Steve Klein wrote:
 
>With all due respect to Erick, attitudes like this concerning the growth of
>college hockey really trouble me.
>How many teams were there in the WCHA (even or odd?) when Minnesota-Duluth,
>Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Northern Michigan joined the league?
>Should the WCHA have stayed a nice, tight little league like the old 6-team
>NHL?
>Would that have been good for college hockey?
>What if Ron Mason hadn't started the program at Lake Superior State because
>there was no league that would accept it?
>What if the CCHA hadn't grown with its three and four-team days?
>Should the two Alaska teams have been frozen out?
>Growth is good for college hockey. I hope we're never provincial (and I'm
>not calling Erick provincial) about the sport.
>Steve Klein
 
I'd like to think that I'm not provincial, but I think that there is such a
thing as conferences getting too large, and a worry about imbalance in the
levels of play within a conference.  I think the latter can be seen within
the CCHA; there are about four teams that never seem to be able to get it
together and be competitive.  That's too many for an exciting league.  My
fear is that if a number of schools all try to make the jump to Division I
at the same time and join the major conferences, we're going to be left
with more of the same problem.  I don't think that the talent is going to
spread very well into a bunch of new programs.
  My preferred solution is to start up new conferences, with the
acknowledged idea that not all of the conferences are going to be of equal
strength.  I don't think that anyone would argue that the Mid-American
Conference is as strong in basketball as the Big 10 (those of you at MAC
schools, feel free to let me know if you feel differently) but that does
not diminish the fact that the are engaged in legitimate athletic contests,
with plenty of the excitement involved.  I would argue that the fans at
Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green, etc. derive more enjoyment from competing
with each other than they would by getting wiped out by Indiana every year.
  I think that every conference could be guaranteed an entry into the NCAA
Tournament every year, particularly if enough join up to expand to 16
teams.  I've certainly gotten the impression that the members of the (for
want of a better word after ten hours of fixing forklifts) lesser
conferences enjoy the shot at the big boys at the tournament every year.
It would certainly beat inviting that fourth team from a big conference
(says the guy who's team finished in fourth last year).
  I hope that I don't sound too condescending, because that's certainly not
my intention.  I just don't think that it's best for everyone to have their
sights set on joining the WCHA or whatever.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
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