On April 7, 1999, [log in to unmask] wrote:
 
<snip>
 
>Look, I admire your devotion to a sport that you rarely see,
>however should the NCAA be catering to a minority like you at the >expense
of all the fans in the eastern and central time zones?  I >was thinking of my
water polo comment today and, as I recall, >there are teams out here who do
play water polo.  So maybe their >tournament should be in Vermont, or maybe
Boston, at Harvard! At >least there are some people here who actually see the
sport.
 
 
Greg,
 
You're making lots of assumptions here, or you just didn't know that I'm a
Minnie local. I can see college hockey at home, in Wisconsin, and North
Dakota whenever I want, and I do. I lived in the Los Angeles area in the
80's. So, I shared the experience of California road (solely for hockey)
travel when my son was only a mite. Local club teams flew to the Midwest and
east coast for tourneys and a chance to see a college game. That was our only
route to advanced competition. We were always broke because of it.
 
I appreciate and understand how you feel.. I disagree though.   Having the
final four out west (once in a while) could eventually  garner the interest
to boost local college programs. College hockey won't grow just being
exclusive to hockey-hot-bed regions.
 
 
>was a novelty to most of the newspapers readers. It appeared to >be a way of
introducing the sport to the natives, not very >encouraging to see for most
college hockey diehards.
 
Your use of "novelty", "native" and "minority" smacks geographic bias.
Perhaps your "diehard" zeal disqualifies any possibility of recognizing
potential for other college hockey growth areas. New venue (the Pond).. far
from home..crucial game... I can understand your trepidation. I wouldn't
discount the West Coast for future development (a new division) and maybe a
Frozen Four sponsored by Stanford or UCLA in 2008. A Southern Frozen Four in
Alabama, 2012.. Huntsville already has a strong hockey tradition. Then your
complaint will be that college hockey is diluted and impure. Midwesterners
call that East Coast Puritanism.
 
Vicki Price
Concussion Free Zone
at violentcontact.net
 
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