On Saturday, Penn State played a home game against Vermont at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. It was the second straight season the two teams met in the home of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. Saturday’s announced attendance was 17,632, although several people have told me that the number was inflated by around 5,000. Last season’s game, which was played in late January, attracted a sellout-crowd of 19,529.

There are two reasons the Nittany Lions and Catamounts have played each other in Philadelphia the last two seasons. One, and this obvious, is because Penn State is THE college in the Keystone State students and alums of the Universities of Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh might argue their cases. The second is that Vermont defenseman Nick Luukko’s father is Peter Luukko, who is only president and chief operating officer of Comcast-Spectacor, which runs the Wells Fargo Center and the Flyers.

But I believe there was missed opportunity. I don’t know if you can blame Penn State or Comcast-Spectacor, but someone should have looked into the possibility of bringing one of the two games Penn State plays against Union this season to Philadelphia.

via “College Hockey Slap Schotts: A missed opportunity” by Parting Schotts.