On Mon, 17 Nov 1997, Charles J. Masenas wrote:
 
>
> I was sorry to see the Empire Cup Tournament die.  In the mid '80's
> four New York State D1 teams played early in the year in Glens Falls.
> Coaches hated the tournament because of the early season timing.
> Fans didn't support it because...well, you know how fans are (hey, I
> supported it).
 
This suggestion has the same problem as the Union/RPI match-up: it doesn't
offer the fan anything new or different.  A New York State Tournament
would work if there were more than one league for NYS schools, but the
fact is that NYS is 100% ECAC territory.  Who wants to see a third game
against teams you play home and home with, when there is three
leagues-worth of teams you never see; teams which can boost your SOS and
usually are more challenging than most of your ECAC rivals.
 
Also, there are only a handful of ECAC teams which would draw fans to the
Knick--Clarkson, Vermont (thanks to the UVM faithful), Cornell somewhat
and maybe Harvard.  There simply isn't the same degree of hockey tradition
that exists in Boston to replicate a Beanpot-type of tourney in Albany.
The Albany hockey fan on some nights can pick from three hockey games to
attend: Union (well maybe,) RPI and the River Rats.  The Engineer
following could probably be counted on to sell a few seats at the Knick no
matter what the match-ups.  But after that, I would doubt that the Capital
District would buy many tickets to a college hockey tourney consisting of
already-seen ECAC teams.  A tie-in to CCHA or WCHA teams with the biannual
NC$$ Regionals might provide the Knick with some kind of marketing
potential.
 
But a NYS Tourney--I fear that it would only replicate the experience of
Glens Falls, only with even more empty seats.
****************************************************************************
Brian Morris                 RPI Engineers--6-2, 2-0 in the ECAC
[log in to unmask]
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.