Frozen Four Semifinal Thoughts

My game story from the first game, and notebook from the second game.

Overall, I think you have to judge the spectacle of holding the event at Ford Field a success. The ice was much improved over yesterday, everyone at least had a pretty decent view of the arena, and if their count was accurate, they got 34,000 people into the arena which is fantastic. I know there was a lot of pessimism about Ford Field, but I think it was definitely worth a try.

That said, I'd be fine never having to cover a game there again. I did get a makeshift press table to work on between the 200 and 300 level of the arena, but my spot was on the opposite end of the field from the media work room, so that made for a lot of very long trips back and forth. One of those long trips to gather press materials caused me to miss Zach Harrison apparently winning the fastest skater competition, and really, how many chances in my lifetime am I going to get to see someone from Minnesota State win something at the Frozen Four? But other than some less than ideal things that can't really be avoided, I think Ford Field has done a nice job hosting the event. I think it helps that they had the Final Four last year, so they pretty much know what to do.

Speaking of Minnesota State, by far the best t-shirt I saw today, at least from a personal standpoint, was someone rocking the "Less than 1% of Maverick fans drink daily" freebie t-shirt.

The three-man comedy group that did Wisconsin's press conference was probably the most amusing part of an otherwise fairly dull day. They seem like a pretty likable group, and were able to pull that off without coming off as cocky, which I think says something.

I missed most of it, but as I came in about an hour and a half before first face-off, it seemed like a pretty good atmosphere outside around the arena. There wasn't a lot of atmosphere inside the arena because everyone was so spread out, but then again, it's tough to judge because neither game had all that much drama.