Two items caught my attention during the last two days which prompt
my revisiting the subject too.   First,  was the item that the ECAC has
renewed the Lake Placid deal for their tournament through 1997.   The second
item is the recent discussion on ice sizes.   The two are related.
 
        The game on 200 x 100 ice is simply quite a bit different than on
200 x 85 ice.   When I said this two years ago after watching all three
ECAC teams get blown away in the first round of the regionals  --  after
spending the weekend before at Lake Placid  --  not many people bought into
that theory.   But I still respectfully disagree.   It had a lot to do with
it.   I watched Clarkson totally dominate Minnesota at Worcestor,  only to lose
2-1 because they had gotten out of the habit of taking the abuse and going
to the net  --  like you must on the smaller surfaces.
 
        And now the ECAC seems bent on continuing to make the same mistake.
 
        It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the end.   The
character of teams out west may well change to favor speed instead of size.
But it should also be noted that slowly there are more 200 x 100 surfaces
appearing in the East.   Isn't UNH going to have one?   In D-3,  UConn now
plays its tournament at World Skate in Simsbury,  CT,  which has both sizes
of which the larger is preferred for college games.
 
        -- Dick Tuthill