After reading Michael Bohler's problems with his local sports bar, I started to feel sort of lucky. Being in an area that supports college hockey quite well, almost all (I haven't been to ALL of them yet in Lansing) of the sports bars here are more than willing to put on a college hockey game (though I've never tried when the team that's on isn't Michigan State). Due to the luck of having someone like Neil Koepke, who writes for the Lansing State Journal, in the area keeps the local fans pretty well-informed about college hockey (occassionally I rant about mistakes in his articles, but, hey, at least he's writing). So, you could probably say that at MSU, hockey is not considered another Division I sport, but the third revenue-generating sport for the University (not exactly on par with football or "orange-ball," but we aren't as bad as baseball either). A couple national championships and the winningest coach in college hockey will do wonders for your program. In response to an earlier statement, yes, I have done something to help in- crease the following of college hockey. I've already convinced at least two people and almost hooked a few more into the idea that getting hockey tickets is "way cooler" than "orange-ball" tickets. But I think college hockey will not become a nationally known sport until it is played at the DivI level in ALL areas of the country (that doesn't mean every DivI school has a hockey team, but at least someone nearby has one). The explosion in the popularity of the NHL didn't occur until two things happened: 1) Gretzky came to LA; and 2) teams started showing up in cities like San Jose and Miami with, for- tunately or unfortunately, neat logos (that doesn't mean that the logos are the only reason, just that people who hadn't seen hockey LIVE in the same arena all of a sudden got exposed to it and found out they liked it). By the way, Munn Arena for the West Regionals allowed reentry into the arena. We also have a press box instead of carving up seats to make one. But, not being a media person, I can't vouch for the food. :-) G. M. Finniss Michigan State University WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when? [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]