Detroit News: Berenson Confirms Outdoor Game on Jan. 15, 2012
Detroit News article confirms that the Michigan hockey team will play an outdoor game against OSU at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Game is set for January 15, 2012:
Michigan coach Red Berenson said Wednesday the game would take place Sunday, Jan. 15.
"I'd never say no to an outdoor game," Berenson said. "It's great for the players and unique for our fans. It's throwback hockey. Our fans get fired up for outdoor games. They travel well."
Berenson and team captain Luke Glendening will be in Cleveland tomorrow for a news conference officially announcing the game.
Red, for one, doesn't think that outdoor games are becoming too commonplace:
When asked if Michigan is playing in too many outdoor games, Berenson said, "It's unusual to think we're playing three outdoor games in three years, but I feel each one is unique. It's so popular and they've gone off so well."
UPDATE: According to an annarbor.com piece, Berenson canceled his planned trip to Cleveland because of what the coach called a last-minute "hiccup":
“If they can’t agree, if all the different people that want to get their fingers in the pie, if they can’t agree, then it’ll just go back on campus, but right now, we’ve agreed to play wherever they want to play,” Berenson said from his office on Friday. “I hope it works out that we play an outdoor game, but it’s too bad. Today was supposed to be a grand announcement.”
So the game is not as set in stone as it appeared the other day, although in a Free Press article Red was quoting as saying:
"I think it's going to happen, but I wouldn't get too far in front of this until they finally announce it."
Nice. It's good to see a legacy of shitty Ohio teams play in that stadium.
at all, though? The stadium they already have can seat twice as many away fans. Why in the world would TSIO schedule a neutral site venue against us? Too soon to have throngs of Wolverines taunting them in Cbus? It would be a nice photo op to have a Maize-out at The Armpit.
It's because the osu AD knows their hockey fans won't even fill a quarter of the horseshoe.
Because that city and the people who run the stadium were the driving forces behind this--not, it seems, OSU. From a Michigan Daily article:
The outdoor game is part of another attempt for Cleveland to boost activity around Progressive Field and the city's hub. Last winter saw a two-month family-friendly event called "Snow Days," which featured ice skating and a sledding hill inside the stadium. The Indians also hosted a Brad Paisley concert last week that drew over 25,000 fans to the field.
From Cleveland Plain Dealer article:
Discussions about staging hockey at the 43,000-seat Progressive Field were actually the seeds for "Snow Days." The Indians couldn't put a hockey game together last winter, but the idea of using the 17-year-old ballpark for a winter attraction resulted in "Snow Days," an event with a 60-foot snow tubing hill, ice skating and other family attractions that ran from the day after Thanksgiving through Jan. 2.
Since I live in Cleveland, I am very excited to see this game and I hope all of you (and a ton of your friends) come down for this game. I don't want a Buckeye love-fest -- I want a lot of Blue joining me in Progressive Field.
But, why on Sunday? won't that make it very difficult for fans from out of town (ahem, Blue fans from Michigan) to attend, enjoy themselves, and go back the next day? I am not sure, but I think OSU might not have started their winter quarter by January 15, so the date might disadvantage Michigan more than OSU fans from Columbus even though Columbus is not that much closer to Cleveland than Ann Arbor.
Sounds like a bit of a homer trap. I'm probably paranoid.
The day after, January 16, is MLK Day, so many people are off work that day. Does Michigan have classes that day?
EDIT: Answering my own question: U-M's academic calendar says "Martin Luther King, Jr. Day University Symposia. No Regular Classes" for Jan. 16.
Also, the OSU academic calendar says classes begin Jan. 3, 2012, and that they have MLK Day off as well.
Thanks. I totally forgot about MLK Day. That makes sense.
Also, the Daily reports that there is some talk about getting the Red Wings to play the Blue Jackets the same weekend (or same day??). That might also factor into the timing some how.
How come Michigan's hockey team is red and Ohio's is blue?
There are a couple of reports, including this Cleveland Plain Dealer article, that say that Michigan and OSU are scheduled to play two games that weekend in Columbus. So if the teams play a game in Columbus on Friday, then it wouldn't be practical to play the outdoor game in Cleveland on Saturday. The teams will probably travel to Cleveland on Saturday (or right after the Friday night game) and then have a chance to practice on the outdoor rink on Saturday.
Are there really that many hockey fans down in that part of Ohio? I'd love to see Michigan fans take over that stadium.
on fan base split?
It's in Ohio, OSU has first dibs on tickets and there are only 43,000 seats, so there don't have to be all THAT many Ohio State fans interested in order to fill it up and regardless of what OSU fans care about hockey normally, it is against Michigan and has the novelty of being outdoors.
On the other hand, it's hockey. In Ohio. Cleveland isn't as far from Ann Arbor as it could be and there are 43,000 seats to fill. It's hockey. In Ohio (bears repeating). And there team isn't even very good. And even though outdoor is a novelty to them, it's been done before and they aren't doing anything new with it (ie. there isn't even the smallest chance they break the Big Chill's record). Also, OSU isn't very good at hockey (also bears repeating) and they're playing against Michigan, who is good at hockey and has a passionate fanbase, which doesn't like Ohio State very much.
I'm going to go conservative and say about 50-50.
This will be the first Michigan outdoor game I skip. Kinda bummed about that, but this one just doesn't seem that incredibly attractive to me.
Tickets will be dirst cheap because none of their fans want to go, and you get to rub it into what few OSU fan's that are there's faces when we Luongo their goalie (You know, NOT the one we snake oiled from them)!
43,000 seats for a CCHA outdoor game and it's in Ohio?! How are Michigan fans going to get any tickets?! I wouldn't be surprised if Ohio State possibly sells out this game! Why dont they just play in Cleveland Stadium where the Browns reside?
The game--if it does happen--would be played at Progressive Field because the idea for an outdoor hockey game in Cleveland originated with the Indians and the people who run Progressive Field.