I'll agree with you there based on people from my area who are now
playing hockey in both conferences. Three people that were average (at
best) students academically went to Maine, New Hampshire, and
Northeastern to play hockey, while someone who was fifth in his class
needed to go to prep school for a year before going to Yale, while
another person who was in the top 5% of his class ended up at St. Lawrence.
However, the ECAC seems to be doing just fine so far this year anyway.
 
Ray