Jon writes:
>Here is where I have to get parochial and come to the defense of our local
>facility.  I don't quite understand this at all.  The Centrum is widely regarded
>as one of the best run facilities in the East.  Having been to most of the other
>facilities on the list (surprisingly enough, even though Albany is my home town
>I haven't been to the Knick....and of course, the new Gahden isn't built yet)
>the Centrum holds its own with any of them.
 
To me, the Centrum is a sort of middle-of-the-road facility - better than
most college rinks, not quite a pro rink.  It seems to be a perfect place
to hold a regional for hockey, and the hoop tourney thought it was good
enough to hold their first round games their last year too.  The location
is great and despite the bad color scheme :-), it's a fun place to watch a
game.  The ice problems were no worse than Providence and even seemed
better.  I expect the Knick will get it very soon, if not next year, but
the Centrum does deserve consideration for future regionals IMO.
 
One of the things that may weigh heavily upon any future bids submitted by
Worcester is the great turnout - 9,000 the first night, 12,045 (sellout)
the second.  That's by far the best of any of the four regionals held in
the last two years.  But it would be interesting to see what would have
happened had Maine not been there; many of the tickets sold ahead of time
were probably sold to Maine fans who knew their team would make it, and it
seemed like they had turned the Centrum into Alfond South (Southwest?) on
Saturday.
 
Best sign was held by the (obviously) Maine fans right after the power
came back on, it read "Milwaukee - Do Your Lights Work?"
 
>Laing (sp?) Kennedy, the Cornell AD and head of the selection committee, was
>impressed and has recommended that the Centrum bid for future events.  In fact,
>BU and the Centrum have already bid for next year's Eastern Regionals and the
>next available (96?) NCAA Finals.
 
That would be 97...94 (St Paul), 95 (Providence), and 96 (Cincinnati) are
already awarded.  The ice in Providence should be MUCH better in 95 since
the Prov Bruins now play there.  The new Garden should be an attractive
site for the 97 finals, though, if it bids for it; if they intend to keep
the rotation of one year East, one West, then I'd think the Garden would
only need to bid to get it - although there are certainly other factors
that will come into play.
 
>I enjoyed watching Friday's Minnesota-Clarkson game with resident guru Mike
>Machnik.  Everyone should do this at least once.....  Mike is a fountain of
>knowledge ranging from game analysis to college hockey trivia.
 
Thanks, Jon...the check for your excellent PR work goes in the mail
tomorrow. :-)  It was fun.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
alternate address days: [log in to unmask]             *HMN*  11/13/93
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)