Madison

[GoRangrHky]

Just curious, for those of you that were out there, what you thought of it. Atmosphere, facilities, that type of thing. I'm just curious if people thought it was worth it for the NCRHA to go to an area that doesn't have NCRHA teams, but to get maybe a better facility out of it.

[ECUHockey]

Just curious, for those of you that were out there, what you thought of it. Atmosphere, facilities, that type of thing. I'm just curious if people thought it was worth it for the NCRHA to go to an area that doesn't have NCRHA teams, but to get maybe a better facility out of it.

First, this is MY personal opinion, not the teams. I thought the event was pretty well run. Facility was above average. Not fantastic, but not anywhere near terrible either. The humidity fiasco was a nightmare, but the staff came up with a plan fairly quickly and fixed the problem. Middleton was also a nice town with stuff to do. The worst part of the tournament in my opinion was the atmosphere. Spectators were almost non existant except for parents/people who came to the event with the team. Games at times were almost silent. All in all I had an amazing time and hope that we get the opportunity to do it again. I'd give it a 7/10. If I had a say in it, I would put it back in San Jose. That is the optimal place for a tournament like this to be played.

-Chris

[GoRangrHky]

Have you been to any of the other ones besides San Jose?

[hockeykid12]

Colorado springs was spectacular the facility was amazing and the area offered a lot to do and see

[teedeezee]

location was awesome, Madison is a great town.....arena was nice and even though there were some issues with the wet floor the staff took care of it the best they could.....here are my complaints....

-The DVD's that were being sold were awful. The camera man was sometimes lost pointing in the wrong direction, no audio for the most part, if there was audio it was terrible. There are times in the videos that the camera info comes up on the screen and stays there for a good amount of time.....if you're giving these away then fine, its acceptable....but your selling these to players... The FGCU/Miami DII championship stopped getting recorded about 4 minutes into the first OT, that game went well into 2 overtimes.

- The photos were not the best either, ESPECIALLY the team pictures. anyone else notice that the logo for the tourney on the team pic is a snapshot of the sticker on the door? the school name in that terrible graffiti font....and what is that border? overall the team pic looks like something i would have edited on paint program in 7th grade....

- Merchandise!!!! So overpriced! not much more to say about that....had some decent looking shirts/zip ups/jackets but no colleg kid that had to empty their pockets to come to the tourney wants to get there and spend that kind of money. In my opinion it would be appropriate for the league to put together some sort of bag for the players, throw a bunch of random stuff in there that wont cost much....shirt/stickers/discounts on mission/revision product, etc...

Other than the things mentioned I really enjoyed the trip. Staff at the arena was great(locker rooms kept clean for the most part) team check in was smooth, captains meeting went smooth....everything went very well, props to the NCRHA staff for hosting a great event.

Bring the tourney to Fort Myers!!!

[BEEZERAL]

I felt Madison was a pretty good town. Took a trip to the Wisconsin Dells which was fun.

Thought the NCRHA did a great job running the tourney, but the promised local support was completely non-existant. I don't think one local came to the event.

One thing that really bothered me was overhearing a NCRHA rep saying he didnt care how many people showed up, only how many tickets they sold.

If we ever want to progress past being a Niche club sport, we need to get real buzz at Nationals

[Mustangs]

I think teedeezee nailed it on the head! I agree with everything he said, especially the poor DVDs. We bought 3 games that missed about 5 different goals, including two goals in the National Championship game. I would think they should be able to keep the camera on the play for at least that game.

[danglsauce]

I thought the rink was pretty brutal. It just seemed like an older rink. Also, the showers were always flooded making the bathrooms impossible to navigate through if you had skates on. Also, one of my pet peeves, the clocks were broken! i would see 1:30 when its really 7:30 then next time i look its 5:30. Also, i felt cramped in the lobby and walk ways throughout the building. I know this is specific but i like the rinks like in San Jose where there is a center area and the rinks are all around you. Taylor, MI is a good example. From the middle you can get to any rink and feels wide open.
As for Madison, it's a typical college town. Nothing much to do there although the capitol was really nice.

[LstLineOfDfense]

Rink (Just the rink): 7/10 - Issues with humidity were prevalent all week, and came to a head when NCRHA had to cancel games. That being said, the surface was good, and the game did move fast. Boards were good, bounces were predictable, glass was solid. Can't really complain.

Facility: 5/10 - Honestly, it's an average ice facility at BEST. Locker rooms are big for a roller hockey team (Can't imagine a 20 man ice team in one of those though). The bleachers were beat to ****, and everything seemed dates. Scoreboard was having issues all weekend.

Atmosphere: 7/10 - I had a blast, but would love to have seen more local support, as several others have mentioned.

Organization: 8/10 - The long delay in getting the promised live game feed was frustrating, but otherwise it was a very well run event, all things considered. You'd have to imagine that if it was run at a top notch roller facility, any minor issues would have bee ironed out.

The Town: 9/10 - Far and away the best college town I've ever been to. Lots of fun, and definitely a great place to have an event. And Middleton had everything we needed for the week as well.

[danglsauce]

The Town: 9/10 - Far and away the best college town I've ever been to. Lots of fun, and definitely a great place to have an event. And Middleton had everything we needed for the week as well.[/QUOTE]

I dunno i think the State Street in Bing is the best in the country. : p