>  in the mean
> time they may as well minimize the raw deal given to the 4 and 5
> seeds.
 
I loathe the F5 and agree, but since one (the only real?) motivation is to
give the #1 a free ride to the final and artificially inflate their chance
of a RS-PS title and auto NCAA bye, I don't see why they did it.
 
(It's funny that the #5 won last year.  Probably the only time it'll ever
happen, but it's so typical that an ECAC plan *will* go awry as soon as
possible to cause maximum embarrassment to the league...;-)
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.