Got myself into a little back and forth with my friends on the Cornell hockey fan message board, eLynah, recently, regarding the ECAC moving its tournament to Atlantic City beginning in 2011. I have mixed feelings, but believe the ECAC needed to do something, and I see the move’s merits, as noted in a recent column.

The discussion on eLynah centered more around the geography of it, and on that score, I defended AC for a variety of reasons — mainly that, despite being in a geographic center, Albany attendance has been lousy. The move may take the tournament farther from ECAC schools, but not necessarily farther from people who actually show up — i.e. alumni, and general fans. We’ll find out.

It was interesting to note, as well, the thoughts of Cornell alum Sam Paolini. He was a senior forward on the 2003 Cornell Frozen Four team, scoring the winning OT goal, ironically enough, in the first ECAC tournament held in Albany. He went on to play some minor league hockey, including for the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies — who played in Boardwalk Hall, the same facility that the ECAC tournament will be held at. So his thoughts are illuminating.

“When I first read about the move, I knew Boardwalk Hall was going to be a great venue for the tournment,” Paolini said. “They will sell out the place and when it is full, it gets really really loud. The acoustics in there are phenomenal.”

There was some question about locker room facilities in AC.

“I’ve been in both the home and visitor dressing rooms for games and they are nice,” Paolini said. “Both are better than the visiting Albany rooms. Not sure what they will use for the other two though. Nice training room in the home room too.

“Ice was always good except for the few occasions when we had over 8k in the building which was rare. Interesting to see how it will hold up with games back-to-back two nights in a row. My thought is it will be pretty choppy with that much play and fans in the building.

“Glass was always loud when there were hits which excited fans. It is horseshoe shaped and not having stands behind one of the nets takes away something from the fans in my opinion. Benches are huge and have plenty of room.”

Bottom line:

“Having it in AC will be great for fans too as they will be able to visit the casinos, go to shows, and have more options than Albany,” Paolini said.

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 - 11:35 am | Commentary