There is a simple way to normalize between the
conferences, and I hate it and am not suggesting
it.  However, it is more practical than any plan
involving upping the number of NC regular
season games, since travel and other
considerations means this will never happen.
 
Simple, ugly, solution:
 
Eliminate the conference tournaments.
 
Take the top 8 teams from each conference by
regular season standing, and send them to the
eight RS number 1's and 2s' home rinks as follows:
 
Conferences: A, B, C, and D.
 
at A1: A1 plays B8, C4 plays D5;
at A2: A2 plays B7, C3 plays D6;
 
and like that.
 
The winners of the two Saturday games at each
site play Sunday.
 
That Sunday night, the selection committee just
happens to "invite" the eight survivors to the
NCAA tournament.  You can do their relative
seeding by RPICH or whatever you want.
 
The merit of this system is that it eliminates the
idea that the committee "screws" any one team.
You must play your way into the tournament.
 
OK, what if a #1 blows their game against a #8?
Well, if you want to protect a team from a too
quick exit (see the "Harvard rule change" of the
ECAC's in 1993), split the games between two
weekends and make them best of three or
whatever you want.  Or have a 3 game round
robin where each team plays each of the others
and the winner is picked by record with a clearly
defined tie-breaker for the inevitable ties.
 
Greg
Boston
Let's Go ECAC!