Dave writes:
> Does anyone know how the conferences make their schedules?
This varies from conference to conference. The ECAC, for example, seems
to have their schedule pretty much set from year to year, even down to
the order the games will be played and where. For the past several years,
RPI-Vermont played Cornell-Colgate on the last weekend of the season, only
the site rotated from year to year. Most of the rest of the league schedule
was identical.
Hockey East's schedule is almost completely random from year to year. The
conference gives its teams great freedom to schedule nonleague games and
many of the conference games end up being worked around those nonleague
games. The preliminary HE schedule changed drastically from the first
draft to the (hopefully) final version.
> - Wisconsin opens the season @ Michigan Tech -- and hosts
> Michigan Tech 3 weeks later! This doesn't seem fair to either
> team. Are there any other series very close together? (I
This was probably due to the quick 38-to-34 adjustment and all the
shenanigans this caused in the past few months. Keith's mail
showed a good example of how two teams can end up playing their entire
season series in just a few weeks. Shuffling schedules to accommodate
one team's desire to play nonconference games is accepted practice, and
sometimes after the whole schedule is drawn up it's easier to do something
like shift the Mich-BG series to Tuesdays late in the season than force
many other teams to change their schedules.
> - The schedule is pretty balanced as far as home and road
> games. Wisconsin never has more than 2 weekends in a row both
> at home or both on the road (ignoring the holiday mess).
This seems to be a priority with most conferences. In the past there
have been stretches where teams were on the road for a month and a half
(Merrimack, just a couple of years ago). It seems that they don't mind
teams playing all their games in a short length of time if it prevents
this situation. I tend to agree.
> How do the players, fans, and coaches view these series? Is it
> better than the regular 2 games at home/on the road
> series? worse? no difference?
Just as a note, back when HE teams played four league games against each
league opponent, they used to play home-and-home series, but not in the
CCHA/WCHA weekend style. One game might be on a Saturday, the other on
a Monday. In 1988-89 HE changed to just three games/opp and the home-and-
home was wiped out. Most HE coaches apparently did not like home-and-home;
Merrimack's Ron Anderson in particular even split up a pair of Maine at
Merrimack games in 1989-90 because he opposes playing the same team back-
to-back. The games were played on Mondays two weeks apart. The idea is
that if you win the first game, the opponent has the advantage in the
return engagement. Without the numbers here, I would estimate that a
pretty high percentage of WCHA/CCHA teams who won the first game did not
win the 2nd. Personal experience of seeing back-to-back games between
the same two teams also makes me believe the Game 1 loser fares better
the second night.
Next year HE returns to playing 4 games/opponent. Some have mentioned
the possibility of home-and-home returning. I doubt it, although it
may help boost attendance (news of a great first game makes the rounds
and fans turn out for the rematch).
on time differences:
I can't speak for NMU/SCSU/ND, but since you mentioned NMU & SCSU start
earlier on Saturday, my guess is this is to allow the visitor to get
out earlier.
Again to explain how things work in HE, a few years ago the
starting time of all home games played at a HE team's home rink was
changed to a uniform 7 pm Eastern. There were two main reasons for
this. Since HE teams are geographically closer than any other league,
HE plays many games during the week, and teams (other than Maine) will
travel to the home team's rink in late afternoon, play, and bus home
immediately afterward. For example, Northeastern can leave as late as
5 pm for a 7 pm game at BC or BU just a mile or two away. Having the
games end earlier allows the players to get home earlier, and many have
early classes the next day.
The second reason was public relations. Back when games started at 7:30
or 8 and overtimes were ten minutes, it was rare for a game to end in
time for the result and/or story to make the first edition of the Boston
Globe & Boston Herald, which go to press sometime before 10. The first
edition is the one that is usually distributed to most of New England.
With a 7 pm start time, now almost every game makes the first edition.
> Are there some guidelines for what is a "fair" league schedule? Is
> there some underlying logic to the schedules (other than
> "fit it all in without too many complaints")? I imagine that it is
> difficult making the schedule and taking into account shared buildings
> school calendars, and who knows what else...
This is pretty much the way it goes, adding in the "preliminary" year-to-
year order of playing games that the ECAC, etc. have. It's all flexible,
after all the schedule exists for the benefit of the teams playing it.
As you suggest there are an awful lot of factors to consider. That's why
it can be late summer before most schedules are fit to be released,
although this year is clearly worse than average.
BTW, Dave, thanks very much for posting that WCHA schedule. It's very
much appreciated.
- mike
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