I haven't seen this topic posted,  so I went into the archives to try to
find something on it.   Nothing.   Yet,  my apologies if this is an old
topic  --  as I have been very busy and have not had much time for
discussion lists.
 
        On 9/5/97,  I pointed out that the MAAC was the only multi-sport
conference which included hockey and thus enjoyed a certain standing with
the NC$$ that the other "hockey-only" conferences did not enjoy.   I asked
for opinions as to what this might mean.   I got no direct feedback from
the list,  but something arrived via snail mail this week.
 
        I arrived home for the weekend yesterday to discover the UConn season
wrap-up mailing,  and included in that packet was an article from the
Boston Herald from Monday,  2/23/98.   The thrust of the article was the
fact that HE officials were highly irritated after they learned last month
that the Jack McDonald,  AD of Quinnipiac College,  will replace Robert
DeGregorio,  Jr.,  of Merrimack and HE on the NC$$ Men's Ice Hockey
Committee.   Apparently UConn AD Lew Perkins and the MAAC itself lobbied
the NC$$ hard for the nomination on the basis that the MAAC is a
multi-sport conference,  a current restructuring emphasis of the NC$$.
  Needless to say,  Joe Bertagna and HE are said to have bruised feelings
over this.   The upshot is that the entire D-1 community will lobby
strenuously for a five person committee so that all conferences can be
represented.   For his part,  McDonald committed to working hard for an
expansion of the NC$$ tournament to sixteen teams.
 
        Another interesting tidbit that was added to the article almost as an
afterthought was the statement that the MAAC has been promised an automatic
NC$$ tournament bid for the year after next (year 2000) in only its second
year.   If so,  that will certainly draw rides into the MAAC programs at a
rapid rate,  and my guess is that Army and perhaps Niagara will be enticed
to join the MAAC as well.   It would also be another impressive display of
influence for the MAAC to have achieved that stature so quickly,  even
before their first season of play.   Sounds like Perkins meant it when he
said on TV in January that ice hockey was going to be a revenue sport at
UConn.
 
        -- Dick Tuthill
 
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