Well, on the subject of HE vs. ECAC strength, first of all, remember that I
am an alumnus of Clarkson Univ., so I may be somewhat biased.  But the point
was made that the HE overshadowed the ECAC in last year's HockeyFest, as the
ECAC game preceded the HE final.  However, I believe that in the 3 (?) years
of HockeyFest, they flip-flopped (as in '91, Clarkson played SLU for the ECAC
title in the 8 PM game).  Also, the frenetic pace of the HE final may have
had something to do with the fact that both Maine & UNH had played their
semifinals on Thursday, with both Cornell & SLU having played double-OT games
the night before their finals.  Plus, there were probably more fans at the
Maine-UNH game because...Orono & UNH are a heck of a lot closer to Boston
than Canton, NY and Ithaca, NY.  Really, having the ECAC final in the Garden
was not really a great idea.  An ideal location would be the Knickerbocker in
Albany, but having it in Lake Placid is fine with me (more Clarkson fans,
assuming we make it...)
 
Aside from comparing the head to head records of the ECAC and HE teams, the
only way to determine overall strength is to have an ECAC-HE Challenge (like
the Big East-ACC Challenge in basketball) or have an ECAC-HE All-Star Game.
 
And speaking of league strength, I was listening to the Penn State vs. Mich-
Dearborn game on the radio, and the announcer and the executive director of the
ACHA were comparing the ACHA teams to the ECAC.  I hope he was talking about
Div. III...
 
Jeremy Hall
Clarkson '91
Penn State '??
LET'S GO TECH!! GO ICERS!!