Hi -
Since it *is* the off-season, and I'm quite loath to enter the on-going
"discussion" re: score-posting 'netiquette ....
Living now in Maryland, it's become quite natural for me to gravitate to
collegiate lacrosse each spring once the hockey season ends. Much of the
same attributes that attract me to collegiate hockey apply equally well to
lacrosse: fast, relatively non-stop action; rugged athleticism [a hoary
euphemism for controlled violence :-)]; super-skilled individual talents
blending into a tempo-setting "team" attack, etc., etc. I just thought
I'd throw out a few compare/contrast thoughts that have occurred to me in
the past few days leading up to Maryland's 2nd consecutive title-game loss
to Princeton yesterday afternoon ....
* DivI Lacrosse is every bit the regional sport as hockey is, and supports
roughly the same number of teams at the DivI level; I'd wager there's
even ca. the same number/proportion of perennial "elite" teams as in
hockey (Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, UNC, Princeton, etc., vs. Michigan,
BU, MSU, Wisconsin, Clarkson, etc.). But whereas hockey hasn't had a
repeat champion since BU in '71/'72, Princeton just won its 3rd con-
secutive Div1 title, and fifth in the last seven years. Two other teams
have also won three straight Division I titles: Syracuse (1988-90) and
Johns Hopkins (1978-80). The lacrosse play-off structure is virtually
identical to hockey [12 teams, 4 byes, win 3 (or perhaps 4) games to
claim a title], yet the cream rises more easily to the top in lacrosse;
I've often wondered why that is ....
* The 12-team (vs. 16-team with no byes) play-off set-up engenders much
the same debate/enmity as it does each year in hockey, so much so that
I'm convinced that any commentary on this topic written on either sport
is perfectly interchangeable by substituting "lacrosse" for "hockey" or
vice versa :-) And today the Washington "Post" reported on the ongoing
controversy re: automatic tourney bids. Coaches of several of the so-
called "elite" programs are reluctant to support a proposal to grant
automatic bids to champions of "lesser" leagues, for fear it'll be their
team that one day gets bumped from the bubble (in 1995, 7-5 Loyola was
selected over 12-0 Bucknell, and support for automatic bids "to grow
the sport" has increased in intervening years). Does this sound at all
familiar ?? Can you say MAAC ?? Traditional independents (Navy, JHU)
may be forced to join a league to qualify for automatic berths, yet
some of the established leagues are reluctant to expand or restructure
to accomodate them. Can you say WCHA or ECAC ?? It's all rather fas-
cinating to watch, especially if - like me - you're watching a two-
front war break out :-)
* Hockey as already jumped on the lacrosse bandwagon by agreeing to adopt
the Lacrosse Championship format that schedules the DivIII title game
on the off-day between the DivI semi-finals and Final. This makes for
a GREAT 3-day event in lacrosse, and I'm confident that hockey will en-
joy a similar publicity/fan boost when it stages the DivIII Ice Hockey
Championship on Hobey Friday, starting in 2000 I think ?? 'Twas a long
time coming, but at long last the hockey-starved fans who'd contemplated
driving to Providence last month on Hobey Friday (for an AHL fix) have
had their prayers answered :-)
Cheers from the Chesapeake - Jim
P.S. Obligatory pure hockey content ....
Several posts last week noted that scheduling of high profile
Holiday Tournaments seemed to be in decline. The Badger Show-
down, Mariucci Classic, and GLI were going strong in the West,
but the Eastern Tournaments (RPI and Syracuse Invitationals)
were fading. It seems now that UNH and UVM have cooked up a
revolving answer to the dearth of Holiday Hockey in the East:
UNH will likely host UVM, Notre Dame and North Dakota at the
Whittemore Center in December, 1999, followed by UNH + a CCHA
and WCHA team TBA at Gutterson Fieldhouse in December, 2000.
Tradition takes time to establish, but IMHO this has all the
makings of a terrific annual inter-league test ....
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