> really, if the ivyies don't want to change and make themselves competitive
> (I can finally say this now that SLU has made the leap *cheer*), then that
> is really their own problem, and why should these small, one sport schools
> have to cater to it?  I would absolutely love to see it happen, if only to
> rid the teams of the baggage that Adam Wodon described in his article on
> USCHOL (I loved the article BTW:))...As I said, I doubt it would ever
> happen, but stranger things have happend right?
 
Never say never.  But my article never suggests teams should leave
without the Ivies. They should ALL leave together.
 
With all due respect, people who talk like this about the Ivies, are
missing the bigger picture.  What good does it do to say, "screw the
Ivies, let's leave"?  That's does college hockey no good.  You're
talking about programs with the richest traditions you can get.  Why
would the rest of college hockey wish to see them fail?
 
Dartmouth played in the first NCAA Championship,
Princeton-Brown-Harvard-Yale have been playing since the beginning of
time.  Harvard has won a title, and we all know about Cornell.
 
To me, it's a shame that those schools lost prominance in other sports.
It's probably inevitable that they will sink in hockey too, why should
we make it worse by pushing them in the water?
 
College hockey needs as many strong viable programs as possible.
Suggesting they become scholarship schools doesn't do any good.  People
are always complaining about the hypocrisy of college sports, and not
that there isn't any hypocrisy in the Ivy League, but at least they are
trying to some degree to stay "pure" by not giving scholarships.  Some
may say they are just trying to act wholier than thou -- whatever,
that's not the point.
 
The bottom line is, the Ivies will die if separated, at least to any
competitive degree, and instead of saying, "So what, why should we care"
- we should all realize that we should care.  If not, well that's pretty
cold, and doesn't do the sport any good.
 
I'll repeat, the fact that these schools are as competitive as they are
should be applauded.  Everyone says, oh the Ivies, they'll never compete
big time -- well, they compete pretty well.  Let the other scholarship
schools play on the same playing field as the Ivies, and let's see how
well they do.  Applaud these schools for being as competitive as they
are --- because they have many attractions to kids, and a great crop of
coaches.
 
The same really, could be said for the whole ECAC.
 
AW
 
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