BUFFALO (WBEN - Brendan Keany) - Local organizers for the Frozen Four, as well as several government officials, gathered at the KeyBank Center on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the opportunity to host the NCAA hockey championship weekend.
The teams are set to arrive in Buffalo on Tuesday evening, and local tourism leaders say they're ready to roll out the red carpet.
"We are absolutely ready; we did a session with our tourism industry a couple weeks ago, making sure everybody was up to to speed on everything they can and cannot do during the Frozen Four," said Visit Buffalo Niagara CEO Patrick Kaler. "We have a new community, really, as far as our tourism product is concerned, and everybody is excited about this event coming to our city."
Canisius Assistant Athletic Director Matt Reitnour, who has been serving as the media coordinator for the local organizing committee, echoed the sentiments of Kaler, saying this weekend has been roughly two years in the making.
"The ice is down, and we're ready to go," he said. "We're excited to be able to host this event and bring the eyes of college hockey on to Buffalo and to our product here."
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown also attended the press conference, and they both noted how fortunate the region is to be hosting yet another NCAA event, and they urged the community to take part in the festivities.
"If you go online and you try to find a hotel room, they're going at high rates right now, so clearly the hotels are almost to capacity," said Kaler. "There are very few rooms left in the downtown area, so it's spreading out to the rest of the county, and that's really exciting for us."
Tickets are available for both semifinal games and the championship game. For those interested in tickets, they can be found at the Key Bank Center box office or online.
