On Thu, 12 Dec 2002, Bruce Roberts wrote:

>     As I understand it, tickets for the Northeast Regional at the
> Worcester Centrum will be going on sale soon.  The games at
> Worcester are being hosted by BU.  Does anyone know how the teams
> for this regional will be selected?  I follow a good Hockey East
> team.  If this team makes a regional ,can I be assured that it will
> play in Worcester?  Could this team end up in Providence or out
> West.  Any information will be helpful.

The last time I checked, the NCAA had not yet published the 2003
Championship's Handbook, plus with the change in format, it's even
more dodgy than ever to try and predict where the committee will send
teams.  The only think we (probably) know is that BU, if they make it,
will play in Worcester.  I'd say this slightly reduces UNH's chance to
play in Worcester, since the committee has in the past sometimes tried
to avoid teams from the same conference playing each other in the
regionals.  (At any rate, they don't like to pair them in the first
round; the second round varies from year to year.)  Also, if they
decide to give the top four teams #1 seeds, and BU and UNH are both in
the top 4, UNH will have to go somewhere else.  Also also, the NCAA
will try to maximize attendance at all the regionals, so they may want
to put Hockey East teams with good fan followings in both regionals.
Also also also, if three of the top four are from the East, and UNH is
the third of those teams, they might even be a #1 seed in one of the
regionals out West.

So the short answer is no, you can't be assured of where they'll play.

                                          John Whelan, Cornell '91
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                                     http://www.amurgsval.org/joe/

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