Ken Johnson wrote:
>The Ivies care more about who among them land on top of the Ivy pile than
>anything else, in my opinion (they crown their own champion amongst
>themselves),
 
I love it when nonIvies comment on what the Ivies want.
 
The Ivy League title is small potatoes.  My understanding (though I'm not
positive on this) is that it is not even officially recognized in hockey,
and that this was done because nonIvies felt that this was a "league within
a league".  Fair enough.  I don't think the ECAC should be divided in any
manner.  The emphasis should be on unity within the conference.
 
I guarantee you that if/when Cornell wins the Ivy title this year, there's
not going to be a lot of celebrating.  Sure, Bill, Greg, Arthur and I will
be happy to see the team put that feather in its cap, but it's a very small
feather.  It's nothing compared to an ECAC or national title.
 
there is little real rivalry between RPI and the Ivies (except
>for Harvard, because of the strength of the team; Brown, because their
>seems to be some blood lust between the teams since the noisemaker rule;
>Cornell, because they are from New York State).  The Ivies have a lot of
>rivalry between themselves, so let them play twice.
 
Rivalries come and go, usually due to the quality of the teams.  Cornell
and RPI used to have some very heated contests.  With the teams not doing
well recently, this has ebbed.  When both teams are contenders again, it
will heat up.  Rivalries such as Cornell-Harvard and Clarkson-St. Lawrence
are rare.
 
 
>I don't begrudge the Ivies for what they want.  They seem to expect
>something different out of the ECAC than the rest of the ECAC does.  Aside
>from Cornell, most fans from the Ivy schools are not that concerned with
>hockey.  Maybe it's changed in the last 5 years, but when I announced games
>it was common to see a half empty 2500 seat Ivy rink when they played RPI.
 
A lot of Hockey East schools don't sell out regularly.  Does that mean
those schools aren't worth playing either?
 
>Maybe it was because they were playing a non-Ivy opponent, I don't know,
>but if that's the case, it just illustrates the point I am making.  Their
>own division within a common league would allow them them semi-autonomy.
>They could have as restrictive recruiting rules as they wanted, restrict
>the numbers of games, etc.
 
I don't understand why people from nonIvies get upset that the Ivies put
more restrictions on themselves than the ECAC puts on schools.  It does not
necessarily mean these schools will be less competitive. (Cornell, Harvard
and Brown are all ahead of RPI in the current ECAC standings.)  If the
Ivies want to play fewer nonconference games, why should RPI complain?
Hockey East is looking for teams.  RPI could certainly go there if it
wanted.  However, it's still an ECAC team.
 
>Splitting the ECAC up into its natural divisions (the Ivies and everyone
>else) would regionalize the league.
 
Brian Morris already commented on the problem of awarding the NCAA bid
which would go to the regular season champ.  I don't think teams should be
in the same conference if they aren't going to play each other the same
number of times.  Look at the problem the WCHA faces every year because
someone always plays Minnesota or CC two times instead of four.  There are
always complaints about how this affects teams' win-loss records and RPIs.
If a division is warranted, I think it should be a division into two
conferences, not two divisions in the same conference.
 
As for adding teams to the ECAC, I don't think the biggest conference
should add teams, I think the smaller ones should.  If the trip from Boston
to Niagara is too long, how about adding Niagara to the CCHA.  It is closer
to Ann Arbor, East Lansing and Ohio than it is to Boston.  I agree with
Brian that NY should be staked out as ECAC territory, but I'd hate to see
it done at the expense of losing schools that are currently in the
conference.  If Niagara is added to the CCHA, it would still be likely that
ECAC schools might schedule it in NC games since it is close.  We'd end up
with increased connectivity between the CCHA and ECAC, which I think should
be improved.
 
Perhaps what we really need is a fifth conference formed, allowing schools
like Mankata State, Niagara and UConn plenty of space.  To do this in a
geographically sensible manner would probably require rearranging all the
current conferences as well.  Perhaps it might be easier for Div. I hockey
to do this all at once rather than have each new school go through what the
Alaska schools did.  It would be the end of an era and some rivalries, but
the beginning of a new era and new rivalries.
 
Paulette Dwen
Cornell '89
Let's Go Red!
 
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