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Date Posted: 17:28:30 06/24/04 Thu
Author: purplehaze
Subject: sacred heart pitch for ecac

from today's conn post - if their academics were better, they would have a real crack at this - no doubt they made a good impresssion - and have a commitment to build an on-campus facility if admitted - understand we did 'not' make a commitment to expand hart hockey arena if we get in

+++

They spent over five hours Friday afternoon playing the part of the wide-eyed and admittedly nervous groom, making that oh, so important first-impression visit to his bride-to-be's parents' house.

Athletic director Don Cook, head hockey coach Shaun Hannah and Jim Barquinero, the vice president of enrollment planning and student affairs, all put on their best suits, smiled their brightest smiles and hoped that the visitors liked what they saw.

Sacred Heart University

which appeared on the national mid-major Division I-AA map thanks to former coach Jim Fleming and his football program, and has also benefited from the Division I basketball efforts of men's coach Dave Bike and women's coach Ed Swanson
is doing its darndest to get recognized again for its hockey programs. After Sacred Heart's men went 14-15-6 and had a solid season in the Atlantic Hockey League, reaching the championship game against Holy Cross, Cook and Co. now have bigger fish to fry: the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

Members of the ECAC got the grand tour of not only Sacred Heart University, but other sites, including the Arena at Harbor Yard, the Milford Ice Pavilion and the Pitt Center. Most importantly, the group took a good, long look at the area behind Campus Field

the proposed site of a new $12 million, 3,000-seat hockey facility

that the university plans to build if its application into the ECAC is accepted.

"I think (the meeting) went very well," Cook said from his home Friday night. "The best way to frame it was that we were prepared well. We did everything we could to get ready for this."

The Pioneers are trying to strike while the iron is hot. Back in April, the ECAC announced that it would begin seeking applications for league membership starting in the 2005-06 season, because the University of Vermont is leaving the league to join Hockey East.

With Vermont's departure, the ECAC has 11 members: Ivy League schools Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown and Harvard, in addition to Colgate, RPI, Clarkson, Union and St. Lawrence. And the pressing question is, how many new members will the ECAC accept?

SHU wants to eliminate the guesswork by making such a strong pitch that the ECAC will not be able to say no.

So Friday, Cook, Hannah and Barquinero took two members of the ECAC committee

Yale's assistant athletic director, Wayne Dean, and ECAC Hockey League acting commissioner Steve Hagwell

on a five-hour tour. They stopped at the downtown Arena, where the Pioneers will play until their on-campus rink is built, they toured the Milford Ice Pavilion, where the team practices, and they did a walk-through of the Pitt Center, where all the exercise facilities are located.

While at the Arena, Dean and Hagwell were met by Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi, who spoke of the success the building has seen, with three straight winning seasons from the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the commitment of Fairfield University basketball to play there. There is also some talk that SHU is thinking about playing a couple of key games in the Arena in upcoming seasons.

Landing the mayor was a big key, according to Cook.

"He said all the right things that needed to be said," the athletic director said.

Along with Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac, Holy Cross, Niagara and Mercyhurst have formally applied for admittance into the ECAC. A conference call among the league members is expected to take place on Monday or Tuesday to discuss the potential new membership number. A final decision on the school or schools selected is expected in early July.

"The meeting went very well, I think it did a lot of good," Hannah said. "We showed the committee our commitment and we gave them a good picture of the potential future of Sacred Heart men's and women's hockey."

It has been Hannah who has brought Sacred Heart's men near the brink of hockey excellence. Two seasons ago in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, SHU went 13-10-3 and finished third. This past season as a member of Atlantic Hockey, the Pioneers were even better, going 12-8-4 in conference play. They were unbeaten in 12 of their last 15 games (10-3-2).

"It's a big step for us, but it's one we're prepared to take," Hannah said. "It's an exciting new chapter in Sacred Heart men's and women's hockey programs. We'd like to be a member of the ECAC, no question."

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[> Re: sacred heart pitch for ecac -- HC1843, 18:55:47 06/24/04 Thu

The best reason for the no improvements to Hart is that we would use the Centrum for the games as interest grows, which in Worcester I believe would be rather quick. Thus, I do not view the no improvement to Hart as necessarily a bad thing...especially seeing that the Centrum was good enought to be a site for the NCAAs in hockey and again will be in bball. This to me is a huge plus.

All this being said, we REALLY should have made other significant promises, which I have no idea if we did or did not. I am guessing the best man to answer this ? is NTK, but as I fully respect, he will not be able to pass this info along (at this point).

All I can say is that HC in the ECAC would be such a brilliant thing, it makes my ultimate return up North in a few years time to be even sweeter should we get the invite.

Cheers.

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[> Re: sacred heart pitch for ecac -- HChockeyalum, 10:59:08 06/25/04 Fri

To HC1843: I agree with you that the Centrum is a big plus for HC...too bad that they won't go the extra mile with scholarships, etc. to cinch the deal. Simply stated, if HC gave the ECAC everything it wanted, the only decision would be whether to admit more than one school. The only thing I'm worried about is the relevance of scholarships and the travel partner issue. If those are the two major concerns of the ECAC, then Niagara and Mercyhurst have a great shot together, though probably not separately.

Really, what is the significance of academics in this equation? If academics and name recognition are bigger than scholarships, or that the ECAC is hopeful that HC will eventually add scholarships, then HC has a lock IMO.

Still, the fact that McFarland and the Trustees apparently won't consider them now, given the great potential for improving application numbers and attendance, and especially given their unavoidable recognition of the academic superiority of the ECAC, really burns me. So much so, that I will forever stop sending money to HC if we don't get in to the ECAC and let them know why I'm doing so.

Question: Why is NTK in a position to offer insight into these issues??

Let's all say a prayer for HC hockey.

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