Nationals Question

[Ben Lambert]

This is a quick question that requires a very short response by a limited number of individuals, don't contribute if you have nothing constructive to add.

Because of our tight budget (and I'm sure others' tight budgets), I was wondering if there are any locations that have been explored to host nataionals this year? Are there any that are completely out of the question?

I would think anywhere in CO is out of the question because it was there last year and most likely St. Louis as well. That leaves us with an East Coast, Southeast, South (TX?) or West Coast nationals, correct?

The sooner the better.

Thank you,
Ben Lambert

[CUDangled]

There are no 3-rink (inline) facilities in the entire Southeast
There is ONE 2-rink (inline) facility and that is in Atlanta (Snellville)

[CSteamer]

Thats not true. Both the rink in Morrisville, NC and Columbia, SC have three "fields" that can be converted into hockey. 2hot4ice nationals has been hosted by both of these places in the past, both with three rinks running at once.

[JLambertUMSL]

Thats not true. Both the rink in Morrisville, NC and Columbia, SC have three "fields" that can be converted into hockey. 2hot4ice nationals has been hosted by both of these places in the past, both with three rinks running at once.

IIRC, Morrisville only used two rinks during Nationals. Another one hosted soccer (most memorably to me, part of our game against Maine was played to the strains of Europe's "The Final Countdown" coming from the soccer game being played on one of the other playing surfaces).

[Mtour71]

James,
There is another rink in that Raleigh area that has 3 rinks. The rink that was used for nationals a few years back is closed, but the other rink could never hold a college event. The building is too small. The South Carolina rink would be an interesting choice. Very nice facility. Where is the frozen four this year? They have followed that the last couple of years.

[ARHA]

It works with two rinks, but please, let them be in the same building next year. It was great to have nationals here in Colorado Springs last season, but having to roll games over to CSC was a huge downside.

[catch]

I believe the frozen four is in D.C.

[CUDangled]

Thats not true. Both the rink in Morrisville, NC and Columbia, SC have three "fields" that can be converted into hockey. 2hot4ice nationals has been hosted by both of these places in the past, both with three rinks running at once.

Columbia has 3 rinks, but only one is sport court. The other two are turf.
Morrisville keeps "going out of business" so until that is resolved, can we really plan for that?

[GripperWheels]

Joe Dumars Fieldhouse in Detroit has two rinks under one roof. NARCH and other regionals are held there,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but a warm area like S.C sounds good for Nationals

[smiller]

I believe the frozen four is in D.C.

Correct. There are no good facilities around here with more than one rink for inline.

[alex]

If they were to go west coast, I'd say it would almost certainly be Rollin Ice in San Jose for obvious reasons. Although, I think NCRHA going there may be another year away coming off the heels of NARCh Finals and now west coast WinterNationals being hosted there too.

[psufan21]

Rumor has it, finals will be held in the Northeast. There is a 3 rink facility there.

[NCGoalie]

James,
There is another rink in that Raleigh area that has 3 rinks. The rink that was used for nationals a few years back is closed, but the other rink could never hold a college event. The building is too small. The South Carolina rink would be an interesting choice. Very nice facility. Where is the frozen four this year? They have followed that the last couple of years.

The Carolina Sportsplex is the building that hosted nationals a few years back and was closed for the summer for remodeling and a transfer of ownership, but it's scheduled to host an SECRHL event November 8th & 9th. And I agree with your opinion of the other rink (Dream Sports Center). It would probably do all right hosting a regional, but like you said it's too small to be considered for hosting nationals.

[NCRHA]

Ben,

We are VERY close to having this finalized. We hope to have an answer for you by the end of the week.

We are completely aware that this directly impacts inter-regional player and other team travel situations/budgets.

--
Brennan Edwards
Executive Director, NCRHA

[NYR1199]

somewhere in Philly was in the lead last time I heard

[Ben Lambert]

Ben,

We are VERY close to having this finalized. We hope to have an answer for you by the end of the week.

We are completely aware that this directly impacts inter-regional player and other team travel situations/budgets.

--
Brennan Edwards
Executive Director, NCRHA



Thank you!!!

[catch]

somewhere in Philly was in the lead last time I heard


If its in Philly can someone look into Paddy's Bar sponsoring the whole thing and maybe putting it on their billboard?

[MS&TMiners]

Great show.

[smiller]

The Philly rink you are refering to is Feasterville. Its just outside Philly city limits. ECRHA holds 4-6 events there a year.

[PSUd09]

yea it's a pretty nice facility and deff could hold Nationals


would kinda be good for us if we went because it's so close, but at the same time it'd be cool to travel somewhere different


is it mandatory that the host area have 3 rinks ?

just wondering b/c last year in CO there was only 2 rinks and they were like a 15 min drive apart

[Ben Lambert]

Feasterville could hold the event, but the facility leaves a bit to be desired if it hasn't been updated since the last time I was there--2003 nationals. We had a lot of fun up there. Aren't the rinks 2 different sizes?

[InlineMBA]

Feasterville could hold the event, but the facility leaves a bit to be desired if it hasn't been updated since the last time I was there--2003 nationals. We had a lot of fun up there. Aren't the rinks 2 different sizes?

Because Rink 1 is a stand alone rink, and Rinks 2&3 are side by side (horizontally), Rink 1 appears to be smaller. However, the following link gives the actual dimensions: http://www.ecrha.net/facility.php?facility_id=6

Overall, a nice location with hotels all over the place.

Steve Inge - ROXBURY 8

[socalhockey]

AAU Nationals were held there this past year. Not a bad facility, parking isn't great but not a big problem. At least everyone will be at the same location. Hotels in the area were nice also as someone else had stated!

Bill Burrows
Long Beach State Hockey

[William Bourque]

Feasterville could hold the event, but the facility leaves a bit to be desired if it hasn't been updated since the last time I was there--2003 nationals. We had a lot of fun up there. Aren't the rinks 2 different sizes?

1) I haven't been to Feasterville since regionals last season. There have been updates since nationals were that in 2003. The rink added air condition and paved the parking lot. With that said, i was told that even more improvements were being made to rink. However, not being their since March I can't say one way or another (Which is sad since I live only 15 minutes from the rink). Having a east coast nationals would be nice for the East teams since they wont have to travel.

2) There were only 2 rink for nationals in Colorado and North Carolina.

[JLambertUMSL]

State Wars in Cincinnati was amazing because of the three rinks under one roof. I know that's an ice rink, but I wonder if pushing Nationals back to the third or fourth weekend of April would make it more feasible to convert an ice facility like Sports Plus in Cincinnati.

[DieselBurns]

State Wars in Cincinnati was amazing because of the three rinks under one roof. I know that's an ice rink, but I wonder if pushing Nationals back to the third or fourth weekend of April would make it more feasible to convert an ice facility like Sports Plus in Cincinnati.

Amazing? When NARCh was there in 04 it was okay. There aren't enough showers and the floor on the main rink was slick as hell. Although I guess tennis shoes can grip pretty much any floor.

[catch]

Philly is fine. Philly Park is open all year. Original track of Smarty Jones. Cincinati has the Reds and River Downs and is only 90 miles to Keeneland, which has the Bluegrass Stakes at the same time. (I do have priorities beyond hockey). And again I don't mean to offend someone who is easily affended but I thought I'd mention the Chiefs beat the Broncos and George Brett. I did hear the Rams may be using their bye week to play flag football this against an eighth grade team and perhaps win a game, but I digress.

[Goldberg1]

Cincinnati is not an option. The NCRHA does not have the ability to convert ice rinks to roller flooring. (NARCh is another story).

While the NCRHA has done events in the past at 2-rink facilities, my guess is they would like to avoid that this year. Everyone noted how having separate rinks (like last year) is not ideal, so I'd expect nationals to be at a location with three rinks at the same building.

I strongly feel it will (and should) be in Feasterville. It just makes so much logical sense for the promotion of the game. No offense to the North Carolina nationals, but there were so few colleges around there that hardly any students could go. Feasterville has probably the best proximity to the multitude of schools in the area (Philly schools, NJ schools, Delaware, Maryland, DC, and NY even)... what better way is there to promote the sport?

[alex]

God I hope you're right about not going to Cincinnati. The incredibly expensive flights from AZ to Cincinnati is what made for an all-time low AZ turn out at State Wars. It's probably no cheaper flying from California either.

[JLambertUMSL]

Amazing? When NARCh was there in 04 it was okay. There aren't enough showers and the floor on the main rink was slick as hell. Although I guess tennis shoes can grip pretty much any floor.

As an event it was exceptional because of the three rinks under one roof. Driving from rink to rink is a giant pain in the ass. That's my point. And the game is better on a full-size (NHL) rink.

[wednthavddr]

Skatesafe would be awesome...I love that facility...You also have sportime which can act as a third rink which is only 5 minutes from skatesafe...I doubt it would be there though...would be nice though!

[GoRangrHky]

The biggest problem with NY is the cost- for facilities, hotels, car rentals, everything. I'd say it would cost teams a minimum of $600 more to go to LI than Philadelphia. And if you really want to go to NYC, it's about 90 minutes from Feasterville. It takes about an hour to get there from Old Bethpage.

[socalhockey]

The Anaheim Hockey Club has relocated up the freeway to the old Corona facility. The NHL'S Anaheim Ducks are the new owners of the facility and are putting more than a million dollars into it. The rinks and scoreboards were brought from the facility in Anaheim. Every other square inch of the facility has either been redone or is in the process. To say that this is a world class facility would be an understatement. Upgrades to the Corona facility include new lighting, Air conditioning, new locker rooms, offices, flat screen TV'S and also to be added soon will be a new Pro Shop built above the locker rooms on a newly added second floor and a new snack bar with first class pizza going in. With the Anaheim Ducks getting involved with Roller Hockey in Southern California, the future in the area looks very good. By the way the new rink is now home of the Anaheim Jr. Ducks travel program (formerly the Anaheim Bulldogs) and will also be home to a new Jr. Ducks pro team that will play in the pacific division in the new AIHL. There will be more exciting news from the So. Cal area soon. Stay tuned!

[William Bourque]

Honestly, I don't care that "it's hard for us to make the trip to Anaheim every year" or "we want to travel around." It's the best facility available (if it's still available, of course), and that's where the players should be playing: on the best.

That is a great notion. IF the schools were funding 100% of the money for the teams to make the trip to this facility. When teams are footing the bill to travel 3,000 miles it make more sense to move the event around to the top facilities across the country and not limit it to one location.

[Ben Lambert]

Anaheim was definitely the best facility to ever host a nationals. I heard the one in San Jose was super nice as well.

I forgot about the toilet locker room benches. lol. That alone should disqualify Feasterville. Gross.

[GoRangrHky]

The toilets have since been removed.... San Jose was a very nice facility, but I am all for the moving it around from region to region. It's nice not only for the players to not have to spend all that much every year, but also for the parents, siblings, girlfriends, whoever else may be making the trip. If it were simply at the BEST facility every year, these tournament series (NARCh, the NCAA Final Four, the Frozen Four, the women's Frozen Four and Final Four) would never move, yet for some reason, they all keep doing it.

[GoRangrHky]

Nationals isn't for fans, publicity, marketing, or even family; it's for the players to play some of the best organized inline hockey in the United States. A competition of that stature necessitates the best facility possible.

Who's to say that the reason teams want to go is exclusively for hockey? Last I checked, this was still a club sport, and the purpose of participating in student clubs and organizations was not to focus primarily on the sport or activity, but to a. broaden your educational horizon, which can occur through travel to various regions of the country, and b. be able to participate in an activity on a competitive level while fostering social growth.

Don't get me wrong, I wish that there was a gorgeous facility around the block from every major city in the country, and that the NCRHA had it's choice of destination. But the fact of the matter is that these places do not exist. And while yes, I wish Feasterville didn't have toilets in the middle of the locker rooms, that the locker rooms in Ft. Collins weren't old broom closets, that there wasn't a piece of wood instead of glass in North Carolina, and that we didn't have to use two facilities in St. Louis and Colorado Round 2, as a former player and soon to be coach, I am much happier that I got to see all these different parts of the country through hockey and with my friends- much happier than if I got to tell people I played at a really nice rink in Illinois year after year after year.

[William Bourque]

BS. Can you tell me exactly which parts of your tours around the country included educational experiences? We're hockey players, and we go to Nationals to play hockey. Yes, other things do happen. During Colorado 1 we went up into Estes Park and saw the hotel which Stephen King based his novel The Shining off of. Do I count that as an educational experience? No. I didn't do an essay, report, or a test about it. I visited it.

The extent of social growth teams accomplish at Nationals is drinking. That includes referees, apparently.

And "club sport" shouldn't be confused with intramural.


Besides drinking and playing hockey (which apparently is the extent of what you experienced) while out in Colorado the guys at Shippensburg University did much more and it made for a better experience. As a team we visited Pikes Peak & Garden of the Gods. If you quantify an education experience solely on essays, reports or tests, we didn't "learn" anything.

However, I would say we learned a lot about Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods while we where there learning about it hands on by attempting to climb through 10 feet of snow or hiking to the top of a small "mountain" in the GOG's. And of course, taking a tour of the United States Air Force Academy, The United States Olympic Training Facility, Visiting Friends at Fort Carson, Visiting the Stargate Fountain, Getting to see Cheyenne Mountain from a distance, Visiting the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, and the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. All of that was of course not educational because we didn't write papers on it.

The only thing I didn't do in which i wanted to was stay at the Broadmoor Hotel.

And a club sport shouldn't be confused with a NCAA sport.

http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v236/156/10/48500754/n48500754_31706830_6734.jpg
http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v240/169/117/48505422/n48505422_31705549_3849.jpg

Nationals is made better by being in a different part of the country each year, with the hope that one year it will be in front of your home "fans" (family & friends). Even if sometimes the facility is "not the best".

[William Bourque]

If it were simply at the BEST facility every year, these tournament series (NARCh, the NCAA Final Four, the Frozen Four, the women's Frozen Four and Final Four) would never move, yet for some reason, they all keep doing it.

Don't forget...the MAJORITY of NCAA sports DO hold their national championships in the same place every year...

[JLambertUMSL]

UMSL has a no-drinking policy during Nationals, so I guess our experience usually pretty much sucks. :)

You can drink at home. Anyone who comes to Nationals with us expecting a bunch of boozing and partying until 3 in the morning every night is usually disappointed.

[train]

UMSL has a no-drinking policy during Nationals, so I guess our experience usually pretty much sucks. :)

You can drink at home. Anyone who comes to Nationals with us expecting a bunch of boozing and partying until 3 in the morning every night is usually disappointed.
pretty similar to mo state. we didn't drink until we got eliminated, which was a lot sooner than we expected unfortunately.

[JLambertUMSL]

pretty similar to mo state. we didn't drink until we got eliminated, which was a lot sooner than we expected unfortunately.

Yep, that's how it was with us last year.

In '07 (in St. Louis) the policy was no alcohol. In '06 (North Carolina) the policy was no alcohol within 12 hours of a game. In '05 (Fort Collins) it was a free-for-all.

[GoRangrHky]

Yep, that's how it was with us last year.

In '07 (in St. Louis) the policy was no alcohol. In '06 (North Carolina) the policy was no alcohol within 12 hours of a game. In '05 (Fort Collins) it was a free-for-all.

At nationals, the no drinking until eliminated policy was always in place for us. We were definitely there to play hockey

[catch]

Now that it is confirmed that no alcohol will be consumed until elimination where will it be that no one will be drinking?

[JLambertUMSL]

Does that rule apply for cameramen too or just players?

:) I love you too, anonymous jealous coward.

[boring]

:) I love you too, anonymous jealous coward.

you dont actually play for umsl?

[boring]

Ben,

We are VERY close to having this finalized. We hope to have an answer for you by the end of the week.

--
Brennan Edwards
Executive Director, NCRHA


anything yet?

[NHouser]

Within the next few hours! Hang tough!

[JLambertUMSL]

you dont actually play for umsl?

Nope. I'm the assistant coach. My brother is the one who played.

[boring]

oh... i didnt mean for that to come off as demeaning. you just post so much i just assumed you did

[Jtslick89]

Settle down jock sniffer. What exactly am I jealous of? The fact that you don't play hockey? The fact that you refer to a 19 year old kid as "Saint PJ"?

Can't we all just get along...

[DieselBurns]

Can't we all just get along...

Of course we could but what fun is that?

[JLambertUMSL]

Settle down jock sniffer. What exactly am I jealous of? The fact that you don't play hockey?

I don't know, you tell me. What are you jealous of, and why have you chosen to be anonymous? What are you scared of? A 120-pound cameraman?? :cool:



The fact that you refer to a 19 year old kid as "Saint PJ"?

Yeah, all the time. Every time I see him I go, "HEY! LOOK EVERYONE, IT'S SAINT PJ!!"

[RichardGraham]

Hi DieselBurns,

Please stop the name calling. It's unnecessary and a bit juvenile. Thank you.

[catch]

You sir are a cheshire cat

[madfred]

stifle jack 3