John Whelan wrote:
 
>        I'd tend to agree with Joe here, and it's not just alumni.
>Over winter break, all the students will be home, and there will
>probably be more Cornell undergrads in the NY Metro area than in
>Ithaca.  I think we'll get a good indication of what such a tournament
>would be like from this weekend's Cornell-Colgate game at the Nassau
>Coliseum.  Anyone know how ticket sales for that are going?
>
>        Oh, and as for hotel rooms, I'd either stay with friends (7
>million people in the Citny, you've got to know *someone*) or find a
>place in the suburbs and commute in like everybody else.  After all,
>you don't want to bring a car to Manhattan anyway.
 
I attended the ECAC Hockey Holiday tourney once when it was played at the
MSG.  This was back in 1969 when RPI made its one and only appearance.
Besides for the fact that RPI stunk the joint out, my recollection is
that attendence was not so good.  The four teams that year were RPI, SLU,
Cornell, and BC, not too dissimilar from the mix proposed.  Now, clearly
interest in hockey in NYC has increased since 1969, but that is at the
professional level.  Has it increased at all in Div I college hockey?
(Well, I have moved out, so that's once less fan :-) )  The fact is that
NYC is a "professional town".  It doesn't even support college football.  I
know that when I was in NYC over the Holidays a couple of weeks ago, I was
unable to find scores of RPI's games in the NY Times until two days after
the events.  (It is poss
 
Such a tourney would have to be promoted well.  I think that schools like
BC and Cornell would attract some fans, but I assume that it wouldn't be the
same teams each year.  How many New Yorkers would watch a game between say
Union and UMass-Lowell? (No offense intended to these two schools, but
neither is well known in NYC.)
 
Ralph Baer
RPI '68, '70, '74
 
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