The 2001 Men's Frozen Four is a sellout, but college hockey fans at least have a road map to the future after recent recommendations by the Division I Men's Ice Hockey Committee.

The committee targeted sites for the 2004-06 championship finals, selecting two of the most successful venues in Men's Frozen Four history and returning to a campus facility for the first time since 1983. Named were Boston's FleetCenter for 2004, hosted by Boston University; Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, for 2005, hosted by Ohio State University; and Milwaukee's Bradley Center in 2006, hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

The selections are subject to the approval of the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, which meets September 12-14 in Atlanta.

"The sites we selected are true hockey sites," said Bill Wilkinson, chair of the committee and head men's ice hockey coach at Wayne State University (Michigan). "The student-athletes and fans participating in the Frozen Fours at these sites will have a great opportunity to be involved in what has become an incredible event."

Boston last staged the Men's Frozen Four in 1998 and will be serving as host for the sixth time. Milwaukee welcomed the 50th anniversary championship in 1997 and will host for the third time. Making its Frozen Four debut, Columbus becomes the 21st different host city.

The nine best crowds in Frozen Four history have come from Boston and Milwaukee. The top three crowds witnessed the 1998 event at the FleetCenter, where an average of 18,118 watched the three sessions. Milwaukee's Bradley Center twice saw Frozen Four session averages pass the 17,300 mark.

Columbus marks the championship's return to a campus venue. Value City Arena will seat in excess of 17,000 for the 2005 event and is the largest university hockey facility in the country. It also becomes the ninth different campus arena to serve as host.

"This was my second go-round with the committee selecting future sites," Wilkinson said, "and we could have awarded everyone a site because of the quality of presentations and the bids themselves. But we only had an opportunity for three of the eight cities, and it came down to a proven record of hosting college hockey events."

Other cities making bid presentations to the committee were East Rutherford, New Jersey; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis; St. Paul, Minnesota; and San Jose, California.

Sellouts a trend

The sellout of Albany's Pepsi Arena for the 2001 Men's Frozen Four marks the fourth advanced sellout for the event in the last five years and the second consecutive year it has occurred at such an early date.

"We are excited to be returning to Albany for the Frozen Four," said Thomas A. Jacobs, NCAA director of championships. "We are extremely encouraged by the early sellout, and it demonstrates the excitement and enthusiasm this event generates."

Albany hosted the 1992 Frozen Four, won by Lake Superior State University, and has hosted East Regional hockey competition every other year since 1994. This past season, Albany teamed with Mariucci Arena, in Minneapolis to set a combined regional attendance record.

"We are always proud to be awarded NCAA events, and now we're extremely pleased to be sold out a year in advance," said Pepsi Arena/SMG general manager Bob Belber.

Pepsi Arena, which seats 14,200 for hockey, will host several NCAA events over the next few years, including the 2002 Division I Wrestling Championships and the 2003 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball East Regional. Co-hosts for next year's Frozen Four are Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

"We are very pleased with this sellout because in 1996, when we put this proposal together, we guaranteed to fill every seat," said Bob Ducatte, director of athletics at Rensselaer. "We are the smallest market of any of the cities currently hosting this event, and we received a tremendous number of applications for tickets -- more applications than we could handle."

Wilkinson said the committee plans to implement a more beneficial ticket distribution system for 2002 ticket sales. St. Paul hosts the 2002 Men's Frozen Four at the Xcel Energy Center, and ticket applications will be accepted beginning April 5, 2001. Buffalo, New York, hosts the 2003 event at HSBC Arena.

The committee also selected regional sites for 2004-06, naming Albany, New York; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Albany, respectively, for the East Regional; and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Minneapolis; and Grand Forks, North Dakota, respectively, for the West Regional. Worcester already is slated to host the next three East Regionals, while Grand Rapids (2001) and Ann Arbor (2002-03) in Michigan host the next three West Regionals.