Sean Pickett wrote:
>It appears to me that the ECAC schools (St. Lawrence apparently excepted) do
NOT want to elevate their programs to the level of the WCHA, CCHA and Hockey
East. They seem to like to be able to claim academic superiority, even as they
fall further and further behind athletically. It seems to be an obsessive
point of pride that appears to be overwhelming everything else that once mattered.

As an economist, this statement makes perfectly good sense. In a world of
scarcity choices must always be made, and the ECAC faces budgetary constraints
just like everyone else, and so expanding BOTH academics and athletics is not
possible. Instead they must choose to take one path and forego the other.
Academics is their strong suit so to me it is a reasonable choice for the ECAC
to accept (embrase) their weaker athletic status and hold tightly their
superior academics.

Has athletics ever mattered at ECAC schools?

Nathan Hampton