I've been over this trail before, but I thought I reiterate the comments I
made last year about the ECAC Playoff format:
 
        1. The newly-installed 10-team playoff is unwieldily at best, with the
ECAC twisting the tournament into an outmoded format just to give two more
teams a chance to make a long-shot trip to Lake Placid.  As so many have
said, let's go back to the old eight-team arrangement -- quarterfinals at
campus sites, winners advance to LP for semis and championship final --
simple; no need for one quarterfinal survivor to face the daunting prospect
of having to play three games in three nights to win the championship while
the balance of the surviving teams is skating on a different playing field.
 All Division I hockey programs experience cycles -- all the teams will
eventually have a shot to play in the Olympic Arena, but let's have them
earn it on the ice during the regular season rather than be handed the
opportunity because they got hot in a quarterfinal series and knocked off a
top-five team.  Allowing eight out of the twelve conference teams to
advance into the postseason in recognition of their play over the previous
22 games is defensible and easily implemented.  Let's do it ECAC.
Pleeeeeeeze.
 
        2. As to the 'first-to-three-points' quarterfinal format, I have always
felt that this arrangement put an inordinate amount of importance on the
first game in the series (the winner needs only to play for a tie the next
night and this strategy will often dictate play on the second night) and
thereby puts an undue amount of pressure on the first night loser rather
than having games #1 & #2 stand on equal footing in terms of importance.
My solution:  If the first game ends in a tie at the end of regulation and
through five minutes of overtime, play game #2 to a decision, winner takes
the series.
 
        2. The Final Five arrangement is a step backward from any previous format
the ECAC has run with over the years.  Because of the relative isolation of
Lake Placid (as compared to Albany, Boston, etc.), the 4-5 match-up on
Thursday night is likely to draw family, friends, ECAC officials, vendors
and ushers.  Think about it -- your team advances to LP as a 4 or 5 seed.
It's a Thursday.  Do you opt for a vacation day from work and spring for a
hotel room (knowing full well that you'll be asked to guarantee at least a
two-night stay by the ECAC-fan-friendly hostelers we've become so
accustomed to, and acknowledging that there is the possibility (however
slight) that your team will be warming up their bus for a return trip home
about 10:00 p.m. that evening)?
 
        If you're a total hockey nut, you probably decide to make the 2-7 hour
trip (depending upon your home base) anyway.   But if you consider the
alternatives, perhaps you decide to listen to the Thursday night game on
the radio and postpone your trip decision until you are assured your team
will play at least two more games on the weekend, not to mention the fact
that they remain alive for the playoff championship.
 
        So now, with an ear to the radio and an eye on the list of outlying hotels
in the LP area (Lake George, Glens Falls perhaps?) which may not already be
booked for Friday and Saturday, your team emerges weary but victorious from
the Thursday night confrontation.  Do you call the boss with a last-minute
vacation-day request, jump in the car and get set to watch your team take
on the #1 seed in the 4:00 p.m. game on Friday?  Of course you do.  Nothing
beats actually being there at the Olympic Arena.  But wait! -- the balance
of the tournament games will be televised live on Empire/NESN and you can
save yourself  two nights lodging and several hundred road miles.  What to
do; decisions, decisions.
 
        Ultimately, fanatic that you are, you go for the gold and call in sick on
Thursday morning.  Three days in LP....you only go this way once, so damn
the throttle, full speed ahead.
 
        Anyway, I hope you get my drift.  The 4-5 single play-in game arrangement
produces some difficult decisions for everyone but those on a HOCKEY-L
high,  and my guess is that many will elect the more conservative approach,
leaving the Thursday night contestants with a very small but vocal audience.
 
        Needless to say, I'm hoping for some changes at the ACHCA Convention in May.
 
 
Bill Corrigan
 
LET'S GO BRUNO!
"Tie A Knot In The Tiger's Tail"
 
             1997-98 SEASON
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