Mike Machnik writes:
> >Others receiving votes: Clarkson, Brown, Miami, Maine, Alaska-
> >Fairbanks, Bowling Green ^^^^^
>
> I really find this amazing. This means that HOCKEY-L people voted
> Maine the 19th best team in the country. 19th!
>
> I did not vote this week, but if I did, I would have put Maine in my top
> 10, let alone top 15. I could not believe that four other HE teams
> came in ahead of Maine and all four made the top 15. Hmm...and they
> are also the #1-4 teams in the HE standings! Are HOCKEY-L poll
> voters really any better than the media?
Well I *did* vote and I was in a quandry as to how to handle a team that is
officially something like 2-30. (I realize nothing has been decided yet about
the Tardif games, but at the time I voted, it looked like a fait accompli.)
I wound up leaving them off my top fifteen
because it seemed silly to list a team with that kind of "official" record.
They also had a stretch in around Decemeber and January when they were not
playing well at all, forfeits or not forfeits.
Are they now playing among the top fifteen teams in the country? Based on
what I've seen lately, I'd have to agree and put them in the top ten in terms
of current play. If the NC$$ does make Maine forfeit all those games, it
*is* tough to look at a record like that and list them, but upon further
reconsideration, I'm going to next week, forfeits or not.
My vote in our poll, though, is of relatively little concern. Okay, okay,
it's of NO concern. :-) However, to avoid making itself look ridiculous
(fill in your own punchline here), the NC$$, I expect, will try hard to
ignore Maine at NC$$ invite time. Maine will have to *force* the NC$$
to give it an invite. By *force* I mean that Maine would have to make the HE
finals. I'm not saying this is how it should be, it's just how I *expect*
things to be.
Speaking of the HE playoffs...
Tim Durgan writes:
> wah, heaven forbid BU has to play Maine, I have an idea lets cancel Maine's
> hockey program altogether because of an ADMINISTRATORS error. Give me a
> break I am so sick of listening to BU cry and complain. Maine has been
> given the toughest penalties for every offense and I'm shore the NCAA and
> HE will stick it to Maine again, so BU will get there wish and not have to
> play Maine again.
Tim, I think you are being very unfair. I don't think BU has been crying
and complaining at all. I've been amazed at how Tony and other BU fans
have been reacting. I guarantee you, that if my favorite team had finished
first and the reward for that was having to face what many -- myself
included -- consider the second or third best team in the league, I'd have
become a LOT more vocal. BU is getting shafted BIG time.
As someone else has posted, this is the first time in a LONG time (or maybe
all of Hockey East, I can't remember) that a team other than BC or Maine has
finished first. It seems patently unfair that after BU finally reaches that
pinacle, that they still get Maine in the first round.
Of course, life isn't fair. And compared to kids dying of cancer and whatever
other tragedies you want to trot out, BU getting the screw doesn't amount to
a hill of beans. But since we have so much fun building the Bean Hill of
college hockey, it's only fair to point out the inequity of it all.
I would favor the approach that BU gets to decide between Maine and Merrimack,
continuing until someone or team #4 gets Maine. This seems inherently
more fair than BU getting stuck. Would the team that gets picked as an
opponent over Maine be insulted? Perhaps at a superficial level, but I can't
believe that a Merrimack or BC -- NO INSULT INTENDED AT ALL -- would start
frothing over the mouth that an opponent thought they were an easier matchup
than Maine. If I were on that team, I'd agree with their decision and then
try my best to prove them wrong.
However, HE doesn't seem to be considering that possibility. :-( And since
my pecking order of teams is 1) UMass-Lowell, 2)Maine, and 3)BU, I'll be
rooting for Maine if the BU-Maine matchup occurs. But if Maine should win,
a *distinct* possibility in my book, I'll certainly feel some sadness in it
because BU will not have gotten its just due.
Tim, you should be congratulating fans like Tony for their sportsmanship *far*
above the call of duty, rather than attempting to goad them into flamewars.
***************************************************** ,-******-,
* Dave Hendrickson "Robo" [log in to unmask] * *' ## '*
* A Hockey Polygamist and Get-A-Lifer * *## ___##___ ##*
* GO BROONS!!! Go Red Wings!! Go LA Kings! * * ##| ___ \## *
* GO UMASS-LOWELL!!! Go Maine!! Go BU! * * | |___) | *
* --------------------------------------------------* *######| ___ <######*
* Although I can't remember ever having an original * * | |___) | *
* thought, and am certainly parroting someone who * * ##|________/## *
* actually has a brain, these opinions are mine, * *## ## ##*
* not Hewlett-Packard's. * *, ## ,*
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