FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Ice Bear]

Save the listless football for the MIAC championship game.

That game scares the crap out of me as a fan...on the road at a place where BU has historically struggled, against an opponent who has historically been very hard on BU.  Eek. 

Really makes you wish Roste had been healthy for the 10-7 loss against Platteville, because they'd still be in a great position for the playoffs, even with a loss in the championship, or alternatively, a W in the championship plus the W over Plateville would have them extremely well positioned for playoff seedings.

Ice Bears says so true! Ice really hopes the UWP loss doesn't come back to bite the Royals in the ass.

[OldAuggie]

Bethel and SJU this week:

[DuffMan]

Settle down, OA.  Wrestling season is upon us.

[art76]

Art, I have to admit that I thought of you recently.  My son got one of those Estes rocket kits as a gift, and we launched it for the first time.  He was thoroughly impressed. 

Hey Duff, glad to hear that! Nothing like the smell of burned black powder in the air...

[OldAuggie]

Settle down, OA.  Wrestling season is upon us.

Ah yes, wrestling season; the time of year when all Auggies may hold their head high.....

Hockey is ranked #4 in the pre-season poll...

I am happy that Augsburg football has risen to the level of this week's conversation. Quite a few sophomores are contributing this year, so I look forward to watching this program develop in the future.

[Ice Bear]

Settle down, OA.  Wrestling season is upon us.

Ah yes, wrestling season; the time of year when all Auggies may hold their head high.....

Hockey is ranked #4 in the pre-season poll...

I am happy that Augsburg football has risen to the level of this week's conversation. Quite a few sophomores are contributing this year, so I look forward to watching this program develop in the future.

Ice Karen Yapper was a hockey player and he is curious as to how D3 hockey is viewed in Minn.? D3 hockey is some damn good hockey, but in what is probably the only state where it is even possible for a HS player to make the jump to D1, or a top junior program like the USHL, Ice is just curious how Minn. folks view D3 hockey in their state?

[SJU13]

Nice write up about Alex Larson —> https://m.startribune.com/nfl-prospect-alex-larson-st-johns-east-ridge-jack-thome-chip-scoggins-football-across-minnesota/600220981/

With the discussion of Covid year eligibility this may be a nice bright spot for 2023.

"Larson has one more season of eligibility left because of eligibility rules changes during the pandemic, and he currently plans to use it. Feedback from scouts has revolved around gaining more weight and strength while continuing to improve as a blocker. But they are intrigued by him as a prospect."

[AO]

Settle down, OA.  Wrestling season is upon us.

Ah yes, wrestling season; the time of year when all Auggies may hold their head high.....

Hockey is ranked #4 in the pre-season poll...

I am happy that Augsburg football has risen to the level of this week's conversation. Quite a few sophomores are contributing this year, so I look forward to watching this program develop in the future.

Ice Karen Yapper was a hockey player and he is curious as to how D3 hockey is viewed in Minn.? D3 hockey is some damn good hockey, but in what is probably the only state where it is even possible for a HS player to make the jump to D1, or a top junior program like the USHL, Ice is just curious how Minn. folks view D3 hockey in their state?

Whereas HS Hockey is clearly bigger in Minnesota than most states I wouldn't say D3 hockey in MN is much more highly regarded in MN than it is in the small handful of other states that have D3 hockey teams.  They're usually the oddballs of an athletic program given that some of them are 24-25 years old having played juniors for a few years and most teams don't have an on-campus arena.  That said the level of play is pretty high since there are limited options for the guys who can't quite make a D1 roster.

[GoldandBlueBU]

Settle down, OA.  Wrestling season is upon us.

Ah yes, wrestling season; the time of year when all Auggies may hold their head high.....

Hockey is ranked #4 in the pre-season poll...

I am happy that Augsburg football has risen to the level of this week's conversation. Quite a few sophomores are contributing this year, so I look forward to watching this program develop in the future.

Ice Karen Yapper was a hockey player and he is curious as to how D3 hockey is viewed in Minn.? D3 hockey is some damn good hockey, but in what is probably the only state where it is even possible for a HS player to make the jump to D1, or a top junior program like the USHL, Ice is just curious how Minn. folks view D3 hockey in their state?

Whereas HS Hockey is clearly bigger in Minnesota than most states I wouldn't say D3 hockey in MN is much more highly regarded in MN than it is in the small handful of other states that have D3 hockey teams.  They're usually the oddballs of an athletic program given that some of them are 24-25 years old having played juniors for a few years and most teams don't have an on-campus arena.  That said the level of play is pretty high since there are limited options for the guys who can't quite make a D1 roster.

That was the unique part about the hockey players...There were athletes from pretty much every other sport that you knew from your freshman year / being in the dorms, etc, but the hockey guys were older, often only saw them in classrooms and not in residence halls.  Got to know a couple of them within my major, but they didn't come in through the same "culture" funnel that everyone else did who moved into the freshman dorms at 18, so they always seemed a little like outsiders?

[OldAuggie]

I agree for the most part with the previous opinions of D3 hockey. The crowds are not huge but at Augsburg, there is an on-campus arena and the student section is wild. Makes attending the game's fun and the atmosphere in The Ed very entertaining. The core of the student section is the Auggie baseball team and they support the hockey team; they wear old Auggie hockey jerseys, have great chants, literally taunt the opposing teams on the ice, and it's fun when they are in full force.

Overall though it is not huge in MN like D3 hockey is out east or at St Norbert, which has a great arena as well. The quality of play is, as AO said just a notch below D1 and there are always a couple of D1 transfers on the good teams. I think I read there are more D1-level players than D1 teams and some of these borderline guys spill into D3. There is no D2 hockey, other than a few teams in the east.

The Jr teams get very little if any press either so it seems to me the D3 teams get more attention than Jrs in the Twin City Metro anyway.

[SagatagSam]

I'm really hating the possibility that they might only be three at large bids for the NCAA playoffs come 2024/2025. If you thought good teams were being left out before, it's about to get a ton worse. I'm sure someone could go back and find plenty of quarterfinal, semifinal, and, heck, maybe even a national finalist that was an at-large team.

[OzJohnnie]

I'm really hating the possibility that they might only be three at large bids for the NCAA playoffs come 2024/2025. If you thought good teams were being left out before, it's about to get a ton worse. I'm sure someone could go back and find plenty of quarterfinal, semifinal, and, heck, maybe even a national finalist that was an at-large team.

Surprising myself, I think I disagree with you.  I mean I think that fewer at-large bids may be a good thing.  I say that because it makes winning the conference really important again.  In the last 15 years or so, winning the conference has become significantly less important, in my opinion, as eyes were always focused on the post-season.  With it more and more likely that the only way to the post season is via the conference championship then that breathes life back into the title.


On the other hand, if only one gets to go and it takes a big investment and student commitment to reach that level, then it could be quite discouraging and costly for the second place team to come up empty when they would be very competitive against at least 80% of the auto-bids into the post-season.  If that post-season glory isn't shared around a little then teams will have a difficult time maintaining a program that can get there.


So I say "I think" because I'm not quite sure I do disagree with you.  But I may be willing to as we see how things work out.

[DuffMan]

Regional "rankings" are out.  I did not foresee CMS bring in there.

In alphabetical order:
Bethel
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Linfield
St. John's
UW-La Crosse
UW-Platteville
UW-Whitewater

[desertcat1]

Regional "rankings" are out.  I did not foresee CMS bring in there.

In alphabetical order:
Bethel
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Linfield
St. John's
UW-La Crosse
UW-Platteville
UW-Whitewater

That's NOT your first f up ? 

[OzJohnnie]

Regional "rankings" are out.  I did not foresee CMS bring in there.

In alphabetical order:
Bethel
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Linfield
St. John's
UW-La Crosse
UW-Platteville
UW-Whitewater

Man, what as mess.  UWP is an odd duck.  Best ranking criteria but for the fact that they are a .500 club.  I think they would fall in this order.

School,  Record, RRO, SOS

SJU, 7-1, 1-1, .663
BU,  7-1, 1-1, .591
UWW, 6-2, 1-2, .672
UWLC, 7-1, 0-1, .560
CMS, 6-1, 0-0, .414
UWP, 4-4, 2-0, .637
LIN, 7-0, 1-0, .620

EDIT:  Or we had better hope that UWP is on the bottom of the list come selection time or else the whole region will get log-jammed behind them for the three at large bids on Selection Sunday.

EDIT II: Fixed for LIN.  Recognise Huntington and put them in their natural place.