Frozen Four Awarded To Pittsburgh In 2013, Philadelphia In 2014
by Brian Favat on Jul 13, 2010 5:32 PM EDT
in Boston College Hockey
Email
Print
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the NCAA has selected the host cities for the 2013 and 2014 Frozen Fours. Boston, a city that is arguably the epicenter of college hockey in the Eastern US, is not among those cities.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the 2013 Frozen Four was awarded to the city of Pittsburgh, while the 2014 Frozen Four was awarded to Philadelphia:
The NCAA has selected Pittsburgh as host of the 2013 Frozen Four, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
The event, which is similar to college basketball's Final Four, will take place at the Consol Energy Center.
Robert Morris University sponsored the bid with support from VisitPittsburgh and the Penguins.
Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and St. Louis were also under consideration. Philadelphia was selected for the 2014 Frozen Four.
Looking on the bright side, I'm happy that the Frozen Four will be held on the East coast and that the NCAA continues to bring new cities into the fold. But a Pittsburgh Frozen Four hosted by Robert Morris University? A Philadelphia Frozen Four hosted by the ECAC? Those host cities aren't exactly college hockey hotbeds, nor are the host institutions college hockey powerhouses.
The 2014 Frozen Four in Philadelphia will mark 10 years since Boston last hosted a Frozen Four. In that time, the event will have been hosted in the following college hockey-rich cities: Tampa, Washington, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The fact that the 2012-2014 Frozen Fours will all be held on the East coast - Tampa, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia - most certainly means that the event will move back west in 2015, and probably stays west in 2016.
The NCAA really needs to stop playing footsies with these other Eastern US cities and bring the event back to Boston. Boston-area schools have played in the Division I National Championship game slightly more than 1 out of every 3 times. The city is home to the last three National Champions. Not only that, but with Hockey East, the ECAC and most of Atlantic Hockey playing in either New York or New England, over half of the Division I men's college hockey programs are within a short drive of Boston.
Unfortunately, it's looking like Boston won't get a crack at hosting the Frozen Four until 2017 at the earliest.
9 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Give them a chance.
I get what you are saying since Boston is pretty much the college hockey mecca, but I think it’s good for the sport for it to expand in other cities like Pittsburgh and Philly. If you haven’t noticed, Pittsburgh has become somewhat of a hockey hot bed over that last 20 years or so (compared to where it started at least) and I think it’s awesome for them to finally reach the point where the NCAA would even considering giving it to them, let alone actually doing so. It will eventually get back to Boston, just be patient. Instead of whining about it, you should just visit both Pittsburgh and Philly in 2013 and 2014 and enjoy the show. You’ll find that both cities love their hockey and are starting to really get behind their fledgling college programs. Just give them a chance and they’ll prove they are both worthy of hosting this awesome tournament.
My problem isn't with really with the host cities themselves. Rather, it's with the NCAA.
I get that moving the Frozen Four around to other cities is somewhat good for the sport, and good for the city’s tourism, but it’s going to have little impact to the host institutions.
Is the Robert Morris program supposed to get a boost from hosting the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh? Is a light bulb going to go off in the head of the AD of the University of Pittsburgh when he realizes what the Panthers are really missing is a Division I college ice hockey program? My guess is probably not.
In this day of Title IX and equality in college sports, the number of Division I college hockey programs is decreasing, not increasing. College hockey is also cost-prohibitive when it comes to deciding whether to field a competitive Division I program. Hosting the Frozen Four in cities like Tampa and Washington might get a few more HS kids to come out and play in college, but it certainly won’t expand the footprint in terms of number of programs or popularity.
College hockey is very much a niche sport. I would compare it to college lacrosse. You don’t see the NCAA Men’s College Lacrosse Championship being played outside of the geographic footprint in which the sport is popular. The NCAA needs to realize that hosting the Frozen Four in places like Anaheim, Tampa and Washington does little to further the sport. In my opinion, they would get much more bang for their buck if they hosted to Frozen Four in hockey-rabid cities like Boston, Albany/Buffalo, Detroit, Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Milwaukee.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
Unreal.
Back to back Frozen Four’s in the same state? For two cities that aren’t even on the college hockey map? Talk about ridiculous.
Broad Street Hockey's reaction
Couldn’t have said it better myself:
Philadelphia has a rich college hockey history, dating back to a Penn team that began playing in 1898. The school competed in D1 hockey back in the 70s before the program took a tumble and the funding was cut. It returned as a club sport more recently, and the Class of ’23 Rink that sits on the University City campus is often a secondary practice facility for visiting NHL clubs who cannot practice in South Philly for whatever reason.
Today, several of the schools in and around the city compete in the extremely competitive American Collegiate Hockey Association, which governs club-level college hockey around the country. Drexel, Penn, La Salle, Rowan Lehigh, Penn State, Villanova, Penn State-Berks, Delaware and St. Joe’s are just some of the local schools that have strong club programs.
None of these local schools are close to making the jump to Division 1 men’s hockey, for various reasons. PSU has debated the possibility and seems to be the most likely team in the area to eventually make the jump, but at this point there are no plans for expansion.
Perhaps our city landing this tournament is a stepping stone toward greater publicity for our many college hockey programs.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
I like the rationale from Broad Street....
but Philly is no where NEAR a college hockey town. Club hockey? Penn’s rink is not the facility they are making it out to be. I lived in Philly for a while and went to that rink at least 5 times. I did not own a pair of skates so I rented ones, and all they had were figure skates. Any rink that rents only figure skates is a poor one in my book.
Don’t get me wrong, Philly loves their Flyers….just not college hockey. Most of the fans who go to that Frozen Four will be tourists, much like the events in Florida and Cali have and will be.
The best thing Boston can do is keep winning the titles and maybe the NCAA will finally take notice….
One other issue with a Boston bid...
One underrated issue with a Boston bid… the Garden isn’t actually that big. In fact, it is one of the smallest NHL rinks.
Really though, we are talking about a difference of only 522 seats between the Garden and the new Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh (18,087), and a difference of a little less than 2,000 between the Garden and Philadelphia.
Boston’s difference in seats with Philadelphia can be made up by the fact that the Flyers arena is nowhere near downtown Philadelphia. Arenas like Boston, Washington and Pittsburgh are at least in the city center so fans can go to bars and restaurants before the game. There’s literally nothing around the Philly sports complex.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
by Brian Favat on Jul 15, 2010 10:30 AM EDT up reply actions
Boston Marathon
According to an article in the Herald last month, the date of the Boston Marathon interfered with Boston’s Frozen Four bid in 2013, given that hotel rooms would already be booked up:
The Boston bid, co-submitted by TD Garden and Hockey East, is for either year, but 2013 would be a problem since the city would not have sufficient available hotel space due to conflicting dates with the Boston Marathon.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
