Good morning all -

  While listening to the UNH-PC game yesterday afternoon from Durham, I
was intrigued by comments made by HE Commissioner Joe Bertagna in a be-
tween-periods interview .... When asked by UNH play-by-play announcer Dick
Osborne re: the likely make-up of the East/West Regionals this year in
light of NCAA travel concerns, Bertagna replied that the NCAA had recently
reaffirmed its Fall mandate to reduce post-season team travel wherever
possible.  He then went on to say that the East/West Regionals are "apt
to have quite a different make-up" then in past years, with the majority
of eastern teams slotted in the East Regional and vice versa.  He did say
that if 3 Western Teams ended up amongst the Top 4 Seeds, then obviously
one would be sent East as an Eastern bye team, but in general the Regional
East-West matchups of yore would not be occurring this year ....

  As a UNH fan, I have mixed feelings about this turn of events .... Of
course I'd love to watch the 'Cats in person at Worcester (vs. via TV from
Ann Arbor), but I'll also miss the East-West match-ups .... My nightmare
scenerio had been for UNH to end up as PWR #3, meaning they'd be shipped
West as W#2 while E#1 and E#2 are filled by Western teams at PWR #2 and
PWR #4.  But if Bertagna is to be believed, it's now something of a mortal
lock that UNH (and its huge traveling fan base) will remain in the East
regardless of its PWR ranking.  But all the (WCHA) Western teams must
travel by air to either venue; will the NCAA thus jigger the PWR seeds to
keep the CCHA representatives in the West (who can bus to AA), the HE/ECAC
representatives in the East (also bus trips), and the WCHA teams sent
*wherever* to balance out the field(s) ??  I have a gut feeling that the
PWR rankings may (1) do a good job this year of predicting the eventual
12 team field, but (2) do a lousy job of predicting where those teams
will be slotted.  I expect the committee will maintain the integrity of
the Top 4 Bye teams (i.e., seeding/slotting such that PWR #1 can face PWR
#2 only in the Championship Gmae), but beyond that, all bets are off ...
I hope this doesn't mean that the Regionals will both 'feature' a reprise
of the CCHA, HE, and/or ECAC Championship Game(s) in the early round(s) of
the NCAA's :-(  No one wants that, but it may soon be shoved down our
throats ....

  Comments ??

  Cheers from the Chesapeake - Jim