Western Collegiate Hockey Association
Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth to Serve as Hosts of WCHA's Inaugural State of Minnesota College Hockey Showcase
March 21, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
SAINT PAUL, Minn. - In a press conference held today, March 21 at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, officials of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and the Xcel Energy Center, along with representatives of Minnesota State University and the University of Minnesota Duluth, jointly announced plans for the WCHA's inaugural State of Minnesota college hockey showcase. The event is slated for November 1, 2008 and will feature all four WCHA men's member hockey teams from Minnesota - the State of Hockey.
The teams will compete in a doubleheader format on Saturday, November 1, with the University of Minnesota Duluth hosting St. Cloud State University in a 4:07 pm CT match-up, followed by Minnesota State University designated as the home team in a 7:37 pm CT face-off versus the University of Minnesota. The games will count as regular season WCHA games.
The Saturday night pairings will close off weekend-long series that will see all four teams in action the preceding night, with UMD hosting St. Cloud State in Duluth and MSU and Minnesota tangling in Mariucci Arena on Friday, October 31. The Bulldogs and Huskies will also meet in St. Cloud on Jan. 9-10, while the Mavericks and the Golden Gophers will also play a home and home series in mid-January.
All tickets for the event will be sold as a two-game package with no single game ticket availability. Prices are set at $40 for lower bowl and club level, $35 for upper deck seating along the blue lines, and $30 for upper deck end-zone tickets, with an additional $2 facility fee charge added to the final purchase price. Each school has been allocated a block of tickets that will be made available to their season ticket holders on a priority basis. Tickets for the general public will not go on sale until October 1.
The future of the event beyond this year remains uncertain at this time. League officials are optimistic that the 2010-11 schedules can be re-arranged to accommodate the event during that season, but it may not work out for the 2009-10 league campaign, according to WCHA Commissioner, Bruce M. McLeod.
"That was one of our concerns when we initially started working on this," said McLeod. "We have a long association with hockey in the state of Minnesota and the fans have been clamoring for an event like this for many, many years. Now that we have something initiated, we feel a sense of responsibility to keep it going."
"I also want to commend Bob Nielson and Kevin Buisman (UMD and MSU Directors of Athletics) for their vision, leadership, and cooperation in helping to get this off the ground. When it was first discovered that a quirk in the scheduling was already bringing the four schools together on the same weekend during the 2008-09 season, we began devising a possible plan. To their credit, they have stayed with it and six months later we find ourselves at a point where the concept has now become a reality."
As host institutions, Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth will split the gate proceeds, in a revenue sharing arrangement that also includes the Xcel Energy Center. The WCHA will retain broadcast and advertising rights for the event, which McLeod feels can be used to leverage exposure for the league during the season and for its signature postseason tournament, the Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five held each March in the Xcel Energy Center. "There are a number of positive synergistic effects that we believe can be accomplished by tying these two together. An event of this magnitude will certainly enhance the WCHA brand, while providing a great night of outstanding hockey for fans throughout the state of Minnesota."
Nielson and Buisman echoed those sentiments. "We are thrilled about this partnership and to be involved in an event that has been a long time in coming. This is a terrific opportunity for both Bulldog hockey and the WCHA," said Nielson.
Buisman concurred by saying, "It's wonderful to reach out to our alumni in the Twin Cities and great exposure for our program and the league. It's also a financial windfall too large for a program like ours to ignore. I hope it can be a win-win situation for everyone involved."
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