Bellevue to host SEC hockey tournament

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Ford Ice Center Bellevue has only been open a few shorts months, but it’s already establishing a reputation as a destination venue for hockey tournaments in Middle Tennessee.

After hosting the inaugural Country Classic hockey tournament in November, Ford ice Bellevue will host its second major tournament on Feb. 7 when the Southeastern Collegiate Hockey Conference (SECHC) tournament hits Nashville.

“It’s really exciting that in our first year of expansion, doubling the size of our conference from eight to 16 teams, that two of the new teams made the tournament,” SECHC commissioner Justin Bradford said. “In Bellevue, we’re going to help kind of break in the new facility there with this big tournament.

“There’s a huge arena in there for fans, we’re going to have a broadcast area because all the games will be streamed on Penalty Box Radio so fans who can’t make it out can watch online. It’ll be a great tournament and really competitive.”

The tournament comprises the top eight teams in the SECHC including: Arkansas (No. 1), South Carolina (No. 2), Florida Atlantic (No. 3), Georgia (No. 4), Georgia Tech (No. 5), Ole Miss (No. 6), Auburn (No. 7), Tennessee (No. 8).

This is the first year of the conference’s expansion, adding Clemson, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, Lynn University, MTSU and the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

Encompassing traditional SEC schools with club hockey teams (and therefore not held to the same conference regulations as Division 1 athletics), the conference expansion allowed the SECHC to become more representative of hockey in the southern region of the country.

“College hockey is getting to grow and it’s great for all these teams to come out and get supported,” Bradford said. “All of these teams will travel well to Nashville, which has become this mecca of hockey in the south in terms of hosting the women’s college hockey tournament in November, hosting D1 games in the fall, the NWHL All-Star game and the NHL All-Star game.”

While most of the tournament is made up of traditional SEC rivalries such as Arkansas vs. Tennessee and South Carolina vs. Auburn, the expansion has allowed for more inter-state rivalries such as Vanderbilt vs. MTSU and first-round matchup Georgia vs. Georgia Tech.

“The goal for me is to have the absolute best conference in college hockey,” Bradford added. “With that, there are some traditional rivalries that exist and some new ones that will form [...] That’s what’s exciting about including more of the Southeast — getting to include new rivalries like in Florida with Florida versus Florida Atlantic. We want to expand to be the best college hockey has to offer.”

The full SECHC tournament schedule is listed above.