NCRHA Winternational

[TourFLA98]

Is the winternational for the college league going to be in Key West FL again? I live in Florida and don't even wanna travel to that crappy rink! Key West might be nice for the NCRHA employees getting a free ride, but it's a horrible choice for a winternational.

anyone agree?

[ISFN]

While I agree with you, you have to see if from their point and the logic behind it. They aren't looking to get the best of the best but more of a college vacation with some hockey involved. I personally think its a horriable idea but if thats the direction they're shooting for then its working.

I propose to drop the whole vacation first hockey second moto behind the winterfest and make it a rotating tournament just as the summer nationals are.

[GoRangrHky]

Well, they tried rotating it, and put it in Michigan. Have you been to Michigan in January? It truly is the intersection of Hell and Canada. It's awful. I'd like to see it at a warm weather spot, but I personally don't think Key West is the place to do it, simply because of the cost involved to get there. It's either you have to fly into Key West, which is typically hundreds more per ticket, or fly to Miami, and then rent a few cars and gas and drive for a few hours each way. While nice and scenic, and something I would probably be willing to do, I just don't think that too many college kids, especially right before the holidays, are willing to shell out for it. I agree that it can be planned for and fundraised all semester and everything that SHOULD be done, but the point is that it isn't. And that's why 3 schools are showing up every year for it, unfortunately.

[wednthavddr]

I think the main point that needs to be taken is that the tournament has not seen 6 teams. The NCRHA usually has the tournament the first weekend of January. Maybe delay some spring tournaments for schools and set up winternationals with NARCH. Last year NARCh had west coast winternationals at San Jose starting Jan 16th. Im sure you would get 4 teams from Cali to play in it with their college teams.

Maybe this idea is stretching it, but the plan right now is not inspiring to get players to key west.

[JLambertUMSL]

IMO they should keep it simple with a few special events like the ECRHA/Lindenwood/Michigan State/Central Florida weekend last year.

Or....Winters in San Jose, please!

[InlineMBA]

How about NARCh having a College Division at Winternationals, like the old days before the NCRHA? And, let all teams (D1, D2, D3) be in one division.

Steve Inge - ROXBURY 8

[wednthavddr]

If you do it at NARCh winters, would you have college divisions in both tournaments or one. If you will have them at both...how do you crown one Winternationals champion, or do you just have two..

It would be fun to have it at narch because then kids can put their teams into adult divisions and others.

[ISFN]

NCRHA @ Narch is the way to go, end the Winterfest and invest the time and money into a College division at Narch. Way more exposure for the NCRHA and should in the end be less of a hassle for all thoes involved and like the other poster said many college kids would then in turn enter in adult/junior divisions. Should be a no brainer for Narch but not sure the NCRHA would be on board.

[cojones81]

They had the college division in NARCH awhile back I think 04-05. I personally played in it and I think it went well. It was in Reno, Nevada where I was going to school, But EMU came out as well as DU and quite a few cali teams. I liked playing with everybody it came down to a OCC vs. EMU championship game which was fun to watch, after our ot loss to Brandon Barnette and Stephen Cambell OCC...
No it was a good tourney to me though. Always a thought to try again for NARCH, and in San Jose..
corey jones

[The Golden Boy]

Last Year I was in the process of organizing a winter national event. Unfortunately, we got started to late, and weren't able to get everything organized. The idea I had was to do an invite only event with all the top D1 teams across the country. It would draw 8-15 teams. The location was Ft. Myers, FL at a rink called Skatium. The rink has brand new floors and glass. Full locker rooms with showers, pro shop, food, etc. The rink is also about 5 minutes from the beach, and within close proximity to many Florida historical sites.

Their were two options for how the tournament would take place. One was, The games would all be considered exhibition games toward the teams regular season. It would strictly be a pool play tournament. The other option was to do this, make it as a regular season event. Let all teams play 4 round robin games which would go towards their regular season record. Then from their re-seed, and play it out as a tournament style in which the remaining games would be considered exhibition games. This would combine a cross regional event with a winter national event.

The biggest problem was the dates of schools final exams for fall. Since the northern schools start later than the southern schools there wasn't a date that would work for everyone. I am hoping that this year we can make it happen, and get a great turnout. Give me some feedback and suggestions.... who would be interested??

GB

[InlineMBA]

Since my son is going to be a junior in college, this September, I only remember the last 2 NARCh Winternationals (West Coast/East Coast) and the West Coast event was during Christmas Break, while the East Coast event was during the Spring semester.

I even remember the ECRHA having an event in Long Island the same weekend, two years ago, as the East Coast Winternationals. Lots of guys came over to catch some NARCh Pro games.

I would like to see all college divisions combined, this way - maybe, you could see some D2 vs D1 matchups.

Steve Inge - ROXBURY 8

[ssuhockey]

Disneys Wide World of Sports has a great set up for inline if anyone has ever been there.

Orlando is a great spot and fairly easy to get to!

[wednthavddr]

Very true about Disney but they only put flooring down once a year and it is usually for the echo tournament which i think is being held the first week of october this year. From what I hear disney charges a lot of money for that tournament

[ssuhockey]

In May they also do AAU Nationals... I worked the tournament this year for the AAU and the 2 rink set up is VERY nice!

[The Golden Boy]

Disney is out of the question. First off the rinks are smaller than what is called for by NCRHA standards. On top of this the rink is ridiculously expensive. Usually when the "ECHO" event is there it is not really an echo event. Echo just runs the event, kind of like a hired outsource. I am not sure what the AAU situation is, but I am confident that AAU as a whole has a contract with Disney since there are many AAU events in all different sports there. I have worked at Disney, and spoken to the people who run the World Wide Sports Complex, and unless the college event is somehow incorporated into an existing tournament, it will never be possible, and AAU wont ever do this until the NCRHA is sanctioned by AAU.