It's time to move
hoop title games
to a cozier setting
I've always been an advocate of playing the Credit Union Classic boys and girls state basketball championships at the Dunkin' Donuts Center, alias the Civic Center.
A state championship game is a special experience in the life of a high school athlete, so I've always felt it should be played at a special venue. For decades, the Civic Center was Rhode Island's premier basketball court.
But I know there always has been a downside to playing the title games at the center. The fact is the center is just too big for high school games. The largest crowd for any of the games is only a few thousand and while that can mean seven or eight thousand fans passing through the turnstiles for the six title games the kids are always playing in front of a lot more empty seats than fans in the 13,000-seat arena.
But with the opening of the Ryan Center at URI next fall, Rhode Island will have two prime basketball facilities and I think the 8,000-seat Ryan Center would be much more conducive to the state title games than the Dunkin' Donuts Center.
There still will be empty seats, but it wouldn't be anything like what you're going to see Saturday. The people at the Civic/Dunkin' Donuts Center have been very good to Rhode Island's high school basketball players over the years. They gave the kids an opportunity for a unique high school experience and they deserve a special thank you. But the Ryan Center at URI would be a better place for the players and when you're talking high school sports that's the most important thing.
It's time to move on
While they're at it, Interscholastic League officials also should move the state hockey championships from Providence College's Schneider Arena. Schneider is a great hockey facility and it would be a great place for the state tournament, if it wasn't essentially La Salle's home rink.
The basketball state title games are played on a neutral court, the baseball championships are played on a neutral field. It's the only fair way to do it. There was never a problem with a neutral site when the hockey tournament was played at Brown's Meehan Auditorium, because none of the Championship Division teams practice there.
But the league moved the tournament to Schneider five years ago. The first two years, there wasn't any problem because Mount St. Charles and Hendricken met in the title series. But La Salle has now earned its third consecutive berth in the finals.
The only thing that comes close to playing the hockey finals at Schneider is when East Providence is involved in a Super Bowl football game at Pierce Field. That's a situation that probably should be addressed, but there's a big difference between the advantage a football team has playing on its home turf and a hockey team has playing on its home rink. Playing on a familiar rink is like playing on a baseball field where the pitchers are accustomed to the mound and the shortstop knows how the ball hops off the infield grass.
It goes without saying that was never the intent of league officials when they moved the tournament to Schneider. But the league's job is to stage its state championships at a venue that doesn't give any school an advantage and that's not the case at Schneider.
Get your program here!
If you're going to the hockey and basketball championships this weekend make sure you bring your copy of Friday and Saturday's Journal sports section. The lineups for all the teams will be published in the Journal and for the hockey playoffs they will be the only available rosters. The lineups for Championship Division hockey series will appear in Friday's paper. The lineups for Met B and Met C title series will appear in Saturday's Journal sports section. Also in Saturday's paper there will be a special Credit Union League advertisement with the lineups for all of Saturday's basketball finals in the Credit Union Classic at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.
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