On Mon, 20 Mar 2006 21:21:06 -0500, Miller-Mackinnon <miller-
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I always thought Mercyhurst should throw in a bid with the folks at Hershey
>for the East Regional. Great arena with a fan base deep enough to draw the
>required 5-7K curious Hershey Bears season ticket holders. Within New
>England and most ECACHL schools driving distance, so could potentially fill
>the barn.
I would be happy to see Mercyhurst sponsor a regional, but the problem with
this scenario is that it is a 7-hour drive from Erie to Hershey. It would
make more sense for Mercyhurst to sponsor a regional in Buffalo or
Pittsburgh or Cleveland, all of which are within a 3-hour drive of Erie (or
Erie itself! Wouldn't the hockey fans love that!! :-)) ) Mercyhurst is no
closer to Hershey than, say, RPI or Union. The precedent of long-distance
hosting of a site has been set, of course, with UAA the host of the Frozen
Four in Anaheim probably the most extreme case. The hosts do have to
supply support for logistics, organization, media services, etc., and it
seems that smaller schools don't have the athletic department staff to
support this in most cases. (A few schools make the special effort, but
most D-II schools aren't that motivated. Mercyhurst is D-II in all but
hockey, I believe.)
Mostly it seems to come down to motivation. Schools that want to host make
the effort and others don't bother. Boston College doesn't sponsor hockey
regionals, they will only do basketball. There is no reason they couldn't
sponsor, like BU does, and guarantee their location should they make the
tournament. But they choose the higher-profile sport for their efforts.
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