NCAA Hockey Administrators to Fans: Drop Dead

Submitted by stephenrjking on

The NCAA released its championship sites for the next few years. There are a lot of Michigan-related sites here, including a Frozen Four in Detroit.

But I'm a college hockey fan and I was interested to see if they would change the format of the college hockey regional system.

Not only has it not changed, they've made it worse.

Sioux Falls gets 2018 regional. Fargo gets 2019 regional. UND will host both.

— Brad E. Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) April 18, 2017

2018 NCAA regionals: Sioux Falls, Bridgeport, Worcester, Allentown. 2019 regionals: Fargo, Manchester, Providence, Allentown.

— Brad E. Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) April 18, 2017

The "Western" regionals consist of two regionals hosted by North Dakota, and... Allentown?

That's right, if you're a fan of a team west of Niagara Falls that isn't North Dakota, you've just been given the shaft. Unless you want to drive for hours to the East Coast, you don't get to see your team play NCAA tournament games.

I guess we could just decide that the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament are a joke, so we don't feel bad about it. Is that what the NCAA hockey committee wants? Because that's the vibe we're getting. Dedicated fanbases in any number of schools in Minnesota and Michigan, jilted. The Chicago corridor teams, shafted. Have an all-time season at a place like Omaha or Huntsville? Sorry, you can see the games on WatchESPN.

It's the worst playoff in sports, and they just made it worse. Go to home sites for the first two rounds. Get rid of this garbage.

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Lou MacAdoo

April 19th, 2017 at 12:46 AM ^

I think this is good news. Maybe they've come to realize that no one wants to host anymore. Perhaps its come to the point where they have to make a change. Next year they'll surely switch to home sites and reap the benefits. Nah that makes too much sense. There has to be money behind these decisions. The NCAA must be convinced they'll make more money with the system the way it is.

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Sambojangles

April 19th, 2017 at 9:52 AM ^

Why can't the schools themselves bid on hosting? Whether or not Michigan is in the tournament or games, a regional at Yost would be great, and do way more to grow the sport than going to random cities with few fans nearby. This isn't that hard to figure out, NCAA.

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