Carl Sussman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
>That is a strange group of teams to select.  None of the hockey esat teams,
>to my knowledge, have a particularly large NYC alumni base (possible
>exception of BU?  Any BU alumni know about this?), so it doesn't really
>matter which hockey east teams they select (but selecting stronger teams
>can't hurt).  The ECAC choices make no sense though.  I'm sure both RPI and
>Colgate have significant numbers of NYC area alums, but those aren't very
>large schols.  Schools like Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Cornell have
>huge NYC alumni bases, and often rabidly loyal alumni (not intended as an
>insult -- no flames please).
 
Is this really true?  I remember checking a year or two ago, and my
recollection is that besides for Cornell, none of the Ivies are all that
much bigger than RPI on the undergraduate level.  RPI has somewhere
between 4000 and 5000 undergrads, and I think that the largest Ivy (besides
for Cornell) has less than 7000.  Please correct me if I am wrong.  Since
the Ivies tend to have a much more diverse geographical distribution than
the non-Ivies, it wouldn't surprise me at all to hear that there are more
RPI alums in the NY Metro area than those of any Ivy besides for Cornell.
Also, at least historically, since Hockey is RPI's only Div-I sport, there
is more interest in it there than in any of the non-Ithacan (is that the
proper word?) Ivies.  If one adds grad-school enrollment, I imagine that
most or all of the Ivies are bigger than RPI, but do grad school alumni
follow their teams to a large degree?  Colgate, I think, is a significantly
smaller school, but someone else would have to comment.
 
As to getting non-Alums to attend, I agree that the Ivies would be
better draws that RPI or Colgate.
 
>If they selected two of those teams and
>paired each against a top hockey east team, they might generate some real
>alumni interest (although now that I think of it, a Harvard-Yale match in
>NYC might not be such a bad idea either).  It's true though, that NY is a
>pro sports town, so it might be an uphill battle.  Of course, considering
>how hard it is to get Rangers tickets (I'm currently # 20,000 on the
>seaon-tickets waitlist, and a few hundred turn over each year) you never
>know. . .
 
I certainly agree that NY is a pro sports town, but with proper promotion
perhaps this could change.
 
As to the HEA teams, I suspect that BC, BU and Providence would be the best
draws.  BU because it probably does have a large NY alumni base, and the
others because of the Big East connection.
 
I agree with the earlier poster who either stated or speculated that the
reason that these two games are RPI-UNH and Colgate-Maine is because these
were games that were previously scheduled and could be switched to NYC.  If
the games are a success (by whatever criteria defines a success) perhaps
this will be expanded in future years.  Maybe, MSG will bid for the NCAA
tourney (or at least the ECAC final-five) in future years.  I wonder who
would be the host for an NCAA tourney in NYC.  Princeton?, Army?, Iona?
 
Ralph Baer
RPI '68, '70, '74
 
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