Running College Hockey Thread

What he said. Personally, I would love to watch more college hockey, if given the chance.

 

It's a hockey tournament. What's not to like?

 

I'm no fan of East Coast college hockey -- I'm a Midwesterner, what can I say? But I love watching the Beanpot every year. And, for some reason, I love that it happens in February and not during the Christmas break with all the other tournaments. If ESPN wants to scroll the scores, more power to 'em. I just wish they'd at least acknowledge there were other college games going on during the season.

 

Exactly... Great Lakes Invitational draws as many if not more fans than the Beanpot... and you rarely hear about it outside of Michigan/CCHA land

 

I love the coverage of the Beanpot, but I'd rather have complete coverage of the midseason college hockey showcase with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Michigan State.

That's four teams that are good every year, and who don't play each other otherwise.

The Beanpot is just an excuse for BU and BC to play an extra time.

 

That's my point - there's dozens of actual good games in college hockey that go completely unnoticed - and not just by ESPN (that was just an easy way to make a point - the only regular season games that get put on their crawl...). North Dakota and Minnesota just had a great series a week or so back, and nothing was heard about it. There's great college hockey being played all over the country, not just Boston (except in Alabama - yikes).

Obviously, I'd like to see more attention paid to college hockey in general. But if they're going to hype something nation-wide, it had better be more than just a city-wide tournament, that doesn't actually include all the teams in the city (BC and Harvard are technically in the suburbs, so if you're counting those two, then why not Bentley, Merrimack, Lowell, etc.?). Every year, it's two decent teams and two shitty teams. The Beanpot isn't competitive hockey, it's just not with Northeastern getting smoked 4-0. (I know Harvard only lost 3-1, and one of the goals was an empty netter - but I've seen Harvard play this season, and they're garbage. There's a reason why they're middle of the pack in a garbage conference....)

And Mert, I hate getting into a pissing match with you - normally you're spot-on with your thoughts. But this year, yes, BU and BC could end up playing in the quarters of Hockey East, and both teams could still make the NCAAs - the latest projections from the two outlets that do them have both teams in at this point. I can pretty much guarantee there won't be many Harvard or Northeastern fans at the Garden on Monday night - so it's just another meaningless game between BU and BC, albeit in a bigger venue, merely fattening someone's budget.

 

And yet, I'll watch it every time. If they're top 25 teams, I can't pass that up.

 

This is the second time someone has mentioned how they don't normally disagree with me, that my thoughts on something are usually dead-on. Am I up for some kind of SportsJournalists.com annual review or something? Do we do this here and I was sick the last two years?

 

Well, for starters, you take a little too much time on your breaks. And then there are those TPS reports ...

 

Don't have a dog on in this fight about the Beanpot, but I think a lot of it has to do with tradition and the support it gets from the schools.

Slappy pointed out The Great Lakes Invitational but it's got a few strikes against it, in my opinion.

It's held between Christmas and New Years when there are about five million hockey tournaments going

Too many teams.. Hell University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario, neither to be confused with hockey powerhouses in Canadian university hockey are in the tourney. And what the hell is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute?

 

The Boston-New Yorkcentric world view from Bristol, Conn. has been mentioned on so many threads on this board I'm surprised anyone wonders why if ESPN shows a hockey tournament, it'll be the Beanpot.
The Beanpot, while still a big deal here, is on a gentle decline that should become steeper. My son is a BU student, and he and his peers by and large see the tourney as a sideshow in their endless rivalry with BC. It's a poor fourth behind regular season games with BC, the Hockey East tournament, and the NCAAs.
The Beanpot is for alumni fund-raising. It's a non-BCS bowl game.

 

Perhaps there are a ton of tourneys during the holidays, but they don't draw between 17 and 20K either...