O.K., here's one more suggestion for the NC$$ tournament.
 
Let's make it an 8 team affair.  The 4 regular season conference winners
receive seeds 1-4 and host the quarter-finals at their campus arenas.  The
quarter-finals could then go back to the best 2-of-3 format.
 
The conference tournament winners are also included in the 8 team field.
Should any team win both the regular season and tournament, it's the
conference's discression as to which other team they send.  All conferences
send two teams.
 
Back to the quarter-finals.  The second WCHA team (non-regular season
champion) travels to play the CCHA winner, and vice-versa.  The same holds
true for the ECAC and HE.
 
  - Every conference is represented with it's two "best" teams
  - Regular season winners are rewarded with home ice for the quarter-finals
  - The conference get to keep their tournaments, and they still mean
something (an NC$$ bid!)
  - The NC$$ tournament is still completed over the course of two weekends
 
Comments are encouraged.
 
John Haeussler
Univ of Michigan