>        ECAC Hockey Commissioner Jeff Fantner was interviewed on TV
>Saturday during the Cornell-Clarkson game, and said how great it was
>that every team in the league was fighting for something on the last
>weekend of the season, whether it be first place, home ice, or a
>playoff berth (or in the case of RPI, third place).  While that's
>certain true when compared to a league that lets all of its teams in
>the playoffs, the new ECAC playoff format makes for less competition
>than in years past.
 
HERE HERE!   I agree with John .... as for the commissioner, no comment
... well, he has to say it's better .... bottom line is, the coaches
didn't want the Tuesday game.  I can't necessarily blame them, but the
Final Five setup is worse ... not just because of what John said below,
but because it's plain silly and unfair for all the reasons John said.
 
But as John said --- top team gets NCAA bid --- No. 2 gets to avoid
first round matchup with rested team --- 3rd and 4th get home ice -- 5th
and 6th avoided prelim game --- 7th and 8th are in prelim, but at
home -- 9th and 10th were happy to be in.
 
It made for many different tiers of things to shoot for ----  I don't
think anyone in the ECAC consciously thought about that when they
created the system --- but that was nevertheless the result, and thus I
thought it was the best system.  Not anymore.
 
 
AW
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.