> "I don't think how good Maine and BU are says how good Hockey East is.
> It's how good Providence is.  It's how good Merrimack is.  And it's
> how good Mass-Lowell is.  I believe winning a championship doesn't
> make a league good but what happens at the bottom [does] - how good
> the teams in eighth and ninth place are."
>
> I also noted the following:
>
> Maine finished 32-6-6.  BU finished 31-6-3.  There was no other team
> in DivI that had that few losses, and no team won as many games as
> either Maine or BU.
>
> But Maine did not sweep any HE opponents this season.  And BU only
> swept two - BC and UMass-Amherst.
>
> I wish I didn't have to say this, but please note I am not disparaging
> any of the other conferences, all of which had reasons to be proud of
> their showings this season.  <end disclaimer>
 
 
I certainly don't think you could have disparaged ANY conference this
year. The *quality* of play in the HE, for example, may have been a
little better than the quality of play in the ECAC, but I would say that
not one conference was better than any other in terms of excitement and
intensity.
 
While Maine & BU had outstanding records and outstanding teams, every
team in the HE (I'm sure) were there to play these guys. This is the
same for the teams in the ECAC. Yes, the records of the team weren't
"national-championship caliber" (does that really matter?), but while
rooting for Clarkson & Union, I can't think of any team in the ECAC
that would have been a cakewalk for either. At the very least, I was
afraid of all of the teams that made the playoffs.
 
I think that we can only hope to have as good a year as we had this year!
 
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
+  Andy Weise                 Let's Go Tech!!     [log in to unmask]  +
=  SUNY Potsdam '93                                                       =
+  Union College '95?         Let's Go U!!        [log in to unmask] +
=  Performance Systems International (PSI)                                =
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