All this pre-tournament ECAC bashing has got me down. After all, I've
devoted much of the last 10 years to planning my winter weekends around
the ECAC. So that some of you non-ECAC affiliated Hockey-Lers can
understand where I'm coming from, I've compiled the following 12
reasons why I love the ECAC (only 10 of which make the playoffs):
 
1) Lane MacDonald
 
If anyone in college hockey ever better represented the values of Hobey
Baker, I have yet to meet him. Bright, articulate, compassionate and
a great hockey player. A true sportsman who played hard, never backed
down from anyone and sacrificed himself (and his health) for his
teammates.
 
2) Canton-Potsdam
 
Two towns in the middle of nowhere with (seemingly) nothing better to
do on Friday and Saturday nights then root like crazy for their college
hockey teams. Sure, it was better when Walker Arena was still in use -
but there is something to be said for eating dinner in the same building
as the rink. I would rather be in Appleton with a hot chocolate in my
hand then on the beach in Bermuda with a daiquiri.
 
3) Student radio stations
 
You haven't lived until you have heard Ivy League students broadcast
sports -- Howard Cosell was concise and illiterate by comparison.
 
4) Seabrook Satterlund, Barrington Miller, Ethan Philpott
 
...and a university president named Byron Pipes? Man, I love saying
those names.
 
5) Steve Martins, Eric Perrin, Kyle McDonough, John Messuri, Mike Ross
 
Where else do great 5-9 players go? Heck, Clarkson had a whole line that
went by the name '5-9' last year (Todd White, Kevin Murphy & Dave Seitz).
I love little guys who can play - I'm still disappointed that Ian Winer
didn't wind up in the ECAC.
 
6) Players with a sense of humor
 
I once wrote a program feature about Scott Sinson, Princeton '93. I
asked him about his purported T.V. addiction:
 
"Last year I found myself watching Full House on Friday nights and I
thought 'What am I doing?' You can only watch the same MASH episode
50 times before you've had enough. I tried putting a blanket over the
TV, but you really have to go cold turkey"
 
7) The coaches
 
You really can't appreciate what great guys they are until you have
spent time speaking with them. Anyone who talked with Tim Taylor
for 5 minutes couldn't possibly miss how much the game means to him.
Bob Gaudet and Don Cahoon are so devoted to their players that they will
each probably live shorter lives because of it. I think that Mike
Shafer and Joe Marsh could get their players to walk through glass if
they wanted. Really, a tremendous group of people.
 
8) The Colgate Inn
 
Actually, I hate the place -- but it must be a great league if we all
tolerate it on every trip to Hamilton.
 
9) The fans
 
I hear more creative chants from the Cornell and Harvard hockey fans in
one evening than an entire century's worth of Duke basketball.
 
10) Small rinks
 
I'm not a big Conte Forum fan. I like to be close to the action, hear
the collisions and see the little things like how a player tapes his
stick.
 
11) Tradition
 
Hobey Baker has been dead for nearly 80 years, but I can still hear the
crowd saying "Here he comes!" every time he touches the puck.
 
12) Long live the underdog
 
You have to experience the valleys to enjoy the peaks, and the ECAC
certainly gives you that. ECAC fans have come to appreciate the little
things, like beating a heated rival or just plain playing well, because
of it.
 
Geoff Howell
Drop the Puck Magazine
 
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