Frozen Four 2023: Three Blue Bloods and and Upstart

[MichVandal]

This is an unpopular take, but I don't see Tampa as a slam dunk to continue hosting. It's fine, but nothing spectacular. Oppressive heat/humidity, comparatively limited hotel options, have to drive everywhere with no public transit, many things closed after the game nearby. It's fine, but there are better destination spots - Nashville and Las Vegas in particular. I would not be upset if Tampa was not a future FF site.

Of the places we've been for FF's, the places that had good public transit have been Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, and Chicago. And Chicago was a real challenge to use public transport to get to the rink. And of those, Boston is the only one that has had more than on FF. So I'm not really sure how that's a priority for the FF to be good.

Vegas has really nothing but traffic, Nashville doesn't have much, either.

In terms of other Florida locations, if the Panthers played where the Heat do, that would be an amazing location. But they play in Hollywood, way away from both Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

And I think the temp issue this year was unique- it was great the last two times we were there. And both times, we used the FF as an excuse to take a cruise.

 

[brassbonanza]

Of the places we've been for FF's, the places that had good public transit have been Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, and Chicago. And Chicago was a real challenge to use public transport to get to the rink. And of those, Boston is the only one that has had more than on FF. So I'm not really sure how that's a priority for the FF to be good.

Vegas has really nothing but traffic, Nashville doesn't have much, either.

In terms of other Florida locations, if the Panthers played where the Heat do, that would be an amazing location. But they play in Hollywood, way away from both Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

And I think the temp issue this year was unique- it was great the last two times we were there. And both times, we used the FF as an excuse to take a cruise.

Nashville doesn't require public transit because you can stay downtown and never need to leave to go to the games, eat, drink, play, and stay. That isn't the case in Tampa since much of the area around the arena is closed or dead after the game.

Same for Vegas, no need to drive/train anywhere unless you stay way up the strip or off strip. There's ~10,000 hotel rooms within a <15 minute walk from T-Mobile.

Can't comment on other weeks it was there but the weather this week was awful.

It's an ok site, it should definitely go there before ever going to Buffalo again, but there's better destination sites.

Is there not also a relatively good train system in the Twin Cities too?

 

[J.D.]

Nashville hasn’t been, nor is it likely to be a candidate any time soon. Nashville hosts the SEC basketball tournament along with concerts and other events. And the NHLis gearing up for the playoffs and the Predators need prime dates there.

How does Boston do it then with both Celtics and Bruins and other stuff including Hockey East championship weekend?

 

[ericredaxe]

Nashville hasn’t been, nor is it likely to be a candidate any time soon. Nashville hosts the SEC basketball tournament along with concerts and other events. And the NHLis gearing up for the playoffs and the Predators need prime dates there.

Date wise the SEC tournament would be long over before the Frozen Four. Every other arena is going to also deal with the potential for concerts and NHL games - what would make this a bigger issue for Nashville than any of the other arenas?

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Plus NHL playoffs are after the FF finishes up

It’s probably legit that Nashville would be more prone than most for having more concerts rolling through (it’s the capital of country music, after all) so that might impact demand at that arena.

I think the USCHO podcast said something about Nashville needing a bid before it can host, so it’s probable that there’s a lack of a willing local partner to help out.

I just went to a conference there in February, and can confirm that there’s no shortage of hotels and such nearby.

 

[Catfantoo]

Hey ESPN…it’s time to give up your abysmal coverage of the NCAA men’s D1 college hockey tournament. First of all, NO ONE watches you anymore. No one cares about the NBA and it’s 187-178 scores. You can’t even put the post game on one of your 16 affiliates? Like ESPNU or ESPN3? The fact you left Dave Starman off the broadcast team is a disgrace. Mary Melrose is an absolute embarrassment to your organization. He knows NOTHING about cawledge hawkey. The way you treat the sport is shameful. Now I will go back to boycotting your network as usual. ESPN….the Lebron Network.

Nice post and agree with assessment. They can keep Cohen in some capacity but time to move on from the other two. So many better announcers out there.

 

[Split-N]

Hey ESPN...it's time to give up your abysmal coverage of the NCAA men's D1 college hockey tournament...The way you treat the sport is shameful...

The silver lining to the end of the college season and NHL regular season is that I can cancel my ESPN+ subscription, which is the only way I can watch my college team and most NHL games.

 

[Scarlet]

This is an unpopular take, but I don't see Tampa as a slam dunk to continue hosting. It's fine, but nothing spectacular. Oppressive heat/humidity, comparatively limited hotel options, have to drive everywhere with no public transit, many things closed after the game nearby. It's fine, but there are better destination spots - Nashville and Las Vegas in particular. I would not be upset if Tampa was not a future FF site.

Agree with you on the places being closed after the game. What do they do when the Lightning play? I was with friends at the team's hotel after the game on Thursday and the kitchen closed at 9:00. That was so crazy.

However, the weather was awesome. Unless it had a direct issue with the ice, and it did not appear to, then I thought the weather could not have been better. That's why I was looking forward to Tampa.

 

[Darius]

Hey ESPN…it’s time to give up your abysmal coverage of the NCAA men’s D1 college hockey tournament.First of all, NO ONE watches you anymore. No one cares about the NBA and it’s 187-178 scores. You can’t even put the post game on one of your 16 affiliates? Like ESPNU or ESPN3? The fact you left Dave Starman off the broadcast team is a disgrace. Mary Melrose is an absolute embarrassment to your organization. He knows NOTHING about cawledge hawkey. The way you treat the sport is shameful. Now I will go back to boycotting your network as usual. ESPN….the Lebron Network.

Be careful what you ask for. While there is much room for improvement, there was a time when the only way to see all the tournament games was to attend them.

 

[Slap Shot]

Agree with you on the places being closed after the game. What do they do when the Lightning play? I was with friends at the team's hotel after the game on Thursday and the kitchen closed at 9:00. That was so crazy.

However, the weather was awesome. Unless it had a direct issue with the ice, and it did not appear to, then I thought the weather could not have been better. That's why I was looking forward to Tampa.

The ice was awful for the championship game at least.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

You’d think they could have at least covered the post game on ESPNNews.

I don't recall them even announcing coverage continuing on a different channel. Who the hell in ESPN's programming thinks they have an audience for a Sportscenter rerun at that time of the night?

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

I don't recall them even announcing coverage continuing on a different channel. Who the hell in ESPN's programming thinks they have an audience for a Sportscenter rerun at that time of the night?

I watched the end of a replay of the championship game yesterday and I noticed “coverage continues on ESPN+” chyron that I hadn’t noticed before.

Which is lame, but even a verbal acknowledgment of that would’ve been nice.

 

[Scarlet]

The ice was awful for the championship game at least.

Did anyone say anything about it (player/coaches)? It looked OK to me. How do the Lightning manage it? They play there 10 months out of the year.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

I watched the end of a replay of the championship game yesterday and I noticed “coverage continues on ESPN+” chyron that I hadn’t noticed before.

Which is lame, but even a verbal acknowledgment of that would’ve been nice.

Didn't matter because the feed on ESPN+ was the same as ESPN2. There was no coverage of the trophy presentation of any of the festivities.

I got my fix yesterday on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook but even they were missing parts.

Saw something on Twitter yesterday the badically said they didnt cover it because it ran past 10:30 due to the OT. Lame because they were pre-empting SportsCenter which aired all night.

 

[Split-N]

...Shows where hockey in general and college hockey in particular stand in the Disney/ESPN empire.

I know it's rude to quote oneself but asking forgiveness to point out how the ESPN channels typically hype the heck out of anything and everything EXCEPT college hockey.

 

[BUPhD]

Again. ESPN only covers this out of contractural obligations to get college football games. They'd be more than happy to drop it but its part of their deal with the NCAA. It'd be more effective to scream at the NCAA to let ESPN off the hook for this championship and shop it to CBS (for TNT coverage) or FS1 as part of their college football contracts. Frankly I don't see ANY network picking it up unless they're made to.

That aside,

I'm wondering why DC doesn't come up more in the conversation for hosting again. It seemed a succesful location. Lots of airports, easy transit, bunches of hotels. I guess you're competing with Cherry Blossom gawkers that time of the year sometimes but that's a nice off day activity as are all the Smithsonians. Which are free.

 

[Blackheart]

No 2020. Had we had that, we'd have 4 in 11.

Sorry Big Red, but the GREEN would have given you a beat down in 2020.
Go Sioux!

 

[Blackheart]

Very upsetting to this college hockey fan. Shows where hockey in general and college hockey in particular stand in the Disney/ESPN empire.

ESPN doesn't give a shi+ about college hockey; that's why we're stuck buth Bucci and Melrose and Colby every year.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

The ice was awful for the championship game at least.

My friend and neighbor was in charge of the ice at our Schottenstein Center which is NHL size. He quit once and OSU begged him to come back when we hosted the Frozen Four as they could get the ice right.
He said it doesn't matter how cold the glycol is under the surface, if the atmospheric conditions inside the arena aren't right you're going to have poor ice. Having the championship in Tampa was a bad idea. You have to have optimum inside air temp AND low humidity. Having 18,000+ in the building makes it challenging. Obviously the arena's HVAC system for whatever reason wasn't up to the task.

 

[J.D.]

Tampa has played SCF games at home in June, not the end of the world. Same ice for both teams. Don't remember it being a huge concern the previous two times.