Heather and I returned tonight from our trip to Colgate, and yikes, is
there a lot of mail to get through.  Great job, everyone.  I don't
even need to post the Merrimack-Colgate box since Andrew Frisch took
care of that, and Dave Josselyn's comments from the Merrimack point of
view were very valid IMO.
 
I caught the replay of the shootout between Maine and Northeastern,
and it was very exciting.  It certainly looks from this first crack at
it that the experiment will be a resounding success.  I noticed that
Shawn Walsh, who was a heavy supporter of the shootout, was all
smiles afterwards despite Maine having lost the SO.  He should be; it
seemed to go over very well.
 
Now, since there have been some questions about how the result will
count in the standings, I might as well explain that I have worked
with both HE commissioner Bob DeGregorio and the league's Director of
Marketing and Media Relations, Tim Burton, to iron out a plan that
makes the most sense.  I presented several possibilities and made a
recommendation that was accepted by the league.  That recommendation
was based in large part on comments by several people on HOCKEY-L.
 
It is actually very simple.  The game goes into the books as a *tie*
in both teams' HE *and* overall records.  The SO winner receives an
extra point in the league standings.  Thus, both teams are 0-0-1 in HE
play, but Northeastern receives an additional point, and this should
be reflected by an entry in a new column in the standings, "SOW".
Take a look at the standings I have listed in the file 9495CONF STAND
to see how this will be done.  It will also appear in the HE standings
I will post by Monday morning.
 
The reasoning behind listing the game as a tie in both league and
overall records is that it causes too much confusion to list a game as
a win in HE but as a tie overall, since the NC$$ recognizes the game
as a tie.  Please note that the IHL method (for example) will NOT be
used.  This was one of the possibilities I listed in my presentation
but which I recommended against.  IHL teams do not have to deal with
an overall record.
 
Therefore, after the game, Maine is 3-0-1 overall, 0-0-1 (0) HE with 1
point.  Northeastern is 2-0-1 overall, 0-0-1 (1) HE with 2 points.  The
formula is: 2x(wins) + 1x(ties) + 1x(SOW) = points.
 
I hope this will serve to put to rest the amazing amount of
speculation I have seen here. :-)  However, I am not surprised that
the media may have seemed confused at first in dealing with.  It will
take a little bit of time to get used to.  I did notice that the
article on the game in the Boston Globe said that both teams were
0-0-1 in HE, and this is of course correct.  The box score listing the
teams' records was incorrect, however.
 
BTW, I know that the game was not the first college hockey game to
feature a shootout.  Shootouts have occurred in the past in tourneys
such as the Nissan/Jeep Classic to decide third place when the
consolation game ended in a tie.  This was the first time that a
shootout did actually affect league standings, however.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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