A few thoughts to add to those voiced so far on rivalries...
 
It is very true that there will be more rivalries vs. "better" teams or
schools that are perceived as "better" (even if not in a particular sport)
than others.  Witness the rivalries in the WCHA, where most teams name
Minnesota as a rival.  WI/MN is big in all sports, and extends to NFL
football as well (sorry Vikes!).  MN/NoDak is also a natural "border
battle." The fact is, MN is always strong, and a win always means
something, so there are lots of rivalries.
 
Carrying this over to the ECAC, it was mentioned that the Cornell/Harvard
rivalry is more on the Cornell side.  This is understandable in part
because Cornell was an easy game for Harvard for so many years. It also
points out another factor not yet mentioned: small-town vs. big-city.  The
Cornell road trip to Cambridge is legendary, and is a big production for
the students involved. In addition to seeing a great hockey game, they get
a visit to Boston. I noticed this in Ivy football: Dartmouth had a big
rivalry with Harvard, but not so much vice-versa.  The feelings of
small-school/big-school and small-town/big-city were definitely evident.
This occurred no matter how badly the Harvard football team sucked (which
was often a lot).
 
Someone also asked about Harvard-Yale in hockey.  The rivalry is definitely
there, no matter what the teams' strengths. One of the few Harvard losses
in '89 was to Yale, and it always seemed to us that the Whale thermostat
would conveniently "break" whenever Harvard visited, leading to sloppy
conditions that favored Yale.  The four-way rivalry of the Beanpot is
natural, since the same four play every year, and are geographically so
close.
 
While we're enumerating rivalries, I should note that Wisconsin has a
growing rivalry with Lake State, stemming from the '92 final and other key
NCAA games. And we shouldn't forget Northern Michigan-Michigan Tech, which
is similar to Clarkson/SLU in pitting two small towns from the north
against each other.
 
Drop the puck, eh?
 
-john nash
Harvard '91, Wisconsin '97
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John Nash                    [log in to unmask]
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