April 15, 2003
NCAA Frozen Four
Postcard: Thank you, Buffalo

I told a friend who travels through the NHL’s 30 rinks that we were headed to Buffalo for the Frozen Four and he asked, “What did college hockey do to deserve that?”

Sunday I left Buffalo and wondered, “What the hell was he talking about?”

Thank you, Buffalo (and Ontario), for a fantastic Frozen Four. The games were good (not great), but the weekend was an absolute joy.

Granted, we can have fun just about anywhere – I told somebody once that all college hockey fans need are a good rink, a good hotel, and good bars and restaurants, all within walking distance. Buffalo delivered in impressive style.

Things in Buffalo we'll never write anything bad about:

Jim’s Steakout Will Waterrose Bradford bartenders CBC Zig Fracassi and WNSA-FM Tim Horton’s

The entire city welcomed the college hockey world with open arms. Almost everybody was friendly, highlighted by Big Shotz bartender Will “The Reverend” Waterrose and the Tim Horton’s counter girl who gave me one free Timbit. Parts of downtown might have made Detroit look bustling, but once you got to Chippewa Street it felt like New Orleans. And the food may not earn five-star reviews, but the wings were everything they are made out to be and more.

For me, it all added up to the second-best Frozen Four I’ve been to (behind Providence, 2000). Whatever we did to deserve it, I say we keep it up.

With any luck we can do it all again, say in 2008?

– Nate Ewell