Everyone is focusing on the venue as being important to the growth of
college hockey, and I agree that it will play a part.  However, I've been
rather surprised to see little mention of the recent proposal to increase
the number of tournament teams to 16 or any other possibilities.  A recent
article I read (college hockey on line?) stated that NCAA was reviewing
expansion, but it looked like it wouldn't get approved this year (no more
tourney teams, no more D-1 schools for 2 yrs).  I think that pushing for
more teams and more national coverage would do a lot to promote the sport.
 
Any national tv channel that decides to pick up the tourney will more than
likely spend some time advertising it in order to get ensure a large
audience (apparently, this doesn't apply to ESPN, who seemed to limit ads
for the game - I didn't see any until about 1/2 hour before the game... and
what a lead-in... bowling).  Personally, I felt kind of cheated because
unless I chose to get a satellite dish, there was no way I was watching the
preliminary games.  It seems to me that the NCAA basketball tourney gets all
the recognition.  Why???  Basketball is a bit more mainstream with (a lot)
more schools, I'll give you that.  But they also put a lot of money into
advertising it (and get a lot more out).  If you asked the average Joe to
name 3 college hockey conferences, could he do it?  From the sound of
things, college hockey as a whole is in the black.  Why not spend some of
that money to let folks know it's out there.  Kids are gradually getting
into it.  What are schools doing to keep them interested as they grow up?
Our fan base seems to be predominately college alums from hockey schools.
We need to appeal to more diverse people than just folks who have had
exposure in schools.
 
Rob 'Snuffy' Grover
University of Maine Class of '96
 
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