bc puckett
Active Member
There is an East Coast bias when it comes to college hockey! My guess is one of the issues with the Xcel Center is that it is used for the MSHSL tournaments over a 2 week span in March. I thought it was also being used for a college tournament. In order to host all of these events it limits the Wild to their home for one weekend the entire month of March. That isn’t fair to them.
Denver is never a bad location given the number of teams out West. I think Mariucci gets avoided due to the rink size. There are several other arenas throughout the Midwest (MN, ND, WI, and even NE) that could be used. It would also seem that a site in MI, OH, IN, or even Western PA could be used.
This is Michigan’s tournament to lose, but in hockey anything can happen.
Not sure about any East Coast Bias. Regional sites since 2015:
2015: Providence, Manchester NH, South Bend, Fargo, FF: Boston
2016: Allentown, St Paul, Cincy, Worcester, FF: Tampa
2017: Cincy, Fargo, Providence Manchester, FF: Chicago
2018: Sioux Falls, Bridgeport, Worcester, Allentown FF St Paul
2019: Fargo, Allentown, Providence, Manchester, FF Buffalo
2020; Covid
2021 Bridgeport, Manchester, Fargo, Loveland FF Pittsburgh
Also future sites as follows:
Frozen Four: Future dates and sites
A complete listing of the future dates and sites for the men’s DI college ice hockey championship.
www.ncaa.com
So it may lean a little East but certainly not in a "biased" way. Cities make bids and we all know the NCAA will chase every last nickel