As I should have expected after posting the opening of the Regular Season
Contest yesterday, I received a letter from a person at Merrimack who shall
remain nameless (though I don't think it would take a great mind to figure out
who it is [Man, do you ever sleep or what?] :-) ad infinitum).  He informed
me that my wording for how the conference position would be determined was
confusing.  Looking back on it, I tend to agree.  What I was trying to say
was that in cases of ties in the conference standings, the position would be
determined by the playoff order, since they would take into account head-to-
head and goals scored etc.  I hope it wasn't too confusing to everyone out
there in Collegiate Puckdom.
 
Another point was the status of Colorado College.  As Paula and Charlie
bantered back and forth, I was able to get out of it that CC's probation does
NOT affect their postseason eligibility.  As that is the case, their position
would also be determined by the playoff order.
 
So the overall rule is:  the final regular season position (that which will
be used to determine how many points each participant is disawarded) is deter-
mined by the order of finish in the conference.  Where two or more teams are
tied (in total number of conference points) the playoff order determines the
order of finish, since this will take into account head-to-head etc.  (I
realize even this may be a bit long-winded, but I'm trying to cover all
possibilities.)
 
I also wanted to add a clarification on the tiebreaker.  Those that have sent
their entry didn't seem to have too much problem with it, but I wanted to give
a breakdown of Providence's and Illinois-Chicago's schedules, since they each
play all conference opponents 3 times (I provided explanation of Saint Cloud
State's schedule earlier and Vermont's is too easy to need explaining).
 
Providence's schedule (24 conference games):
        PC plays these teams 2 times at home and once on the road:
        Boston College, Boston University, Merrimack, and Mass Amherst
        PC plays these teams once at home and 2 times on the road:
        Maine, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Mass Lowell
 
Illinois-Chicago's schedule (27 conference games):
        UIC plays these teams 2 times at home and once on the road:
        Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan, Ohio State, W. Michigan
        UIC plays these teams once at home and 2 times on the road:
        Bowling Green, Miami, Michigan State, Notre Dame
                (UIC has 14 home games and 13 road games in conference)
 
I sort of pruned that information from the composite schedule posted in the
Archives by the Nameless One at Merrimack (you know, I sort of like that.
I hope he's not offended. :-)).  If I screwed up (which the odds are about
3:2 in favor), please somebody correct it and post it to the list.
 
So far we've received 3 entries, but then again it's only September 16.  (Hell,
I haven't even gotten my tickets yet, which probably won't go on sale until
October 1.)  So keep those cards and letters coming!  (We accept VISA, MC,
Discover, AMEX, any fast food coupons, or small bits of change.)
 
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University
WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when?
29 days until opening faceoff...