Value City Arena is a *great* college hockey venue.  At $105 million,
the Schottenstein Center *should* be great!

I never ventured above the 100 and 200 levels, but I found it very
comfortable with unencumbered sight lines.  The hallways could have been
larger, but were OK.  Females had access to 3/4 of the rest rooms,
meaning there were long lines at the *men's* rooms at each intermission
... my how times change! ;-)   Food was OK; access OK.  I parked in the
Buckeye Lot, about 1/2 mile away, and rode the shuttle in and back ...
very efficient ... lots of police getting cars out of the lots and
through area intersections ... it takes longer to get out of the Alfond
Arena by a large margin. Although I could hear announcements well near
center ice, the announcer was nearly impossible to understand in my
(217) corner.  Tickets were easily available outside the arena for every
game ... just talking with a couple of what looked like "professional
sellers" ... there was no interest in buying my extra tickets.

I had the opportunity to chat with several locals over the long
weekend.  To a person, they liked "The Schott" and attended OSU games
(where they normally close off the 300 & 400 sections), where they
reported 7,000-10,000 fans per game.  To a person, they all preferred
the *Nationwide Arena* downtown!  Certainly the downtown Arena District
is more interesting than the area that surrounds The Schott.  Although I
was in the Nationwide Arena for the USCHO Town Meeting, Hockey
Humanitarian and Hobey Baker award ceremonies, I didn't see a large
difference between the arenas.  Both are light-years ahead of the Boston
FleetCenter (or whatever it's called this week) and Providence Civic
Center, better than Buffalo, and maybe not quite up to St. Paul ... but
that's probably a personal thing.

I was one that expressed some concern about Columbus as a host city.
Certainly Columbus is not a huge draw, if measured by tickets that were
unable to be resold, but I can say that anyone that didn't have a good
time in Columbus really wasn't trying.  The shopping areas were large,
numerous, interesting and easy to get to and from.  There were Irish
pubs, brew pubs, night clubs, comedy clubs, art galleries and an ice
show (not to mention OSU and its events and facilities).   I kind of
dragged my 10-year-old to the science museum (COSI), but he had a great
time and spent hours there.  He wanted to go to the zoo, and I'm very
glad we spent Saturday there.  It's a *wonderful* zoo ... among the very
best in the country.  However, the 6-Flags theme park was closed for the
season.   Mass transportation won't excite you (buses only), but my car
rental was excellent: a Mazda 6 for $15/day (plus a gazillion taxes).

In the extended area, some folks went to a baseball game at the new
Cincinnati ball park Wednesday night and had a great time.  Others went
to a hockey game in Cleveland Friday night.  Others had a great time at
the aeronautical museums in Dayton.  Certainly there are many other
interesting Ohio destinations, but these are ones I know people attended.

Although I would prefer New Orleans or Washington or Toronto(!) for
off-ice activities, I found Columbus a fine host.  It wasn't intimate
like Lake Placid, but it very capably hosted our favorite tournament.
I'd love to return another year!

My family all arrived home feeling great about an excellent trip ...
even if our favorite team in the tournament didn't win. ;-)

By the way, my seats were in the North Dakota section.  The UND fans
were knowledgeable and friendly. While they were fans of UND, I found
the non-students less than fanatical.  Like, each time the puck was
dropped, it was time to sit down!   They said "down in front" almost as
much as "go Sioux".

Being an usher myself, I stopped to chat with an usher now and again.  I
had a good chuckle as the usher in my section commented how surprised he
was to see all the Notre Dame fans.  Well, the North Dakota colors look
pretty Irish, don't they? ;-)

cheers ,wayne

Bob Griebel wrote:

> As one who just hates to have to give any credit to The Ohio State
> University, I'm just wondering what people in attendance thought of that
> dumpy rink.  Does it vindicate the state of Ohio for the Cincinnati
> experience?  The one time I'd been there before, I sat low, off the end
> of the player's bench, and had to keep looking around a half-naked OSU
> student who was determined to capture the camera's attention by acting
> outrageous.
>
> This time, from high up in Section 302, I thought the plunging sight
> lines were phenominal.  I'd liked the old Reunion Center in Dallas when
> the Stars played there because even sitting with your back to the wall
> in the top row behind the goal you had a great view of the ice, as long
> as you didn't lean too far forward and tumble all the way down.  But I
> thought the Schott was far better (other than that they must have bought
> their glass on sale at Value City) and I think it would be a good
> Hockey-L project to steal it and move it to someplace where people like
> hockey for a permanent NCAA championship site, kinda like the Broadmoor
> was for years.
>
> Bob Griebel