Sorry, but couldn't let this one go by.  I love parochial woofing.  I'm not
suggesting that it wasn't a great tournament at Bradley.  But let's not go
too far.
 
>Most of the tournament's success was attributed to Joel Maturi, a
>UW associate athletic director who also invested hundreds of
>outside hours as the tournament director.
 
>"All of our internal people did a great job," Sauer said.  "The
>people behind the scenes really made the thing work.  You've got to
>compliment them.  The Bradley Center and their staff made it happen.
>That's the difference in this tournament and every other tournament
>I've been to.
 
>"We all sat down when we knew we had the bid (four years ago) to
>take the bad from all the other tournaments and turn it into a
>positive.  I think that's what we were able to do."
 
Don't mean to be too cynical, but I think the fact that Wisconsin is
probably THE most college-hockey mad area in the United States (no offense
to Minnesota and Massachusetts) certainly helped things a bit.  I don't know
if I understand how Joel Matturi and the staff of the Bradley Center encouraged
17,000+ people to submit ticket vouchers by July of last year.  And I wish I
knew what "bad" Sauers took from previous tournaments which he turned into
positives.  I didn't think the previous NC$$ tournaments were too bad at all.
 
>Compared to last year's problematic event at Albany, N.Y., the
>Milwaukee tournament was virtually error free.  "There were no
>problems at all," Buttafuoco said.  "The people here were
>excellent."
 
WHAT?  The only "problems" I witnessed at the Knick were caused by a couple of
out-of-control Wisconsin players.  I assume that crack didn't emanate from Jeff
Sauer, because his team received great treatment during their stay in the
Capital Region.   It was no secret that Wisconsin became the virtual home team
last year with local fans adopting the Badgers as their own, and even the local
media picking up on the antics of the Cheeseheads and their entourage.
 
I think that Bradley Center is a great venue for college hockey.  I would like
to see the NC$$ site the regionals there next year as an alternative to the Joe
(and with Wisconsin returning most of their team next year I would bet the
attendance would be substantial.)
 
But please...a little respect.
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