Given the discussion the past few days on the RPI-Harvard and UNH-PC
ties for 4th/5th place in the ECAC and HE, respectively, I think it's
interesting to note what would have been the outcomes for home-ice if
the two league tie-breaking procedures were REVERSED.  Using the HE tie-
breaking scheme, RPI, not Harvard would be awarded 4th place (and home
ice) because, despite a split of their season series and the same number
of points, RPI had more wins.  If the ECAC tie-breaking scheme was applied
in a like manner to the UNH-PC knot, PC would still retain the home-ice
berth, but you'd have to go DEEP into the list of criteria to settle it.
PC-UNH split their season series 1-1-1; the next ECAC tie-breaker is their
respective records against the top three finishers.  Both UNH and PC
earned 5 points each against BC, BU and Maine, so the NEXT criterion is
their record against the remaining playoff teams (a moot point in HE since
ALL 8 teams make the playoffs (unlike the ECAC where only 10 of 12 do) and
UNH and PC had identical 10-9-2 league records.  The NEXT tie-breaker is
goal differential head-to-head, and here PC triumphs on the basis of their
6-1 victory at UNH (vs. the 4-3 UNH victory several weeks later).
 
     Pedantic, I suppose, but instructive, in that I'm surprised that the
ECAC would resort to goal differential to settle ties.  Given the wide
disparity in overall team offense between the top/bottom teams (witness
the recent 19-3 demolition of Army and Princeton by Clarkson), this serves
to negate the impact of inspired effort (by, say, Dartmouth in tying both
Clarkson AND Cornell) at the expense of Barry Switzer-like run-up-the
score when you have the chance.  I hope the ECAC Division III seeds are
not determined this way - the talent gap between Elmira and Binghamton (and
the resultant blowouts) puts Elmira so far ahead in any tie-breaker
involving goal differential that close-but-no-cigar efforts by, say,
Hamilton, count for naught.  I've NEVER liked goal differential in any
form as a seeding ploy, and am of the opinion that the WCHA is better off
for having reduced its dependence on total goals in its playoffs.  OK,
I'll get down off my soapbox .... :-)
						Cheers, Jim