At 4:28 PM -0600 12/11/96, Chris Farley wrote:
> Do we give them an automatic bid to the NCAA
> I know that these teams don't play most of the DIV 1
> powerhouses.
 
But maybe they would if they were involved in a DivI league and were
meeting the eligibility requirements for the DivI tourney.  Currently there
is no incentive for DivI teams to play these teams, or DivII-III teams,
because those games do not count towards NCAA tourney selection.  That
would presumably change if the league was established.
 
I think it is likely that if the league was established and shown to be
viable, and not a fly by night type of deal, that the NCAA would afford
recognition in the form of an automatic bid to the DivI tourney.  This
seems to be how the NCAA handles conferences in other sports.  The key
seems to be in having all conference members be a member of the division in
which a bid is desired, along with meeting the eligibility requirements for
such a bid (i.e., playing 20 games against DivI opponents).
 
If that happens, I see no reason why the conference should not receive a
bid.  Perhaps the conference would have trouble as a whole competing
against the established conferences, but that is no different from
basketball, where some conferences are clearly more powerful than others.
 
It's also worth remembering that one day not so long ago, the CCHA was in
the same boat.  It consisted of teams that many people thought were of a
lower caliber than the ECAC and WCHA.  But it gradually improved and gained
respect.  The same thing could happen here.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
*****   (Part-Time) Color Voice of Merrimack Hockey  WCAP 980 AM    *****
*****       Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at:       *****
*****   http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html    *****
>>>    U.S. College Hockey Online http://www.uscollegehockey.com/     <<<
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.