Dave wrote:
>They had "rewarded" a top four seed with a crossover berth that stripped them
>of their fans and given them a first round opponent, Michigan State, which may
>have been the sixth seed in the West, but was playing in its own rink before a
>packed crowd of their own fans.
 
Some small clarifications here (not to take away from Dave's "outrage"):
 
1. Even though the game was played at Munn, Lowell was the home team in that
   game, getting the advantage of last line shift and the bench nearer the
   penalty box (Munn has both penalty boxes on the same side as the home
   bench).
2. Packed is a figurative term, since Munn didn't sell out for that game (or
   any in that series, though the attendance for the MSU-UML game and the
   UM-LSSU game were substantially higher than that of the LSSU-NU and Minn-
   UML games).
3. Lowell won, which pretty much negates any home-ice advantage.
 
If it's any consolation to Lowell, MSU got hit with the same scenario last year
(having to go to someone else's home rink to play a first-round game).  Except
that this time the home team (Wisconsin) got home-ice advantage on a larger ice
surface, even though MSU had the higher RPI rating (but was within .01, which
forced the "tiebreaker" which Wisconsin won, mainly becuase MSU did rather
lousy against teams in contention last year).  (I didn't voice an outrage at
the time, since JohnH at UM did a much better one for me.)
 
What the NC$$ giveth, the NC$$ taketh away.  (But we had four great games at
Munn that year, with Lowell's help, and are hoping for four more this year
when the NC$$ West Regional returns to East Lansing.)
 
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University 5-2-0, 7-3-0
 
MSU opens two-game series vs. Miami at Munn tonight (only time this season
playing same opponent on successive nights, even though 6 teams come to Munn
twice this year).  First game at Munn between these two since the "Scalp Fight."
 
How many home runs do you have to hit to overcome media bias?  Obviously, 51
aren't enough.  (Sorry, Red Sox fans, but Belle deserved MVP, just as Bichette
did.)
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.