Caught at the end of one of the best sports weeks of the year, the Frozen Four definitely caters to its niche crowd. Let’s be honest – there are very few states in the union that even care about hockey. Fewer even care when their hockey teams are out of the playoffs and their colleges are eliminated from hockey’s miniature version of basketball’s March Madness. Where’s the uproar to increase the size of this college tournament?
Ford Field has been home to a Super Bowl and a Final Four, but TV viewers may have to check their monitors for what it is they’ll be seeing. For Wisconsin, RIT, Miami-Ohio and Boston College, this is their chance to shine in front of one of the largest crowds to see a college hockey game. Wisconsin won’t necessarily have stage fright for the game, they hosted over 55,000 in a game against Michigan in February. What a cool feeling it must be for some of these college kids who are used to smaller venues to show off their skills in Hockeytown.
It’s kind of a shame that those same local hockey fans will not be able to cheer for the Wolverines or Spartans competing in this year’s Frozen Four. MSU did not make the tournament (though Northern Michigan did) and Michigan fell in a controversial 2-OT loss to no. 1 seeded Miami-Ohio. One of those local schools would have been fantastic at the turnstiles, where the event is not doing as well as hoped. For college hockey fans, the teams on hand will do just fine. If not, there’s always the Masters or the Tigers on television.