The City of Philadelphia will host the 2014 Division 1 men’s ice hockey championship — the Frozen Four. We will not host the Division 3 final, though. The NCAA’s D3 Presidents Council on Wednesday voted down a proposal to include the D3 title game as part of Frozen Four weekend at the Wells Fargo Center in 2014.
The Council was concerned that by holding the game on Friday, April 14, the D3 season would be prolonged considerably, as currently they hold their title game a month earlier in mid-March.
“All of the Presidents Council members were concerned about how this idea meshed with our philosophy, especially given the effect on the playing and practice season, and the length of the championship itself,” Presidents Council chair Jim Schmotter said.
“Some also had logistical and practical concerns about conferences that already had begun scheduling contests for the 2013-14 season. Even if the Presidents Council had referred the matter back to the ice hockey committee for a revised proposal, that probably couldn’t have been done in time to accommodate 2014.”
So, we’ll only have three games to watch on Frozen Four weekend instead of four. The D3 game wouldn’t have meant much of an economic boost to the Philly area, so we’re not missing out all that much.
But as it currently stands, Friday night on Frozen Four weekend is a bit of a dull one. The national semifinals are held on Thursday, the teams have an off day on Friday and the national championship game is held on Saturday. Friday is typically reserved for the presentation of the Hobey Baker Award, but the brief ceremony would have been nicely tied together with a D3 national championship later in the evening. Oh well.
