Best Hockey Schools

bclintonk
Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:11:00 +0000

Yes, Cornell may not have the best team in the country (we were ranked 3 for a while this year), but I can tell you that the games are a hell of a time. Lynah holds about 4,500, and it’s PACKED for every game.



Good for Cornell. 4,000+ is not bad. That ranks it #19 in the country in average home attendance. Michigan ranks # 5 with a 6,660+ average. Colorado College is #4 with 6,932. Minnesota is #3 with 9,943. North Dakota is #2 with 11,709. And Wisconsin is #1 with a whopping 14,133. For a combination of academics and hockey, I’d say Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. With a tilt towards academics, I’d say Cornell and Michigan (pretty much tied for #1), followed by Wisconsin. Minnesota’s in the mix.

In attendance, by the way, Harvard ranks #34, with an average of 2,381—a step behind Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Alaska-Fairbanks, and UMass-Lowell. They do sometimes have good teams and are competitive in their league (that would be the “Ivy” league to you). But I’m not sure hockey is as big a deal there as at a lot of other schools.

For comparison purposes, Cornell ranks below Dartmouth (a much smaller school) in hockey attendance. Also behind Ohio State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Minnesota-Duluth, and UMass-Amherst. All decent hockey schools, but hardly the elite of the hockey world.

I’d look at Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.