Okay, time to indulge in some rampant uninformed speculation:
 
First, isn't Larry Winer perhaps slightly overselling a Quinnipiac
team whose only non-conference games were a a win and a split againt
Division I "powerhouses" Army and Air Force?
 
Second, I think the ECAC works so well with 12 teams that they should
try to keep that number.  After all, Union was added at the same time
Army was dropped.
 
Third, I don't think Union is ready to leave of their own volition any
time soon, but might they be booted out if the writing were on the
wall and it was the only chance to snap up Niagara (although who knows
if Niagara would want to join the ECAC; they seem to have their sights
set on the CCHA)?
 
Finally, imagining the travel partnerships if Union was replaced:
Niagra-Cornell and Colgate-RPI; or [insert Connecticut school
here]-Brown, Harvard-Dartmouth, UVM-RPI.  Adding Niagara might post a
travel problem for Harvard and other New England teams.
 
                                          John Whelan, Cornell '91
                                                  [log in to unmask]
                                     http://www.amurgsval.org/joe/
 
"We've got a whole mess of penalties"  -- Cornell PA Announcer
   Arthur Mintz, after the Cornell-Union brawl 1998 December 4
 
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