For as long as I've known the tournament, only Colgate has served as the host
school, and then only in an "unofficial" capacity.  Clarkson, Cornell and
Saint Lawrence seem to rotate through every three years.
 
While we're on the subject, it struck me last year that the tournament badly
needs a shot in the arm.  Being a college hockey fan in the Syracuse area, I
would really love to see the SIT become a success, on the order of the GLI and
some of the other tournaments out west.  I realize that Syracuse is primarily
a basketball town (though the Crunch of the AHL have gone a long way to
"enlighten" many), but there was virtually no excitement around last years
tournament, mostly becuase no one new about it.  I spent many evenings at the
War Memorial watching the Crunch, and didn't see anything about the SIT until
three days before.  What I finally did see came in the form of two posters,
one at each of the two main entrances to the building.  There was nothing in
the Crunch game programs, no announcements over the public address system,
nothing on the scoreboard over center ice. The only thing I heard during
Crunch game radio broadcasts was a brief interview with the head of the
tournament, again two or three days before the event.  Its like the SIT
committee was trying to keep the tournament a secret, which they did a fine
job of doing despite having three upstate New York teams participating.  Its
little wonder that there were officially 900 in attendance for the final, even
with Colgate in the final.
 
The SIT bills itself as one of the premier college hockey events in the
country.  My sincere hope is that the committee can work to bring it back to
that level.  If anyone on the committee is out there listening (reading?), I'd
certainly love to volunteer my time and energy in anyway needed.
 
-Todd Nielson
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/todnielson/creasemonkey.html">Crease Monkey
Hockey WWW Page</A>
 
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