Mike writes:
 
>While on the subject, I still think it is odd that you get to host an
>ECAC playoff game if you finish 7th or 8th, but not 5th or 6th.  They
>could follow the lead of the CCHA and allow all 12 teams in, but then
>give a preliminary round bye to the top 4 and have the middle 4 host
>the bottom 4.
 
Pardon the hazy ravings induced by entirely too many people buying rounds
after the St. Lawrence - Cornell debacle Saturday night (St. Lawrence 8,
Cornell 4 -- shut up, Tim!) but I have to respond to the above idea with
the following:
 
No!  No!  No!  NO!!  All 12 ECAC teams in the playoffs?  Apologies to Eli
and Big Green fans (this year's likely 11th and 12th place finishers), but
do teams like Yale and Dartmouth really deserve a crack at the ECAC tourney
title?  It's stretching things a bit to allow the ninth and tenth place
teams in.  For that matter, what the heck are teams like Ohio State and
Illinois-Chicago doing in the CCHA playoffs?  I tend to think of playoff
spots as a goal, rather than a right -- and allowing all the teams in a
league into the playoffs makes it more of the latter than the former.
 
I will admit, I have also found it strange that the 7th and 8th-place
teams in the ECAC get the extra game in front of the home folks (along with
the $$$ that such a game generates), while the 5th and 6th-place teams do
not.  But I remain firmly against throwing the whole field open.
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
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