A.  Since my earlier message was written for my friends, I was shooting off
thoughts from the top of my head.  I hold to the basic ideas therein however,
and if you understand my bias toward how teams should be seeded, it makes more
sense.  I am a strong proponent of the idea that the most important factor in
determining which teams are better is how they do relative to each other within
their own conference.   (Obviously, this idea has limited application, but does
help to resolve disputes in some cases.)   I can't remember where PC and BU
finished in the RPI scale, but if we are foing to start invoking that thing,
then SLU should be a #6 seed and Clarkson should be thinking about how to
survive the cold in the North Country.
 
B.  None of the seedings surprised me.  BU has tradition on its side, and
probably some number out there can be used to support their being in the
tournament.  Overall, I do believe that the selection committee did a good job
and there were no glaring, horrendous errors.  (The results of the conference
tournaments were very kind to them.)
 
C.  In the ideal world, Hockey East should have gotten four seeds and ECAC only
one.  Without political considerations, BU does deserve to be in the
tournament, but so also does PC.  Clarkson's claim is the least solid of the
three.
 
D.  The brackets look exciting.  A while back I thought that Minnesota was the
team to beat, but then I saw Maine in the HE finals and LSSU is playing great
hockey right now.  An interesting final four (go to %#@* NC$$) may see Michigan
and LSSU hooking up in one semi, and that fat guy from UNH getting his wish and
seeing Maine against SLU to determine bragging rights in the East.
 
All things considered, this looks liike a good tournament.   Let the games
begin.
 
--
Dave [log in to unmask]
Cornell '91 OSU Med '95
Let's Go Red!