What's new
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Regional Attendance

Re: Regional Attendance

Only a fraction of the concession stands were open at the X last weekend, and the stands that were open didn't even offer all their normal options, not even thinking about alcohol for this. The mini-donuts were one of those things not available this weekend. THE Boston PERSON was noticeably upset by this.

:p

(she is THE ONE :D)
 
Re: Regional Attendance

they ran out of chips during the 2nd period in the hea qf :(

therefore they could have had the best pulled pork in the world, but no way to get from plate to mouth

they ran out of a lot of things during that weekend (including a couple of types of soda), which speaks to Aramark's crappy food services management more than anything.

you'd think considering that Aramark has the food service contract for the entire campus they could maybe share resources a little? or plan better? I mean they've never been good at planning for things so maybe that's asking too much.
 
Re: Regional Attendance

they ran out of a lot of things during that weekend (including a couple of types of soda), which speaks to Aramark's crappy food services management more than anything.

you'd think considering that Aramark has the food service contract for the entire campus they could maybe share resources a little? or plan better? I mean they've never been good at planning for things so maybe that's asking too much.


that did deserve a double tap!
 
Re: Regional Attendance

re: old format

In the last year of the 6 team super regionals, Worcester had the following teams:

1. UNH
2. BU
3. Maine
4. Cornell
5. Quinnipiac
6. Harvard

I admit you can't ask for much more than that in terms of local teams but total attendance over the 2 days was 22,433. I was there and atmosphere was tremendous. Same for previous year when BC and Maine played in the regional final. 2001 and 2002 west regionals were at Yost and Michigan ended up advancing to the FF so attendance was good there as well. Not sure if attendance sucked at these super regionals before then.
 
Re: Regional Attendance

re: old format

In the last year of the 6 team super regionals, Worcester had the following teams:

1. UNH
2. BU
3. Maine
4. Cornell
5. Quinnipiac
6. Harvard

I admit you can't ask for much more than that in terms of local teams but total attendance over the 2 days was 22,433. I was there and atmosphere was tremendous. Same for previous year when BC and Maine played in the regional final. 2001 and 2002 west regionals were at Yost and Michigan ended up advancing to the FF so attendance was good there as well. Not sure if attendance sucked at these super regionals before then.

2001 West Regional was in Grand Rapids

2002 (6 team) was in Ann Arbor
2003 (4 team) was in Ann Arbor
 
Re: Regional Attendance

Is it possible to have 2 regional sites with 2 buildings for the first day? The bigger attendance problem seems to be the second day with one game.

Example: East 1 vs 8 and 4 vs 5 in Worcester on Friday at 5 & 8:30
East 2 vs 7 and 3 vs 6 in Providence at 2 & 5:30
Both winners in Worcester on Saturday

Problem is would there be enough sites with 2 buildings close enough in proximity to do this?
 
Re: Regional Attendance

you'd think considering that Aramark has the food service contract for the entire campus they could maybe share resources a little? or plan better? I mean they've never been good at planning for things so maybe that's asking too much.

You wouldn't want the food they are serving the rest of campus... unless it improved tremendously this year (doubtful)
 
Re: Regional Attendance

Just my two cents.

The current regional format does not produce people in the stands. The primary cause, imho, is the fact that all the games are broadcast live on tv, or streamed by espn. Why would I get in my car and drive 12 hours to Cincinnati to see UND play when I can watch them from the comfort of my living room, and possibly save for a trip to the Frozen Four, or if not, then next year's Frozen Faceoff in Minneapolis?

We in the college hockey world have a choice. We can go back to on campus games. I don't think on campus "regionals" is the solution given the small size of the home arenas that would end up hosting some regionals. Instead, back to the old method of the higher seed hosting. We have the extra week available due to bounceyball, so the first weekend we play down to eight and the second down to four.

There would be no tv under this format. ESPN isn't going to send teams out to eight different arenas, and there would be too many games anyway. But, we'd have great "atmosphere" in the arenas themselves.

Or, we keep going as is with the knowledge that at least as of now, we all get to see all the games (played, albeit, in mausoleums).

Good suggestions, and the idea of moving back to a "campus" format has gained a lot of traction . I see one problem with the "there would be no TV under this format," however. First, now you have an "extra" round. You're forcing fans to now fly potentially three times if they are not close to any of the sites. This is where I part ways with the "status quo." If you're going to do that, then we should go back to the "true" regional format the way it used to be. The word "regional" means IN A PARTICULAR REGION. That means that teams STAY in that region (so their fans are able to go to the games). The word "regional" has no meaning when (for example, in basketball, a team like, say, Providence, has to go to Seattle for a first-round game) a team doesn't play in its own region. This means that there should be SEPARATE seedings for each regional, independent of OVERALL seeding. I mean, you can't have it both ways. Everyone is griping about attendance, but why would anyone have expected a large crowd in St. Paul with BU and Ferris State there? BU fans would have to fly 1300 miles. Then, if they had won, we would have to fly the same distance again. Denver fans had to fly 900 miles, and now, since they are going to Tampa, it's 1800 miles more. For those who can't fly, you're talking TWO trips of 23 hours or so if you drive for BU, and for Denver, who knows how many hours to drive to Tampa!!! Again (and I have brought this up on other threads), this is NOT basketball where there are gigantic fan bases (and even in THOSE "regionals" the arenas are half-empty in the first round). And basketball is even more ludicrous with the "pod" system, where some of the first round games of the WEST regionals were played in PROVIDENCE - apparently the NCAA flunked geography. And I already can anticipate what everyone is going to say. "You'll ruin the BRACKET INTEGRITY!" Fine...keep the bracket integrity and have nobody there. Wonderful. Great atmosphere. It was really fun watching those games. (NOT) Personally (and this would solve the problem of "too small" campus arenas) I would rather keep the medium sized neutral arena, but fill them with LOCAL teams. It would definitely enhance the atmosphere and attendance, and here is how it could be done:

<u><b>Northeast</b> - Worcester, Manchester, or Providence</u>:
BC
Providence
Lowell
Northeastern

<u><b>East</b> - Bridgeport</u>:
Yale
Quinnipiac
BU
Harvard

<u><b>Midwest</b> - Ann Arbor, Cincinnati or Detroit</u>:
Michigan
Notre Dame
Ferris State
RIT

<u><b>West</b> - Grand Forks</u>:
St. Cloud
North Dakota
Denver
Minnesota-Duluth

Now, I REALIZE that it's always going to be more difficult for the West because everything is more spread out, but this beats, for example, Minnesota-Duluth having to go to Worcester, BU having to go to St. Paul and Northeastern having to go to Cincinnati. There will complaints of "we're seeing the SAME teams." Personally, I never liked inter-league play in MLB, either. There was a certain "intrigue" about having a World Series between teams that hadn't played each other. And for those who prefer the "crossing over" format, well, you would be GUARANTEED to have that every year at the Frozen Four, since the winner coming out of each regional would actually be FROM THAT REGION. It preserves the regional integrity, which prevents finals like, for example, in 1978, when BU played BC in Providence, basically meaning that 99.9% of the country was not represented (and probably didn't care). Besides, I feel as though regional integrity trumps "bracket" integrity. I mean, c'mon...it's hockey. The seedings mean NOTHING. This (again) isn't basketball, when 150 points are scored every game. In hockey, ONE bounce can decide a season. The impact of one goal is almost infinitely more significant than one "score" in basketball, since the sample size is so miniscule. If all of you "bracket integrity" folks are so concerned with that, then you should be advocating for a best two out of three series, where at least you would have a better chance of the higher seed winning. Sorry, to me, the attendance concerns win every time. As the saying goes, "What if they put on a tournament and nobody came?"
 
Last edited:
You could definitely do this in Fargo, St. Paul, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Columbus...not sure how much better attendance would be but it could work.

Green Bay may be out of the mix for the foreseeable future with the State Girls BBall Tourney at the venue in mid March and the Gamblers (owned by arena mgmt) likely not wanting a two week roadie in the last 3 weeks of the regular season.
 
Re: Regional Attendance

Attendance at those regionals sucked too.

Not true. Perhaps a "couple" of times if you had, for example, in an East regional, 4 teams from the East and 2 from the West and the 2 West teams advanced. But, in general, crowds were MUCH bigger and the atmosphere was GREAT. Which is why (as I said above), to me, REGION is more important than this elusive "bracket integrity" which seems to be the new buzz term the last few years. It's not like you have 834 teams like you do in basketball, where there has NEVER been a #16 defeating a #1 seed. Put LOCAL teams there and you will have HUGE, enthusiastic crowds. I contemplated going to St. Paul (couldn't because of work commitments, but even if I could have), but why bother? No fun to travel 1300 miles to sit in a half-empty arena with only about 100 fans cheering for the same team I am. If the NCAA is trying to kill the sport, they're dong a good job of it. I don't want a regional in someplace like Wheeling, West Virginia (for example) just so they can say they are "growing the game."
 
Re: Regional Attendance

You wouldn't want the food they are serving the rest of campus... unless it improved tremendously this year (doubtful)

I'm sure it hasn't improved one bit since the last time I ate on campus, which was probably 2004 or 2005. Aramark is a garbage company.
 
Re: Regional Attendance

I'm sure it hasn't improved one bit since the last time I ate on campus, which was probably 2004 or 2005. Aramark is a garbage company.

If you think Aramark is bad, you should have experienced Servomation (which was the vendor when I was in school back in the .......'s) :D
 
Re: Regional Attendance

Only a fraction of the concession stands were open at the X last weekend, and the stands that were open didn't even offer all their normal options, not even thinking about alcohol for this. The mini-donuts were one of those things not available this weekend. Some Boston people were noticeably upset by this.

No mini-donuts? I gotta admit, this is a major issue. Detroit people have rioted over less.
 
Re: Regional Attendance

ESPN doesn't have a choice about broadcasting the games. Part of the contract the four letter network has with the NCAA for bouncyball stipulates ESPN will cover the championships in other sports. They don't cover the fencing, bowling or hockey playoffs out of the goodness of their corporate heart.
 
Re: Regional Attendance

ESPN doesn't have a choice about broadcasting the games. Part of the contract the four letter network has with the NCAA for bouncyball stipulates ESPN will cover the championships in other sports. They don't cover the fencing, bowling or hockey playoffs out of the goodness of their corporate heart.

touche! :D :D :D
 
Back
Top