At 9:03 PM 8/8/95, Patrick J. Lethert wrote:
>I have tried the archives (to no avail), but have seen no discussion on the
>list about this, so I ask...Would people like to see a 16 team NC$$ D1
>play-off with 4 regional sites?
 
I think a 16 team tourney is attractive for several reasons, but probably
the reason I don't feel compelled to discuss it is because I know it can't
happen.
Usually when this question is raised, someone points out that the NCAA has
a limitation that prevents DivI hockey from expanding to a 16 team tourney.
I cannot find the exact rule in the NCAA Manual that deals with this and
I'm not sure if it is even in there.  However, as I understand it, the
ratio of the number of teams in a championship to the number of teams
competing in that division is not supposed to be greater than something
like 25%.  NCAA hockey currently has 50 teams classified as DivI, so the
current 12 teams gives a ratio of 24% - but I believe hockey may have been
grandfathered when the rule as it exists was written.
 
My understanding is also that one of the factors behind the expansion from
8 to 12 teams in 1988 was the fear that this rule would be put into place
and that hockey would have a difficult, if not impossible, chance at
expanding its tourney in the future.  But we're going back about 8 years
now on that one so I cannot be sure.
 
>As it stands, one can virtually assume
>that each year the NC$$ will feature Boston U, Maine, Michigan, Michigan
>State, LSSU, Minnesota, Wisconsin & Clarkson.
 
My only comment on this is that as recently as 5 years ago, at least three
of these teams were not considered to be yearly "locks" for a bid.  BU,
Michigan, and Clarkson had a total of only one appearance among them in the
five years from 1985 to 1989 - BU's 1986 appearance.  And LSSU had only
received bids in 1985, 1988, and 1989, while Maine did not make its first
appearance until 1987.  In 1990, we might have had Harvard, BC, and Bowling
Green on that list instead.  I do believe that success in college hockey is
cyclical except for a very few schools, and in 2000, we might be talking
about three other programs as annual contenders that we wouldn't dream of
putting in that category today.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
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