From UNH's perspective, they have to hope that Minnesota, or at least anyone
but BU, is in the top four.  A good reason to root for BC on Friday night.

As for Providence tickets, you have to order them through the Providence
College ticket office.  Their phone number is on their website but you can't
order them there, you have to call.  Given the difficulty of purchasing
tickets for Providence, what kind of crowd do you think will be there.

The NCAA better hope that Cornell, Maine, UNH, BU and BC are all east,
otherwise they are going to take a financial bath.  My guess they will avoid
this at all cost.

Greg Ambrose

> From: "Wayne T. Smith" <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: "Wayne T. Smith" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 12:57:29 -0500
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Iona Dropping Hockey
>
> Greg Ambrose wrote, in part:
>> There has been a lot of talk on this board and over on USCHO about potential
>> seedings but, if I were a betting man, I would wager that teams with big
>> followings - Maine, UNH, BC, Cornell - will stay East regardless.  The NC$$
>> cannot permit anything else or they will take a financial bath.
>
> I think that Ian McCaw and his Committee have made some good decisions
> and some potentially very bad decisions.  Leading the very bad is what I
> believe a very real chance that 2 of the 4 teams you mention could go
> west.  Jayson Moy's USCHO article on "Bracketology" of 10 March
> standings shows why UNH would go west if the tournament were bracketed
> today!
>
> IMHO, using "bands" as they have will result in a "fair" tournament with
> a real chance of a financial problem.  The NCAA is fortunate that it
> appears 3 of the 4 host schools will be selected for the tournament,
> ensuring decent revenue.
>
> Finally, the NCAA must realize that few Eastern folks will buy tickets
> (BU fans excepted), before the brackets are announced on 23 March (ESPN
> at 5:30 ET).  Providence must really realize this, as I can't even
> figure out how to buy tix for there online!  I will comment that $50 for
> 3 regional games seems like a fair price ($44 groups is a super price!) :-)
>
> cheers, wayne
> --
> Wayne T. Smith -- [log in to unmask] -- Old Town Landing, ME