>  by Ralph Christopher Slate <[log in to unmask]>
>> by Ryan Robbins <[log in to unmask]>
 
>>According to HE rules, all teams in the league are eligible for
>>the playoffs.
 
>I believe that this statement is the key to the whole situation. Hockey East
>needed to come up with a sanction that actually punished Maine. If Hockey East
>did not punish the violations, this would send a bad message out to the
>rest of the NCAA. I'm sure that many will disagree with me, but simply
>forcing Maine to forfeit 21 games is NO PUNISHMENT WHATSOEVER. Every team
>makes the playoffs; the only thing Maine would lose would be home ice.
 
Who gets the concessions from the tournament games?  This can be considerable.
 
The purpose of sanctions is avoidance of behavior, not revenge.  As this
situation may cost some people their jobs if it is felt to be warranted,
the negative consequence to avoid such behavior is in place.
 
>    People have stated that the students should not suffer because of one
>person's mistakes. I'm sorry, but welcome to the real world, where actions
>have repercusssions.
 
This is vaild in the case of one's own actions.  Punishing people for the
actions of others destroys the deterrent effect, as it instills a sense
of fate.
 
>                     If you believe that argument, than the only punishment
>fitting Maine would be to personally fine or fire their compliance
>officer.
 
How can this conclusion be drawn?
 
>         Any other sanction would "hurt the innocent students". It's
>a fact of life; Organizations are resposible for the actions of their
>employees.
 
Organizations, more specifically those oversee said employees, should be.
I believe in this case the supervisor is the athletic director.  Holding
the players (who had no say in the matter) responsible is ludicrous.
 
Remember, the most egregious act was failing to notify the coach or
player of the discovery.  This was undisputedly in the lap of the A.D.
 
>           Otherwise, what would stop any school from hiring a complete
>clown for a compliance officer, and then saying "don't punish us - it's
>not our fault" when rules are broken.
 
Punishing the other (replaceable) players would have far less of an
effect as sanctioning the supervisor who was in a position to affect
the situation (and able to direct future policy).
 
>     Just think - the situation could be worse. Just look at Wisconsin
>from a few years ago. They were the runner up in the NCAA Tournament -
>and were busted for a student taking reduced rent from a booster.
>The result - no runner up. And the sanction should be no different if
>Wisconsin came in first. That's life - tough noogies.
 
The rest of the team still got to play.  By the standard set forth in the
first paragraph, this was "no punishment" as well.
 
>Ralph
>[log in to unmask]
 
Cheers,
 
Mike
 
+----------------------------+----------------------------------------+
|  Michael Patrick Bresina   |     America's always had a problem     |
|  [log in to unmask]  |  with illegal aliens.  Ask any Indian. |
+----------------------------+----------------------------------------+