Ferris State’s Daniels talks WCHA playoffs at campus sites, why NCAA Tourney games should stay neutral

By Michael Caples –

Longtime Ferris State coach Bob Daniels was the coach selected to take part in the conference call announcing that the WCHA playoffs will now be played at campus sites.

The bench boss for the Bulldogs provided great insight while discussing the conference’s decision to eliminate semifinal and championship games at neutral sites – like this year’s WCHA Final Five at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids – in favor of playing all postseason games at the member schools’ ice arenas.

Daniels praised the work done by WCHA commissioner Bill Robertson and the conference’s staff for the work they have done at the WCHA Final Five tournaments at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota and at Van Andel, and pointed out that there are new benefits of playing on-campus games.

“First, I want to mention that Bill and his team have done an outstanding job with the tournaments that have been held at the Xcel and Van Andel,” Daniels said. “In some respects, like last year at Van Andel, we had pretty solid attendance and a real championship atmosphere there. The issue, at times, becomes in some respects, it was like a home rink advantage to us. Both us and Michigan Tech, given our location, were able to bring a lot of fans there. That’s not a given year-to-year. It seemed the year before at the Xcel Center, when we played Minnesota State, we had a wonderful crowd there, but it was driven by the Minnesota State fans. When you look long range, you can’t count on those things. I do want to compliment Bill and his team there, for really I think providing a championship atmosphere, but now moving forward, we’re at a point where we’re guaranteeing it.”

However, Daniels said that while he likes the idea of on-campus playoff games for the conference playoffs, he still supports the idea of neutral sites for NCAA Tournament games – something that has been long debated in college hockey circles.

“The difference between the WCHA playoffs and the NCAA Tournament is that the WCHA, the leagues and the conferences conduct a playoffs, which quite often in hockey that means best-of-three, best-of-five. The student athletes are used to that, coming from junior hockey, and they’ll be used to it when they go into the pro ranks where there’s a best-of in the series. The NCAA Tournament is different. That’s a tournament, it’s bracketed.

“For a coach that’s been both at the on-site campus playoff and NCAA Tournament, and also neutral site, I can say that’s a different animal. In 2002-03, I’ll use us as a specific team, we had to play the University of Minnesota at Mariucci Arena. That’s an Olympic sheet, and it was certainly 95 percent Gopher fans. We had a very good hockey team that year; we did lose to the Gophers, who won the national title. I can tell you to this day, our players have always felt that they would have loved to play the Gophers on a neutral site, and it was a one-game shot.

“When you’re talking NCAA Tournament, when that’s on a neutral site, I think that’s a better avenue, because it is a tournament. When you’re talking about playoffs, and given the geography of our league, I think you’re much better suited to have those on campus. That’s my take on comparing the two, the NCAA Tournament and the WCHA Playoffs.”

Daniels also pointed out that playing on-campus conference playoff games can help with attendance for NCAA Tournament games; teams expected to play in the national tournament will most likely be hosting conference playoff games, which means that said school’s fans are looking at only one weekend of major travel plans, instead of multiple.

“…I don’t see this as being really a dramatic shift, I think it’s more forward-thinking than it is backward-thinking,” Daniels said of today’s announcement. “It’s looking at what could be the possibilities given the geographic challenges our conference has. For instance, if it were held at Van Andel and we didn’t have any of the Michigan schools present, given the difficulty for the fans to travel to travel to locations, it made it really difficult. I think this gives the fans a much better chance. Look at the fan experience, too. If for instance, our fans would have to travel by themselves one weekend, then if we were fortunate enough to win or get a bid to the NCAA Tournament, you’re asking them to turn around the next weekend within a five day notice try to get plane tickets to a regional. You’re really putting an onus on the fans in that case. I think this situation provides a better avenue, especially for your students who want to attend the games.”