Ralph Baer recently make a point that has concerned me for some time - do we
REALLY want college hockey to become a major-major college sport?  I'm the
first to complain about lack of coverage and respect for the game, but in
watching the round-ball championship the night after returning from St. Paul I
had to ask myself if this spectacle is what we really want for college hockey?
Imagine this scenario for the 2010 championship:
 
1)  The college hockey final four has become a media event.  Tickets (limited)
are sold on a lottery basis.  No more group blocks or buys.  A few hearty (and
wealthy) souls are scalping at $500 a seat.
 
2)  Rooms can't be found within walking distance of the arena (which now has to
seat 20,000).
 
3)  Since there's now network $$ in the sport, the SEC has dominated the past
several championships.  In 2009 the University of Alabama took the title with a
team heavily laden with Swedish and Russian recruits.  The resurgent Notre Dame
program just cut it's own TV package with CBS.
 
4)  Since we have to watch at home on TV, we're subjected to endless hype for
weeks before and an idiotic full-hour pregame show.  The camera pans to all of
the "beautiful people," who are such great fans (of the sport or themselves?).
Why, this year President Bubba is even here to root for his Hogs-On-Ice.
 
5)  The CHA (College Hockey Association), made up of the SEC, ACC, Big East,
Big Eight, and others, have managed to pass increasingly restrictive and
expensive rules for membership including home seating capacity, average home
attendance, number of Div. I sports offered, number of scholarships, etc.
Colorado College, Ferris State, and all of the Ivy League schools have moved to
Div. III for financial as well as philosophical reasons.  Merrimack dropped
it's program altogether (sorry Mike, this was just for effect!)
 
6)  The SuperFans, College Hockey Fanatics, Hockey-L'ers, and others who used
to gather at the national tournament for fun and fellowship, are now found at
the NC$$ Curling Championships, which are broadcast (tape-delayed) on ESPN 2.
 
Your're right Ralph, I am concerned as to what might happen if the "Bigs"
really took an interest in the sport.  We may just come to consider the last
three decades of the 20th century as the glory days of college hockey.
 
Bob Hall
BG 'Class of A Long-Time-Ago