When Baseball Is This Bad - I Turn To College Hockey

The ECAC Makes a Bad Decision - And I'm Angry

Well it’s been a while since my last post and for very good reason: this baseball season sucks. The Nats were pathetic and the one team I am rooting against in the post-season (the Yankees) just swept their way past the Twins while the only club that could give them any competition whatsoever (the Red Sox) were swept by the Angels.

Because the thought of Alex ROIDriguez and Mark Te$$eira raising a championship trophy makes me want to vomit on my own shoes, I instead am going to focus on something that ordinarily makes me happy – college hockey.

If you recall from my very first entry, I reserve the right to not talk about the Nationals or baseball in general so that I can focus on writing something I care about when neither of those topics give me anything worth writing about.

I recently read on USCHO.com the pre-season predictions on how the college hockey season will play out in the 2009-10 ECAC season. Typically I follow the Clarkson Golden Knights and the Cornell Big Red.

I was excited to read the pre-season column looking at each school by USCHO’s ECAC correspondent Brian Sullivan. Sullivan’s been covering the ECAC for years now for USCHO and he generally has a good bead on the schools and he always manages to get great interviews with coaches because he’s got a good relationship built in.

It was a bit disappointing reading his wrap up of the Knights but it’s hard to argue with his reasoning – at least he thinks Cornell’s up for another great year.

So while it’s exciting for me that ECAC hockey is starting up, I did receive some sad news. A buddy of mine informed me that the championship rounds of the end of season ECAC Hockey Tournament is being moved from my back yard here in Albany, NY down to Atlantic City, NJ. I want the person responsible for that decision to tell me why they chose Atlantic City.

In the ECAC, you have only one school who’s fans travel really well: Cornell. So if Cornell makes it to the semis, you know you’ll have great attendance from them. Other than that, fans will travel modestly to get to the championships if their team makes it, but only one school from the ECAC (Princeton) is in New Jersey and Trenton is a hike from Atlantic City.

Of the 12 schools in the ECAC, six are from upstate, NY (Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Colgate, Cornell, Rensselaer and Union), one is from New Hampshire (Dartmouth), one is from Massachusetts (Harvard), one is from Rhode Island (Brown) and two are from Connecticut (Yale and Quinnipiac). So they move the championship rounds to NEW JERSEY?

Seems to me that if Albany, NY wasn’t central enough for them the least they could’ve done to maximize attendance would be to move it to Springfield, MA – that way the New England schools would travel a bit better.

Beyond that, you’re going to send college kids to a city that’s known for debauchery, gambling and prostitution? How’s THAT a good idea? I know most of these kids are Ivy Leaguers and the brightest minds out there, but they are still kids.

This just sounds like a really bad idea.

In March, I will purchase by tickets for the final season of ECAC hockey championships at the Knickerbocker Arena here in Albany and hope that Clarkson and/or Cornell is there. If not, I’ll still attend and watch some great college hockey – all the while lamenting that it will be my last opportunity to do so for at least three years; because I’m not driving six hours to Atlantic City for it.

2009 has been a colossal disappointment.

When is Spring Training?