I see that the attendance is now listed at 16,005. Which I still think is generous, maybe by about 2K.
I checked the box score online during the second game, and the Hockey East website originally had it listed at 17,900.
I still find it incredible how few Harvard students, or even alumni, were there.
It may be blasphemous to even whisper it, but maybe Harvard should consider withdrawing. Since they don't compete, don't show up and don't seem to care.
I'm only half kidding, but -- What would Bentley do to get invited to the Beanpot? They'd show up with a lot more fans than Harvard (even if they were new fans), and they couldn't do any worse on the ice than Harvard has for the past 15 years.
At least Northeastern fans show up in strong numbers, and care about the event.
As much as I'd love to get Bentley into the Beanpot, them being in that tournament is just not happening. They can't draw 200 people in their own building, which is because the students don't care. Even when they do get students out, it's a small, homey style crowd. They're not good enough to beat bad teams outside of teh AHA, which essentially means they'd get positively murdered against BC and BU. You'd have better luck bringing in Holy Cross, which would probably make more sense anyways.
Bentley in the Beanpot is a pipe dream that we'd have a legitimate fan base. Right now, that's not an option since it's just starting out at ground level.
Bentley would be a better fit for a secondary tournament held at the DCU or even at Agganis or at Tsongas Arena. I've always had this vision of a "Chowder Cup" where Bentley, UMass, UMass-Lowell, and Holy Cross get together and play a tournament somewhere else. Maybe down the Cape at the HYCC where Colgate played Army for that exhibition?
