Ryan Robbins writes:
>Goldberg also said Maine stands to forfeit 14 games of the
>1991-1992 season, which could cost Maine the Hockey East regular
>season championship. A ruling on the status of the regular season
>championship isn't expected until next month.
 
I think Goldberg was partly right.  I looked at the games Maine played
in 1991-92, and the possible forfeits being talked about involve the
14 games of the first semester in which Cal played.  After the first
semester, he would have been eligible.  Anyway, Maine went 11-1-0 over
those 14 games - 2 were EX losses to Teams Canada & USA.  So we are
REALLY only talking about 11 games that would need to be forfeited.
Those were wins over Kent (2), BC, BU, UAF (2), NU, NDame (2), and UNH
(2).  Maine's one loss was to BU; obviously, that would not need to be
forfeited.
 
5 of the 11 are HE wins.  If Maine is forced to forfeit the games and
the HE standings are reordered, then UNH wins the regular season
title.  HOWEVER, I would suspect that the decision on this might
really be up to HE, and although I have no way of knowing what would
happen, I personally believe they'd leave things as they were.  After
all, this is the NC$$ handing down the penalty, not HE.
 
Now, here is the thing I find most interesting.  Some may recall, UAF
forfeited 12 games in 1991-92 due to use of an ineligible player.  But
they also played Maine early in the season...and apparently the ruling
may be that BOTH teams used ineligible players.  What happens then?
Do both teams get losses?  Can we give the wins to Merrimack instead? :-)
 
BTW, Maine's 14th game was 12/07/91, and then they played in the
Freezeout on 12/19-20 (2 wins), followed by the Badger Showdown on
12/27-28 (a win and a loss).  It's possible the other 3 forfeits
Goldberg was referring to were these 3 wins.  But I don't think so,
because by the time 12/19 rolled around, the first semester would have
ended and Cal would have earned his credits.  That's just my
speculation.
---                                                                  ---
Mike Machnik                                           [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                   *HMN* 11/13/93
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