As usual, Mike has put his finger on a number of things and I find myself in
almost full agreement.  About the only thing I wouldn't do is to break Div III
into A and AA groups.  You can still have plenty of fun playing hockey and
competing against the powerhouses even if a national title isn't in the offing
for your school and an "AA" title would be kind of watered down.
 
As to the Hockey Final Four (I don't really care for 'frozen four') how about
a Thursday/Sunday split?  This sandwiches around the the roundball tournament.
Of course, the presumes ESPN would show it live.  And why the heck not have
Div III final followed by Div I?  Div III schools would probably want to start
their season later, but the exposure would be great!
 
Want a totally wierd and wild idea?  Let the Division III National Champion be
a wild card entry into the 12 team Division I playoff - see how far they could
get.  Yeah, OK, I guess it really is the off season, isn't it?
 
Tom Rowe                                 Internet:  [log in to unmask]
Department of Psychology                 ***********************************
U. of Wisconsin - Stevens Point          Home of Division III National
     Go Point!                           Champions '89, '90, '91, & '93