"Jeffrey T. Anbinder" <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Mike said:
>>Getting to play a virtual home game because you're
>>hosting the tournament is one thing.  But getting to play one when you
>>squeaked in is another.
>
>While I understand the frustration inherent in being sent west (it happened
>to Cornell in 1991, and although we weren't ranked as high at the time as
>Lowell is this year, it was still aggravating), I have to disagree with you
>somewhat on the way you characterize Cornell's appearance in the tourney.
 
Because of PC's run in HE, Cornell wasn't guaranteed a bid until they
won the ECAC Championship with a one-goal win over Harvard.  If they
had lost, they would not have received a bid.  Certainly, they
squeaked in.  It is not a disparagement of Cornell to say that this is
the case.
 
BTW, I wasn't sent West. :-) My team hasn't made an appearance in the
NCAA tournament since 1988.  But I can understand the frustrations of
the Lowell program and fans.  This has happened to them twice now.
Unlike Cornell, Lowell has never had an opportunity to play in front
of home fans in the NCAA tournament, even after apparently earning it
by winning 23 and 25 games in three years.  (25 wins in 94 including
Maine forfeits)
 
Also BTW, a comparison to 1991 isn't even close.  Cornell was sixth in
the East that year.  Lowell was not only apparently third in the East
this year, they were within one comparison won of being second and
getting the bye that Vermont got.
 
>Lowell also had an impressive late-season run, including a defeat of Hockey
>East #1 Boston University, but they didn't fare very well in their
>conference tournament.
 
Lowell's wins over BU actually came over a month and a half ago.  But
over their last 20 games, Lowell and Cornell both went 15-4-1.
 
Also, Lowell wins the head-to-head comparison between the teams as
well as having more overall comparisons won (see below).
 
>By the end of the four tourneys, Cornell's numbers
>in the RPI were a lot closer to Lowell's than they were before the
>conference quarterfinals.
 
In the pairwise comparisons, Lowell posted 10 wins, Cornell 7.  The
teams were closer than they were before the weekend, true, but that is
quite a misleading thing to say without also including the fact that
Lowell remained far ahead.
 
>Cornell was the farthest school from the ECAC tourney this weekend (even
>Harvard is a tad closer), and our students are currently on spring break -
>yet they still brought an impressive turnout (granted, Vermont won by
>numbers, but they're only 70 miles away).  Given half the chance, the
>undergrads and alumni of the Lynah Faithful would buy half the Knick.  Do
>you honestly think that's true of Riverhawks fans?
 
I expect Cornell would bring more people to Albany, but I don't like
the idea of keeping lower-seeded non-host teams in their region solely
for this reason.  I believe it is better to reward a team for its
performance than for the number of fans it has.
 
Crowder was apparently quoted in the paper as saying that he had
prepared to "pack up the city of Lowell and move it to Albany."  I
don't know how many of the Tully Faithful would have actually gone to
follow Lowell, but as a follower of a rival HE team, it has quickly
become evident to me that he has people there doing things they
wouldn't do before.  I suspect a good many of the Tully Faithful would
have gone to Albany, and for Crowder, they would probably have walked
the 180 miles there if they had to.
 
A point raised to me by someone else was interesting and worth
repeating here.  Not many things help boost interest in your program
more than your fans getting to witness live your team's bid for an
NCAA championship.  Lowell has already gone from a program that was
lucky to draw a couple hundred fans to one that brings a couple
thousand to the FleetCenter.  But to cement and solidify that fan
base, you need an event like the NCAA tourney to keep the fans coming
back.  The argument was that allowing Lowell to remain in Albany,
especially when they rank high enough to belong there, could have done
more to strengthen one program's fan base than almost any other
decision that was made.  That helps interest in college hockey to
grow and is good for the sport.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                 [log in to unmask]           [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
*****      Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at:        *****
***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html      *****
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.