I think that a big reason of why St. Lawrence is being seeded second in
the latest NC$$ poll is because of what happened with Clarkson last.  It
might just be my ECAC bias, but I feel that SLU does deserve a bye.  Last
year, Clarkson won the regular season title and the tournament but was
seeded fourth in the East.  They were seeded behind UMO, BU and BC.  A lot
of people in the ECAC were upset at this, especially since Clarkson had
beaten BU in a regular season game at BU.  With these three facts,
Clarkson's fourth seeding was a big surprise and a slap in the face to
the ECAC as a league.  Clarkson went on to beat Wisconsin at home 2-0,
and then upset LSSU away 2-1.  LSSU had some 28 or 32 game unbeaten
streak.  I think that the top ECAC team deserves more respect this year
than last year.  I think that seeding guesses so far with Clarkson 5th
in the East are pretty correct.  It has been mentioned before, by various
sources, that the top teams in the ECAC can compete with the top teams in
any league, so why not place (not give) St. Lawrence as the second seed in
the East.
 
Mike
Clarkson '87, '90