Today's Press Herald has an interesting story on a possible replacement for the Cumberland County Civic Center. Link is: http://www.pressherald.com/news/local/030522civic.shtml Suppose the extra tax might also fund the Bangor complex I mentioned in an earlier post this week ? How could Maine support two new venues of roughly the same size ? As to a potential regional hockey bid, would not Portland be a better fit for travelers than Bangor, and why only 8,500 seats instead of trying to match the 10,019 capacity of the Verizon in Manchester ? I would rather pay my Dos Amigos mexican food tax for the extra seating capacity (and expense) in Portland than in Bangor, especially if one goal was to secure several NC$$ bids. Incrementally, the cost of the extra 1,500 seats or so is not so large as the cost of building the infrastructure in the first place. Please don't compare the East with the West either...Maine's competition for one of the two East regionals in hockey is now at the level of arenas whose capacities are ALL over 10,000 seats. It's seat inflation, much like for the Frozen Four, which will never travel to smaller venues the likes of Lake Placid (or even Providence) any more. NC$$ Squeakball finals are only in domes now, for that matter. I do NOT enjoy the prospect of Maine being sent to a regional in Manchester, nor the advantage conferred upon of U of No Hardware being host to anyone else there next year (but why not let them win a regional, they can't do much when they reach the Last Four under Umile...) Dan Doucette (one of the thirty percent)