Jim writes:
>     Now that it has been confirmed that the Hockey East quarterfinals
>are single-game elimination contests this year, why does my UNH schedule
>give March 1 AND 2 as dates for these games ??  Will two games be
>played on Friday night, then two more on Saturday ??  If this is the
>case, does anyone (Mike ??) know how the games will be partitioned -
>8 at 1 and 5 at 4 on Friday, then 7 at 2 and 6 at 3 on Saturday ?? or
>some other combination ??  Anyone with inside skinny who can shed some
>light on this ??  Thanks ....
 
    The dates are officially listed as Feb. 27, Feb. 28, March 1, and
    March 2 (Wed-Sat).  One game will be played each night so that HE can get
    all four games covered on NESN.  Last year NESN missed several exciting
    playoff games because they had committed to covering several others.
    This also means that I can go to all four games. :-)  (except at Maine,
    perhaps.)  Hockey is one of those sports that you must watch in
    person, unless you simply can't get there - then tv is ok.
 
    I do not believe there is any pre-set schedule such as 8 at 1 on
    Sunday, etc.  The playoff schedule will be drawn up after all the home
    teams are decided so that arena scheduling conflicts can be avoided.
    The UNH schedule probably has March 1 & 2 because 1) when the
    schedule was printed, the games were going to be played on those
    nights (later expanded to four nights), and 2) it had not been
    determined who would be playing when.
 
    With NESN planning to cover the HE Final Four - actually, all of
    HockeyFest '91 - this means that all 7 HE playoff games will be televised.
    This is the main reason for the quarterfinal format change, other than BC
    being concerned over losing to Merrimack last year :-).
 
    BTW, as happened last year, there will be *no* consolation games in
    either the ECAC or Hockey East Final Four.
 
 
    - mike