Andrew writes:
>I talked to one of Union's JV players last night.  The word at Union is
>that they will not be moving to the ECAC.  "While we would sell out the
>rink, I think we would get beaten an awful lot."   He seemed to feel
>that one of the HE teams (Maine or UNH) would come over, and the  hole
>in HE would not get filled.
 
    I guess we really won't know until somebody makes a decision one
    way or another, with all the rumors flying around.  Today's (Tuesday)
    Boston Globe has an article, right next to the game story from MERRIMACK 6,
    BOSTON COLLEGE 5 :-), suggesting that Union WILL join the ECAC.
 
    In regard to the Ned Harkness era, which many feel may hinder a Union
    move up, Union's AD, Dick Sakala, is quoted by columnist Joe Concannon
    as follows: "It certainly will be part of the consideration, and a
    lot of people will want to relate the program to the Harkness era.
    My response now is, it's not the same situation.  This league did not
    exist [in its present form].  I think it's a much different situation.
    Ned wanted to go full grants-in-aid.  In no circumstances would we
    want to do it that way."
 
    Sakala also did say that "...we would have to be convinced that if
    we did go in, we would be competitive.  We would have to feel good
    about the impact this would have on the rest of the program."
 
    As for a Hockey East team leaving to join the ECAC, I had heard no
    rumor of this happening until I read your posting.  Concannon also
    wrote that "there was mention of RIT as an interested party, and even
    moving UNH out of Hockey East, but both possibilities are seen as
    remote."  I infer from the tone of the article that these were ideas
    being kicked around by ECAC people.  Also, there are no HE teams unhappy
    with being in the league - the only rumors I've heard about altering
    the league makeup has been to try to entice two ECAC teams to leave
    and join Hockey East (the two being Vermont and RPI), but I put these
    rumors in the same category as the UNH-to-ECAC rumors.
 
    An unidentified ECAC rep was quoted as saying, "There's a sizable gap
    between Union and anybody else.  If it's anybody other than Union,
    it would be a big surprise."
 
    Finally, it's worth noting that the changes that the NCAA will try to
    institute in January may cause the Union people to lean towards
    jumping.  I can't recall the article, but Kyle mentioned it earlier
    today.  It was going to hinder schools who wanted to jump to Div I
    after this year but keep their other sports at Div II or III, if
    I remember correctly.  Supposedly this was going to force schools
    like Mankato St (Minn.) and (one more), former Div III rivals of
    St Cloud, to jump to Div I immediately.  Union could find itself in
    that position - make the move now or never.  I hope someone can
    post the pertinent parts of the article.  It also mentioned cutting
    the schedule to 34 regular season games (from 38) and - are you
    ready for this - forcing ALL schools to cut their staff to ONE full-time
    assistant.  I think this is what Kyle referred to in regard to
    lumping hockey into the same category as field hockey and lacrosse.
 
    All this despite the fact that ice hockey is one of only three NCAA
    sports that generates revenue (you don't get a prize if you can
    guess the top two).
 
 
    - mike