> Eric suggests it's a fact of college hockey that there are campus sites and
> that we should get over it.
> in the boondocks (ie Amherst)
Amherst is in the boondocks? hah!
> Interesting to note that one of the 07 east regionals is being hosted by the
> ECAC per the NCAA website. Maybe that is the way to go, make the leagues
> play host, not the schools. Also note that again in 06 and 07, the four
> scheduled eastern regionals are all at large arenas, without a single campus
> site.
>
> Seems to me that West is getting greedy...
nope -- its not "the west" that is greedy. It is a combination of the
NC$$ being greedy, everyone wanting a "tournament atmosphere" (thus the
4-team regionals instead of all on-campus, and only using geography for
the #1 seeds instead of sending each team to its closest regional) and
the geographic realities of east and west, as far as hockey goes.
If the WCHA or CCHA sponsored the regional, instead of a school, it
would still be in the same arenas/cities (plus/minus one or two), with
the same geographic realities: if it is in Michigan, it is a huge
advantage to Michigan Teams, or peraps Notre Dame if they make the
tournament and are sent there.
If it is in Colorado, a huge advantage to CC and Denver. Everyone else
is 8+ hours away by car.
Minneapolis is "close" to 4 Minnesota schools: 1, 1.5, 2, and 4 hours
away.
Green Bay is 5 hours from Minneapolis, 6 from Duluth, 4 hours from
Houghton, and 2.5 from Madison (and doesn't have a D1 hockey team)
Wisconin made a bid for Madison (on campus) and I believe Milwaukee
(Bradley Center) -- and was turned down.
When the tournament first switched to regionals, it was held in
Detroit -- and did not draw well.
Chicago has no college hockey, so it wouldn't be a good place for a
regional.
(all times from mapquest)
I won't bother with all the other combinations.
The larger fan bases are at the larger schools:
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State,
Ohio State & Notre Dame (not sure how strong the hockey following is)
maybe North Dakota
how many fans (from any school) are going to travel 5-12 hours by car
for a regional (and ge a hotel room)? And everyone else has to
fly... on less than 1 week's notice.
--david
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