Doing a lot of this from memory, so the dates may be a little off, but
the gist is still the same....
 
Brian brought up the CCHA comparing its early days to the MAAC.  The
trouble is, it took a long time for the CCHA to get "respected" by the
NCAA.
 
My first intro to the CCHA was in 1972 when I saw the St. Louis Billikins
beat Notre Dame in the finals of the ECAC Holiday tourny in Madison
Square Garden (Clarkson & SLU were the undercard and since I had vowed to
go to Clarkson if accepted, it was a natural for me to drive into NYC &
see my future school).
 
The next year @ Clarkson we played Ohio State in our own Turkey tourny.
Since OSU was not in the WCHA, it could not be a respectable program,
right?  Right.  We lost.
 
My next two seasons we continued to play CCHA schools like Bowling Green
(lost twice), St. Louis (won 2 lost 2) and Western Michigan (won 2).  By
then the CCHA had dropped a few teams  and picked up the Michigans and
ND.  Suddenly, the CCHA became "respectable" and got an invite to the
NCAA via a playin game (It may have helped that St. Louis hosted the 1977
NCAA championship).
 
The MAAC has not gone through any of the CCHA growing pains (yet).  This
season is the first step into what I hope will be a very successful 5th
D1 conference.  The late start the MAAC got for this season precluded it
from scheduling aligned D1 teams who had already set their schedules
months before.  I think Dick Tuthill brought up that the MAAC is
scheduling HEA schools next season.  Great.  I hope the ECAC, CCHA and
WCHA all decide to schedule these schools for home and homes in the next
few years.
 
Once that happens, the MAAC gets a legitimate comparison with the other
leagues.  I don't think they have that comaprison right now, and hence do
not deserve a bid.  Also, I do not think we'll ever hit the magic 64
number to get a 16 team tourny, but we may get 14 teams, with the extra
game either voiding the #2 seed's bye or a "playin" game involving seeds
6 & 7.
 
Sorry for the long winded message, but...
 
Joe LaCour
Clarkson '77/78
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