I don't think the WCHA has any special obligation to solve the ECAC's
scheduling problems. Like the CCHA, the WCHA plays a 28-game league
schedule. I don't expect to see that number drop, in either league.
-- Erik
> Thinking about the ECAC without Vermont, I see three possibilities about how
> they could make it work.
>
> 1. Find a 12th team. Keep present home and home. Obviously the preferred
> option, but it does limit out of conference games (although at present, more
> out-of-conference games is not an ECAC problem as the league schedule is the
> fewest of the four big conferences. More out of conference games would require
> other conferences (WCHA especially) to reduce their league games, which is
> doubtful).
>
> 2. Go with 11 teams and two game sets each weekend. In my opinion this is a
> very poor option. It means you would have a very unbalance schedule in terms
> of who you play at home, and who you play away. (Imagine this year, with the
> teams so close, home ice could have come down to who drew Princeton on the
> road and Colgate at home vs a team that had the reverse. There is no doubt that
> one scenario would be much more beneficial.) The WCHA has had the unbalanced
> schedule come in to play a couple times in the past, and they only do it for
> two teams, not the entire league. In addition, imagine not seeing a
> SLU-Clarkson, Harvard-Cornell, RPI-Union, Harvard-Brown, at your home barn. That would
> stink for fans. Some have suggested using non-conference games for the
> return match, but that just undermines the idea of more non-conference games vs.
> other conferences. Overall this is a bad option.
>
> 3. 11 teams, home and home. This would be based on a 20 game league season
> where everyone plays home and away one game. The present travel partners
> would need to be modified a bit into revolving partners, but it would just require
> a little organization by the league office (then again, that may be asking
> way too much). Teams would still make some of the same roadtrips (SLU-Clarkson)
> but would take advantage of the closeness of other teams to mix and match
> weekends i.e. Dartmouth can be paired with Harvard, Yale, Brown or even the
> capital district teams. None of those trips is impossibly long, although you might
> see a few Sunday afternoon games needed. Similarly, Yale-Brown-Princeton,
> Harvard-Brown-Yale, Colgate-Union-RPI(-Cornell) could be possible pairings. The
> trick would be to avoid having a road team play a rested home team the second
> night, which could probably be avoided. Many ECAC teams already do these
> type of split weekends due to exams and the Beanpot, which generally has Harvard
> about 6 games further into the conference schedule by mid January. It would
> take planning, but it could be done.
> To apply this idea, either you try to keep all 11 teams in action each
> week (Friday SLU @ Brown, Clk @ H, Dart @ Yale, Cor @ RPI col @ Union, Team X @
> Princeton non-league. Saturday Cor @ Union, Col @ RPI, D @ P, Clk @ Brn,
> SLU @ Y, H off ), or you have one team off, with the other 10 playing two game
> sets, say for example (D-H at Cor-Col, Y-Union at SLU-Clk, P-B home and home,
> RPI off). Given the close travel distances, it can be made to work either way
> or a combination of both. The trickiest part of this idea is when one team
> visits the North Country alone (as must happen once in this scenario). But
> pairing this team with a non-league opponent probably could be planned.
> Certainly this would be more fair than the very unbalanced plan.
>
> Just my ramblings,
>
>
> William Sangrey
> Cornell '87&'94
> Let's Go RED!!!
>
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