on 4/17/00 2:14 AM, Karen/Greg Ambrose at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Jeff, please tell me what the criteria will be for an "interesting locale
> becoming a hockey (college, I hope) hotbed".  The places I have had heard
> mentioned are Orlando, San Jose, Nashville, Dallas and Atlanta.  Other than
> the fact that four of the five have NHL teams, what advances has the sport
> made at the grass roots level to justify plunking the finals down among an
> unsuspecting populace?
=====Reply=====
I have no problem with any you listed. I'd add Seattle and Columbus (either
the Value Village <sic, sic!, sick> at OSU or the new downtown arena) to the
list, as well.
 
Perhaps the way to do this would be to alternate between traditional college
hockey venues (with enough seating capacity) and the more off-beat locales,
as the Basketball Final Four alternates between campus sites and large
non-college sites.
 
All of us were at one time part of "an unsuspecting populace". We became
college hockey fans through what? Exposure to the game. And the strength of
the fandom is such that this very list is filled with contributors who have
seen little, if any, hockey for years. Not much college hockey in Santa
Barbara, Portland (Oregon), or the Chesapeake, but we've got active
listmembers from all those places.
 
I suspect that, if this year's tournament had been held in Venezuela,
Farkas's moves in the offensive zone, Goehring's goaltending, etc. would
have created a lot of college hockey fans in Caracas.
 
And, just think, Greg, the more fans we get, the more of 'em might hate
Shawn Walsh.
 
(Obviously, the snow's melting way too slow up here in Fairbanks.)
--jeff
 
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