Cornell Should Host an NCAA Hockey Regional

The NCAA men's ice hockey tournament consists of 16 teams, divided into 4 regionals. The winners of each regional, as in basketball, advance to the Frozen Four.

Each regional is hosted by at least one school. For example, Yale and Fairfield are hosting this year's regional in Bridgeport, Conn. Minnesota is hosting the regional in Minneapolis.

If any of these teams should make the NCAA tournament, they are guaranteed to be placed in that regional.

This can be a huge advantage, as Cornell has found out recently. In 2005, Cornell made it to the regional final before losing in overtime to Minnesota, in Minneapolis, Minn. In 2006, Cornell made it to the regional final before losing in triple overtime to Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisc.

Would these results have been different if the games had been played at a more neutral site? I would say yes.

So, what is Cornell waiting for? Rochester presents the best option, as it is fairly close to Ithaca and has the appropriate hockey facilities. If Cornell were to make the tournament, they would sell a tremendous number of tickets if they were placed in Rochester. And such a scenario would be preferable to being sent out to Minneapolis again, which is what people seem to think will happen next week.

Obviously there is a financial risk. Cornell would likely lose money if they didn't make the NCAA tournament, since they wouldn't sell nearly as many tickets. And obviously it would take a good amount of time to organize, which might not be something that our Athletic Department has at the moment.

Still, considering that hockey is the major sport at Cornell and that we have a decent chance of making the NCAA tournament every year, I hate to see us wasting this opportunity. I will not be happy if I have to travel out west this year, and the team could benefit from having an NCAA game in a friendly rink.