In article <[log in to unmask]>, Mike Machnik
<[log in to unmask]> says:
>
>The odd thing is that to me, I think things should go the opposite way -
>Maine should be allowed to play in the HE tourney, but the forfeits
>should hurt them in the rating. I don't see it as being much
>different from a team that actually goes 6-27-1 and then rallies to
>pull an upset and win its conference tourney, therebye earning the
>automatic bid - although this hasn't happened before. But then again,
>a lot of things have not appeared to make sense lately.
>--- ---
>Mike Machnik [log in to unmask]
After seeing all suggestions on this board (including some of mine),
this one makes the most sense to me. Maine used ineligible players
for those 27 games - while Tory's presence probably did not have
as much of an impact, Tardif's certainly did (and the Tory and Tardif
games overlapped anyway) in all these games. It was not Tardif's
fault, but the fact is he was ineligible. So, Maine has no right
to claim those games, in any rating system. So, treat them as a
6-27-1 team for all purposes; but let them play in the HE tourney.
If they can win it, they deserve a NCAA bid. If not, they don't.
There's no question of not paying for their mistakes in this
scenario.
BU would have played Maine in the 1st round of HE playoffs; and they
probably didn't want to. But, if they are as good a team as I think
they are, it shouldn't have made a difference in a best-of-3 situation
at home.
And, of course, HE could have avoided this messy situation. Unfortunately,
Mike's not in the HE administration :(.
Cheers
Venky
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