One thing not mentioned in the discussion of the ECAC and the Ivies is what
the ivies in general share with the upstate New York and Vermont teams in
college hockey.
 
That is the power of hockey tradition and academic quality.  Schools like
St. Lawrence, Clarkson and Colgate and Ivies, Cornell, Dartmouth and
Harvard have been fielding first rate (more or less) nationally competitive
teams for more than fifty years.  Throughout that time, these schools have
competed against the Ivies, the older Hockey East and WCHA teams for years
and won their share of games and recruits.
 
In fact the ECAC is far more competitive with Western teams today than it
was in the early sixties when the West almost always blew the best ECAC
teams (including BU and BC) out of the water at the nationals. Clarkson,
SLU, Harvard, Colgate and Cornell have all been to the final four in the
last decade or so, so it is ridiculous to suggest that the ECAC is a weaker
league.
 
The biggest weakness the ECAC suffers is geography.  Upstate New York is a
small, crummy media market.  This means the teams and players don't get
press coverage and they end up on TV infrequently, hence, in my view, the
erroneous perception of their being a weaker league.  I believe they beat
Hockey East head-to head last year
 
No Division 1 league of college teams offers more beautiful campuses,
better academics (by far), stronger hockey traditions combined with
competitive programs than the ECAC teams.  Despite their proper emphasis on
academics and much smaller sizes, they've managed to successfully recruit
top players for years (witness the couple dozen former ECAC players in the
NHL.)
 
As someone who grew up in Canton and later broadcast 4 years of  SLU games
on the radio, nothing but nothing can beat crunching across the football
field though  frozen snow to get to a beautiful natural wood stained arena
with ageless class and screaming through sixty minutes of a Cornell or
Clarkson game.  Unless you've experienced it, no one will ever convince me
that it gets any better than the ECAC.
 
College Hockey in Omaha, Birmingham, even Orono?  Give me a break.  Its
kind of like the California Golden Seals.  Without the ECAC (Ivies and
upstate New York), college hockey would lose an awful lot of class.
 
PS. Vermont can do what it wants.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Bruce Carlisle
President
SF Interactive, LLC
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Tel: (415) 544-0123
Fax: (415) 544-0113
VISIT US @:
http://www.sfinteractive.com
mailto:[log in to unmask]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.