It turns out that it is really easy to accidently hit the wrong keys and
send your mail before you are done when using Netscape.  This is the
completed version of my earlier post.
 
Jason W. Roy wrote:
 
> The organizing commitee should also look at either moving the
> championship game to Sunday or the 4 vs 5 game to Wednesday.....
>
> The problem is that if the 5th seed wins like Michigan Tech did last year
> they had to play 3 games in 3 nights.....It is almost impossible to do....
> They beat St. Cloud in overtime and beat the number 1 ranked team...
> Colorado College on Friday night.....but lost to the gophers 7-2 or
> something....I'm not saying Tech would have won the game if they would
> had day off....but it would have been a more interesting game...and would
> have been possible for Tech since they had beat the number one ranked
> team in the nation.......those 2 games prior to the Final were very
> physically demanding and it wasn't quite fair  to play a more rested
> Minnesota team in the final.....Have the 4 vs 5 thursday and the
> semifinals on Saturday with the final on Sunday.....That way everybody
> wins....its fair and you can have the gophers play on Saturday night...
 
Okay, let's take this back one more year.  In 1995, Minnesota finished
fourth and played North Dakota in the 4-5 game.  It should be remembered
that the ice plant failed prior to this game, causing it to be an
EXTREMELY exhausting game (it looked much like the CC-Vermont semi-final
last year).  Then they lost in overtime the next night against Colorado
College (among the top ranked teams in the nation).  So, obviously, they
would be too tired to play against Denver in the consolation game on
Saturday, right?  But they came out and dominated early, just barely
held on to make it to OT and won 17 minutes later.  (For me, this was
unbelievable.  I have other commitments on Saturdays and have to tape
the games to watch starting about 1:00 AM.  I accidently heard that it
went into OT and spent 3 hours watching, having convinced myself that
there was no way the Gophs could possibly have won.)
 
Looked at in isolation, no, it is not fair to make a team play three
games in three days to win.  But, it doesn't happen in isolation.  I
really belive that the regular season ought to mean something (actually,
I wish the rest of the world believed that the regular season meant more
than the playoffs, but y'all don't).  So, I think that the current
playoff format is ENTIRELY fair.  If you can't perform at the top over
the previous five months, then you better be ready to put forth a
superhuman effort in March to convince me that you belong.  Right now,
Michigan Tech (to pick the team Mr. Roy is touting) has won five games
in thirty tries in WCHA conference play.  It is entirely proper that
their road to playoff victory is difficult; it ought to be.  If they
wanted fairness, they should have won more games from October through
February.
 
>
> Everybody is expecting Minnesota and North Dakota and C. C. to make the
> final
> 5....I am too....but don't forgrt the gophers barely beat Northern a few
> weeks ago (they are playing better hockey)
 
Much, much better hockey.  If the Gophers play like they did in Colorado
Springs, the margin over two games against any of the bottom three teams
will be in the double digits.
 
 and Michigan tech has a recent
> history of first round upsets.....last year #7 tech swept #4 UMD  and the
> year before #10 MTU beat #1 Colorado College.......North dakota definitly
> has a superior team than Tech...but its a whole new season...and I
> wouldn't be a bit suprised to see the series go 3 games......
>
>  Question- The first round of the WCHA play offs should have an
> upset......Who do you think is capable of knocking off a top team?
 
I think that either the #6 or #7 team (exactly who they will be is still
to be determined) is capable of an upset.  My take on the WCHA this year
is that the top 7 teams are fairly well balanced, though not entirely
so.  For the 8-10 teams (Northern Michigan, Alaska-Anchorage or Michigan
Tech) to win a playoff series will take a fold by the host or a miracle.
 It's a large part of the reason I wanted the Gophers to finish in the
top 3.  It's not just escaping the 4-5 game in St. Paul; I really think
that it makes a big difference in first round opponent.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.