At the risk of stirring up some controversy again, I have a thought
(question?) that I'm interested in hearing various readers responses
to. This is the question of by what criteria do we judge a hockey team.
Of course I realize that this is not a simple question, and for those truly
concerned with detail a large of number of statistical factors and knowledge
of team styles, members, and attributes is incorporated into a total
conception of a given teams abilities.
But, I suppose my main point is the use of the play-off system and its
purposes. At the outset, it would appear that the purpose of the year-end
playoffs are to determine and rank the best teams in the league one final
time by direct match-up. But this system had me a little confused.
 
This year, the playoffs have been
beset by upsets. In the ECAC, the sixth and seventh place regular season
teams will play for the "championship" and most likely for an NCAA tournament
bid tomorrow. This year, the ever-blurry meaning of winning the ECAC tournament
becomes even more blurry. Do we consider the winner to be the year's best
team? And if not, why bother having a tournament except for the sake of
clutching to a few last roadtrips before the season ends and we have to
start watching roller-hockey (which is very amusing, by the way).
Is the NCAA tournament a reward for a season of hard work and a top of the
league finish, or is it a reward and opportunity for a lower eschelon team
which won four out of five specific critical games at the end of the season.
Or maybe it is ability to win those few critical games at the end of the season
that points to a truly outstanding team. Maybe this is an indicator of what
teams are "hot" now, and that's who we want to see play at the end of the
season, not teams that came on strong but are now all washed up.
I don't know what the answers to these questions are. Were these tournaments
always in place or was there a time when the season rankings stood and that
was the end of that.
Well, I suppose I'll end on that note and wait for a response, or until
tomorrow when I read this and realize i forgot to make a point or
something.
 
Until then, kudos to RPI, Princeton, PC and all of the rest of the tournament
underdogs.
 
-Greg Friedman '96
Ever True to Brown
 
 
PS. I also hope that the RPI band is being more polite to the Princeton band
than it was to us.