Hello All,

In the midst of the tourney action, I hesitate to open up a distracting
thread, especially one that might only be of interest to 1/5 of you ..
but here goes.

I went back and read Adam Wodon's thoughtful piece on the ECAC in the
USCHO archives. There are many takes on the downturn of ECAC hockey
fortunes. I, for one, dont think it is a cycle. I believe there are
inherent problems that need to be fixed, if indeed the ECAC is serious
about maintaining (rebuilding is a better word) a national D-I hockey presence.

I watched the selection show with the ecstatic WCHA getting five teams.
The CCHA and HEA were ho-hum happy about multiple teams and the MAAC was
awestruck at their autobid. Regardless of your feeling about the latter,
they got it.

Now we come to the ECAC. Nothing. First time in history only one team.
What gives?

Of course there will be small peaks on the downward trend, such as SLU's
FF appearance last year. But it seems to me the ECAC (and the teams
therein), need to do some soulsearching.

If you believe it is a downward slope, then why?

For some reason, or reasons, the ECAC has found itself trampled upon and
left in the dust by the WCHA, HEA, and CCHA. Can the MAAC be far behind?
Certainly MAAC knows how to market itself.

Somehow, someway, the ECAC and the member schools have got to rethink
what they are doing. As an RPI alum and fan, I find it hard to accept my
school being in a league that will get one and only one bid per year,
year after year. There are some fixes I have thought of such as: all 12
teams break away and form a league like HE did, only hockey. Or perhaps
the 6 non-Ivies? Or a two division separate league: 6 ivies, 6 not. Bump
up to 34 games (IMHO the lack of early season games REALLY hurts
non-conference rankings and puts you behind the whole season  - - ECAC
averages 30, WCHA about 37 regular season.). Having been in the college
hockey hinterlands of California for many decades I may be off base, but
I doubt these are anything more than partial fixes. It seems the
problems are many and deep running the gamut including: recruiting,
scheduling, publicity, TV exposure, style of play, scholarships or no,
etc. For the sake of the 12 schools, I hope the ECAC convenes a
think-session and at least tries to deal with the problem.

Year after year, the other leagues (dominated mostly by big
universities) are becoming more and more dominant. Maybe it has to be
that way, maybe not. I find it sad that it looks like the NC$$ tourney
and D-I hockey in general, might be going the way of bigtime football
and basketball, where the small schools cannot possibly compete on a
level ice rink. Maybe that is the price we have to pay for so-called
progress, maybe not.

I think the ECAC owes it to the schools and their fans to face the
problem and, if possible, work to solve it.

Just my 9.1 pesos.

ON WITH THE GAMES!!  Go Saints!!!

Tony Buffa
RPI '64, Univ. of Illinois '66 and '69
Physics Dept
Cal Poly State Univ, San Luis Obispo, CA