As an alumnus of RPI, I have been very interested in the discussion of
the possibility of RPI moving to Hockey East.  As this note will show,
I have mixed feelings about this.
 
At the time of the original ECAC-HE divorce, when I heard that RPI was
going to stay in the ECAC which was going to limit the amount of games
played while the HE was going to go to an interlocking schedule with
the WCHA, I was driven to write a letter to the RPI administration
complaining about the decision feeling that this was the first step in
RPI's deemphasis of hockey, as had also happened to RPI lacrosse more
than 20 years earlier--RPI was the co-national lacrosse champion with
Virginia in 1952.  (note to Mike M: the length of the last sentence
proves that you are correct that most RPI Science/Engineering grads
cannot write well.)  I even threatened to withhold my annual
contribution to the alumni fund.  (This obviously greatly scared them.)
 
In the intervening years, I have decided that RPI probably made the
correct decision.  With the abandoning of the WCHA-HE interlocking
schedule and the NC$$ limit of the number of games, the advantages that
I saw about joining the HE have disappeared.  The advantage for RPI to
now stay in the ECAC is that they have many rivalries with current ECAC
that either have existed from before the ECAC-HE breakup or have since
been developed.  The old rivalries with the teams that left the ECAC
lay dormant through the years when their were few games between the two
leagues.  Only now, some of these rivalries are being reborn, but in no
cases are they as great as those between RPI and Clarkson and SLU.  (At
least I think that is the case, being several hundred miles from Troy.)
Would RPI eventually have rivalries with the HE teams if they joined
this league--undoubtedly.
 
It was mentioned by several people that the RPI administration in
1983/4 (when the break up was being finalized) felt that it would look
good for RPI's academic image to be mentioned in the same breath as the
Ivy league schools.  While this would be true if RPI played with these
schools in all sports, I have trouble seeing how playing them just in
hockey has a significant effect.  Let's face it, there is little
interest in College Hockey in most of the US.  I find it hard to
believe that anyone in Texas (just to use an example, no flame
intended) sees an RPI-Harvard hockey score and thus associates RPI with
the Ivy league schools academically.  Indeed, I doubt that most people
in Texas find out about RPI Hockey--I have yet to see an RPI result
this year in the Washington Post.
 
In summary, I still feel that RPI won't go to the HE unless Clarkson
and SLU do likewise, and no one has stated that there is any current
thought about that happening.
 
Ralph Baer  RPI '68, '70, '74