> On the Badger radio broadcast of this weekend's series, they played an
> interview with NMU coach Rick Comley, talking about the conference playoffs.
> He made some rather pointed comments on how he hates them... to paraphrase:
> "The conference tourneys are about only one thing: money.  If they weren't,
> you wouldn't have different formats for each league and all that.  Things
> are basically designed to get teams like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan
> into the finals, where they will sell tickets to make money for the
> conference.  If that doesn't happen, you will see a change in the system."
 
I don't know about this... is he objecting to the best-of-three
(it used to be 2-games total goals) or does he want a single game?
 
> Also, he commented on how the RPI is unfair to Northern as well, at least
> concerning the College Hockey Showcase: "You get the Big Ten schools playing
> each other, so it's the strong teams playing the strong, and of course their
> strength of schedule is higher."
 
Well, that assumes that Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Michigan State
are all strong teams. And, since they are strong programs, they have been
able to schedule strong teams for their non-conference schedule
regardless of the showcase. Is this fair? Maybe not. The Michigan
schools also play in the GLI each year... which also strengthens
their schedule (assuming that they are strong teams to begin with).
 
How much does money matter in scheduling non-conference games? I
don't know. I imagine it does matter. Without the showcase, Wisconsin
could have two more home games, and probably offer pretty decent
money to a visiting team. The same goes for the Badger Showdown.
I don't know how Northern's schedule is made, nor who they played
non-conference. Are they having trouble scheduling "strong" opponents?
Are they trying?
 
In the long run, the solution is to play more non-conference games.
But it costs a lot to run a Division I hockey program, and no one
will give up the money just to play more non-conference games.
 
        --david
 
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david parter                                         [log in to unmask]
university of wisconsin -- madison          voice: 608-262-0608/262-2389
computer sciences department                           fax: 608-262-6626
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