BLOG: RIP North Star College Cup, 1 year later

This weekend should be the fifth annual North Star College Cup. It's not. Sadly, no one will be playing for Paul Bunyan's Pimp Chalice at Xcel Energy Center.

Photo: Nathan Wells

The event, Minnesota's version of the Beanpot or GLI, came to an end by mutual agreement as teams would rather have home games against in-state schools than tournament bragging rights.

(No really. UMD head coach Scott Sandelin joked after winning last year's NSCC that they'd throw the trophy in the fire as kindling wood.)

Honestly? It's too bad. Even with all of its flaws, the North Star College Cup helped show off the growing greatness of Minnesota college hockey throughout the state.

The best thing that can be said post-mortem about the North Star is everyone agreed it should be important. No one agreed how. For that it suffered.

It was held a week after Hockey Day Minnesota. Rather than the tournament being part of the celebration - Fox Sports North broadcast both - the NSCC ended up an odd coda to a day inspired to showcase the sport at all levels.

Attendance wasn't poor compared to other college hockey in Twin Cities arenas (NCHC, Big Ten, NCAA regionals), but it failed to break through and get the casual fan's interest like other marquee college events.

The North Star never caught on in the way Minnesota (the state) college hockey fans would have liked. Maybe it was too soon post-realignment. To many fans of outstate Minnesota teams the tournament felt like Minnesota's (the school and only permanent member of the rotation) second tournament. Any slights were perceived to be intentional. To many Minnesota fans it felt like an event reminding them of what the Gophers gave up when the Big Ten began sponsoring men's hockey.

The little arguments that never got settled got in the way, blowing up when teams were doing the dishes when it was never really about the dishes. Even with no tournament those disagreements still exist today. Getting rid of the tournament was a symptom, not a solution. Five schools continue to look out for themselves in different ways.

The North Star College Cup was an event where everyone needed to buy in and that didn't happen. What makes it even worse is this would, once again, be a tournament full of elite hockey.

Provided this year's tournament had the same rotation, leaving Bemidji State to fend for itself, all four schools in the 2018 NSCC would be NCAA Tournament contenders. All four are in the top 11 of the Pairwise rankings, which mimic the criteria used to determine the at-large bids and seeding.

North Star Teams by Current Pairwise Ranking

• St. Cloud State University (3)

• Minnesota State (6)

• Minnesota (9)

• Minnesota Duluth (11) 

This isn't new. Each of the four tournaments featured a team in the top-3 of the Pairwise - and a different one at that. Minnesota was #1 in 2014, Minnesota State in 2015, St. Cloud State in 2016 and Minnesota Duluth in 2017.

There have been North Star tournaments where first place in three different conferences are represented. Top-ten match-ups are frequent. (Even in ones that weren't saw upsets happen. One of the feel-good stories from the NSCC's short history was unranked Bemidji State upsetting then-No. 7 UMD and No. 1 Minnesota  State.) Whoever won this year could truly claim to be the best in Minnesota, which should be a title all five schools yearn to claim.

As the past four years have shown, as this year does too, the hockey in Minnesota as a whole keeps getting better. The days of there being one or two dominant schools mixed with cellar dwellers are over. It's a different era than the nostagia-driven WCHA heyday that still gets put on a pedestal five years later.

Two teams (Minnesota and UMD) have been consistent NCAA and Frozen Four contenders. St. Cloud State is nearing a #1 seed for the second time in three years. Minnesota State was the #1 overall seed three years ago and is leading the WCHA this year. Bemidji State won the WCHA regular season last year. Each year sees 2-4 MN teams competing for NCAA glory.

Still, the tournament failed. With all its issues, the hatred is there as I'm reminded constantly by fans of all teams. In-state games matter. Minnesota fans were happy when the Gophers snapped St. Cloud State's nine-game unbeaten streak and handed the then-No. 1 Huskies a loss. St. Cloud State fans were happy as well a night earlier. UMD could raise a banner or two with its separate eight game winning streaks over the Gophers and North Dakota while Bemidji State had a seven-game winning streak in recent years over the Bulldogs.

Having the rowdy road crowds at Amsoil and National Hockey Center is fantastic, but something is still missing. Non-confernce bragging rights last a night. A trophy is forever.

Minnesota State, the only state team without a North Star College Cup championship, had a weekend which would have looked better at Xcel Energy Center. The Mavericks went on the road to beat St. Cloud State for Hockey Day Minnesota before shutting out UMD 1-0 at home on a random untelevised Tuesday night.

The stretch ended with two wins against top teams that show Minnesota State as a contender for the national tournament title at Xcel Energy Center that four in-state schools hope to bring home in April. Two wins that hopefully get the exposure and credit they deserve nationally given the WCHA's perception compared to the NCHC. There should still be a way to recognize the importance of Minnesota college hockey.

Maybe that doesn't need a tournament, but one year later it seems like it couldn't hurt.

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