UND athletic director Brian Faison is now the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee Chair and he would like to move the NCAA Regionals back on campus. I think it’s a great idea and I have been an advocate for the move for a couple of years now.
ND A.D and NCAA hockey committee chair B. Faison also envisions 2 super regionals after field is cut from 16 to 8.
— Dan Hammer (@Hamsbrew) March 18, 2015
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Faison’s comments came last night when he was my guest on UND Sports Extra on Midco Sports Network — Dan Hammer (@Hamsbrew) March 18, 2015
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Whether those are top 8 or top 4 hosting and format remains to be seen. Likely top 8. He believes there is growing support from coaches.
— Dan Hammer (@Hamsbrew) March 18, 2015
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UND A.D. Brian Faison, new NCAA hockey committee chair tells me he will move for realignment of NCAA regionals to include home sites — Dan Hammer (@Hamsbrew) March 18, 2015
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Here’s what I wrote last year for the Hockey Writers.
After the West Regional, UND Head Coach Dave Hakstol offered his opinion about the attendance at the 2013 West Region Tournament.
“The pinnacle of our season should be played in a great atmosphere,” Hakstol said. “I think the players that are involved in the national tournament deserve that. I think it’s something that has garnered a fair amount of discussion over the last couple of years, but no action. We have to fix things. We’re not doing this the right way at the regional level.”
Hakstol continued, “I saw a stat within our program where we had 5,500 people logged on to a live chat, and there was maybe, 1,500 people in a building watching a great hockey game between Yale and North Dakota on Saturday night. That’s not right. That’s the pinnacle and that’s the spotlight of our season. Yeah, we have to change things. Certainly, I would like to work towards doing that, sooner, rather than later.”
Of course, there are going to be fans and media members that don’t like this idea.
Coaches talk about moving the sport forward, forward, all the time — and now they’ll support going backwards on Regionals? No.
— Adam Wodon (@CHN_AdamWodon) March 18, 2015
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Although, as I’ve also written, we’ve long known North Dakota’s stance – so when Faison became chair, this is not a surprise. — Adam Wodon (@CHN_AdamWodon) March 18, 2015
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According to USCHO, former committee chair Jim Knowlton said last season that the committee left the 2017 and 2018 regionals open because it was studying a return to on-campus play.
It must be spring again, Twitter blew up today with the news.
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