2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

[slurpees]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

The geographic center of the D1 College Hockey Universe is located in Lake Huron, near Kincardine, Ontario....which, longitudinally, isn't very far from Pittsburgh, and slightly further from Buffalo -- basically due north of Cleveland:

Fun Link

r

smackdown. id be interested to know where it is if you remove the alaska schools since they're such geographic outliers and probably weight the center far west than it would be if they weren't there.

[cetihcra]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

smackdown. id be interested to know where it is if you remove the alaska schools since they're such geographic outliers and probably weight the center far west than it would be if they weren't there.

With the Alaska schools only being 2/58, removing them makes virtually no difference -- it probably moves the GC about 50 feet ESE, but you can't tell on that map.

r

[BoomGoestheDynamite]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

U.S. passports for minors are only good for 5 years, I am not sure about how much the fee was for my son's, but I think it may have been cheaper than for an adult passport. EU citizens do not need passports (just a national ID card) to travel within the EU and some bordering countries (Croatia is the only non-EU country I am sure of).

I think the Schegen Agreement (which is basically the EU plus Croatia, Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway minus the UK and Ireland) doesn't require anything to cross borders between the countries.

Its really something we should set up with Canada or at least go back to the driver's license/state issued id system of identification.

Its a bit of a homer pick, but I'd like to see San Jose. The Bay Area is beautiful in April, the Shark Tank is a solid arena, and public transportation is actually pretty decent for the West Coast. Considering visitors could tour wine country (there are several) stay in San Francisco, go down to Big Sur and golf some of the world's greatest courses, I don't think there would be much to complain about. The one drawback is the distance from College Hockey country and the fact that there is zero chance a local team goes D-1, but you could probably get Cal/SJ State/ Stanford/Santa Clara etc. to host.

[Snively65]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

With that: St. Paul, Denver, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Boston* are the best places in the hockey-belt. All mid-sized, embrace the game, it's an event.

*Boston is on the brink of being too large -- without a boston team in the mix, it seems to get a little lost in the early-season Sox hoopla and near-playoff celts fiasco. Never really had to worry about the B's playoff aspirations in the past

So ask yourself, "would it be an EVENT?" Would the city and its citizens embrace it? Would it get lost in the shuffle?

All six F4s in Boston ('60, '72, '73, '74, '98, '04) have had a Boston team in the tournament (with BU and Harvard in '74, but also UNH and BC in '98, and Maine and BC in '04; both UNH and Maine fans travel well). That said, 45 of the 61 F4's have had a Boston team in the tournarment.

I agree that the B's and C's are finally in the mix again during early April, as well as the Sox. But, I do not think that F4 attendance at either the old or new Boston Garden was ever an issue, and would not be an issue in the future. Boston is simply a fanatical sports town. The final 90 seconds of the '04 NC game did not hurt, either. Also, check out the Boston Sports Museum behind the Loge level in the Garden next time you are in Beantown; it is amazing.

[bigmrg74]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

The geographic center of the D1 College Hockey Universe is located in Lake Huron, near Kincardine, Ontario....which, longitudinally, isn't very far from Pittsburgh, and slightly further from Buffalo -- basically due north of Cleveland:

Fun Link

r

smackdown. id be interested to know where it is if you remove the alaska schools since they're such geographic outliers and probably weight the center far west than it would be if they weren't there.

If anything, it would probably move it to somewhere about between Hamilton and Buffalo I bet.

[JHG722]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

You HE people amaze me. How the crap do you think that Pittsburg and Buffalo are centrally located cities? or the 58 or whatever D-1 hockey programs, almost half are west of Ohio. Stop thinking so single-mindedly and selfish and think about the reality of it. Yes, Chicago is a great idea. It's centrally located for EVERYONE. Not to mention the WCHA's average attendance for our 7th and 8th most attended teams is higher than your HE's best. Chicago, milwaukee, and places like Indianapolis would make good centrally located cities. Stop complaining about your 8 hour drive to Pittsburg. It would be at least 16 for us, who would produce more fans anyways.

I think Pittsburg, Kansas is very centrally located. Do you think they have a rink?

*****http://pics2.city-data.com/city/maps/fr2008.png******

[JHG722]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

Serious question...would Philly work in the same way Pittsburgh would?

Don't make me drool

[bigmrg74]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

I think Pittsburg, Kansas is very centrally located. Do you think they have a rink?

*****http://pics2.city-data.com/city/maps/fr2008.png******

Yeah, Pittsburg State University could host it! You guys would all be thrilled to see a Gorilla Mascot strip down to a gold thong.

[JHG722]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

Wow, that is one creepy mascot...

[pgb-ohio]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

Well my suggestion with respect to the alamodome would be to put the rink on the end of the football field so the back seats aren't as far away. Example:
http://rushthecourt.net/mag/wp-conte.../alamodome.jpg
The sightlines for basketball were surprisingly good.

It's a good suggestion. Detroit may regret not taking this approach.

There are, however, other issues with having the FF in a football stadium. They've been very well chronicled on other threads. Just to mention two, Tournament Atmosphere and % of Seats Sold are also important concerns. Will Ford Field sell most of the available seats and have a great atmosphere? Maybe, but I'm skeptical. Let's just say I'll believe it when I see it. FWIW, I will be there, giving it a fair chance.

[MinnesotaNorthStar]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

The reason those seats are not available is because they're obstructed view - it's the same basic configuration as the New Orleans arena.

San Antonio's only realistic shot to get at the seating threshold is to hold the game in the Alamodome.

Here's the ATT Center for hockey:

*****http://farm1.static.flickr.com/148/437692160_7724abee48.jpg******

All arenas these days can at least accommodate a 200 x 85 surface, as that's the standard for rock concerts, etc. But the ones built with basketball in mind first do not feel the need to have all the seats getting good views of the ice, since rarely would hockey tenants get that kind of attendance.

Hence, those arenas are non-starters.

Not. Going. To. Happen.

Good point about the obstructed view. The only game I've been to there (Rampage about 3 years ago) there was a slightly different arrangement and we were only 5 rows off the ice or so (shallow sightlines, but not horrible).

It's a good suggestion. Detroit may regret not taking this approach.

There are, however, other issues with having the FF in a football stadium. They've been very well chronicled on other threads. Just to mention two, Tournament Atmosphere and % of Seats Sold are also important concerns. Will Ford Field sell most of the available seats and have a great atmosphere? Maybe, but I'm skeptical. Let's just say I'll believe it when I see it. FWIW, I will be there, giving it a fair chance.

The Alamodome does, infact, have a hockey seating chart that shows that...unsure on the capacity for it though...

http://www.sanantonio.gov/dome/seatingHOCKEY.htm

[slurpees]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

Good point about the obstructed view. The only game I've been to there (Rampage about 3 years ago) there was a slightly different arrangement and we were only 5 rows off the ice or so (shallow sightlines, but not horrible).

The Alamodome does, infact, have a hockey seating chart that shows that...unsure on the capacity for it though...

http://www.sanantonio.gov/dome/seatingHOCKEY.htm

wikipedia says hockey capacity is 36k. this makes sense because final four configuration with the extended view seats in the upper level went to around 45k

[slurpees]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

Wow, that is one creepy mascot...

did someone say creepy mascot??

*****http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1OMiSrEJXnY/Re-QLj_yq0I/AAAAAAAABak/nulWrc9JxLo/s400/Providence+Friar.jpg******

[mookie1995]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

did someone say creepy mascot??

*****http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1OMiSrEJXnY/Re-QLj_yq0I/AAAAAAAABak/nulWrc9JxLo/s400/Providence+Friar.jpg******

word

[The Hallucination]

Re: 2013, '14, '15 Frozen Four Sites

My two cents...

-I would happily go back to Denver ANY TIME, so the only question there in my mind is how often NCAA wants repeat hosts. There's no doubt Denver should host every so often, it was awesome.
-Boston is fine, not my favorite place but they do a decent job and I know a lot of people like it, and I expect to see it there every so often.
-Buffalo's ok, not the most exciting city but good enough and last time it was there we drove up to Toronto for the HHOF on the off day which was beyond awesome... so I'd go back and do that again.
-Pittsburgh could be interesting, I've never been there.
-Chicago would probably be a good one if anyone ever bid there.
-Ditto NYC.
-In general, if it's a big/interesting enough city and big enough hockey arena (NOT Fing FOOTBALL DOMES), I'm pretty much always willing to visit it once and don't mind seeing some new ones in the mix for the FF.
-Also in general, I accept the desire of many people to see a balance of east/west locations to some extent and realize the NCAA does probably need to think about that a little, but I personally expect to travel for the FF and don't really account for distance from my home as much of a factor in where I'll travel for the FF. (Assuming we're not talking overseas flights here.)