Mike writes:
>Looking at the NC$$ poll and some other factors, and the losses suffered by
>top ECAC teams in the last couple of weeks, there seem to be four Hockey
>East teams ranked above the 2nd ECAC team (and in some cases, above the
>1st ECAC team).  Since the West has consistently had six or more teams
>ranked higher than many of the East teams, only five teams will likely go
>from the East, and so there is even a better chance this year than there was
>last year of the ECAC sending only one team to the tourney.
[NCAA poll excerpt deleted...]
 
>and other factors like strength of schedule, etc. push Harvard down even
>further, so it is conceivable that if Harvard wins the ECAC tourney,
>only one ECAC team will go in favor of a fourth HE team or another West
>team.
 
The ECAC will send two teams.  Why?  Because, as NCAA Selection Committee
Chairman (and Cornell AD) Laing Kennedy mentioned during last year's
playoffs, the committee has put in a rule stating that no league will have
fewer than two representatives in the NCAAs.  Yes, it's political, and it's
likely to force a good Hockey East team to stay home for the playoffs. (It
is indeed very likely that the Independent bid will come from the East and
that there will also be four HE teams worthy of consideration.  Add the two
ECAC bids and that makes seven from the East, meaning someone is going to
have to get bumped.)
 
I'm not terribly fond of this rule, but on the other hand, it will probably
work out that the ECAC would have sent two teams anyway.  Regular-season
champion Harvard will go, but I don't believe they will win the ECAC tour-
nament.  Thus, that automatic bid will go to another ECAC team.
--
Bill Fenwick                        |  Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94        |  [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"This is my favorite part:  As a worldwide television audience looks on, the
 most powerful nation on the face of the earth is reduced to watching a
 referee explain to fellow Americans which side of a coin is heads and which
 is tails.  I hate to imagine what the Japanese were thinking."
-- Norman Chad, on the coin toss before the Super Bowl