<<Some people need to get over this, its a fact of college hockey. . . .>>
...
> Preassigned home rinks are "a fact of life" but it's not because they are a
> good idea per se.
> It's because they're a necessary evil.

Who is the source of this evil? The NCAA of course. And they make the
situation worse by GUARANTEEING that a home team will be in their home
regional. That is completely unnecessary. They could simply set up four
regionals (A, B, C, D) and say (1) NO home team gets to play at home and/or
(2) the regionals are pre-listed as A, B, C, and D so that seeds 1-16-8-9
are in regional A, seeds 2-15-7-10 are in regional B, seeds 3-14-6-11 are in
regional C, and 4-5-12-13 are in regional D--and that is that with no
screwing around for interconference matchups or screwing around for home
team at home. But of course they do not do that. Since the regionals are bid
way in advance no one knows who will show up, but I wonder if not having a
guaranteed home team would lower the bid. The economist in me says yes it
would, but that all depends on the hockey value of the local fans. If they
show up to see great teams, they show up and the bid will not be lower, but
if they are homer-only fans then the bid will be lower.

Nathan Hampton