Good for Rich Comley! He is absolutely right. There are Ratings Percentage
Index (RPI), of which only half or 25 are included in the Pairwise Ratings
(PWR), include what is probably all the 59 Division 1 teams in college
hockey. Atlantic Hockey teams are at 25,28,40,53,54,56,57, and 59 whereas
CHA is at 29,35,46,49, and 52. The highest ranked team in BOTH conferences
is 25. Of these 13 teams, only 3 of them rank in the top HALF of all the
teams in college hockey. If these numbers are confusing you, they mean
Atlantic Hockey and CHA both SUCK. They do not deserve an automatic bid. If
ever one of these teams climb to the top 10, then they will get an at large
birth, and deservedly so. But until that time, these garbage teams have
taken spots in the tournament from much better teams who are more deserving
except for the NCAA's attempt to encourage poor puppies to try and run with
the big dogs. It is a rip off to the fans watching these regionals to have
to put up with watching such low level hockey. If Sacred Heart (or Holy
Cross or whoever it was) had been a good team, then when they beat Minnesota
in the Grand Forks regional, it would not have been such a big deal, but
because they were so bad, it was a big deal (even a broken clock is right
twice a day, so just because they won a game does not justify their
automatic bid).

Nathan Hampton    


On 3/20/07 8:35 PM, "TODD NIELSON" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> That's an interesting way to make a 17-team tournament.
> 
> Seriously, this would make a real mess of things.  If a CHA team is rated in
> the top 10 or 12 (ie deserving of a bid regardless of whether it gets the
> autobid or not - not a far-fetched idea for a couple of those teams), why
> should it have to go through a play-in? Can there - should there - be
> different rules for different conferences?  I don't think so at all.
> 
> -Todd
> http://mysite.verizon.net/creasemonkeyhockey
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Deron Treadwell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 7:11 PM
> Subject: Comley: AH-CHA Play-In Game Needed
> 
> 
>> An interesting mull from Rick Comley.
>> 
>> From a recent USCHO article, quote from Michigan State coach Rick
>> Comley:
>> 
>> "What I would like to see is a play-in game [between the CHA and
>> Atlantic Hockey]. The CHA should not have an automatic bid under any
>> circumstance whatsoever. They should have a play-in opportunity."
>>