John wrote, in part..
>This is just a short post expressing my surprise at how little college
>hockey seems to matter to a lot of people.  When I saw the attendance
 
   College hockey does NOT matter to most people.
 
>figure for the championship game from last night, I was puzzled.  Doesn't
>anyone seem to think college hockey is worth watching?  It seems not.
 
   Actually, this year's attendance at the Great Western Freeze Out
   seemed to be substantially better than in previous years.
 
>I know two east coast teams would have little or no interest on the west
>coast, but why would they schedule the tournament this way?  To get only
>3000 people in attendance at an arena which holds over 17000, shows that
>the people who schedule the GW Freeze-out need to look at who they're
>bringing out to LA.  Three east coast teams plus a mid-west team aren't
 
   Tournaments can't always get the teams they'd like to have, but I
   thought this was a great group for L.A.  Notre Dame has great name
   attraction and the ND football team was in town the same weekend.
   The participants of the GWFO saw the football game, and so I would
   expect that at least some ND football fans might have supported the
   hockey team.  Both BU and Maine are well known for their recent NCAA
   tournament appearances;  BU seemed to have a number of supporters in
   attendance.  Maine may have had some extra because of previously
   successful trips there.  Where did that Paul Kariya guy go to school?
   Some might have wished for a Big Ten school in place of Princeton,
   but, like Notre Dame, Princeton surely brings the draw of a
   top-quality school.
 
   I think we've discussed this in previous years, but the Great Western
   Bank is giving big-time college hockey a chance to catch on in L.A.
   ...  and maybe the promotion indirectly helps the area pro teams.
 
...
 
Wayne Smith
The College Hockey Discussion List administrator
Systems Group - CAPS              BITNET/CREN:  wts@maine
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