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Attendance at Regionals

Re: Attendance at Regionals

Patman said:
I don't know what's been said, but I can't see them going to a home-bid regional system... that would tick off WAY too many people.

Sigh... the 12 team set up was great... I'm not asking for a return, but the casual fan was guarenteed 4 games and 6 teams. I know attendance in the east always did real well.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, I hated that format, because there always seemed to be an auto-bye for an undeserving team. (Usually Clarkson.)

Perhaps if the NCAA used the PWR to seed the teams, vs. gifting the auto-bids, it wouldn't be so bad.

I still maintain that it's all about the national TV exposure, though. As long as college hockey has that, it really doesn't matter much if people attend the games... The sport will grow in spite of itself.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

IMO, PWR to seed, but have the regionals in places that will sell. Preset. Sure, you'll see the powerhouse arenas (just using the western ones) like MI, MN, UND, WI if they don't kick the tourney out of the Kohl, etc, but I'd rather see full(er) buildings than 3/4 empty ones.

More people will get excited when they see a larger engaged crowd. Mob mentality (relatively).
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

If people liked the 12 team tournament so much I say we shift towards an east and west super regional. Have 2 regional locations, have semifinal games on Friday and Saturday with Championship games on Sunday.

West (or East) Regional
Friday:
Game 1: A1 vs A4
Game 2: A2 vs A3

Saturday:
Game 3: B1 vs B4
Game 4: B2 vs B3

Sunday:
Game 5: G1W vs G2W
Game 6: G3W vs G4W

Sound good?
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

Shirtless Guy said:
If people liked the 12 team tournament so much I say we shift towards an east and west super regional. Have 2 regional locations, have semifinal games on Friday and Saturday with Championship games on Sunday.

West (or East) Regional
Friday:
Game 1: A1 vs A4
Game 2: A2 vs A3

Saturday:
Game 3: B1 vs B4
Game 4: B2 vs B3

Sunday:
Game 5: G1W vs G2W
Game 6: G3W vs G4W

Sound good?
Click to expand...
I've always liked that kind of setup. One problem is the "dead" day -- in your example, for the Game 1 and Game 2 fans. That works OK for the FF, but I suspect regional attendees wouldn't like the open day for a regional.

One idea that occurs to me is a “regional” super-regional. For example:

Day 1
2 Regional A games at BU (or BC , Matthews, or Harvard, or Lowell)
2 Regional B games at Worcester (or BC, etc.)
with a provision that nobody gets to play at their home rink.

Day 2
2 Regional finals at Worcester

The key would be at least two rinks, one of which is a neutral site, that are a reasonable commute. Of course the Boston example is unique and the problem is really in the west. Maybe St. Paul/Mariucci/Mankato/St. Cloud is a possibility.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

Shirtless Guy said:
If people liked the 12 team tournament so much I say we shift towards an east and west super regional. Have 2 regional locations, have semifinal games on Friday and Saturday with Championship games on Sunday.

West (or East) Regional
Friday:
Game 1: A1 vs A4
Game 2: A2 vs A3

Saturday:
Game 3: B1 vs B4
Game 4: B2 vs B3

Sunday:
Game 5: G1W vs G2W
Game 6: G3W vs G4W

Sound good?
Click to expand...

This is the only solution. With two games deciding Frozen Four teams on the final day, attendance should at least be decent. I wish the conference tournaments would go away (will never happen) and you go right from the regular season to the NCAA regionals. Then you would see a major boost in attendance.
 
Fishman'81 said:
With all due respect, I hated that format, because there always seemed to be an auto-bye for an undeserving team. (Usually Clarkson.)

Perhaps if the NCAA used the PWR to seed the teams, vs. gifting the auto-bids, it wouldn't be so bad.

I still maintain that it's all about the national TV exposure, though. As long as college hockey has that, it really doesn't matter much if people attend the games... The sport will grow in spite of itself.
Click to expand...

It was not called the Clarkson Rule for nothing!!! Too bad we never took advantage of it.

I still think Week 1 on campus (either best of 3 or one and done) protects the top seeds, which is what the season was for, right?

Then go to a one & done super regional and a week later the Frozen Four.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

Shirtless Guy said:
If people liked the 12 team tournament so much I say we shift towards an east and west super regional. Have 2 regional locations, have semifinal games on Friday and Saturday with Championship games on Sunday.

West (or East) Regional
Friday:
Game 1: A1 vs A4
Game 2: A2 vs A3

Saturday:
Game 3: B1 vs B4
Game 4: B2 vs B3

Sunday:
Game 5: G1W vs G2W
Game 6: G3W vs G4W

Sound good?
Click to expand...

The dead day issue can be fixed by making it:

Friday:
Game 1 A1 vs A4
Game 2 B1 vs B4

Saturday:
Game 3 A2 vs A3
Game 4 B2 vs B3

Sunday:
Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 3
Winner Game 2 vs Winner Game 4

Theoretically, the #1 seeds would have Saturday off while the #2 and #3 teams play on Saturday.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

Priceless said:
The dead day issue can be fixed by making it:

Friday:
Game 1 A1 vs A4
Game 2 B1 vs B4

Saturday:
Game 3 A2 vs A3
Game 4 B2 vs B3

Sunday:
Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 3
Winner Game 2 vs Winner Game 4

Theoretically, the #1 seeds would have Saturday off while the #2 and #3 teams play on Saturday.
Click to expand...

You have a worse issue IMO, and is something that had happened in the 80's during the FF but no longer: the extra one day of rest handicap. Sure, there are some teams who overcame it, but it provides too much of an advantage to those who play on Friday.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

joecct said:
It was not called the Clarkson Rule for nothing!!! Too bad we never took advantage of it.

I still think Week 1 on campus (either best of 3 or one and done) protects the top seeds, which is what the season was for, right?

Then go to a one & done super regional and a week later the Frozen Four.
Click to expand...

If you want to make the season meaningful, let's repeal the Union rule.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

MGoBlueHockey said:
It won't be long before we see an outdoor regional. Bank on it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's a horrible idea. The ice conditions would be brutal and Ford Field should have been enough of a gong show to change anyone’s mind against that horrible idea. Hockey’s NCAA tourney needs to be played in the arena where it’s meant to be played.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

FlagDUDE08 said:
You have a worse issue IMO, and is something that had happened in the 80's during the FF but no longer: the extra one day of rest handicap. Sure, there are some teams who overcame it, but it provides too much of an advantage to those who play on Friday.
Click to expand...

Is that worse than playing these games on the campus of the #1 seed.

It is all irrelevant anyway, because the NCAA doesn't seem anxious to change the format does it?
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

FlagDUDE08 said:
You have a worse issue IMO, and is something that had happened in the 80's during the FF but no longer: the extra one day of rest handicap. Sure, there are some teams who overcame it, but it provides too much of an advantage to those who play on Friday.
Click to expand...
In addition, you still have a dead day for the teams that play on Friday. Of course college hockey fans and interested locals get three days of games, and would go. But I think that, somewhat unlike fans who go to the FF every year, fans who go to the regionals are fans of teams and would look on Saturday as a dead day because their team isn't playing.

No ideal solutions.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

CLS said:
In addition, you still have a dead day for the teams that play on Friday. Of course college hockey fans and interested locals get three days of games, and would go. But I think that, somewhat unlike fans who go to the FF every year, fans who go to the regionals are fans of teams and would look on Saturday as a dead day because their team isn't playing.

No ideal solutions.
Click to expand...

How about this: Doubleheader on Friday (W1vW4, W2vW3), Tripleheader on Saturday (E1vE4, E2vE3, Winners[W]), single game on Sunday (Winners[E]).
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

FlagDUDE08 said:
How about this: Doubleheader on Friday (W1vW4, W2vW3), Tripleheader on Saturday (E1vE4, E2vE3, Winners[W]), single game on Sunday (Winners[E]).
Click to expand...
Yes, thought of that. You'd probably need to clear the rink after the first two games Saturday. Starting times of 12:00, 4:00, and 8:00 seems reasonable to me. But what do you want to bet that the first year they tried it, there'd be a BU-St. Lawrence 2000 game.:(
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

johnk said:
Same problem on Sunday. One game!
Click to expand...

That's not a bad thing. If you have a Sunday matinee game, people will (generally) have enough time to be able to get home so they can go to work on Monday and not need to worry about taking an extra day off, if any at all.
 
Re: Attendance at Regionals

CLS said:
Yes, thought of that. You'd probably need to clear the rink after the first two games Saturday. Starting times of 12:00, 4:00, and 8:00 seems reasonable to me. But what do you want to bet that the first year they tried it, there'd be a BU-St. Lawrence 2000 game.:(
Click to expand...

There's always going to be that chance no matter where you hold the tournament or how many games are played in a day. Clearing the rink isn't always so bad; they did it during the WJC when they had it in Buffalo. Of course, they also had a beer tent nearby to hang out (and get out of the cold) between games. Hopefully that's not against NCAA regulation.
 
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