Greg <[log in to unmask]> writes: > When will the Eastern Regional NCAA site be awarded? I think that the > pool of potential sites for this and future years is actually quite > small: Knickerbocker Arena (Albany), Lake Placid, Boston Garden, Conte > Forum (Chestnut Hill), Providence Civic Centre, Hartford Civic Centre, > Houston Field House (Troy), Onondaga Co. Memorial (Syracuse) - and some > of those are a stretch. Am I forgetting any contenders? I assume the > Aud, Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, and the Byrne Arena are > all too far afield. As long as you're mentioning long shots, there is the Centrum in Worcester and the Civic Center in Springfield, MA. Somewhat centralized (no less than Hartford, in any case). I'm not sure if either of these places would want it, but Springfield does have an AHL team, while the Bruins play one or two preseason games a year in Worcester. The Aud would be too far west, the Spectrum, MSG, and Nassau would be too far south, Lake Placid should be too far north. But then again there are those who claim that the Boston Gardens should be too far east. Just ask last year's ECAC final four! (do I need a smiley here?) Since we're talking an NCAA tournament (not ECAC or HE), any place from Albany to Boston could be considered centralized (with Albany and Boston being the extremes). I'm against having it in a school arena. Too much "home ice advantage" should that school ever participate, besides, the school arena don't even come close to seating the number of people some of the "civic centers" do. I know RPI used to have the largest seating area in the east (at least they did when I attended there 15 years ago). How do the newer areans like Conte Forum stack up with Houston in seating capacity?