Hello fellow HOCKEY-Lers.
 
For those of you not fortunate enough to get "The Lowell Sun", here's some
local media thoughts on the UMass-Lowell situation in the tournament.
 
This article was written by Chaz Scoggins.
 
               NCAA's decision is a laugher.
 
        Go ahead.  You have my permission to laugh the next time you hear the
sanctimonious NCAA talk about ensuring parity in college athletics.  Yeah,
the NCAA is high on ethics as long as that means it won't run low on cash.
        The NCAA's raison d'etre is to make certain college athletic teams
don't take unfair advantage of one another and play on a level field.  But
when its own revenue is at stake, the NCAA doesn't hesitate to tilt the
field in its own direction.
        The placement of the 12 teams for this year's NCAA Division I
Hockey Tournament is proof of that.  The University of Massachusetts-Lowell
was dispatched to the West Regional in East Lansing, Mich., while the
University of New Hampshire - which finished behind UMass-Lowell in the
Hockey East standings and then was beaten by the Chiefs 4-2 in the Hockey
East semifinals - was given a berth in Albany, N.Y., all because the NCAA
concluded that more UNH fans than UMass-Lowell fans would buy tickets in
Albany.
        It didn't matter to the NCAA that attendance has been improving
dramatically at the Tully Forum, up 61 percent from four years ago and 41
percent from two years ago to 1,726 paying fans per game this year.  It
didn't matter to the NCAA which team deserved to be where based on its
record.  All the NCAA saw was that UNH which has its 3,530-seat rink on
campus, convenient for its students-averaged 3,320 fans per game and sold
out eight of its 16 home games.  Ergo, UNH fans are more dedicated and
likely to follow the Wildcats to Albany.
        Yeah, well if they're so dedicated, why won't they follow the
Wildcats another 1,000 miles to East Lansing?  The NCAA had no qualms
about sending Wisconsin to Albany, knowing a thousand or more rabid Badger
fans will make that trip.
        Ever since the NCAA Tournament was expanded from eight to 12 teams,
the four best teams in the East got the four top seeds in the East Regional
and the four best teams in the West got the four top seeds in the West
Regional.  The bottom four teams filled out the field and generally crossed
over regional boundaries.
        But last year, the NCAA took a financial bath when it put the NCAA
Regional in Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.  Only 2,442 fans showed up the
first night and 7,483 the second.  The East Regional, held at the Worcester
Centrum, drew much better, attracting 9,683 the first night and 12,045 the
second.  But the NCAA was determined not to be splattered with red ink again;
this year it seeded and placed teams based not on merit, but on how and
where it would maximize the most revenue.
        So college athletics' white knights put the West Regional on
Michigan State's campus, laughably seeded the Chiefs third as a sop, and
then sent them out there to play the sixth-seeded Spartans on their home ice.
Ha Ha.  The Chiefs get to be the "home team", wear their home sweaters, and
get the last line change.  But I'll bet the Spartans won't dress in a
visitors locker room, sit on the visitors' bench, and allow the Chiefs to
choose which goal they want to defend.
        The best hockey teams should be invited and seeded on their merits,
for this is what college athletics should be about, not about which teams can
make the most money for the NCAA.
        "For us to get the recognition from the NCAA, we have to have big
gates," said UMass-Lowell assistant coach Mark Ostapina.
        And 1,726 fans a game just doesn't impress the NCAA.