There is one other reason why college hockey is not going to be on national
tv any time soon.  Gambling.  Part of the reason why college hoops and
football are so popular on tv is so people can follow their bets.  It's
also why I can turn on NESN at 3 in the morning and see UC-Santa Clara
playing Freson State.  Realistically no one in Boston cares about this
game, unless they have a bet on it.  Since hockey isn't a big game for
bettors, and as far as I know college hockey is non existent at the sports
book (although when I was in Vegas the sports ticker at the Caeser's Sports
Book did show all the college hockey scores in progress) there will never
be enough interest in the places where they don't actually play the game to
justify national TV during what is mostly prime time hours
(Fridays-Saturdays at 7 pm).
 
Personally, I don't want to see college hockey expand too fast just for tv.
We had this discussion before on the list, and I think the consensus was
that we don't want to see the same negative affects that rapid expansion
has had on the NHL.  While new people get exposed to the game, the die
hards sometimes lose out.
 
With that said, I am giving an unsolicited testimonial that if you can get
a minidish, it is the best thing you can do to see college hockey.  The
costs are reasonable, especially compared to cable.  On most weekends in
season I had multiple live games to chose from, and now with the playoffs
coming, the games are endless.  And if you are a Minnesota fan living away
from home, this is definitely the thing for you.  I am not a Gopher fan so
it isn't that important to me, but I get MSC and they show almost all the
games.  Add NESN, and PASS, and the few games that Fox Rocky Mountain, and
Empire show, and you get coverage of all four leagues.  If you can get it,
I highly recommend it.
 
Dave
 
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