There's an article
<http://www.uscollegehockey.com/news/1997/03/31_schedule.html>
describing how the NC$$ tournament is being shifted one week so it
falls after rather than during hype-ball Final Four weekend.  This is
old news, but one detail surprised me.  I had expected they would
insert an extra week between the Regionals and Frozen Four, but that
won't be the case until 2000.  For the next two years, the NC$$s will
be held on consecutive weekends, just one week later.  (Next year the
regionals are March 27-29 and the finals April 2 and 4.)
 
        This makes me wonder: will the conference tourneys be held at
their usual time in 1998 and 1999, leaving an extra week between them
and the NC$$s?  When will the NC$$ seedings be announced?  Will teams
be able to play non-conference games in the intervening weekend, as
they do in baseball?  This strikes me as the perfect time to hold the
Big Ten hockey tournament. ;-)
 
        Personally, I'd rather see the extra week between the
conference tourneys and the NC$$s than right before the Frozen Four.
Using an extra week to hype the finals (which is what the NC$$ wants
to do) reminds me too much of the Super Bowl.
 
        Oh, and BTW, the regionals are in Ann Arbor and Albany next
year.  Three straight western regionals in Michigan--why did I think
it was going to be in St. Paul for some reason?
 
                                        John Whelan, Cornell '91
                                        <[log in to unmask]>
        <http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jtw16960/jshock.html>
 
Cornell Men's Ice Hockey: Back-to-back ECAC and Ivy League Champions
 
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