Paula Weston <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>
> >Sometimes I wonder...would Merrimack regain the level of community and
> >school support it had in the 1980s if it was winning games, no matter what
> >the competition?
>
> Fairbanks is the kind of school that, like Merrimack, wanted to join a "big"
> league for the draw of competing with big-name schools, like Michigan.
Although this was not the only factor for either school. Both schools were
in tough situations and their decision to join a league was the best one
for them, I think. They were also coming off very successful stretches of
several seasons.
UAF was watching the ranks of D1 Independents wither away, and also the
Independent bid had been eliminated. Returning to D2 was not really an
option -- I forget whether the D2 tourney had been reinstated by the time
UAF joined the CCHA, it may have, but still UAF would likely have been a
very big fish in a small pond there. I'm sure there were other factors too.
Merrimack was coming off of 90 wins in three years and a successful run in
the 1988 NCAA D1 tourney. HE was perhaps the ultimate goal, but there was
still resistance to the idea in the school's administration. Then two
things happened that had a significant impact upon the route they would
take. First, if I remember correctly, the ECAC East (MC won East titles
from 1987-89) enacted rules in reaction to the inordinate success that
scholarship schools like Merrimack had achieved, including requiring
schools to play 20 league games and preventing those schools' players from
being eligible for certain postseason honors. At the same time, the NCAA
D1 committee decided to require schools to play 20 D1 games to be eligible
for the NCAA tourney.
Well, 20+20=40, which was two more than the NCAA limit (at the time) of 38,
so that meant that you couldn't be guaranteed of being able to compete for
both an East title and NCAA D1 bid. (if you were able to play in Alaska
you could exempt the games and play 40 or more, but again, there was no
guarantee that you would be able to do this.)
So the plan at that point was to leave the ECAC East and play as a D1
Independent for two years, then seek admission to HE. There was no D2
tourney, and Merrimack would have likely been a strong contender for a D1
bid each year.
Then the second event took place. The WCHA and HE dissolved their
interlocking schedule agreement, leaving HE with just an 18 game league
schedule for 1989-90. At that point tentative schedules for 1989-90
already had HE schools playing 2 NC games each against Merrimack, home and
away. HE decided to invite Merrimack in immediately and the school
accepted in late January 1989.
In hindsight, which of course is 20/20, I wonder if it might not have been
better to continue with the original plan of remaining Independent, then
applying to HE. I'm not sure if HE's offer of admission could have been
put off for a couple of years, but it's possible. Merrimack was facing the
dual challenge of having graduated the majority of its players that had
been involved in their terrific three season run, and also trying to
suddenly find players of HE caliber. Before the decision to accept
admission to HE, Merrimack had several potential recruits turn them down
and accept offers from conference schools in part because it looked like
Merrimack would be an Independent for at least a couple of years.
So the timetable for joining HE accelerated from a couple of years to about
eight months. And the school may not have been prepared to make the jump
that quickly, but optimism was running rampant and everyone believed they
would be able to contend within a short period of time. Still it proved to
be much more difficult than anyone could have imagined. And the argument
has been made that at least in part, the way this whole scenario played out
ultimately resulted in the dismissal of coach Ron Anderson this past
February.
At any rate, I agree that in some ways the situations are similar, while in
other ways there are differences. One is a state school and one is
private; one had a D1 facility already and the other did not; one was
located in Alaska while the other is just outside of a major U.S. city.
> So, Fairbanks--and perhaps other small schools--can't compete for the
> recruits until they have a winning program, but they can't win until they
> have more competitive players....what a Catch 22!
It is...but on the other hand, these schools look to the examples set by
similar schools that have been able to achieve success. LSSU is one
example. And CC under Don Lucia is another. Those schools were able to
become wildly successful, and the others had hopes that they could do the
same. And of course everyone believes they can succeed where others have
not.
> And the fans are disgruntled. But would the fans be happier if the team
> were simply *winning*? I think they might.
I think about a school like UAH, which was struggling as a D1 Independent
and returned to D2 and won NCAA titles. My impression is that UAH is more
popular in Huntsville now than when it was in D1 -- although I'm not
certain. And so it does seem that being able to win has a certain
attraction for people.
> Mike also wrote:
>
> >An interesting side question is, can Merrimack become a contender in HE,
> >and if not, would it consider moving to the MAAC.
>
> Probably not, since such a move may be considered a loss of face, no matter
> how practical and logical the move might be.
That may be. For the record I am optimistic about Merrimack's chances,
given the changes that I think will take place in the near future including
the construction of a new rink. This is a program that has been on the
verge for a while...almost always competitive and nearly making it to the
league semifinals several times before finally doing so this past season.
I think more so than a possible loss of face, there are a number of
advantages that are had by being in HE that might not be had elsewhere.
Hockey is the only sport in which Merrimack can claim associations with
schools like BU, BC, and big New England state schools. And I wonder
whether potential rink funders would come forth if the program was not in
HE. As well, being in HE allows the school to receive a sort of national
attention that it did not have before. These things are all considered to
be very important, especially the new rink which I believe to be a priority
of the school in the very near future.
For me, as an alumnus, I'm more excited about the opportunity to play the
schools in HE and potentially do well than I would be if they were
elsewhere. At the same time, there has been a lot of pain and anguish over
the last nine years, and that cannot be discounted. And my resolve has
been tested at times. You keep thinking it will pay off someday, but
sometimes you wonder if it will.
Union is another school that I consider to be in a similar situation. As
an outstanding academic institution, Union in many ways deserves to be
associated with the other great schools of the ECAC. But years of
tremendous success in D3 were followed by years of fighting to be
competitive in the ECAC. That has to be trying for any team's fans, and it
has been for several of the other schools we have mentioned.
An interesting aspect to this whole topic is that D1 hockey is unusual in
having such a large percentage of its teams come from institutions that are
*not* D1. The majority of D1 hockey schools do not fit the profile most
people normally think of when they think of NCAA D1 sports. Out of the 42
schools in the four established D1 hockey conferences (including Mankato as
a WCHA member), nearly half are D2 or D3 schools. What will this mean for
the future as the sport continues to grow and college sports in general
continue to become more of a big business?
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93
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