Greg Ambrose wrote:
> BU and Minnesota are not in, N. Michigan and Ohio State are. Maybe
> parity is the wrong word but there has definitely been a spreading
> of the wealth of talent over the past few years.
Ohio State is new, but Northern Michigan has been there before, four
times since 1989 (1989, 91, 92, 93) and won the title in 1991 (reason
enough for me wishing they were not BCs opponent on Saturday). I
also overlooked Colorado College, back for the 5th straight years and
13th overall. Even St. Lawrence has been in the tournament in the
nineties, 1992.
This year had four teams being replaced, but only two were regular
invitees: BU and Wisconsin. The other two were new invitees last
year: Yale and Princeton. They were replaced two regular invitees
in the nineties, both which won national championships: Northern
Michigan and Maine; one regular invitee from from the late fifties
through early seventies and twice in the nineties, which has won five
national championships: Denver; and one invitee which has been at the
tournament in the fifties, sixties, eighties and nineties; St.
Lawrence.
Last year, with Ohio State and Princeton both making their first
tournament appearances and Yale back for only their second after a 46
absence, and BC returning for the first time since 1991 was more a
time of change. But even then, of the four teams replaced from the
1997 tournament, only two Cornell and Minnesota were regular
invitees. The other two teams replaced were Vermont (three
appearances: 88, 96, 97) and Miami (two appearances: 93 and 97), both
new invitees themselves.
Without doing more research I can not make any statements, but in the
past two years two long time regular invitees have been replaced by
other long time regular invitees and two new invitees have been
replaced by other new invitees.
> Part of the
> reason, I believe, is the reduction in scholarships to 18. It makes
> it very difficult for money schools - Minnesota, Wisconsin,
> Michigan, etc. to stockpile players like they did in the past. Back
> when the rule was changed, a lot of UNH people complained about it
> but I always thought it would benefit the Wildcats. UNH is not a
> rich school, they don't have top ten football and basketball teams
> to subsidize other sports. The hockey team basically has to do it
> on its own. By reducing scholarships, it brings these schools down
> to our level and allows us to compete. I truly believe that,
> without the change, UNH would not be in the position that they are
> today.
But, Boston University, Colorado College, North Dakota, Clarkson, St.
Lawrence, Denver, Maine, Northern Michigan, Lake Superior and most of
the other Division I hockey programs are all in the same situation.
In the nineties the only "big time sports" schools to win the NCAA
Hockey Championship are Michigan (96 & 98) and Wisconsin (90). The
other schools that have won the championship in the nineties; Northern
Michigan (91), Lake Superior (92 & 94), Maine (93), BU (95), and
North Dakota (97), are only big time in hockey.
> I also saw them lose to Northeastern twice, and look pretty
> miserable doing it. And their performance against PC was nothing to
> write home about either. Except for Larocque (late) and Heron
> (early) they got nothing out of their junior and senior classes.
> Terrier fans better hope that DiPietro is the real deal in goal
> because, if he's not, it will probably be another long season next
> year.
Did you see BU beat BC at Walter Brown Arena, 4-2, and in the
Beanpot, 3-2, in overtime? Or against Maine, 4-1, at Alfond Arena?
Or against Providence at Schneider when they won, 8-2? I also think
that they played much better against NU in the 3-2 loss at BU after
the Beanpot then they did in the 4-2 win in the Beanpot championship.
Nor do I think BU's entire season rests on goaltending next year.
> I will say, it *is* nice to beat BU since
> UNH's history against them is not too great. So cut me some slack
> if I gloat just a bit. And, Sean, I don't think you have been
> lurking too much.
When I joined Hockey-L I was really impressed that there was so
little gloating and rancor on the list. Whenever I posted I tried my
best to never gloat or make unkind comments about BU's opponents.
Maybe I failed. Maybe I gloated. Maybe I was unkind. But I did my
best to not do so. As for reading this list, I have never stopped,
even if I did stop posting to this list (I even mentioned I was going
to stop posting to the list in one of my last regular posts last
season). I may not have read every post, but I always made an effort
to read all posts by regular HE and ECAC posters, including Greg and
Karen.
Sean Pickett [log in to unmask]
Go Clarkson 1999 ECAC Champions
Hi Rick!
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