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Kathy M.

On Sunday, March 27, 2005, at 11:41  AM, Drakelore wrote:

> To piggy-back on Erik's premise:
>
> Let's take a REAL regional - yesterday's in Amherst.
>
> Noon: Denver vs. Bemidji State
> 3:30: UNH vs. Harvard
>
> I doubt that many of those folks in Amherst came early to watch the
> Denver game.  But I bet there were more folks in Minneapolis who stayed
> to watch at least most of the Cornell game, than those who came early
> to see Denver out east.
>
> Just my two cents worth
>
> On Sunday, March 27, 2005, at 10:28  AM, Erik J Biever wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>