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Date: | Sun, 27 Mar 2005 09:28:40 -0600 |
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William grumbles:
> 3. We need to address the NCAA neutral ice problem if we ever hope to grow
> college hockey's appeal. We are like womens basketball was 10 years ago when
> the top seeds played at home, and always won, making an expanded tournament a
> farce for the lower seeds. Yesterday afternoon showed that the Gophers have
> great Minnesota fans, but not necessarily great college hockey fans. Filling
> the barn for the first semi, then leaving before the second is poor form. This
> underscored why the NCAA must give the western schools an unfair advantage
> each year by having games at a home rink, rather than neutral ice as it is in the
> east. As long as this situation exists, the final four will have a better
> chance of western teams being there. Everyone must admit that playing on home
> ice gives a team an edge toward advancing. Of course this sets up a circular
> argument about how to run a national tournament when few places have the
> apparent fan interest to sell out a random NCAA game. Until the western areas can
> figure out how to get people to come and enjoy good hockey (even if the home
> team is not playing) we seem to be stuck with this problem.
Poor form my eye. Suppose you juggled games around and put this regional in
Worcester:
BC vs North Dakota
Denver vs Bemidji State
Would the arena be full for the second game? I think not.
I don't think this is a western phenomenon.
-- Erik
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