RIT to go D-I

ajec1 · December 16, 2004, 05:27:45 PM

[Q]jeh25 Wrote:

Okay. So I thought of a couple of approaches of thinking about this problem, the first approach being the more visual and the second being more statistical. I'll only cover the visual stuff here.[/q]

Three words: holy freakin crap! An "A" for effort on that one! Here's a stupid solution employed by the WCHA (With the distance between schools probably 5 times that of the ECACHL): rotating sites (being rather unfamiliar with east coast venues, I have no idea what the venues would be)

Al DeFlorio · December 16, 2004, 05:29:28 PM

[Q]Will Wrote:

I'm all for moving the tourney to Boston, because there's always stuff to do there. But isn't Springfield kind of a craphole?[/q]
While I'd selfishly love to see the tournament back in Boston, um...if Boston is so great a location, why did they feel need to move the tournament from there to a God-forsaken place like Vladivostok...I mean, Lake Placid?

nyc94 · December 16, 2004, 05:35:29 PM

[Q]Al DeFlorio Wrote:
While I'd selfishly love to see the tournament back in Boston, um...if Boston is so great a location, why did they feel need to move the tournament from there to a God-forsaken place like Vladivostok...I mean, Lake Placid?[/q]

I thought it was to escape the shadow of Hockey East and their tournament.

Al DeFlorio · December 16, 2004, 06:11:18 PM

[Q]nyc94 Wrote:

[Q2]Al DeFlorio Wrote:
While I'd selfishly love to see the tournament back in Boston, um...if Boston is so great a location, why did they feel need to move the tournament from there to a God-forsaken place like Vladivostok...I mean, Lake Placid?[/Q]
I thought it was to escape the shadow of Hockey East and their tournament.[/q]
Last I knew, the Hockey East tournament hasn't been moved to Portland.

KeithK · December 16, 2004, 06:59:47 PM

[Q]Al DeFlorio Wrote:

[Q2]nyc94 Wrote:

[Q2]Al DeFlorio Wrote:
While I'd selfishly love to see the tournament back in Boston, um...if Boston is so great a location, why did they feel need to move the tournament from there to a God-forsaken place like Vladivostok...I mean, Lake Placid?[/Q]
I thought it was to escape the shadow of Hockey East and their tournament.[/Q]
Last I knew, the Hockey East tournament hasn't been moved to Portland.[/q]And last I knew the ECAC tournament had absolutely zero chance of returning to Boston.

Albany is a louy place for the tournament. But at least it's a lousy place that is centrally located and relatively easy to get to for NE fans.

KeithK · December 16, 2004, 07:08:29 PM

[Q]Here's a stupid solution employed by the WCHA (With the distance between schools probably 5 times that of the ECACHL): rotating sites (being rather unfamiliar with east coast venues, I have no idea what the venues would be)[/q]In the WCHA everyone pretty much has to travel a long distance anyway, except for the host team. "Centrally located" doesn't mean much when much of the league has to get on a plane anyway. Also makes sense to avoid a permanent home team for the tournament, which you could easily have if NoDak (cap 11000), Wisconsin (cap 14000+) or Minnesota (cap 9700) hosted.

KeithK · December 16, 2004, 07:08:51 PM

Man, I love thread drift!

billhoward · December 16, 2004, 10:50:00 PM

[Q]Will Wrote: I'm all for moving the tourney to Boston, because there's always stuff to do there. But isn't Springfield kind of a craphole?[/q]

I was one of the people championing more, more, more stats to figure out where the best location for the ECAC tourney was based on lat/long, highway miles, driving time, possibly factoring for fan base. Your solution is a bit more elegant: It's better to drive 8 hours to Boston and have something to do than 4 hours to Albany and be bored stiff by 10:30 pm Friday.

OK, in Springfield Mass you could drive 18 miles north to the world's largest women's college (thus getting shot down in numbers by Smith women) or visit the basketball hall of fame. But it ain't Boston.

jtwcornell91 · December 17, 2004, 04:29:23 AM

[Q]Al DeFlorio Wrote:
While I'd selfishly love to see the tournament back in Boston, um...if Boston is so great a location, why did they feel need to move the tournament from there to a God-forsaken place like Vladivostok...I mean, Lake Placid?[/q]

Actually, Davos, Switzerland is a better analogy for Lake Placid. If only they would move the Spengler Cup to Zürich, I'm sure everyone would be thrilled.

And I'm really trying to avoid having the Placid/Albany argument again, but keep up the smug snide comments, and you may draw me into it.

ithacat · December 17, 2004, 01:49:48 PM

Look what it did for Big East basketball. Before the Big East & NYC, Niagara & St. Bonaventure were about as big as Syracuse.

Greg Berge · December 17, 2004, 01:58:08 PM

Move the tournament to Toronto, corner the market on Canadian talent, win a few national titles, then go back to Boston and kick Hockey East to the curb.

Scersk '97 · December 17, 2004, 02:47:23 PM

Have we compared the attendance numbers for Albany and Lake Placid somewhere?

To my mind, transportation links are paramount.

Lake Placid was difficult to reach by car or bus, expensive to reach by air, and impossible to reach by rail. Hartford, Springfield, and Albany, at least, can be reached by all major modes of transportation. (I'm sorry, balloonists, but I don't care about the lack of landing facilities in downtown Albany.)

If you're willing to fly and have the dough, knock yourself out. I'm sure you're also willing to pay the cab fare or rent a car. You are not my concern. If you want to "ride the 'Dog,'" my blessings, good sir. What I'm concerned with is the train.

(My friends groan here.)

For Bostonians, Hartford and Springfield are suprisingly convenient by train, while Albany is inconvenient. (Of course, your best trip for each will be using the Lake Shore Limited which, well, is not known for its on-time performance. But, hey, the Berkshires are beautiful!) For New Yorkers (and the rest of the NEC) Hartford, Springfield, and Albany are a wash--service is frequent and timely. Access to the arena from the train station is more convenient in Hartford and Springfield than in Albany (Bussin' it! Oh yeah!). Purely selfishly, I know that I have a reasonable chance of even making the early game coming from Chicago in Albany, while I'd miss the early game in Springfield or Hartford.

So, for the carless, those coming from the West would prefer Albany, those coming from the East would prefer Hartford or Springfield. Those coming from the South don't care. And those coming from the North? Well, enjoy. Maybe the tournie should be in Pittsfield! Yee-haw!

nyc94 · December 17, 2004, 04:15:21 PM

Lake Placid isn't entirely inaccessible by train. According to the Amtrak site, you can get a train to Westport and then take a 45-minute bus ride to Lake Placid. From Penn Station in New York the trip will take over six hours.

Scersk '97 · December 17, 2004, 10:58:12 PM

Exactly. Lake Placid is inaccessible by train.

JasonN95 · December 21, 2004, 01:35:31 PM

The rink in Pittsfield is in the Boy's Club ...and on the second floor! ::twitch::

(The only rink I knew growing up that wasn't on the ground floor --apparently it was added to the plans after construction had started. Chelsea Piers Rink in NYC is also not on the ground floor --how's that for useless trivia!)