As a CCHA follower and fan, I can find no excuse for the absence of Colorado
College in the '94 playoffs.  Strength of non-league schedule may be one
criterion, but it shouldn't be weighed that heavily vs. what a team has done in
the league, especially one as strong as the WCHA.  Schedules are made up well
in advance, and we can only guess what a strong or weak nonconference schedule
may look like in '96, '97, or '98.  The problem is that by excluding a team
with a great record but 'weak' nonconference schedule, the team never gets a
chance to prove itself.  It may be super or may not be; we'll never know.
 
As Phil Ritzenhaler mentioned in his reply, the discussion on this topic took
me back to 1983, and that pain in the pit of my stomach on Sunday, March 13,
when the tournament field was announced.  We had a BG squad, top 5 in the
polls most of the season and #1 for awhile, who had lost a 4-3 OT conference
championship game to MSU the night before.  Surely it would mean loss of home
ice, we thought.  Reality was that it meant loss of a chance altogether.  A
reply of my letter to Dennis Poppe, NCAA, referred to 'weak nonconference
schedule and a loss to Lowell (which I think was at a lower division at that
time).  Sound familiar.
 
I think that BG's finest team ever never got a chance to prove themselves, a la
Colorado College, and I'm sure that conference prestige and name recognition
had a lot to do with it.  In perhaps poetic justice, the following year BG lost
the CCHA semi-final to Glenn Healy and West. Mich. (4-3, 2OT) and consolation
to OSU (3-2, OT), got a 'conscience' berth in the NC$$s, and proceeded to down
Boston U, Michigan State, and UM-Duluth (4OT classic) for the championship
(justice in that these teams got spots in the '83 playoffs that some thought BG
deserved).
 
Sorry for the digression and the history lesson.  What I'm saying to Colorado
College fans is that yes, it seems you took a rippin' and it hurts. But things
have a funny way of evening out; what goes around comes around.  Sorry I won't
have the chance to see you in St. Paul; you owe me an appearance in '95.  Good
luck!