On Thu, 9 Dec 1993, Dan Luning wrote:
 
> A report in the local paper, Albany Times Union, stated the rumor that RPI
> has an open invitation to go to Hockey East.
>
> Thoughts,comments....
>
Hmmmm.  Very interesting.  I'm sure for the Boston area schools, Boston
College, Boston University, Merrimack, Northeastern, this wouldn't pose
much of a problem.  But Maine has a five hour bus trip to Boston already,
and as it is most of their games are in weekend pairs.  I'm not sure how
long it would take to drive from Orono to Troy, but I'm sure it would be
quite a trip to make.
 
OTOH, it might make league scheduling easier for when Mass Amherst
becomes a full member, rounding the league out at ten teams instead of
nine.  That way, you could eliminate two teams from the playoffs and
start with quarterfinals (same as now) or give the top two teams byes
from the first round.  With nine teams, things would seem (at least to my
non-statistically oriented brain) to get quite a bit hairier.  Even if
the top team got a bye, the next round would have five teams... I suppose
you'd have to play all year to eliminate one team.  Ah, cruel fate!
 
IMHO, RPI would be a nice addition to Hockey East.  Although from HE's
position, if they had their pick of ECAC teams to invite, it strikes me
that they might want Harvard (have no idea what they'd think of that).
That would put all four DivI hockey schools in the same league, making
the Beanpot an all-HE game.  It also means no significant changes in
travel plans for anybody (except for Harvard- and in their case it
probably represents an improvement!)
 
An interesting idea, though, to be sure.  I hadn't heard anything about
how HE expected to arrange its schedule and playoff formats after Amherst
joins.
 
David M. Josselyn
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