2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

I hope everyone enjoyed the Philly, those that I spoke to personally did but possibly some were simply being polite. I'm well in to the third period and would like to see the FF back here before the final buzzer.

What I enjoyed most was the very entertaining games(all three)and talking with college hockey fans. What a great group of people! And to skate at the Wells Fargo Center with my seven year-old grandson(a promising mite!) was priceless.

Our daughter has recently purchased a house on the North Shore so we'll have a cheap room for Boston next year and I hope to see many of you there.

Our group had a great time. I actually had people tell me before I left that Philly was dangerous, that there was nothing to do, that the city was a dump. Wrong on all counts! Did some touring on foot and on one of those double decker buses, had a couple of great meals including one in the South Philly Italian Market area. However, I have to admit that upon entering the Wells Fargo Center and seeing all thoe banners, my hatred for th Flyers came boiling up to the surface. Someone should tell them that, if you want to be big league, hang just the Stanley Cup banners, not all that bogus Eastern Division, Western Division stuff. The Bruins used to do that in the old Garden and finally came to their senses. The Flyers should do the same.

[FiveHole12]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

The ridiculously large slice of Lorenzo & Sons pizza I had at the Wells Fargo Center was quite possibly the best pizza I've ever had, especially in an arena. And the chocolate ice cream? Awesome.

If you thought that was great pizza you are terribly misinformed and have no clue what good pizza is . Just sayin. It was big, I'll give it that much and for arena pizza it was just decent for the price .

Stop at Wooster St in New Haven, Sally's or Pepe's. Then you will have tasted truly great apizza. You don't have bad taste, you are just uninformed, and there has got to be better stuff than arena pizza in the greater Boston area.

Sorry guys... I'm with Scarlet here. That pizza at the arena was DELICIOUS! I was also at Pepe's on Friday, watching sterlippo gorge himself on salami pie. I've been to Pepe's twice now. It's OK, not great in my book. My favorite... Regina's, in the North End, Boston, MA. We've got some very good Italian and Greek pizza shops down on the South Shore, MA as well.

Scarlet... that chocolate ice cream was good!

[LTsatch]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

Sorry guys... I'm with Scarlet here. That pizza at the arena was DELICIOUS! I was also at Pepe's on Friday, watching sterlippo gorge himself on salami pie. I've been to Pepe's twice now. It's OK, not great in my book. My favorite... Regina's, in the North End, Boston, MA. We've got some very good Italian and Greek pizza shops down on the South Shore, MA as well.

Scarlet... that chocolate ice cream was good!

Greek pizza is akin to an Italian Gyro, blech. you have to get the white clam pie at Pepe's,

[thebrain]

Why not? We could put up tents in the yard for potential overflow. Then again, I'd better check...

It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

[FiveHole12]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

Greek pizza is akin to an Italian Gyro, blech. you have to get the white clam pie at Pepe's,

Well why didn't ya say so... before we went!
To each his own on the pizza tastes. But, I have no idea how sterlippo can even taste his pizza. The cheese is still bubbling (boiling) hot while he's stuffing masses of the molten lava into his mouth. My mouth hurts just watching him.

[Siouxfaninseattle]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

Many thanks for all the tips on Philly and New York. We had a great time in Philly - saw a whole lot of historical stuff, saw 179 minutes, 59.4 seconds of great hockey, ate well, and had fun figuring out what train went where, etc. I was very pleasantly surprised with the city - nice people, nice city. Also we had a great day in New York. Saw just about all of what I figured we could in the time we were there, but its a crazy place!

[pgb-ohio]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

There weren't big swaths of empty seats, like in may previous FFs (except for the Minnesota section during the first game, shame on you Minnesota). Either the NCAA or somebody did a better job of allocating the seats to the corporate and NCAA bigwigs who often don't show up (or they actually did show up). Pretty sure they didn't sell out, because I got another email Thursday morning saying there were still tickets available. Upper tier in the ends were pretty empty, except for the bands, but otherwise the empty seats were dispersed, so the place looked reasonably full, and gradually the lower bowl seats filled in, probably by upper bowl folks who moved down. The ushers didn't do much to prevent it (sometimes even during play ).

I've got to disagree with this, at least in part. IMHO, the number of empty seats was higher than usual, and the number of local attendees was way down. As host site, I expected the Philly crowd to be comparable to NHL cities like Pittsburgh, DC and St. Louis. But local support was stronger in each of those three cities, again IMHO.

Disclaimer: My observation is based on Thursday; I wasn't able to stay for Saturday this year. On television, in-house numbers appeared to be improved on Saturday night. If so, that is a redeeming factor, especially for a first-time host.

The crowd was announced at the game, and is listed in the boxscore, at 17,311 which I believe is about right. A Flyer's game" packed house" will top 20,000 so my prediction was wrong, and it wasn't a sellout. I thought the the crowd was energized and the atmosphere good for a neutral site event.

At no point on Thursday were there 17,000+ in the building; it wasn't even close. I'm not confident that number represents a turnstile count either. Tickets distributed, I'd believe.

With regard to atmosphere, I agree with you. Still, most of the credit for that goes to the fans of the participating schools. That, and the fact the hockey was excellent. But yes, bottom line, the atmosphere was fine.

On a personal level, I want to commend you for a fine job leading the conversation on this thread. You provided lots of helpful information and insight.

For the record, the Union and BC sections were fairly empty as well during the Gopher-Sioux game...

Yes, entirely fair comment. I take back the "shame on you, Minnesota"; instead, I say "Good for you, North Dakota". Their section looked pretty full both games.

Agree with your modified reply. I thought all four participating schools represented themselves very well -- and very much saved the day in terms of attendance. Suppose we had the 2013 field of teams in Philly. Nothing against any of the 2013 participants; but had that been the case, I believe we'd be discussing the "attendance disaster" in Philly.

To a considerable extent, the high number of empty seats is legitimately explained by participating fans who chose not to attend the "other" game. Yes, the purist in me wishes they'd stay for the full session. And yes, on that criteria, UND comes out on top. But paying customers have every right to use their seats as they see fit. The real problem is that a large number of those seats would have been unsold for the entire session, but for the single game fans.

I say Philly got lucky, and is not a strong candidate for another Frozen Four in the near future. I post that with a heavy heart, as Philly is reasonably convenient for me, and it's a city I'd like to spend more time in. But when the tournament ventures outside of the college hockey hotbeds, extensive local support is needed to fill the building. I'm sorry to be disagreeable, but I just didn't see that in Philly.

[hobeydog]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

I've got to disagree with this, at least in part. IMHO, the number of empty seats was higher than usual, and the number of local attendees was way down. As host site, I expected the Philly crowd to be comparable to NHL cities like Pittsburgh, DC and St. Louis. But local support was stronger in each of those three cities, again IMHO.

Disclaimer: My observation is based on Thursday; I wasn't able to stay for Saturday this year. On television, in-house numbers appeared to be improved on Saturday night. If so, that is a redeeming factor, especially for a first-time host.

At no point on Thursday were there 17,000+ in the building; it wasn't even close. I'm not confident that number represents a turnstile count either. Tickets distributed, I'd believe.

With regard to atmosphere, I agree with you. Still, most of the credit for that goes to the fans of the participating schools. That, and the fact the hockey was excellent. But yes, bottom line, the atmosphere was fine.

On a personal level, I want to commend you for a fine job leading the conversation on this thread. You provided lots of helpful information and insight.



Agree with your modified reply. I thought all four participating schools represented themselves very well -- and very much saved the day in terms of attendance. Suppose we had the 2013 field of teams in Philly. Nothing against any of the 2013 participants; but had that been the case, I believe we'd be discussing the "attendance disaster" in Philly.

To a considerable extent, the high number of empty seats is legitimately explained by participating fans who chose not to attend the "other" game. Yes, the purist in me wishes they'd stay for the full session. And yes, on that criteria, UND comes out on top. But paying customers have every right to use their seats as they see fit. The real problem is that a large number of those seats would have been unsold for the entire session, but for the single game fans.

I say Philly got lucky, and is not a strong candidate for another Frozen Four in the near future. I post that with a heavy heart, as Philly is reasonably convenient for me, and it's a city I'd like to spend more time in. But when the tournament ventures outside of the college hockey hotbeds, extensive local support is needed to fill the building. I'm sorry to be disagreeable, but I just didn't see that in Philly.

Fair enough and I appreciate your candor and compliment. It's a shame you weren't at the final Saturday because the atmosphere was electric and the crowd listed at 18,500 plus very close to capacity.

I'm more sanguine about Philly's chances in the next cycle. Lacrosse(both men's and women's) will be back in Philly in '15 and '16 after three previous successful Final Fours. Fans seem to really like the Sports Complex setup for major events.

Jonathan Tannenwald provides, in my view, an excellent overall perspective on the Philly FF and prospects for a return...

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/p...ladelphia.html

[goldy_331]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

Why not? We could put up tents in the yard for potential overflow. Then again, I'd better check...

That'd be fine for my son and I. Might have to leave the Mrs at home though as roughing it to her is no built-in hair dryer and the shower is too small.

[pgb-ohio]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

Fair enough and I appreciate your candor and compliment. It's a shame you weren't at the final Saturday because the atmosphere was electric and the crowd listed at 18,500 plus very close to capacity.

I'm more sanguine about Philly's chances in the next cycle. Lacrosse(both men's and women's) will be back in Philly in '15 and '16 after three previous successful Final Fours. Fans seem to really like the Sports Complex setup for major events.

I liked the set-up a lot. Large, suburban style parking lot for tailgating; yet also on the train line. Kind of the best of both worlds. And certainly a counterpoint to the claim that sports venues absolutely must be downtown.

I also enjoyed the baseball venue Wednesday evening. Ingress and egress were easy; sightlines were fine. Things didn't go so well for the home team, but otherwise the experience was all good.

You have every reason to be optimistic about Philly's chances in Lacrosse and Hoops. And I am taking into account that your perfectly chosen word suggests a positive bias based on blood ties. I just think for college hockey, Philly is going to need to take local interest to the next level before the tournament comes back.

Again, things did turn out well. But comparable cities have done a little better, and deserve to be closer to the front of the line, IMHO.

Jonathan Tannenwald provides, in my view, an excellent overall perspective on the Philly FF and prospects for a return...

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/p...ladelphia.html

Outstanding write-up. And yes, if the program at Penn could get re-established, that would be a huge plus.

[hobeydog]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

Come on you Wharton School guys out there running private equity firms and hedge funds. Do for Penn what Terry Pegula did for Penn State. You don't even have to spend $110,000,000. Simply renovate the venerable Class of 1923 rink!

[wolverineTrumpet]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

Jonathan Tannenwald provides, in my view, an excellent overall perspective on the Philly FF and prospects for a return...

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/p...ladelphia.html

Good article. It's always interesting to see a college hockey outsider's view.

I had a great time in Philly (and Baltimore where I traveled Friday night to see my O's play). Plenty to do and see. I was glad to not see huge empty sections of prime seating like we did in Pittsburgh, although those seats weren't packed in Philly. I wonder if the city, the NCAA(did they give away fewer corporate seats) or the teams(name recoginition) were responsible for that.

Got burned with my extra pair of tickets, but still had a great time.

[LTsatch]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

A little off topic, is there an active sign up page for getting on the Frozen Four ticket lottery system? I foresee Boston being a much harder ticket next year. Also seeing that this years event did not sell out, do the folks that did not take advantage of their ticket priority get bumped from the list? Wondering this in hopes it would create more opportunities for new blood on the priority list.

[QUAlum2004]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

A little off topic, is there an active sign up page for getting on the Frozen Four ticket lottery system? I foresee Boston being a much harder ticket next year. Also seeing that this years event did not sell out, do the folks that did not take advantage of their ticket priority get bumped from the list? Wondering this in hopes it would create more opportunities for new blood on the priority list.

I am hoping to buy tickets early to this Frozen Four as I live in the area. The second they are released I plan on buying them.

[theprofromdover]

Re: 2014 Frozen Four Info Thread

Because of the demand, there will probably not be any left after the priority purchases. I usually get 2 but will buy 4 for Boston.