Mike Machnik <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>    Notre Dame and RPI into Hockey East as its 9th and 10th members.
 
And I respond:
 
No, Somehow I don't think so.  The major division that resulted in the
Hockey East break from the ECAC was because the ECAC wanted to change
the scheduling of its games to provided less disruption of classes
(ie they wanted to eliminate weeknight away games which kept the
hockey players away from classes for 2 days).  The ECAC also wanted
to limit (some might say severely) the number of games a team could
play during a season.  The Hockey East teams disagreed with the rest of
the ECAC teams and the result was the Hockey East league.
 
Just look at the teams in the ECAC:  The Ivy League (minus Columbia),
and a set of schools in NY which all rate VERY high academically:
Clarkson College of Technology, St. Lawrence University, Colgate,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Army.  The only question I had
was why did Vermont stay with the ECAC?  They miss not playing New
Hampshire as often as they used to (a natural rivalry since both
belong to the Yankee Conference in Football and Basketball).  Maybe
it was because they are physically closer to Clarkson, St. Lawrence,
and Dartmouth than UNH?
 
And with Union College moving up in the ECAC from Div 2 to Div 1, they
are less than 15 miles from RPI!  Maybe RPI the school never wanted
an RPI/Union Hockey rivalry (could be because Union almost always
blasts RPI for the Dutchmen's Shoes trophy in Footbal!), but the fans in
the Troy/Schenectedy area would love it!  (Hey maybe now's the time
for Vermont to jump to the Hockey East to be with UNH?)
 
No, I think you will find that RPI would rather continue to align itself
with the academic league over the athletic one.  I know that RPI does
give out hockey scholarships, but they did not when I attended ('74-'78).
In fact, that was a major selling point of RPI back then, that they could
field a Div I hockey team without ANY scholarships.  But, alas, that
changed with one of its previous new coaches (Mike Addessa?).
 
The RPI to Hockey East rumor was very popular when the Hockey East was
forming, but I am one alumnus who is glad that RPI stayed in the ECAC.
 
 
As for Notre Dame joining Hockey East?  It would be VERY expensive travelwise
since all of the Hockey East teams are in the Eastern New England area
between Providence and Portland.