Having followed Army all season and thus having seen the MAAC schools and ECAC
(Colgate, RPI, Union, Princeton, Yale)- the MAAC is still a level below Union
and clearly not competitive with the better ECAC teams and would probably be
run out of the rink by Hockey East teams with superior size- however-
 
there is no doubt that will change- a school like UConn with national name
recoginition is a good candidate for a MAAC breakout school- Quinnipiac
certainly is a good solid club- but the fact is they are a niche D1 presence
with hockey being their showcase sport; perhaps when they get their own
building and some crowds-
 
remember a state school only has to give a little money to make itself very
inexpensive to a student athlete- Union and the other non Ivies in the ECAC
charge Ivy tuition without being Ivy League so that has to put them at a
disadvantage with Harvard, Yale, Princeton et al when competing for bright
hockey players- 30K plus for Harvard is easier to justify than 30K for ....
[fill in the blank I won't offend anyone]
 
I still maintain the emergence and development of American hockey players is
critical to college hockey "breaking-out".  The sport needs a national base
and hopefully the rest will follow as I believe the college game is much
better hockey than the NHL style
 
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