Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

I vote for anywhere with a Wet Willies franchise.

+1. Not only were the drinks amazing but also the people in there when I went!

Seriously that place was great.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

or my team won a title in one and got pasted in the title game in the other. (although the winner of the title game is not usually linked to my level of fun)

At least you didn't have to deal with obnoxious BC people after the game. Just me and Steve.

[gscott13]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

*cough*pot*cough*kettle*cough*

who knew they had internet access at the nursing home!

[Patman]

I vote for anywhere with a Wet Willies franchise.

Does San Diego have a big enough arena?

[brassbonanza]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

I live an hour away from Chicago. I've been there. 8 million times. I don't think much of the neighborhood the arena is in. Good vacation destination does not necessarily equal good Frozen Four destination for me. I'd go on vacation to DC, absolutely. I didn't think it was a great FF destination.

Providence and Buffalo both have downtown arenas in very walkable areas, and the FF was a big deal for the city (although, as we all know, it can't return to Providence).
Buffalo's 4 am bar time did not hurt either.

Fair enough, though logistically, Chicago is the easiest destination for the most people in the college hockey world to get to. You're right, the UC is in a garbage neighborhood, but that doesn't seem to deter Blackhawk and Bulls fans. You're also right about DC, the town did a very poor job of engaging the community in the event. I don't know how much of that was because DC is DC and there's eleventy billion other things going on there that don't occur in any other city in the US, but if it were to return there, some investment in community engagement would be good to see.

Providence is walkable, but royally sucks. The Dunk is a piece of trash, outside of a small downtown area, it's really not enjoyable, there's virtually nothing to do, you have to drive everywhere since there's very limited bus transportation, in a word - no. And Buffalo is...bleh.

[BU2K]

Does San Diego have a big enough arena?

I wish. Has to be better than Anaheim.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

Providence is walkable, but royally sucks. The Dunk is a piece of trash, outside of a small downtown area, it's really not enjoyable, there's virtually nothing to do, you have to drive everywhere since there's very limited bus transportation, in a word - no. And Buffalo is...bleh.

You must have missed the FF in Providence in 2000.

I won't even go into the fact that you state it is "walkable" and "you have to drive everywhere" in the same paragraph.

[manurespreader]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

So let me get this right. We want a great NHL arena, the newer the better. We want lots of local bars that know what hockey is and who support the games. We want to be able to walk around and see stuff close to the arena on our day off.. We want a big city but not too big. is no NYC.
Seems to me everyone wants something a little different.
Pittsburg is a pretty small town with not that much to do and a lot of old buildings. Much like Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee,Philly,Grand Rapids, Nashville, blah de blah.
So what about Atlanta. oops/ you have to drive, there aren't that many bars walking distance, tons of homeless guys, but it is somewhat warmer and easy to get to.
As far as New Orleans, a bigger dump than any of them, and really Bourbon st is great if you are 20, but not so much if you are 40.
Do they even have an arena.? And talk about homeless guys.!! Plus there is a lot of violence. The latest thing is to find tourists near the French quarter later in the evening, and hit them in the back of the head with a hammer.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

So let me get this right. We want a great NHL arena, the newer the better. We want lots of local bars that know what hockey is and who support the games. We want to be able to walk around and see stuff close to the arena on our day off.. We want a big city but not too big. is no NYC.
Seems to me everyone wants something a little different.
Pittsburg is a pretty small town with not that much to do and a lot of old buildings. Much like Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee,Philly,Grand Rapids, Nashville, blah de blah.
So what about Atlanta. oops/ you have to drive, there aren't that many bars walking distance, tons of homeless guys, but it is somewhat warmer and easy to get to.
As far as New Orleans, a bigger dump than any of them, and really Bourbon st is great if you are 20, but not so much if you are 40.
Do they even have an arena.? And talk about homeless guys.!! Plus there is a lot of violence. The latest thing is to find tourists near the French quarter later in the evening, and hit them in the back of the head with a hammer.

There's a large faction of fans here that want bartenders and wait staff to kiss their butts because they are hockey fans. I thought it was just some weird obsession by a person or two but it turns out a lot of people really expect to have people bow down to them while they are wearing their team's jersey and talk hockey and be honored in their presence and they get very upset if they have a good meal with good service without someone saying the word "hockey" to them.

Everyone has their personal preferences.

[MavHockey14]

There's a large faction of fans here that want bartenders and wait staff to kiss their butts because they are hockey fans. I thought it was just some weird obsession by a person or two but it turns out a lot of people really expect to have people bow down to them while they are wearing their team's jersey and talk hockey and be honored in their presence and they get very upset if they have a good meal with good service without someone saying the word "hockey" to them.

Everyone has their personal preferences.

No. People want the city to embrace the fact that the biggest stage in college hockey is in their city. They expect us to come and spend money on food an drinks, we expect them to embrace te college hockey fan base for three days. It's not a tough concept.

[mookie1995]

No. People want the city to embrace the fact that the biggest stage in college hockey is in their city. They expect us to come and spend money on food an drinks, we expect them to embrace te college hockey fan base for three days. It's not a tough concept.

Don't think these places embrace the Shriners, or the moose.. And they bring more people

[jen]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

Seems to me everyone wants something a little different.

Indeed. I would never suggest that everyone's interests need to be the same as mine, I was just stating what I like in a FF city. Plenty of people want a family-friendly vacation destination with lots of other things to do, and that's their prerogative as well. I look for other types of places for other types of vacations.

I don't need my *** kissed, but I like it when stuff doesn't close at 10 pm on a Thursday with 10,000 people looking for food or drinks... or the local places are prepared for crowds and are able to handle them and make them feel welcome. Handling a crowd for one NHL game is different than handling a Frozen Four crowd that is staying all weekend.

p.s. for those that asked, San Diego's arena (Valley View Casino Arena, formerly known as the San Diego Sports Arena) seats just over 16,000 - what's the minimum again??

[DaveStPaul]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

No. People want the city to embrace the fact that the biggest stage in college hockey is in their city. They expect us to come and spend money on food an drinks, we expect them to embrace te college hockey fan base for three days. It's not a tough concept.

What's not a tough concept is that there's another way to look at it.

For some people (and by that I mean me ) if you're in a city and there's a bar with a big laminated sign out front saying "WELCOME --insert convention/event name here-- PEOPLE!!!", that's the place you don't go. All it means is $1 dollar off all apps, or Hobo Chicken Chili, or whatever, in honor of the convention/event. And it'll be $1 dollar off again for next week's conventioners, and so on. It doesn't mean they've embraced you.

What I'm about to say is not an insult, I hope you don't take it that way -- I come from a small city, too -- but it's not like every place is Spicer, MN. "Say, I don't recognize you. You must be from out of town for the big event!" If it's a big enough city, everybody who's there is there for a reason. Family vacation, romantic getaway, sports finals, business trip, mookie's Shriners. It doesn't matter.


edit: Just saw what jen wrote. And yes, if everything's closed before the late Thursday game gets out, then yeah your city needs a little Embracing Training!

[jmh]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

We want a big city but not too big. is no NYC.

I don't think anyone said they didn't want it to be in NYC, the issue is that MSG seems unlikely to be part of a bid because they always have a packed calendar this time of year with the Rangers and the Knicks and concerts, the Barclays Center has a small capacity and strange layout for hockey, and the Prudential Center is in, you know, Newark and nobody wants to go there. (Maybe in another 10-15 years if urban renewal actually takes hold in that area.)

[MavHockey14]

Re: Frozen Four 2015 Where do we go from here?

What's not a tough concept is that there's another way to look at it.

For some people (and by that I mean me ) if you're in a city and there's a bar with a big laminated sign out front saying "WELCOME --insert convention/event name here-- PEOPLE!!!", that's the place you don't go. All it means is $1 dollar off all apps, or Hobo Chicken Chili, or whatever, in honor of the convention/event. And it'll be $1 dollar off again for next week's conventioners, and so on. It doesn't mean they've embraced you.

What I'm about to say is not an insult, I hope you don't take it that way -- I come from a small city, too -- but it's not like every place is Spicer, MN. "Say, I don't recognize you. You must be from out of town for the big event!" If it's a big enough city, everybody who's there is there for a reason. Family vacation, romantic getaway, sports finals, business trip, mookie's Shriners. It doesn't matter.


edit: Just saw what jen wrote. And yes, if everything's closed before the late Thursday game gets out, then yeah your city needs a little Embracing Training!

Well obviously a Frozen Four isn't going to be held in a town short of 2000 people.

I guess it's about the feel for me. The atmosphere? It's hard for me to explain. There's been tournaments I've been at that are very meh, whatever. Then there have been tournaments like the Final Five and Frozen Four in St. Paul, the Frozen Four in Tampa, the Frozen Four in Denver, where I felt the city did a great job as a host due to embracing the "community" of college hockey fans. Yes, I probably sound like a looney, but it's just my two cents.