>Steve writes:
>
>>Earlier this week someone had posted a rumour they had heard about the
>>establishment of a fifth Division I conference to, supposedly, begin full
>>D-I play in the 1996-97 season.  Holy Cross was among the schools that
>>were mentioned.  I imagine that their success against UMass gives them
>>alot of confidence in their choice to give up their indepedent status.
 
Bill Fenwick writes:
 
>A couple of follow-up posts on hockey3 have indicated that this is more
>of a scheduling agreement than a full-blown fifth Div. I conference.  The
>teams will play one game against each other and conference "standings" will
>be kept, but all the teams involved (except for Army) have ties to other
>Div. III conferences, and they are not expected to break those ties.
 
As a followup, Holy Cross, UConn, and others have technically been DivI
Independents since 1984.  But they have also been members of the ECAC
East, which contains teams from DivI, II, and III.  So, you can be an
Independent and be in a conference.
 
But I do agree with Steve in that HC's win over UMass is a big plus
for them.  Dick Tuthill mentioned new coach Paul Pearl, about whom I
had heard many good things (from a friend who played for HC), so I
expected them to be improved.  Pearl seems to be someone who could
generate real interest in hockey at HC again.  Their DivI Independent
status has really just been like "oh yeah, that's what we are" for the
last ten years.  But for a school that has de-emphasized athletics to
a major degree, getting involved in any kind of scheduling agreement
with other strictly DivI teams is big news.  (Remember, this is the
same school that until somewhat recently used to play and sometimes
beat Boston College in football and basketball.)
 
On HC's win over UMass, I wasn't entirely surprised.  People are going
to marvel at the fact that HC beat UMass and UMass beat Maine.  But
UMA isn't going to score a lot of goals, which means that even if a
team like HC is inferior (and I haven't seen them so I don't know),
they're probably still going to be in the game - and then anything can
happen.  Heck, HC had to score with 53 seconds left to tie it and then
got the winner in OT.
 
BTW, last season UMass hosted and defeated HC 4-1.  UMA would also
lose games to Colby (5-3), Connecticut College (5-4 ot), and RIT (5-3)
among their DivII-III opponents.  Personnel-wise, they are still
basically the same team as last year - I think they are better, but I
am not surprised that they could beat Maine and lose to HC in the span
of a few days.  One of the problems with a team as young as they are
is inconsistency.
 
In Merrimack's first year, I recall the Warriors giving up three goals
to AIC in the final minute to tie 6-6, as well as beating HE's first
place team, BC, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.  Those things will happen.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93