(The following was written for the benefit of a couple of friends of mine (a
friend and a girlfriend), but I thought I would post it to the list since I
added some commentary. Is my understanding of the BU-PC series during league
play correct?)
 
 
Before I forget.  I was watching College Hockey USA on SportsChannel and they
put up a number for Albany tix.  518-487-2088.
 
Anyway, here are the tournament seedings.  There is a lot of grumbling going on
in a lot of towns, but it is especially loud in Providence right now.  Despite
beating BU in the standings of Hockey East, taking their league series 2-1, and
advancing further in the Hockey East playoffs than BU, Providence still does
not get a bid.  At least last year, we could say we took the standings and
head-to-head series with St. Lawrence to quiet the disgruntled Saint fans in
Canton.  BU's Jack Parker is on the selection committee (I think), and this one
looks
fishier than last year's allegations about Kennedy's presence for us.
 
The other disgruntled people are mostly in the West where none of the
conference tournament winners got first round byes.  LSSU finished second to
Michigan during the regular season by only a pooint or two (thanks to being
swept by Ohio State in Columbus) and then beat UM 3-1 in the finals of the CCHA
tournament and received a #3 seed in the West for their trouble.  Michigan
still somehow gets #1 West anyway despite splitting the regular season series
with LSSU and losing the aforementioned championship game.
 
The Gophers of Minnesota still get the #2 seed in the West despite being
upended by NMU in the title game of the WCHA.  This makes a little more sense
though as NMU was third in the regular season, lost the season series with Minn
and the Gophers won the regular season title by a huge number of points..  If
there were justice: 1W Minnesota 2W LSSU 3W Michigan and BU or Clarkson would
sit at home and Providence would be in the tourney as a low east seed.  (Since
they always take 2 per conference, Clarkson goes and BU should not have made
it.)
 
The only other sniping that may occur is from New Hampshire.  While it is true
that as regular season and tournament ECAC champs last year, Clarkson deserved
a bye and was severely slighted having to play in the first round, SLU really
didn't have the kind of season deserving of the bye.  They barely escpaed #10
seed RPI in the semis of the ECAC tourny and finished secoond in the regular
season race.  Probably UNH has a firmer grip on the bye argument, but it is a
close call.   (A lot closer than the West anyway.)  No surprise that
Alaska-Anchorage is seeded #6 in the East as that means they play #3 West and
thus get a location a little closer to home than Providence.
 
 
>
> Others may provide us with more details, but announced tonight were
>
> West           East
> -----------+----------------
> 1. Mich    | 1. Maine
> 2. Minn    | 2. StLaw
> 3. LSSU    | 3. UNH
> 4. NMU     | 4. BU
> 5. MiSt    | 5. Clarkson
> 6. Wisc    | 6. A-A
>
> The 5/6 seeds will travel to the *other* regional.  Thus the 1st game
> of the regionals will be
>
> West              East
>
> NMU-Clarkson      BU-MichSt
> LSSU-A/A          UNH-Wisc
>
> In each case, the winners will advance to the regional final games.
>
> 1 vs winner of game with 4th seed
> 2 vs winner of game with 3rd seed
>
> Best of luck to all for a great tournament!
>
> Wayne Smith
> The College Hockey Discussion List administrator
> BITNET/CREN:  wts@maine
> internet:     [log in to unmask]
>
 
--
Dave [log in to unmask]
Cornell '91 OSU Med '95
Let's Go Red!