>Being a Bemidji State grad ('96) and being able to see every one of their
>championship series but one (the first one in Huntsville), I would hate to
>see them go to a combined D-I D-III tourney.  It would be nice to know
>where the site is more than a week in advance, but I really enjoy the "on
>campus" games.  Would enough people with D-I tickets fill a large arena to
>make it seem like a D-III championship game? I would think the teams would
>rather play in front of 3,000-5,000 fans that care about the game in a
>small arena than 5,000-8,000 fans, many who don't care, in a large arena.
>I don't think travel and hotel is that much of a problem.  When BSU had to
>travel, there was usually a charter bus or many people car pooled and drove
>straight through and rented a cheap hotel room to crash in for a night.
 
I don't think you can use the games in Huntsville (two of the past
 three years) to make a comparison. First of all, it's the biggest rink
 in D-II/D-III (unless you count teams like Bethel and St. John's that
 play at D-I rinks). Secondly, it's not a campus rink - it's a public
 stadium where a pro team also plays.  There's no way you're normally
 going to fit 3,000-5,000 people in an on-campus location. For example,
 Bemidji's rink, which is on-campus, seats 2,500.
 
>With the ticket package, the participating schools would have a block of
>tickets reserved for them, but would that include tickets to the D-I games?
> If I was going to drive to Anaheim or Providence knowing the D-I
>championship was going to be on the same weekend, I would want to go. Or
>would that mean I would have to send my money in months in advance and hope
>my D-III team makes it?
 
Probably not. The single game tickets involve just the team that you're
 interested in. But the "hardship" that  you're describing is dealt
 with by D-I fans each year, and they don't seem to mind (i.e. getting
 full sets of tickets months in advance). The vast majority go anyway
 and have a great time. The rest sell their tickets to fans from the
 schools that do make it. Since it almost always sells out well in
 advance, there's not much risk involved.
 
>?Probably the worst thing I could see happening is a loss of identity to the
> D-III tourney playing in the shadow of the Phrozen Phour.
 
Unfortunately, with the expection of a few places like Plattsburgh, it
 doesn't have much of an identity now.
 
Chris Lerch
US College Hockey Magazine
US College Hockey Online -- www.uscollegehockey.com
Color Voice of RIT Hockey on 89.7 WITR
http://members.aol.com/chrislerch/main.html
 
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