On Thu, 20 Apr 1995, Sara M. Fagan wrote:
 
>
> I find it hard to agree that college hockey is just a regional game with only
> local fan support.  True, I did have a college hockey experience and am a fan
> of one team but it is far from local.  I now live in the Boston area and
> I strongly support St. Lawrence hockey.  I go to some of their away games -
> both conference and non-conference - in 5 or more states.  When I lived in
> North Carolina I still found ways to follow the Saints.  This is far from
> *local* interest.  I do not think that I am the only college alum and hockey
> fan who is willing to go out of their way to see a game.  It seems to me that
> there must be others who no longer live withing 5 miles of their college team
> who would love to see more hockey on the TV.  But perhaps I just support the
> idea that HOCKEY-L is a collection of hockey nuts.
 
well, think about the # of schools in DivI college hockey - about 44?
think about the size of alot of those schools... you have some large, well
known places like Wisc, Mich, BC/BU/Harvard, OSU ... but they are known
for other sport (football, basketball ...).
 
I moved down to Virginia a few years ago and next to noone down here had
even heard of schools like Clarkson, Lake State, SLU, Colgate, Colorado
College, Union, RPI, etc...college hockey is non-existent down here for
all practical purposes (some club teams, etc).
 
However, this isn't going to change w/o some national exposure and like
any other form of advertising, its going to take $$. Maybe it'll take 10
yrs or more, but if college hockey is going to get out of the niche its
in, they'll have to get it on national TV (ESPN, ESPN/2, ...). Start with
well known schools in order to provide some sort of initial draw and then
start working in some of the lesser known schools.
 
-art stine
clarkson '86, '92