I'm curious about the assumption of a rabid Wisconsin fan base.  Does it still
exist?  Not to take a shot at Wisconsin, but they haven't been to a Frozen Four
in a while, so we don't know what attendance would be like if Bucky were there.
  Wisconsin fans regularly attend the WCHA Final Five, but haven't outnumbered
the North Dakota fans.  Badger fan attendance at the 2000 West Regional at
Mariucci was good but not extraordinary.  Did they show up in huge numbers in
Grand Rapids this year?

-- Erik

Bob Fitta wrote:
> I am in agreement with many of the other posters with regards to this
> years frozen four!
>
> Whether the NCAA believes it or not we are a very small, loyal
> community of fans.  When they mentioned the possibility of changing the
> way the priority system currently works, I sensed they were out of
> touch.
>
> The Frozen four has become more of an event and as a college hockey fan
> I am grateful for that!  However, over the course of the last 10 years
> there have only been three championships that you could not get tickets
> to outside the arena at face value.
>
> Cornell talks about if they were there the tickets would be gone, yet I
> remember seeing hundreds of empty seats in Buffalo when the played the
> first semi-final game vs. UNH.  The regionals in their current format
> have struggled to fill buildings, I was shocked at all the empty seats
> in Worcester this year when you had BU and BC at the same regional
> site!  Again the core group of fans willing to shell out $35 per ticket
> is very small!
>
> The Frozen Four's present format is very good, and count me as someone
> who is very happy it has a weekend of it's own, without the hoop hype!
> But it will never be  on equal footing with hoops or football, as only
> those of us who care about our team, and then the sport itself are apt
> to travel regardless of the location to see four teams we don't have
> ties too play!
>
> It is unfortunate that this group of four is not drawing the interest
> of the average fan and without a Michigan or Wisconsin with their rabid
> fan base and close proximity you have an abundance of tickets.  But I
> hope the NCAA is learning a lesson on this, any thoughts of scrapping a
> system that rewards loyal fans should be reevaluated.  When the system
> was employed it was done so for without our knowledge, if you had
> purchased for the last 5 years you were number 1 in line to get future
> tickets and so on!
>
> However, what many of us have known for years is we go for great
> college hockey!  Why else would we be heading to luxury destinations in
> April, like Buffalo, Albany, Cincinatti and St. Paul.  I can think of
> other places I'd rather go, but no other event that I'd rather see!
>
> Here's to a great tournament, good ice and a close national
> championship game with drama!