. It might then win the Division and play the Pacific Division Champion where it has essentially played all year long. Oh well--lets hope it is only for one year |
| elvis77 |
Posted - 06/26/2014 : 9:14:45 PM
@dbc - Apprently you missed the point about the schedule coming out first. The League knew Vegas was out months ago. The schedule came out long after Vegas shut down but way before the re-alignment. It was a completely backwards way of doing things. This years schedule should have no bearing on next years and why would it. Also, if the Cyclones move to the Midwest that means we become a Western Conference teams. Why on Earth would we want that? I'm still a proponent of a hostile take over of the CHL or just cut the West loose. I know the League likes the Nation wide footprint but needing to pull 4 teams from the East to give the West a competitive number of teams is a complete joke. |
| dbc |
Posted - 06/26/2014 : 7:16:51 PM
Have to believe they were thrown by Las Vegas exit and this is a one year quick fix.Bring in another east team next year, move Cincy back to Midwest, and Colorado goes back to the Pacific where they belong.
Two schedules point to that. Go to the ECHL website and check the schedule next year for Colorado. They play three,, that is three games in the Midwest division all year with three late season home games against K-Zoo. All their other 69 games are against the pacific teams with their first five games against Utah, then three against Idaho, and then three more against Utah!!!. Awful
Our schedule is a joke but makes me think we will replace Colorado in Midwest next year. We play only 20 games all year within our division( we play 15 against the South). Elmira we play 3 at home and three away. Reading we play three at home and ZERO there. Toledo we play 2 here and 5 there and wheeling we play 2 in both places.
While we play only 20 games against the other four teams in the East, we play half our games-36- against the 4 nearby teams in the Midwest which makes me think we will join them in a year. Evansville we have 8 games here ( remember we have only ten home games all year against the East division) and three there. Indy visits 3 times and we go there for six games. Fort Wayne we travel to for three game and have them here for 4 and Kzoo visits for 5 games and we go north for four. We play EACH local Midwest team more than any team in our own East division. Looks like the Cyclones took one for the ECHL team for a year |
| cMan2KellyCup |
Posted - 06/26/2014 : 3:55:11 PM
I mean dont get me wrong im happy were getting Fort Wayne, Indy and Evansville more, but it doesnt make sense how the divisions stacked up... although it DOES say alot for a possibility of a rivalry taking hold in the... say... Kelly Cup Final? |
| bags |
Posted - 06/26/2014 : 2:51:20 PM
Only bad part is "Midwest" division teams are closer than the
"South" and next year we will be playing more South teams possibly
than Midwest teams. |
| Reggie Dunlop |
Posted - 06/26/2014 : 11:52:29 AM
Announcing divisions after the schedule was released made no sense. Very backward. The concept of divisions is to play one another with utmost frequency and try to assert your will over all those divisional opponents. In Cincinnati's case, they play the most games versus a team not even in their division.
On the micro end of it, I don't mind the North division. I like the built-in rivalries with Toledo and Wheeling. |
| cMan2KellyCup |
Posted - 06/26/2014 : 12:47:07 AM
In comment on the division based playoff format, I think that is the right thing to do. The NHL recognized it and we had better and more exciting playoff matches as a result this year by them reviving four divisions and division play, PLUS you had the new East teams of Detroit and Columbus make the playoffs, so I am in favor of the four division playoff format. What is ridiculous is the way they scheduled it BEFORE the end of the finals and BEFORE the realignment... this is part of my beef over the schedule being announced before the end of the playoffs! |
| cMan2KellyCup |
Posted - 06/26/2014 : 12:42:39 AM
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen! No damn way you can convince the Indiana teams to travel all that space... they need to come up with a new one because its gonna blow up in everyones faces |
| elvis77 |
Posted - 06/25/2014 : 01:33:22 AM
The playoff format is now divisional. The top 4 teams from each division make it in. The 1st 2 rounds are divisional. The winner of the 2 Eastern divisions then play each other for the Conference title. The same thing out West.
Again, since the schedule isn't changing, odds are there will be a sub .500 team getting in from the Pacific.
Interesting note, The team the Cyclones see more than any other is a Western Conference team. We play the Icemen 13 times this season. If I recall, they won't see the Colorado at all.
The more I think about it, this re-alignment is a lot like Obamacare; something had to be done to fix a problem and this looks good in theory but it really doesn't accomplish much. Sure a few benefit, but mostly it's pretty pointless.
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| bags |
Posted - 06/24/2014 : 10:37:43 PM
Thanks Elvis for the info. If a division where teams don't play each other
exists, how about a real fix to the playoffs for next year. From the Pacific
the top 4 make it into the playoffs. From the Midwest,North and South, the top
12 make it. First round is Pacific 1-4,2-3 and on the other side is 1-12,2-11,
3-10,4-9, 5-8, 6-7. Second round is two Pacific winners head to head and others
head to head. Third round is reseed with remaining 4 teams. |
| elvis77 |
Posted - 06/24/2014 : 9:41:45 PM
It's not going to change. Every League or Team official that's posted the re-alignment has made it a point to mention that the schedule won't be changing. While the alignment is a good first step if fixing the issues out west, not changing the schedule makes it rather pointless as far as the regular season standings go. |
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