Wayne wrote:
But gone are the cross-country rivalries, gone are the conference
rivalries and, except for the WCHA team fans, gone will be the "my
team/league is better than yours" fan.

These are gone from the Frozen Four, but we had plenty in the regionals.  There was not a single intraconference match-up in the regionals, unlike last year when the West and Midwest finals both pitted two WCHA teams against each other.  So in the tournament overall there were plenty of national match-ups, just none on the biggest stage.

-Pam Sweeney