Bill writes:
>It's kind of interesting that a few months
>ago, the ECAC decided to move the Phinal Phour of its East-West Division III
>tournament from top-seeded Plattsburgh because it wasn't "centrally located"
>and was too difficult for the other teams to get to -- and now they've
>elected to put their Division I Phinal Phour, which is more or less their
>showcase event, just down the road a piece in Lake Placid.
 
I agree, I was completely shocked by this decision.  I never knew how out
of the way LP was until I took a ride there a few months ago with Heather -
it is tiny and NO highways go through it.  LP was empty at that time.  The
ice arena is the biggest building in town.  I can imagine how it would be
beautiful in the winter and great for skiing, and maybe the town (does the
town own the arena?) gave them a great break on rates so as to lure more
tourists.  But it is going to be a hike for virtually everyone to get there.
 
How about the transportation problems - maybe someone here who was at the
1988 NC$$ final four can explain how bad those were.  With several thousand
additional people due to be wandering around a town whose downtown you'd
miss if you blinked while driving through it, this could be hectic (I'm also
recalling the 1980 Olympics).  I can understand the NC$$ final four being
held there with all the tradition that goes with it - and maybe the ECAC
wants to build a new tradition by associating itself with the Miracle on Ice;
this is potentially a brilliant PR move and it will be interesting to see
how it pans out.  But I can only see more problems than good things.
 
BTW, despite winning the whole shebang, Heather is *still* upset about that
decision to move the ECACs to Elmira...I'm sure you recall the story about
Plattsburgh leaving the trophy at center ice and walking off after winning
the tourney...well, apparently they also refused requests for a team picture
after winning the tourney because she only has team pics from the SUNYAC and
NC$$ championships.
 
>ECAC commissioner Clayton Chapman ... stated that the
>ECAC would be adopting the two-referee, one-linesman officiating crew for all
>league games starting next season.  It had appeared previously that the ECAC
>would stick with the one-ref, two-linesmen system.
 
I had heard that all of the conferences were iffy on going to 2 refs, but
once Hockey East jumped overboard and committed to it (perhaps upsetting
a few people in the process since it was not done simultaneously across DivI),
the other conferences were likely to follow suit (possibly reluctantly).
Bill's final sentence seems to support this, although I don't know exactly
what the level of support was in the ECAC for the 2 ref/1 linesman system.
 
 
- mike (wow, 2 posts in one day)