Having ditched the two-games-plus-minigame format last season in favor of a
single game quarterfinal, it appears that the ECAC will change the playoff
format once again for next season.  A notice from the league office states
that next season's quarterfinal round will be a best-of-three affair, with
the games to take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday if necessary (much
like the CCHA and WCHA quarterfinals).
 
I guess the ECAC has seen the light.  Not many people were happy with the
two-games-plus-minigame quarterfinal, and there have been calls for a real
best-of-three since that format was instituted back in 1983.  I never
thought the ECAC would institute a best-of-three format (being the "academic
league" and all), but apparently, there was a lot of pressure to do away
with the minigame format -- due in part to situations like the RPI-Harvard
series two years ago, when the Engineers were forced to pull their goalie
during regulation of a TIE game -- and the single-game quarterfinal met with
some disfavor as well.  Now that three of the four conferences have gone the
best-of-three q-final route, I wonder if the NCAA might consider going back
to their best-of-three playoff structure of two years ago.  I would bet that
another factor pushing the ECAC into the best-of-three format was the extra
$$$ that the longer series would generate -- and we all know how interested
the NCAA is in money.
 
Ah, well, the rationale doesn't really matter -- the important thing is that
ECAC teams will have at least one more playoff game next season! :-)
--
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and probably '94
LET'S GO RED!!
Couldn't pass this one up...
"I can't believe the prizes they have.  I mean, how many ceramic dogs and
 velvet bullfighter paintings does one home need?"
-- Rob Bartlett, about Wheel of Fortune