There is a model already in Eastern Hockey which mirrors what Jack is
talking about.  I refer to the NESCAC (Little Ivies) and ECAC-East in D3.
Both get NCAA AQ's but they play an interlocking schedule with all games
counting towards each conference's championship.

Would this work in ECAC D1?  At least in D3, the ECAC-East and NESCAC are
two of the powerhouse conferences.  I would not mind a split between the Ivy
League and the rest of the ECAC (Empire league?), but would an already weak
conference become two weaker conferences?  I don't know.

As for the Big 10 (11), if Penn State ever does make their non-varsity
program varsity, would that force a Big 10 league?  I recall some discussion
a while back that if x schools in the Big 10 play a certain sport, then the
Big 10 must sponsor that sport.

I think Jack made some good comments that should spur some discussion in the
college hockey world.

Particularly, I liked his comment about the round of 16 being on the campus
sites of the top 8 teams.  My only question would it be 1 game knockout or a
2 out of 3?

Joe LaCour
Clarkson Hockey
Can it be in 2003?

----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: Jack McDonald bombshell (re: Ivy and Big Ten)


> Macdonald's comments are rediculous.  Both a Big Ten split and an Ivy
split have been discussed hypothetically by lots of people over the last few
years, mostly as musings for the off-season.  Nothing I remember reading in
the last several years gives any credence to the idea that either one of
those scenarios may come to pass, for the reasons Craig mentions and more.
>
> Mac seems to be forgetting that the CHA soon becomes eligible for an
auto-bid, which given the current twelve-team bracket would make for six
auto-bids, exactly the number he says the NCAA recommends.  If Mac is
advocating breaking up existing leagues, that's a pretty drastic measure and
not so "easy" on anybody.  It changes the entire landscape of D-I hockey,
and would serve only the minor purpose of adding extra auto-bids.
>
> On the other hand, if you keep the Ivies as a subset of the ECAC and the
Big Ten as a subset of the CCHA/WCHA, and give each of those an auto-bid,
that really makes a mess of things.  Suppose the Ivy champ also wins the
ECAC auto-bid -- then what??  Do you have a seperate Big Ten Tournament??
>
> IMHO, Mac is shooting his mouth off in that article.  The comments are
irresponsible.  With the current system, the teams that get into the bracket
without winning a conference championship have earned the right to be there
the hard way -- winning games all season long.  A team has to play all year
like they deserve a shot at a championship to be there. Handing out extra
auto-bids for their own sake doesn't solve anything.
>
> The bottom line is that if he wants to make the NCAA Championship more
accessible to those 60 institutions, make more room by expanding the
tournament, which is hopefully on its way.
>
> -Todd
> http://members.aol.com/todnielson/creasemonkey.html


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