Mike Machink wrote in a recent posting: "Hockey East is a much stronger league
than the ECAC, and I don't know anybody who'd argue this."
Well, I will. I believe that the ECAC is every bit as strong as Hockey East
in any aspect. There may have been some claim for HE when they still played
the CCHA and WCHA teams on a regular basis, but I really fail to see any
aspect of HE now that makes it superior to the ECAC. For one thing, the ECAC
has sent at least one team to the Final Four every year but one, while
HE has yet to even have a National Champion.
Furthermore, the 1985 NCAA Championship-winning ECAC RPI Engineers (who
finished the year at 35-2-1),habitual playoff contenders, are arguably
the greatest college hockey team ever assembled. Hockey East has never
had any team comparable to that. That alone, however, does not prove a
league's strength. Yet, the ECAC has had a slew of championship-calibre
teams in the past several years while HE has had relatively few. Cornell,
Colgate, St. Lawerence, Clarkson, and Harvard have all had seasons worthy
of the annual HE champion. Hockey East, on the other hand, has
witnessed a strong BC, BU, or Maine, and even the quality of these teams
has been sporadic. In essence, ECAC teams can skate with teams from any
league in the country. If Hockey East is supposedly the stronger of the
two, I've yet to see any reason for this. Hopefully, in the years to
come, we will see more inter-league play between HE and the ECAC. Teams
from both leagues are exciting to watch, but I really fail to see
why HE is better quality. If they truly are, as some claim, they have yet to
prove it.