Harvard 6 Cornell 1 ECAC post-game & site critique

[marty]

When I heard that Bob Belber the Times Union Center (nee Knick Arena, aka the Pepsi Arena) was going to be on TV today I emailed the host to ask if he could bring up the ECAC and NCAA Regional loss issue. He asked about the ECACs and Belber responded.  The video mentions 2013 in addition to 2014-16.

This clip will be live sometime after midnight.

Video Clip

[Chris '03]

When I heard that Bob Belber the Times Union Center (nee Knick Arena, aka the Pepsi Arena) was going to be on TV today I emailed the host to ask if he could bring up the ECAC and NCAA Regional loss issue. He asked about the ECACs and Belber responded.  The video mentions 2013 in addition to 2014-16.

This clip will be live sometime after midnight.

Video Clip

Thanks, Marty!

I did almost fall out of my chair when he started talking about how the U/H title game may have sold out the TUC....

[RichH]

When I heard that Bob Belber the Times Union Center (nee Knick Arena, aka the Pepsi Arena) was going to be on TV today I emailed the host to ask if he could bring up the ECAC and NCAA Regional loss issue. He asked about the ECACs and Belber responded.  The video mentions 2013 in addition to 2014-16.

This clip will be live sometime after midnight.

Video Clip

Thanks, Marty!

I did almost fall out of my chair when he started talking about how the U/H title game may have sold out the TUC....

"My guess is we would've had over 10,000 people."  Never mind that they already played in a Final in Albany, and it barely broke 6500.

[Trotsky]

"My guess is we would've had over 10,000 people."  Never mind that they already played in a Final in Albany, and it barely broke 6500.

I'm OK with the arena manager saying that.  What's hysterical is the other guy saying "oh, there's no question."  That was talk radio-level stupidity right there.

[The Rancor]

I can't nobody has mentioned this... (it may be because it's stupid, but hey, so is AC):

Montreal.

Ithaca, NY to Lake Placid, NY: 4:49
Ithaca, NY to Montreal, QC: 5:34

Boston, MA to Montreal, QC: 5:28
Boston, MA to Lake Placid, NY: 5:23

providence, RI to Lake Placid, NY: 5:18
Providence, RI to Montreal, QC, Canada: 6:16

New Haven, CT to Lake Placid, NY: 5:05
New Haven, CT to Montreal, QC, Canada: 6:16

Albany, NY to Lake Placid, NY: 2:32
Albany, NY to Montreal, QC, Canada: 3:43


And so on, and so forth.

It's close to the North Country teams. It's just as close to Cornell as Lake Placid. Nobody else goes anyways, and if they did it would be a weekend trip so what's 5 versus 6 hours?

It's a destination, and lord knows they like hockey enough.

I suggested Canada earlier as a radical solution, but the more I thought about it, the need for passports and that kind of logistics would make the trip kind of hard to plan for.

not for our team.

[marty]

Bob Belber is just being a good salesman here. He also mentioned in this appearance that he often forces acts into Albany by packaging venues. His group controls some larger arenas. If an act wants to play in the big arena on the weekend it's often true that Albany sees them during the week. The Times Union Center's income went up in 2011 without the ECAC tourney. He is a very effective manager.

[bnr24]

I can't nobody has mentioned this... (it may be because it's stupid, but hey, so is AC):

Montreal.

Ithaca, NY to Lake Placid, NY: 4:49
Ithaca, NY to Montreal, QC: 5:34

Boston, MA to Montreal, QC: 5:28
Boston, MA to Lake Placid, NY: 5:23

providence, RI to Lake Placid, NY: 5:18
Providence, RI to Montreal, QC, Canada: 6:16

New Haven, CT to Lake Placid, NY: 5:05
New Haven, CT to Montreal, QC, Canada: 6:16

Albany, NY to Lake Placid, NY: 2:32
Albany, NY to Montreal, QC, Canada: 3:43


And so on, and so forth.

It's close to the North Country teams. It's just as close to Cornell as Lake Placid. Nobody else goes anyways, and if they did it would be a weekend trip so what's 5 versus 6 hours?

It's a destination, and lord knows they like hockey enough.

I suggested Canada earlier as a radical solution, but the more I thought about it, the need for passports and that kind of logistics would make the trip kind of hard to plan for.

not for our team.

No, but what about our fans?  I don't know how many current Cornellians or alumni have passports.  Personally, I do not, and Canada would be a huge barrier for a lot of them. (Granted not all, but still.  If we're looking for better solutions to get more fans, we shouldn't add an extra barrier.

[Robb]

I seriously doubt you'd get ANY local support in Montreal, either.  There aren't too many Quebecois in the ECAC, and Montrealers are notoriously parochial about their hockey support. There are more Ontario kids in the ECAC, so if you were going to consider Canada (which you shouldn't) Ottowa or Toronto are better bets.

[Aaron M. Griffin]

I can't nobody has mentioned this... (it may be because it's stupid, but hey, so is AC):

Montreal.

Ithaca, NY to Lake Placid, NY: 4:49
Ithaca, NY to Montreal, QC: 5:34

Boston, MA to Montreal, QC: 5:28
Boston, MA to Lake Placid, NY: 5:23

providence, RI to Lake Placid, NY: 5:18
Providence, RI to Montreal, QC, Canada: 6:16

New Haven, CT to Lake Placid, NY: 5:05
New Haven, CT to Montreal, QC, Canada: 6:16

Albany, NY to Lake Placid, NY: 2:32
Albany, NY to Montreal, QC, Canada: 3:43


And so on, and so forth.

It's close to the North Country teams. It's just as close to Cornell as Lake Placid. Nobody else goes anyways, and if they did it would be a weekend trip so what's 5 versus 6 hours?

It's a destination, and lord knows they like hockey enough.

I suggested Canada earlier as a radical solution, but the more I thought about it, the need for passports and that kind of logistics would make the trip kind of hard to plan for.

not for our team.

No, but what about our fans?  I don't know how many current Cornellians or alumni have passports.  Personally, I do not, and Canada would be a huge barrier for a lot of them. (Granted not all, but still.  If we're looking for better solutions to get more fans, we shouldn't add an extra barrier.

Also, I know that geographically Upstate New York and Canada are proximate, but I do not know how many Upstaters (a significant portion of the ECAC fanbase with Clarkson, Colgate, Cornell, RPI, SLU, and Union) would be amenable to going to Canada to see their team play in another nation. Upstate New York is very proud of its hockey tradition. Even though they will cheer on players from Canada who come to play at august Upstate institutions, I doubt many would be happy to travel to Canada. Furthermore, I know that there are rumors that Toronto is in talks to host the 2015 Frozen Four, but Toronto has less of a language barrier (as manageable as it might be) than Montreal.

[css228]

I can't nobody has mentioned this... (it may be because it's stupid, but hey, so is AC):

Montreal.

Ithaca, NY to Lake Placid, NY: 4:49
Ithaca, NY to Montreal, QC: 5:34

Boston, MA to Montreal, QC: 5:28
Boston, MA to Lake Placid, NY: 5:23

providence, RI to Lake Placid, NY: 5:18
Providence, RI to Montreal, QC, Canada: 6:16

New Haven, CT to Lake Placid, NY: 5:05
New Haven, CT to Montreal, QC, Canada: 6:16

Albany, NY to Lake Placid, NY: 2:32
Albany, NY to Montreal, QC, Canada: 3:43


And so on, and so forth.

It's close to the North Country teams. It's just as close to Cornell as Lake Placid. Nobody else goes anyways, and if they did it would be a weekend trip so what's 5 versus 6 hours?

It's a destination, and lord knows they like hockey enough.

I suggested Canada earlier as a radical solution, but the more I thought about it, the need for passports and that kind of logistics would make the trip kind of hard to plan for.

not for our team.

No, but what about our fans?  I don't know how many current Cornellians or alumni have passports.  Personally, I do not, and Canada would be a huge barrier for a lot of them. (Granted not all, but still.  If we're looking for better solutions to get more fans, we shouldn't add an extra barrier.

Agreed. I have a passport, but I definitely don't keep it with me at school, and getting it from home to my place in Ithaca on a week's notice would be expensive at the least. For people who don't already have them, it'd be impossible to get it on short notice, assuming they don't want to drive down to the State Department for an expedited passport. Furthermore, the people of Montreal love watching the Q and their Habs. That's no guarantee they would come out for American College Hockey. And the Bell Centre is a big building. Basically, as great a destination as it would undeniably be, attendance would probably be worse than AC. It would definitely be a lot of empty seats to look at.

[Ronald '09]

I seriously doubt you'd get ANY local support in Montreal, either.  There aren't too many Quebecois in the ECAC, and Montrealers are notoriously parochial about their hockey support. There are more Ontario kids in the ECAC, so if you were going to consider Canada (which you shouldn't) Ottowa or Toronto are better bets.

I agree Montreal wouldn't make any sense, but smaller Canadian cities like Ottawa or even smaller, maybe Kingston could make sense.  Geographically, I'm not sure if there's any other cities with teams in the O or the Q that make sense, but Kingston seems like it should be a reasonable distance from the best traveling ECAC fan bases.  If they did Ottawa, the Civic Centre would make more sense than Scotiabank Place.  I think the Ottawa Civic Centre holds around 9K and the K-Rock Centre in Kingston is around 6K.  They could even make it part of a triple header with a 67s or Frontenacs game.  The ECAC semis and finals are typically the same weekend as the last regular season games in the O.

I don't think passports are that huge an issue, because honestly, how hard is it to get a passport?  And it would have the added benefit of whatever undergrads came would be able to legally come out for drinks after the games.  The biggest drawback would be the likelihood of snow may be even more than any of the other sites discussed, except I guess Lake Placid?

[Beeeej]

I don't think passports are that huge an issue, because honestly, how hard is it to get a passport?

If we're looking for was to reduce the expense of an average undergrad's trip to the ECAC tournament, the difficulty of obtaining one doesn't matter as much as the cost.  And last I checked, that was over $100.

[css228]

I seriously doubt you'd get ANY local support in Montreal, either.  There aren't too many Quebecois in the ECAC, and Montrealers are notoriously parochial about their hockey support. There are more Ontario kids in the ECAC, so if you were going to consider Canada (which you shouldn't) Ottowa or Toronto are better bets.

I agree Montreal wouldn't make any sense, but smaller Canadian cities like Ottawa or even smaller, maybe Kingston could make sense.  Geographically, I'm not sure if there's any other cities with teams in the O or the Q that make sense, but Kingston seems like it should be a reasonable distance from the best traveling ECAC fan bases.  If they did Ottawa, the Civic Centre would make more sense than Scotiabank Place.  I think the Ottawa Civic Centre holds around 9K and the K-Rock Centre in Kingston is around 6K.  They could even make it part of a triple header with a 67s or Frontenacs game.  The ECAC semis and finals are typically the same weekend as the last regular season games in the O.

I don't think passports are that huge an issue, because honestly, how hard is it to get a passport?  And it would have the added benefit of whatever undergrads came would be able to legally come out for drinks after the games.  The biggest drawback would be the likelihood of snow may be even more than any of the other sites discussed, except I guess Lake Placid?

Its a matter of having one or getting one on short notice. I know very few students who keep their passports with them at school even if they have them, for the matter of fact that school isn't the best place to keep your sensitive documents. Besides the only way to get one on short notice, and lets face it college students aren't the best at planning ahead, is to go to DC and for extra expense of expediting it. You're right, a passport is not hard to get if you plan ahead, but come on, that's not your average students strong point.

[Trotsky]

Play it on a barge outside the 15 mile limit.  "Roads?  Where we're going we don't need any roads."

[jtn27]

I don't think passports are that huge an issue, because honestly, how hard is it to get a passport?

If we're looking for was to reduce the expense of an average undergrad's trip to the ECAC tournament, the difficulty of obtaining one doesn't matter as much as the cost.  And last I checked, that was over $100.

The State Department website isn't really clear about how long it takes to get a passport, but it seems like it usually takes 4-6 weeks and could take as long as 10 weeks unless you apply for an expedited passport and even then it's 2-3 weeks. That basically will prevent fans that don't already have passports from attending the game even if they're willing to pay the extra $60 for an expedited passport.