In response to Steve Christopher's question about the Independents
and the NCAA tournament...This is the final year of the Independents'
automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. In 1990 and 1991 the
Independent entry was Alaska Anchorage. If my memory serves me
correctly, previous Independent entries in the NCAA tourney were
Merrimack and St. Cloud State...Last season (1990-91) we here
at UAA began a post-season Independent tourney. Its primary
reason was to help the NCAA selection committee decide which
Independent team should go, if it was close at the end of the
regular season. It should be noted, however, that it was never
state or implied by anyone that the Independent tourney winner
would be the one chosen by the NCAA selection committee for the
NCAA Championships. It is true that UAA won the Independent tourney
last year and was the Independent team selected. As mentioned
before on the hockey-L, Alaska-Fairbanks is hosting this year's
Independent tourney, March 6-7 at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.
Tourney participants are still TBA. When the four are chosen,
they will be seeded in accordance with the final KBYR Independents
Poll with 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3.
Tim McDiffett