Brian Morris writes:
 
> Shipping the 9-12 teams off to home ice
> venues is tantamount to dooming their chances of going further, certainly
> more so than playing an extra game in the current Regional format.
 
Although in the current regional format, the 9-12 teams will, all else
being equal, be shipped out of their region, while 5-8 will stay and
play two games and 1-4 will get a bye.  (Of course, this discounts
things like ranking within region, automatic byes, conference matchup
avoidance, and--ick--attendance considerations.)
 
The idea of having four four-team regionals with regional champions
sent to the Frozen Four is appealing, but I also like the idea of two
best-of-three rounds.  The main reason is that with the Frozen Four
moved a week later to avoid a conflict with the squeakball Final Four
(TM), there is a plan for a week off after the regionals.  That extra
week in the tournament structure gives time for a three-week
tournament:  best-of-three series at campus sites in the rounds of 16
and 8, and a neutral site Frozen Four as usual.  It would also put an
end to the patently unfair practice of placing teams in regionals
based on their potential contribution to attendance, plus the
automatic home games for regionals hosts.  I don't see it happening,
though, since the former model is closer to the wildly $ucce$$ful
squeakball tourney.
 
> Further, returning to campus venues depletes the marketing impact college
> hockey has achieved in the last couple of years.  Coverage of the sport
> has increased, the CNN crawl for example, which I think is attributable to
> the expansion of the sport and the increased exposure of the
> championships.
 
I would say "who cares", but I think only Greg Berge and I share the
attitude that increased exposure is not neccessarily a good thing.
 
> The West problem has to be con$$idered though.  The NC$$ is
> undoubtedly focusing on the problem, and that in itself should act as a
> deterrent to a 16 team tourney.  One additional problem is the structure
> of the Regional tourney, since both the First Round Regionals and the
> Semi-Finals would end up as three game affairs.
 
You could add consolation games. :-)
 
                                          John Whelan, Cornell '91
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   Arthur Mintz, after the Cornell-Union brawl 1998 December 4
 
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