Hi All,

This may only interest about 25% of you, but since I am in the midst of
making up final exams :-) here is a quiz question for you. I will simply
sit back and read, hoping to hear from some of you who are
geographically more on top of the situation: ie. those who actually get
so see some games:

1. The increasingly poor showing of the ECAC relative to the CCHA, WCHA,
and HEA, is due to

a) statistical fluctuations, they will be back
b) poor administration, not interested enough in promoting the league
c) difficulty of recruiting at smallish expensive (mostly) private
schools vs. larger schools
d) difficulty in recruiting due to (perceived or otherwise) higher
academic standards and/or specialities (e.g. RPI mostly science and
engineering and therefore not for future lawyers, etc.)
e) taking away of talent by the MAAC and HEA
f) lack of TV schedule (see (b))
g) lack of money (see (b))
h) all of the above
i) none of the above
j) other __________

2. If you dont like multiple choice questions, answer the question in 25
words or less :-)


As a fan of RPI first and the ECAC second, and eastern hockey third and
all of college hockey fourth ... I am seriously concerned about the
apparently slumping prestige of the league. As a practical matter, it
looks like the league is headed for many years of only getting one team
into the NCAA and usually that team getting routed in the first round.
In other words, I expect, at this rate, teh MAAC and CHA will move ahead
of them in overall quality in the next decade, unless something is done.
Years back there was a rumor that RPI and one other team might be headed
to HE. Then the ECAC graciously allowed all the teams to go to 32 and
that apparently convinced RPI to stay. Now they are going to 34 (next
year I think) ... but that seems to be just drop in the bucket ... is
there somethign seriously wrong with the way the league is run or is it
just a slump?????

What is it? Jayson Moy wrote a neat column in USCHO and I dont know if
it got any chat there... but I think all of college hockey will be
diminished if the ECAC continues its downward spiral ....everyone in all
the leagues should be concerned.

My 44 Lire,

Tony Buffa
RPI '64 recalling the good old days of the Tri-State league.