Rich Vehlow writes-
 
>1. on ECAC: if an ECAC underdog wins it all, it's something worth remembering.
>2. on NCAA: I believe in structuring the playoffs in such a way as to devote
>equal number of berths to the league. The only way to determine which league
>is the strongest is through playing in the playoffs, not voting by officials!
>Perhaps 2 teams per conference, plus the top two independents, then out of
>those teams, seed them so that #7 plays #10 and #8 plays #9 in a prelim.
 
Let's say that the only East teams deserving of bids to the NC&& (two-
team per conference and automatic bids notwithstanding) are BU and
Maine...as determined by this magic science of sched strength.
Thenhow is the tournament nothing more than a glorified WCHA-CCHA
combined invitational?
 
As Rich says, the only way to prove it is is on the ice. That's why
we have a tourn. and not a mythical ntnl champ.
 
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the reg. season champs
all win the tournament. Then we all know that Minnesota, Michigan, Harvard
and Maine are all the best in their league. The sched strength is highly
debatable due to the lack of nonleague games by midwest teams and the
eventual deficiency of nonleague games for the east teams. But the
league champs are a given. How do we know that the #4 HE team
is necesarily better than the #1 ECAC team if they've never played
this sesaon?
 
Personally, I prefer last years format where east teams played west teams
in the early rounds. This is a good way to indicate which conferences are
REALLY stronger. Even though the ECAC was supposedly weak, Clarkson
defeated defending national champ Wisconsin and #1 in the nation Lake
Superior...not bad for a rep from a weak league. Even though the
west was supposedly stronger, the east sent three teams to the final
four (it was legally called that then). Granted, NMU was #1 but Maine,
BU and Clarkson were #2-4 not any west club. Let them settle it on the
ice
 
Like I said, the east v. west in early rounds format was a truer
indicator of strength than any seedings.
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bri Farenell 	Clarkson '95	[log in to unmask]
 
"It's a great day for hockey."	---Bob Johnson, 1931-1991
 
MY ECAC ALL-ROOKIE TEAM: Todd Marchant (CLA), Craig Hamelin (RPI),
 	Ben Coughlin (HAR), Brian Mueller (CLA), another defenseman
	and Christian Soucy (UVM-Rookie of the year).