I posted my thoughts on an 8 team NC$$ tournament last season, and I'll
reiterate them now.  The NC$$ will never buy it, because it places too
much emphasis on conference results, but here are my thoughts:
 
 1. Regular season conference winners receive an automatic NC$$ bid and
    home ice in the NC$$ quarterfinals.
 2. Post season conference tournament winners receive an automatic NC$$
    bid.  If the regular season champ also wins the tournament, the
    conference selects its second team in the NC$$ field.
 3. Therefore, 2 teams and only 2 teams from each of the conferences.
 4. The quarterfinals are best 2-of-3 format hosted by the regular
    season champs.
 5. Quarterfinal pairings are "flips" between CCHA-WCHA and ECAC-HE.
    (see example below)
 6. Arbitrary: HE regular champ scheduled to meet CCHA regular champ
    in semifinals.  (Thus, ECAC-WCHA.)
 7. Tourney is played in two weekends, at four CAMPUS sites and one
    national site.  All four conferences are equally represented and
    the only subjectivity lies on the shoulders of conferences (NOT
    AN NC$$ SELECTION COMMITTEE) whose regular season champ also wins
    the tournament.
 8. Allows for possibility of two teams in same conference to meet
    for NC$$ championship.
 
For 1993, the bracket would look like this:
 
  BEST 2-OF-3 QUARTERFINALS:
    Minnesota at Miami
    Lake Superior at Minnesota-Duluth
    Boston Univ at Harvard
    Clarkson at Maine
 
  SEMIFINALS (Neutral Site):
    Minnesota/Miami vs Clarkson/Maine
    LSSU/Minn-Duluth vs BU/Harvard
 
Yes, under this scenario, Michigan would stay at home!  (Maybe this is
the flaw with the idea. :-)
 
  John H
  U Mich