I don't know where you heard this rumor, but I hope it's not from anyone who
has any decision making ability in College Hockey.  You would forcibly ruin
everything that the split in the conferences did to help college hockey.  With
only one conference, teams like Union, Merrimack, and UMASS-Amherst would've
never had a chance to get started.  Today,  Union and Merrimack are as good as
any team in their respective conferences (leaving out the powerhouses, which
can still be beaten).  College hockey is growing (slowly but surely), publicity
is growing largely due to the Internet (this has been documented in many
national publications), and every game is exciting.
 
Let's first consider if the conferences joined:
 
PROS:
* College hockey fans could see more teams in a game that is largely a league
season.
*  The conference itself would have more $$ and possibly put on a better
conference tourney.
*  The Eastern powerhouses will all be fighting on level ground.
 
CONS:
*  Revenue:  Speaking from a Clarkson standpoint, I wouldn't want to see them
lose an extra game against SLU, UVM, Cornell, Colgate,  or RPI, even for BU,
BC, Maine, etc.  These rivalry games pack the arenas, the BU game brings a good
crowd, but it's no match for SLU or Cornell.
*  Rivalries:  Getting to see all of your rivals at home every year is great
(besides beating up on SLU is fun anywhere).  Players, get up for these games,
especially the second of the series if you lost the first.
*  Growth:  With a 21 team division, where is the room for expansion.  What
about Niagara, Canisius, Iona, UCONN, etc?  They won't be able to walk into the
league and be competitive for a long time.
*  Quality of play:  Come playoff time, the teams in smaller leagues will know
each other a lot better than such a huge league.  Not only have they played
twice, when the schedules don't quite matchup, they get to go and watch their
rivals.  This makes for more interesting styles of coaching and play.
 
If this rumor comes from a valid source, let's have them look around other
sports that are expanding.  Major League Baseball added division with it's
expansion, and look what it did for the Rockies.  The NFL added divisions as it
expanded.  The only 'mergers' that seem to work well is mergers of established
teams.  The Big12 is the result of a merger, but the vast majority of those
teams were established in their old conferences.
 
I would much rather see three conferences than one, maybe the Ivy's, the HEA
and the Empire Athletic Conference split as follows:
 
Ivy's: Cornell, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton
HEA: BU, BC, Merrimack, Providence, Northeastern, UM-L, UM-A, UNH, Maine
EAC: Clarkson, SLU, Colgate, Union, RPI, Army, Niagara, Canisius, Vermont
 
Regards,
Dan Olsen
 
IBM Global Services, Managed Operations North
CSR, Fishkill Building 504
IBM Mail:  DOLSEN @ IBMUS or IBMUSM08(DOLSEN)
Internet Mail:  [log in to unmask]
 
 
        [log in to unmask]
        07/02/97 01:10 PM
Please respond to [log in to unmask] @ internet
 
To: [log in to unmask] @ internet
cc:
Subject: Re: Olympic-ice requirement +
 
I may be dead wrong, but I believe the concept of what Olympic size is, is
open to debate.  I had always thought it as 200' x 100' like the 1980 rink
at Lake Placid and the Towse Rink at UNH.  But I have heard Calgary's
and Northeastern's 200' x 90' surfaces called Olympic size.  For the
record, Harvard's Bright Hockey Center is 204' x 87'.
 
I heard a vicious rumour that Hockey East and the ECAC were re-merging
into one conference: America East.  The teams will only play each other
once a year and only two teams will make the NC$$'s, as that tournament
will go back to an 8 team format and give three automatic places to the
WCHA and CCHA!  The NC$$'s will also revert to campus sites for the
opening round, two-game total-goal series!!!  YESSSSSS!  I love that part!
 
Well at least the days are getting shorter so it can't be that long till
the Harvard-McGill Men's game and the TUSA Women's match at Matthews.
 
 _____________
/
 good shooting
 hungerf
_____________/
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.