On Wed, 31 Mar 1999, Emmitt Smith wrote:
 
> crapshoot.  Next year will be the first time a regional is within easy
> driving distance of North Dakota.  It's also the first time a regional
> will be held in a city considered West by anyone other than the NCAA.
> (In fact, Mariucci probably isn't more than a mile west of the
> Mississippi).
 
It isn't at all. Like most of the University of Minnesota, it's on the East
Bank of the Mississippi. I would guess that the arena is about half a mile
east of the river.
 
The problem with a Madison regional is simply travel, I think. First, the
fans who are going to something no matter what are probably going only to
the Frozen Four. This is especially true with it being held in Anaheim,
which is rather a long and expensive trip for most college hockey fans.
 
This means that the Regionals need support from team backers in order to
survive. The East Regional can do O.K. every year because, unless they
decide to hold it in Washington, DC, it is within easy driving distance of
a significant number of teams. Madison is within easy driving distance of
four: Wisconsin, St. Cloud, Mankato and Minnesota. (Western Michigan may be
that close, but I don't consider any drive through Chicago easy driving
distance. :-) )
 
Giving Madison the Saturday/Sunday set of dates also made a bad situation
worse. Someone from North Dakota travelling to the games would have had to
either take Monday off work/school or drive straight through the night.
 
I think everything just conspired against Madison this year.
 
See you later,
John
 
--
 John Edwards - Carleton (Ont) '96, Manitoba '00 - [log in to unmask]
                  "You're telling me the fun's over?
      Man! I'm still waiting for the fun to start." - Brad Hamilton
The opinions expressed are mine alone, because everybody else says I'm weird.
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.