> For the past 10 years or so, the two beasts of the East have
> been BU and Maine.  Then there are the "Great Pretenders"
> that may be constantly nipping at there heels, but cannot
> consistently leap over those two.  I'd put Clarkson and a few
> other schools in that pack.  The ECAC had a nice run in the
> late 80's early 90's with final 4 teams, but since '91 it has
> been UVM from the ECAC in '96 and that's about it.  Almost
> every other time it was Maine and BU.
 
Actually, BU has been one the the East's Beasts for almost 25 years,
although they may have have bottomed out somewhat in the early 80s.
Believe or not, I can (barely) remember considering attending
BU on hearing of their two back-to-back championships in the early 70's.
(That and their 6 year medical school program. I now work for a large
telecommunications company. Go figure.) Maine's success seems to be tied
to its coach, ditto BU, although it did enjoy success with Parker's
predecessor.
 
As one other poster has pointed out, it was fitting that one Final IV
team looking to repeat as champs was blocked by the last school to do so.
 
Also, to the poster who said Michigan would beat BU 7 time out of 10:
Well, then, who's the knucklehead who told the Michigan players not to
worry; that they had nine more chances if they lost the "first" game
of the semi-finals?
 
> There is an air of confidence at those two schools that they
> know how to win when it comes to crunch time.  How each
> school reloads and keeps that institutional memory going is
> a source of wonder and anger to me a fan of a "Great
> Pretender" school.
 
Perhaps BU's status as a large private, non-denominational school in a
hip, student-oriented town is an advantage. They seem to be willing to
recruit anywhere, and can offer a recruit a large selection of academics,
(including Phys Ed :-)). Other schools seem to restrict their recruiting.
For example, BUs arch rival, BC, seems to avoid Canadians. I'm not
too familiar with Clarkson's academics, but I wonder it its reputation
as a technical, engineering school helps or hurts its recruiting.
 
> Until other eastern schools surpass Maine and BU, I'd
> second Jack's comments.  I'd look for both those schools #1
> and #2 east next year.
 
We'll have to wait and see if BU's recruiting class can compensate for
its (relative) lack of depth.
 
Ken Kretsch             | "Coach, my Mom wants me to live for my Bar Mitzvah"
BU '79                  | "Goldberg, this is your Bar Mitzvah. Today you
[log in to unmask]        |  become a man!"
 
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