My first FF, and a few observations from that perspective, from someone who's favorite teams didn't make it to Detroit and who liked the winner least of the 4 schools there:
1. Venue could have been made at least somewhat better, organizers did a poor job there. The curtain above the risers should have been much higher, with other curtaining perhaps added as well, to keep some of the crowd noise in the competition area instead of dispersing it into the empty unused stadium. I realize that the placement of the video screen in Ford Field provides some restriction on how big a curtain could be. But, maybe unwittingly, the organizers sure did build a dead, no-atmosphere building.
2. No building could have made this FF good when no game was competitive. Having seen 3 of the 4 teams several teams during the regular season (but not RIT till regionals), I felt that UW, Miami, and BC were close on talent and any of the 3 could have won a tourney like this--but in no game did two teams both show up to play. Props to York and BC for doing so on both nights, even though I'm definitely not a fan. Does Boston skate in slush more frequently than the others?--they surely adapted to it the best.
3. Muffled noise notwithstanding, these were painfully dead crowds, especially of team supporters. I sure did expect the enthusiasm I've seen from UW supporters at road games I've seen them at in CCHA-WCHA venues, but they were pretty dull. BC crowd was likewise a monumental bore, particularly when their team showed so well all weekend. Miami didn't travel well for a team only 250 miles away, perhaps the program's hockey success is too new for the alums to embrace. Ohio is not a hockey base, and I can say that having grown up in that south-of-the-border state. But I sure am a bigger fan of RIT than I was a month ago. They earned their way here by knocking out my favorite team, Denver, which chose not to play team hockey or enthusiastic hockey in their regional and lost to a team that outhustled and outthought them. Props to the RIT Tigers (but they were overmatched in the FF and reality returned with a thud). But, especially, props to their GREAT FANS, who were my personal weekend highlight--both in the enthusiasm they brought (particularly in coming back Saturday after the bad game on Thursday, having a great time in the final, and trying to inject enthusiasm into the dead crowd) and also in getting to meet several of you individually--nice folks.
4. I think a big-venue setting COULD work for a FF, and I still think that it could have done so in Detroit. (Bring the risers right down to rinkside, put a higher angle on them so all seats behind the front few rows aren't obstructed view, bring the ice surface as close to one "long side" of the field as possible.) The fact that 38,000 seats were sold for the final says there is a future reason to try and make this work. But this year's attempt gets no better than a C-plus. At least, however, I didn't have to listen to the ponderous Thorne and anal retentive Melrose try and call the college game about which they are clearly clueless. (But, at least ESPN is finally de-Nortonizing their once-a-year foray into college hockey, that would qualify as addition by subtraction.)
5. And, Detroit as a venue WAS a good time, in spite of all the national slant about what a hellhole it is. (And there are spots in Detroit that meet that description...ditto Boston, NYC, Washington, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, ad infinitum.) Downtown bars, restaurants, casinos were fun and the people hospitable, and the museum/culture district had some great hidden pearls to discover. Now, if only Detroit can rise above the filthy and moronic politics of the past fifty years that have done their darnedest to send a once-great city toward complete ruin...
Congrats (reluctantly), Boston. But, please, no more titles for your teams for many years to come, so we can have a break in the nonstop gushing factor from nearly ESPN. Definitely gag-a-maggot in its frequency and decibel level.
