As a former resident of the Raleigh area (my parents still live there,
so I visit there occasionally), I can vouch for the crowds at ECHL games.
They may not know a lot about hockey, but they enjoy it.  (Given the
caliber of play on some nights, they're better off not knowing how bad it
is.)  Dorton Arena isn't on NC State's campus, though, it's on the North
Carolina Fairgrounds, which is near some of NCSU's agricultural land.  It's
a decent place to play, but I saw a game where it was so humid inside (Dorton
has no air conditioning, and it's open to sunlight, so I don't see how
anyone can sit in it during the daytime in warm months, like at the fair) that
the game could only go for 1-2 min. before being stopped for fog.  (It was
late November, about 50 degrees and pouring rain, creating the fog.)  I don't
know how popular the local club hockey teams at State & Carolina (and Duke?)
are, but the ECHL seems to have generated interest in hockey.  The Raleigh
paper now actually prints the NHL standings every day, in noticeable type,
no less, and even puts abbreviated NHL boxes (scoring, no penalties) in.
When I first came there (in '75), such attention to hockey would have been
inconceivable, especially since much of it happens during ACC basketball
season.
    Here at the U. of Kentucky, our club hockey team pulls in enthusiastic,
near-capacity crowds to the small Lexington Ice Center.  Maybe someday
some bigger Southern schools (ACC, SEC schools) will take up non-club level
hockey.  With the success of youth hockey programs in Southern cities
(which have been inspired by ECHL, IHL, and NHL teams), in the future there
may be enough players to support 8-12 Southern university hockey programs at
the Div. I level.  The pros have shown that you don't need winter to be
able to play hockey and draw fans.
 
    On another note, someone had suggested that more Div. I teams playing
at the II/III level be encouraged to move up, while simultaneously complaining
that the NCAA Tournament, if anything, was too big and should be cut back to
8 schools.  This seems to be quite a contradiction.  The smaller schools, if
they form their own league, will have no incentive to be on the Div. I level
without the chance to be in the postseason.  But would the larger schools
want a fifth automatic bid to a 12-team (or worse, an 8-team) event?  I
doubt it.  The basketball tournament, at 64, is not too big.  I think that's
proven every year, especially when Boston Coll., a 9th seed (thus not in the
first 32) beat UNC and Indiana.  (As a Carolina fan, maybe I should say the
Eagles didn't belong. :-))  Every year we see a low seed knock off a high
one, like Santa Clara-Arizona last year or the near defeat of #1 seed MSU
by Murray State in 1990.  Those teams belong, as would the 13th-16th teams
in a hockey tournament.  And we'd have no byes for anyone to complain
about, whether they'd gotten them or not.  (After all, had Michigan played
a game before they did, maybe they could have played a bad game and won,
much as LSSU did, and then been more prepared to face the Lakers.)  Sure,
the next team making it would be upset, but short of allowing everyone in,
that will always be an objection.  And if we were to have 5 conferences,
we'd need 16 teams.  (And we could go to four regionals-- two East, one West,
and one Central.)
    It would be nice if in 10-20 years we could look back and wonder how
college hockey could have survived without teams in all parts of the country
and an exciting 32-team tournament whose finals were shown on network TV.
(I'll wake up now.)
 
--Chris Paine