Chris Skowen writes:
 
>Are you refering to the top 2 finishers in the regular season or the
>conference play-offs?  Wisconsin did finish second in the regular season
>and would have qualified for the play-offs assuming you meant the regular
>season.
 
Highlights of my suggestion are:
  - regular season champion gets automatic berth
  - playoff champion gets automatic berth
  - if one and the same, 2nd team is the league's choice
  - all 4 regular season champs get home ice for best 2-of-3 quarter-final
  - "other" WCHA team travels to CCHA regular season champ, vice-versa
  - the same for ECAC-Hockey East
  - phinal phour is still single elimination
  - NC$$s are completed in 2 weekends and incorporate 4 campus sites,
    1 national site
 
This year would have been:
   Northern Michigan at Michigan
   Lake Superior at Minnesota
   New Hampshire at ?
   St Lawrence (?) at Maine
 
Obviously, a system needs to be worked out to handle the event of a tie
for the regular season title.  Did Harvard win the ECAC outright?  If so,
they would host New Hampshire (presumably Hockey East's choice as the #2
team).  If St Lawrence-Harvard tied for the regular season title, SLU
would be granted ECAC #1 (tied for reg season, advanced farther in
playoffs) and Harvard #2 (tied for reg season).  Under this scenario, if
neither SLU or Harvard had won the tournament, the playoff champion would
be #2 and SLU #1 (reg season title, advanced farther than team(s) tied
with).  If SLU-Harvard-Clarkson tied for the regular season title, then
SLU is #1 and Clarkson #2 (advanced farther than Harvard in the tourney).
The possibilities abound.  Still, I like the system.  It guarantees 2
eastern and 2 western teams in the phinal phour -- at which point I'm
undecided on the pairing.  We could either guarantee an east vs. west
final or allow for two team from the same area (or even conference) to
play for the championship.  I tend to favor the latter.  I like having
the possibility of Michigan-LSSU or BU-BC, etc. for the championship
game.
 
Btw, all remaining independent teams would have to obtain affiliate
membership to a conference.  Their only ticket to the NC$$s would be
winning a conference tournament.
 
John H