>It's just the way the ECAC West decided to handle it.  Niagara is in its
>first season of having a team and being in the ECAC West.  The conference
>just decided to count the games in the conference standings but not to
>allow Niagara to be eligible for the playoffs this year.  Any more than
>that, I have not heard...
 
 
 I don't know if this is official ECAC policy, but it seems that each
 time a team joins a new conference by either moving up (Wesleyan from
 the ECAC N/C/S to the ECAC East) or by starting out (Buffalo State in
 the SUNYAC, Niagara in the ECAC West), the team can't participate in
 the playoffs the first year. And this goes back a ways - I remember
 RIT being ineligible their first year in the ECAC West (1981) as well.
 
Can anyone from Union confirm if they were eligible for the ECAC
 playoffs their first season in D-I?
 
Chris Lerch
US College Hockey Magazine
Color Voice of RIT Hockey
 
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