>At 06:28 PM 1/27/00 EST, you wrote:
>>There is no question that Niagara hockey is not MAAC compatible. Wayne State
>>to CCHA makes sense the CHA remant will have to schedule games with each
>>other.
>>
>
>Why isn't Niagara MAAC compatible? They played a number of current MAAC
>teams their first few years when they were in the ECAC West (Canisius,
>Findlay, etc.). Sure they beat up on them, but they're beating up on the
>CHA as well. At least with the MAAC the teams will be closer to home for
>the most part.
 
This gets at why Niagara isn't MAAC-compatible, IMHO. Niagara has made its
most serious advances to the CCHA, a western conference. (In the process,
they moved the "East/West" boundary to somewhere around Tonawanda. :-) ) It
appears that Niagara thinks itself as more western than eastern. So I would
say it makes more sense for Niagara to be in a western conference than an
eastern one.
 
>As an alumnus of Niagara I'd rather see them make it in to a
>more respectable conference, but the MAAC may have a better chance at an
>autobid to the NCAA's sooner rather than later (as opposed to CHA).
 
I don't think the CHA is all that far behind the MAAC in terms of an
autobid. If the tournament is expanded to 16 teams, it is conceivable that
both could get them at the same time. In the worst case, the CHA is one
year behind.
 
>Not only that but Niagara already plays Basketball etcetera in the MAAC.
 
I believe the example of Nebraska-Omaha shows us that basketball does not
enter into consideration much, if at all. If staying with one's basketball
rivals mattered, UNO would have joined the WCHA, where the rest of their
D-II conference is.
 
The other thing to remember is that there are only three schools that are
MAAC in both basketball and hockey. It's not as if Niagara is the odd one
out.
 
>I would rather see them in a major conference, but a move to the MAAC may
>be a more positive step than riding a possible loser like College Hockey
>America.
 
I see the CHA and MAAC equally. If one is a "possible loser", then they
both are.
 
John
 
--
  John Edwards - Carleton (Ont) '96, Manitoba '00 - [log in to unmask]
  Manitoba Women's Ice Hockey - #10 Nationally, 4-3-1 CanWest, 15-7-1 Overall
               Carleton U. Football - Undefeated since 1998
The opinions expressed are mine alone, because everybody else says I'm weird.
 
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