NCAA Men’s Hockey Regionals Coming To Connecticut

By Bob Phillips

BRIDGEPORT—Sports-starved Connecticut sports fans finally got a bit of good news today when it was announced that the Webster Bank Arena will host a NCAA Division I men’s hockey regional tournament in 2023. The WBA is also slated to host a men’s hockey regional in 2021, and a women’s basketball regional in 2022, although whether or not the 2021 tournament will be played—and if so, whether fans will be allowed to attend—is a matter of conjecture. Without fans, it is highly unlikely the venue, the home for the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers, will serve as home site. Owned by the City of Bridgeport, operated by Harbor Yard Sports & Entertainment, LLC and managed by Oak View Group, a Los Angeles-based entertainment and sports facilities company, the facility if heavily reliant on ticket sales, parking and concessions to generate operating revenue.

Yale and Sacred Heart will serve as host universities for the 2023 tournament. Webster Bank Arena is also slated to host the 2022 NCAA Women’s Basketball East Regional Tournament.

“We are proud to partner with Webster Bank Arena and Yale University to host the 2023 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Regional,” Sacred Heart deputy director of athletics of external operations Charlie Dowd said. No stranger to the Webster Bank Arena, Dowd served stints as SVP of Operations for Harbor Yard Sports & Entertainment and as general manager for the late, great Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League. The Bluefish played for 20 seasons at the former Ballpark at Harbor Yard, which sits adjacent to the WBA and is currently being converted into an outdoor amphitheater which will one day host music concerts, although given today’s COVID-19 environment, when that might actually happen is anyone’s guess.

“We’ve had a great relationship with OVG Facilities for a number of years and I know we’ll be able to put on a first-class experience for the student-athletes and fans,” Dowd continued. “The building has a long, successful history of hosting and we look forward to creating new memories. It is an honor for our program and institution to bring this great event to Bridgeport.”

The NCAA hockey tournament is broken into four regional sites, with four teams playing single elimination games against each other at each site. The winner of each regional advances to play in the Frozen Four, held at a neutral site. Webster Bank Arena has hosted five NCAA regional hockey tournaments in the past; 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2018.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be selected by the NCAA to host the Division I Men’s Regional here in Bridgeport,” Mayor Joe Ganim said. “Many visitors will come from around the region to experience Bridgeport as an emerging entertainment hub with terrific restaurants. We look forward to working with the Oak View Group team and the New York Islanders at Webster Bank Arena, in addition to Yale and Sacred Heart University, for what will be a fantastic experience for student-athletes, families and fans.”

—With Staff Reports

Huskies a No-Go at XL

UConn announced that all regular season home basketball games (men's and women's) will be
played at Gampel Pavilion this coming season. Hockey games will be played at Freitas Ice
Forum. Both venues are on the UConn Storrs campus.

By Bob Phillips

STORRS—Add the XL Center to the list of COVID-19 victims. The state's largest indoor sports and entertainment venue announced on Wednesday that it will not host UConn men's and women's basketball games and UConn hockey games for the 2020-21 season. Gampel Pavilion will host all home games for basketball, and Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum will be home for all UConn hockey games this season. Both venues are located on the UConn campus. Whether or not fans will be allowed to attend—and if so, how many and under what kind of conditions—is a matter of conjecture.

In the end, the decision to move the 2020-21 home season to Storrs was pretty simple. It came down to money.

“We have to pay rent if we use that facility, and I don’t think that financially it makes sense for either one of us if we’re in the situation that we currently are, which is if there’s going to be very few fans allowed to attend games,” Benedict said. “It just doesn’t make financial sense for either one of us.”

The decision to play all home games in Storrs comes as a disappointment to many Connecticut basketball fans who were looking forward to the return of the Huskies to the Big East this season—particularly at the XL Center, which serves as home court for several Husky games each season and is far more accessible than Storrs to fans in most parts of the state.

“For us and our student-athletes, when we do go down there we don’t control all the staffing and what their testing protocols are going to be,” continued Benedict. “Certainly there’s a significant concern, and we’re doing a lot to minimize exposure or risk to our coaches and student-athletes coming in contact with people. We’re already doing all those things on our campus.”

Benedict hopes to have a better idea of what the schedules will look like for his men’s and women’s basketball teams in the next couple weeks.

“In this case, I think we both agreed it made the most sense to play our games on campus at this point,” he said.

The Big East men's and women's basketball championship tournaments have not yet been affected by COVID-19. The men's tournament is scheduled to be played at Madison Square Garden as usual, and the women's tournament is slated for the Moehgan Sun Arena in March.

—with staff reports

Maya Moore Honored with Jack Kelly Fair Play Award

 

Former UConn great Maya Moore has been named the 2020 Jack Kelly Fair Play Award winne.

 

Colorado Springs, Colo.–In recognition of her selfless act to defer her athletic career to pursue criminal justice reform, former UConn star Maya Moore has been named as the recipient of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s 2020 Jack Kelly Fair Play Award.

The Jack Kelly Fair Play Award, established in 1985, annually recognizes an athlete, team, coach or official for an outstanding act of fair play and sportsmanship. Moore, who won Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016, made the decision in 2019 to step away from the court as a member of both the USA Basketball National Team and the Minnesota Lynx to focus on criminal justice reform and advocate for a wrongly convicted man, Jonathan Irons, who was successfully released from prison in July 2020. The couple was recently married and together, they continue the pursuit of justice, reform and educating on the critical role elected prosecutors play in our justice system through their organization, Win With Justice.

The award will be presented virtually as part of the 2020 U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Assembly on Thursday, Oct. 8.

“USA Basketball is proud to have Maya Moore as a part of its family, and to see her honored by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee with the Jack Kelly Fair Play Award” said Jim Tooley, USA Basketball CEO. “She has always been an incredible ambassador both on and off the court for the USA, and her integrity and commitment to everything she has done has been 100%, which was why none of us were surprised when she opted to step away from basketball and pursue the freedom of Jonathan Irons.”

“Maya Moore has been an integral part of the women’s national team program since 2006, and I can’t imagine anyone more deserving of this award than Maya,” said Carol Callan, USA Basketball Women’s National Team director. “She has always been strong in her convictions, never wavered between right and wrong, and her decision to step away from basketball was an incredibly selfless thing to do. I couldn’t be more proud that she is a part of the USA Basketball family and appreciate that the USOPC recognizes her work by presenting her with the Jack Kelly Fair Play Award.”

After being a member of three gold-medal winning USA junior teams from 2006-09, Moore was called up to the USA National Team in 2009 to participate in its fall training camp. Since officially being named to the USA National Team in 2010, Moore helped U.S. squads to gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Cups (15-0) and 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games (16-0), while aidint the USA National Team to a 17-1 exhibition mark. In all, USA Basketball teams with Moore on the roster have compiled seven gold medals and an overall record of 51-0 in official international competitions.

Moore starred at the University of Connecticut where she captured a pair of NCAA titles in 2009 and 2010. She was the No. 1 selection in the 2011 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx, and she has helped lead the Lynx to the 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 WNBA championships.

–Staff Reports