No one that is a BC or BU fan cares unless they are playing each other, or the games are at the garden. BC and BU don't fill their arenas for Hockey East playoff games. Every year Bucci, Grinnell, and others show the line for the BU and BC game the only time there is ever a line for those two schools as a reason to have it on campus.
The East and Northeast regionals shouldn't be empty with most of Hockey East 3 hours from those locations. Going back to when the current format was implemented BU has hosted 3 or 4 regionals and BC has hosted none.
Have the top 4 host and the moment all the regionals are in the East again everyone including UND fans will bitch about it again. If you want to host at your arena then BID plain and simple. you have schools like Michigan that don't have the lockers to host, or they don't want to make the guaranteed money commitment to the NCAA. There should be a rule that says a team can't host unless you have made the NCAAs in the last 5 years (that means AHA should never host, sorry not sorry). I've heard conferences should host over schools so that a 4 seed can't play at the regional they would host (i.e. Providence a few years ago). UND doesn't whine about having to play against a lower seeded host, but it's a big deal when Denver has to. I want to say it was an interview with Muckalt who said in 1998 that "UND was the better team we just happen to play better in that game" when Michigan last hosted at Yost.
When it comes to growing the game, only UND has done remotely anything to do that with the "destination games." Growing the game does come with the double edge sword of a regional in Athens GA., Austin TX., or Palm Springs CA., this would be good to grow the game but could have no one show up.