John T Whelan <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>* A modest proposal:
>        Wasn't Vermont thinking about bolting to Hockey East along
>with RPI?  If the ECAC takes Niagra and lets HE have UVM, the
>geography is preserved (ECAC=NY/NJ+Ivy; HE=New England-Ivies) and the
>ECAC stays at 12 teams.
 
I have not heard serious talk about Vermont joining HE.  Many people I
have talked to around HE would like to bring Vermont in, but I do not
believe the university is seriously interested.
 
I don't expect that any expansion such as that which has been
discussed would involve teams from either HE or the ECAC jumping ship
to the other conference.  That just doesn't seem likely right now.  We
can talk about all sorts of ideas, but I think we should remember that
this whole discussion began because of the mention of the very real
possibility that three new teams would be joining HE or the ECAC soon.
I want to draw the distinction between that which is grounded in fact
and that which is merely speculation.  The ideas about teams jumping
ship are only speculation.
 
>* UConn:
>        I see no reason, from the leagues' perspective, why UConn
>should join the ECAC instead of HE.  They're in New England, which is
>HE territory just as western NY is ECAC territory, plus as we've
>discussed, HE has room for new teams, the ECAC doesn't.
 
I don't understand this concept of "territory" that some people have
brought up.  It almost sounds like some people want to wage a war or
something.  This wasn't an issue when RPI was considering switching to
HE.  If Niagara wishes to join HE and UConn wishes to join the ECAC
because those are the conferences that those schools wish to be
affiliated with (or vice versa), then I do not see what the problem is.
 
After all, "HE territory" has five ECAC teams in it (four Ivies, but
still).  It is no big deal to HE.  It should not matter if HE expands
into New York.
 
And don't forget that in the West, on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
MTU and NMU are in the WCHA while LSSU is in the CCHA.
 
This doesn't even begin to discuss other sports where territorial
boundaries for conferences are not even an issue.  I.e., the Big East,
which ranges from New England to Indiana to Florida.  And the
Northeast-10, the DivII conference that Merrimack is a member of for
its other sports, just accepted Lemoyne after Springfield left.  The
NE-10 used to be made up of 10 New England DivII schools.  Lemoyne is
in Syracuse, NY.
 
The real issues here revolve around which conferences the new schools
want to be affiliated with, and whether or not those conferences want
to take them into the fold.  In New England, we already have some
schools that wish to be affiliated with HE and some that wish to be
affiliated with the ECAC.  No problem.  All of the New York schools
are currently affiliated with the ECAC, but that could change someday.
It almost did a few years ago.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                 [log in to unmask]           [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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