I guess this is the time of year the "week off" debate starts again, so
I'll just offer a couple questions for consideration:
 
Three tourney team did not play last weekend:
 
CC and Minnesota from the WCHA, which had its tourney last week.
W. Michigan, which was defeated the the 1st round of the CCHA tourney by
Bowling Green last week.
 
Will this be a disadvantage for any of these teams?  How does the "bye"
scenario complicate this?
 
CC will be facing a team that team that has played 3 games since it last
played.  Which will have a greater effect?  Tired legs from a first round
match for the Lowell-MSU winner, or rustiness for CC.
 
Minnesota plays Providence on Friday.  The Gophers may be a little
rusty.  Should Minn advance, will the week off mitigate Michigan's "bye
advantage."
 
Same goes for WMU.  Will Clarkson be sharper from having played this
weekend?  If the Broncos do manage to advance, will they be less tired
Saturday against BU because of the week off?
 
I welcome any thoughts or opinions anyone may have to offer.
 
Another interesting tidbit.  3 of the 4 teams in the 4-5 games (WMU,
Clarkson, Lowell) come into the tourney having lost their last 2 games.
 
3 of the 4 teams in the 3-6 games come into the tourney fresh off of
confernce tournament wins (Providence, Cornell, Minnesota)
 
3 of the 4 bye teams are regular season conference champions who are
coming off of Consolation Game wins (lost in tourney semi-final, but
bounced back)  BU, CC, Vermont.
 
 
Just thought those trends were curious.  Anybody else notice something
worth pondering?
 
 
Let the over-analyzing and speculation begin!!
It's one of my favorite parts of being a fan.
Counting the hours until Albany...
 
Cheers,
 
Greg Weintraub
 
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