It's true that teams generally want the 5pm slot, presumably because it
gives the most recovery time for the Championship game the next day, but
now the decision of who plays when is made solely by the HEA
Commissioner. His decision is generally made to maximize fans in the
stands (revenue). I suspect he's put the BU/UNH game at 8pm to get a
huge crowd, as both teams draw well. BC doesn't draw as well. Maybe he
thinks Maine fans will travel no matter the time? Maybe giving Maine
fans travel time was secondary to filling the place for the 8pm game? I
don't know.

cheers, wayne

William wrote, in part, on 3/14/2005 10:36 AM:

> Maine's in. In. What could /possibly /go wrong now? Seriously, Maine's
> playing for seeding now. Question: Does the team with the highest
> ranking (In this case, BC) get to choose which game (5/8 p.m.) to play
> on Friday? If so, is it a reach to think York and crew wanted the 5
> p.m. game because it gives them a pretty good shot at taking over the
> entire building? I know Maine fans travel and travel in droves, too,
> but a 5 p.m. weekday start time certainly can strain more schedules
> than it can help.
> */Wayne T Smith <[log in to unmask]>/* wrote:
>
>     With all home teams winning Sunday, Maine's chances for an NCAA
>     bid have
>     increased substantially!
>
>     In fact, it will now take a very unlikely set of events to keep Maine
>     from an NCAA bid.
>
>     It will take Maine losing to BC, Colgate or Vermont winning the ECACHL
>     and Nebraska-Omaha beating Ohio State for the CCHA title to cause
>     Maine
>     to be squeezed out. Of course those ECACHL teams must get by
>     Harvard and
>     Cornell (ranked 6th & 5th nationally), and in the CCHA Nebraska-Omaha
>     must first dispose of Michigan State and Michigan (18th and 6th
>     nationally). This would mean auto-bids to 4 teams below Maine in PWR.
>     Maine would be tied for 12th with Michigan, but would lose the
>     comparison with Michigan and the last at-large bid, due to 0.002
>     in RPI.
>
>     There may be other scenarios where Maine doesn't go, but I can't
>     find them.
>
>     Warning: Th! ese calculations don't include the NCAA's RPI bonus "for
>     quality wins", since the bonus values are not published by the NCAA.
>
>     So, if Maine was a probable or likely (my words) NCAA tournament
>     selection after Saturday's win over UMass-Lowell, they are now not a
>     lock, but a prohibitive favorite to be selected!
>
>     By the way, Hockey East has announced:
>
>     HOCKEY EAST SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS SET
>     The top four seeds in the Hockey East tournament advanced to next
>     weekend’s semifinals, setting up what promises to be a choice
>     double-header on Friday, featuring top seed Boston College taking
>     on No.
>     4 seed Maine at 5:00 p.m., followed by No. 2 Boston University vs.
>     No. 3
>     New Hampshire at 8:00 p.m. Both games will be televised live on
>     the New
>     England Sports Network (NESN). The winners advance to Saturday’s
>     championship game, which is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. faceoff and will
>     also be televised live by NESN.
>
>     chee! rs, wayne
>
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