Mercyhurst College and Girard native Jen Schoullis, a redshirt junior forward at Minnesota, aren’t playing in the NCAA Women’s Division I Frozen Four this weekend at Tullio Arena.

But ticket sales still stood at 3,800 on Thursday, said Ron Sertz, the local operating committee’s executive director. So he hopes the total for the three-day tournament reaches 4,000, which would greatly exceed the NCAA’s initial goal of 2,500.

“It was definitely not something we had hoped for,” Sertz said of losing the Lakers and Schoullis, which might keep what Sertz called “Erie event fans” away. “From the beginning, I thought if things fall our way we could jam the place. Things just didn’t fall our way. But I think we still have a good event.”

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