Miscellaneous controversial items. :-)
 
BEST TEAMS EVER
From 1970-72, BU's totals of 54-6-2 give them a winning percentage of
.887 - behind both 83-85 RPI and 91-93 Maine.  Besides that, like with
Cornell from the same time period, I don't think those BU teams would
be as dominant in the 1980s and 90s.
 
Occasionally the topic of "best ever" arises here...I happen to think
some of the very best teams ever don't stack up as well record-wise
because of the fact that they played in a time period that I believe
contained perhaps the best college hockey ever played.  In 1986-87,
teams like Boston College, North Dakota, Minnesota, Harvard, Bowling
Green, and Michigan State were all outstanding enough that I would
include all in a best ever list.  It is no coincidence that these
teams all excelled one year prior to the year in which USA iced what
was IMO the best US Olympic Team ever talent-wise.
 
DivI has expanded so much since then and competition for players has
grown to the point that IMO, there is more parity among the teams, but
this has also led to a sort of watering down of the game.  There has
not been any year since 1987 in which one could argue that more than a
couple of teams (if any) belonged on a best-ever list, but 1987 had 6 of
them (again, IMO; others are free to disagree).
 
IN STATE PLAYERS
It would be interesting to see what would happen if a school from
Massachusetts had as much of an in with in-state players as Minnesota
has.  This is also something we have re-hashed here many times before,
but it cannot be denied that the competition for Mass players is much
greater than the competition for Minnesota players, meaning that more
good players get spread out among more teams.
 
And that doesn't mean that good Minnesota players aren't wooed by
schools other than UM, or that good Mass players don't go to schools
outside Mass.  But no school could voluntarily choose to recruit
strictly from Mass and be as good as Minnesota has been while doing
the same.  Even BU, which has had the best in with in-state players
recently, has had to compliment those players with quality players
from outside the state.
 
FOREIGN PLAYERS "TAKING AWAY" SCHOLARSHIPS FROM AMERICANS
Let's not forget that of the 21 Eastern DivI conference schools, 16
are private.  They certainly have no inherent obligation to give
scholarships only to Americans (not that public schools necessarily
do, either).
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93