Ben and I had a fine time in Detroit ... much better than I thought, but far
from perfect.  In no special order ...

   - Detroit is certainly car friendly.
   - We didn't have a car.  No shuttle; $50 cab ride to downtown from
   airport.
   - More bars and drunk young men and women than I've seen in one place.
   - Friendly people all over.
   - Baseball on our days off!
   - Impressive Renaissance Center, Detroit People Mover (elevated train
   loop downtown) and many other sites.
   - We enjoyed our stroll down the RiverWalk, more so before we were told
   by worker bees at Joe Louis Arena that they don't walk there anymore,
   fearing trouble.  A friendly box office lady said she'd love to give us a
   tour, but couldn't that day.  She gave us the numbers of two people that
   probably could later or the next day, and even dialed one for us to leave a
   message.  Alas, her enthusiasm exceeded her colleague's, as there was no
   callback.
   - The wide range of weather from soggy to sunny and 40's to 60's had to
   have a few moments to please any taste.
   - I was surprised to see no city tax on the hotel bill, but (by memory)
   6% state, 5% COBO, 2% convention bureau (I think), and 1% stadium tax rates
   were non-trivial.
   - (sorry this came out so negative ... we really did have a good time ...
   and people that went outside the city had a much wider range of sites and
   activities.  Ben and I enjoyed our downtown wanderings).
   - While Charlie Shub had an aisle in from of him, site lines were not a
   problem for almost everyone else.  We were a dozen rows back and it was
   fine.  The temporary stands erected on the 50-yard line did not have
   sufficient loft for great ice view.
   - Had the place sold out quickly and the ice placed at the 50-yard line,
   it would be more like watching hockey on a 5" TV screen, but as it was,
   distance to the ice wasn't too bad.  (No, I didn't try from the upper bowl,
   but for a football stadium, this was sufficient for an ice hockey national
   championship, IMHO.
   - The ice was better than Cincinnati, but just OK when compared with good
   hockey rinks.  Ford Field temperature and air quality were excellent.
   - Distance to the ice was substantial for most seats, and the huge space
   above the ice made the place the most quiet of venues.  Yes, I know this was
   one of, if not the most, lop-sided of tournaments wrt final scores, but each
   game had exciting moments and Ford Field absorbed the noise.
   - Fans should have some appreciation for the fact that about twice as
   many people attended than could have attended at Joe Louis Arena.  I do.
   - A middle-aged Badger fan was fairly annoying Thursday, just a few seats
   beside me and couple of rows behind Garrett, but he appeared to sober as the
   games progressed.
   - Above fan had me cheering for BC early, but the bunch of avid,
   knowledgeable Wisconsin students behind me Saturday sent me back to my
   normal cheering good plays for both sides.  Of course, Ben cheering for his
   namesake on the BC side, and BCs domination did make it look like I had a
   preference going in. ;-)
   - I very much liked the AT&T radio sold at the games.  It was preset with
   audio from Westwood I (national broadcast) and each competing school
   broadcast.  Sean Grande and Cap Rader were surprisingly good.
   - Too bad the Hobey Hat Trick autograph session wasn't in the FF
   brochures.  Each of the finalists handled themselves very well ...
   completely focused and friendly to the fans that paraded by, all those
   strangers  wanting a moment of their time.  No doubt they all wish for more
   of those moments in their hockey futures!
   - The sound in the permanent seating was very good; the sound in the
   temporary stands was almost as good as at the Alfond at UMaine, which is to
   say ... horrid.
   - The skills show was semi-interesting.  Fans filled the temporary stands
   for the Humanitarian Award, Hobie Baker Award, announcement of D-I
   All-Americans, and sled hockey demo.  My biggest suggestion would be to
   instruct skills-show contestants in the next event before the focus of the
   arena is put on them.
   - The gal doing interviews with various people during breaks was
   excellent.  Good idea .. well done.
   - Oh yes, entering Ford Field, we headed down the shortest line, to be
   told quickly that it was the "woman's line".  How quaint, I thought.  What
   an idiot, I next thought, as I realized at the line end was a woman doing
   the pat-down before stadium entry.  Ben and I went down the very nice
   250-pound gorilla line.
   - If the cab taking you back to the airport goes 85-95 the whole way, it
   really doesn't take long.

Special thanks to all those folks that helped make this another enjoyable
Frozen Four: to Garrett for arranging a successful Hockey-L dinner and to
all those that attended, to Rick (please give my best regards to Chris), to
Charlie, to Frank, to Tim and Gustaf, to the welcoming staff member that
knows of "Pat's Pizza", to the gentleman from Millinocket, to an anonymous
pair of Hobie committee members, to many others, and to all of you that
showed interest in "my kid", I thank you!

Cheers, Wayne (now back in civilization near/in the north woods)

P.S. I think I'll scream the next time a sports information "writer" refers
to "notching a goal".  Cut it out!
P.P.S. When done the above scream, I'll scream more each time an interviewer
with too many dead brain cells  brings her question with "How much" or "How
important".   Eeeeeek!  ;-)