Hi Mark -
 
On Sat, 21 Mar 1998, Mark Lewin wrote:
> Let's see what happened in Lake Placid this weekend. Yale enters the
> tournament as the RS champion and number one seed. If they win the league
> championship, they go to Albany with a 1st round bye. If they lose in the
> semifinals and Clarkson wins the title, Clarkson probably wins the bye in
> Albany but at least Yale gets to stay east.
 
  Once Yale lost to Princeton on Friday, they were all but guaranteed a trip
to Ann Arbor.  I ran multiple scenarios on John Whelan's excellent www scripts
and the consolation result had no effect on Yale's East/West placement (their
seed position in the West is another story).  Once Yale lost, UNH leapfrogged
them in the PWR, and Yale could not make up the difference by winning (or even
not playing) in the consolation game.  It may not seem fair that UNH should be
playing in Albany having closed 1-6-0, but in the eyes of the NC$$ it's one
long season from your first to your last (pre-NC$$) game; no one game counts
any more than another.  So UNH's better PWR ranking secures them an Eastern
Regional berth, consigning Yale (and their fans) to points West.  Considering
UNH's dismal play of late, they might actually have benefitted by playing far
away from the doubting UNH Faithful, but it appears they're Albany-bound.
Time will tell if they can make the most of the opportunity ....
 
  Keeping my fingers crossed in Maryland - Jim
  Go Blue !!  It's Redemption Time !!
 
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