Ohio State to host weekend tourney

[TG1996]

In the Dispatch today, they mentioned that OSU is going to host a 4 team weekend "tournament" in late December (or maybe it was November... hmmm...) with Miami(OH), Colorado College and Minnesota (I think it was the main campus, not MN-Duluth). Its going to be called something like the "Ohio Hockey Invitational" or something to that effect, with "Ohio", and not "Ohio State" in the title. They're doing it to get things ready for a future Frozen Four (its in Columbus in 2005 or 2006, I don't remember).

I'm just thinking if they do this every year, I imagine it would rotate between Miami(OH) and BG as the other Ohio school in the mix. Since we don't have enough teams (Findlay dropped out of D-1, right?) to have an all-Ohio tournament, like say the GLI or Beanpot, this is a great opportunity for BG to play some top national non-league competition, without the added of expense of *too* much travel. To leave it up to OSU to get Minnesota and the like into their building and give BG a chance to lace it up against them is awesome, I think. We'll have to see what this turns into!

[bgbill]

I think I read somewhere that this tourney was going to be held at Nationwide, not Schottenstein.

[TG1996]

yeah, I think they have to have it at Nationwide, since that's the site they'll have the Frozen Four at, they have to play so many games there each year. Which is why I hope this will become an annual thing, not just a "this year" deal to get the Frozen Four in town.

[bgbill]

you sure about FF site?

[TG1996]

I grabbed the Dispatch finally, here's the verbatim:

"Ohio State is hosting the first Ohio Hockey Classic in Nationwide (Arena) on Dec. 29-30, which will serve as something of a trial run for the 2005 NCAA Frozen Four."

OSU, Miami(OH), Colorado College and Minnesota State (I guess its not the Gophers after all, and the level I thought this event might reach takes a step back from what I thought it might be.)

[bgbill]

I think the "trial run" is to see how tOSU runs the tourney. The Frozen Four is still scheduled to be at Value City Arena.