The reward for a strong regular season with a top seed means that a team
won't have to face the stiffest competition until deeper into the
tournament.  Other than that, the games between any two teams should be
played on as equal a basis as feasible.  The current arrangement where the
"better" team is likely to get a "tired" team is not fair competition -
in the same way that it wouldn't be fair to slant the ice surface in
one team's favor based on their regular season record.
 
What are some solutions?   The day-of-rest would help, but is clearly not
economically feasible.  Drop back to an 8-team field?  It would be tough
to stage in a regional structure (just two games per regional?).
 
I know we've beat this horse before, but what about a 16 team field? Would
attendence suffer much if Maine, LSSU, BU, and Michigan had had to play
a first round match against say RPI, Michigan St., W. Michigan, and Lowell?
(or whoever 13-16 might be). At least, everyone in the second round would be
playing their second game.
 
Robin Lock
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