Eric Burton's swipe at the Dartmouth was unfair.  Using one game as an
example of unbalanced games is not appropriate.  One could use that
argument to suggest that Northern Michigan should close their program
after this past weekends double whitewash in the Twin Cities.  Dartmouth
is a lower team in the ECAC and North Dakota is an upper half team in the
WCHA, so it is not surprising that the better team won.  But reverse the
circumstances, and take a lower half WCHA team and send them to play at a
top half ECAC team and a similar game would not be a surprise.
Unfortunatly, given the very limited number of non-conference games the
WCHA plays, it will not happen, since the WCHA teams seem not to play
non-conference games on the road (neutral sites maybe, but away, rarely).
  All the talk of expansion and comparing strengths of conferences seems
to ccome back to one problem.  How many league games (or what % of total
games) is correct.  Most people wish the WCHA played more non-conference
games, but they point out that they want to play everyone home and away
twice, which can not both be done.  So what do we do?  We live with the
present situation until it changes.  Expansion may be the solution, or
maybe reorganization of the conferences.  But each school must do what it
thinks is right for its student-athletes.  Hopefully things will work out
for the fans and the game when the schools act.
  One last comment about the ECAC, it seems that many people argue that
the ECAC must be a weak league since it does not have a dominant team or
two (ie.  BU, Maine, UML in HE, CC and MN out west, and UM, MSU, and WMU
in the CCHA).  The reverse may be true.  A good league may be a
competitive one.  It is more fun to go to games not being sure who is the
best.  In the past few weeks I have read comments about "boring" wins in
Ann Arbor, blowouts in Minneapolis, and predictable games in Orono, while
I see that "lowly" Dartmouth played to an exciting standoff with
Vermont.  I would much rather have the later than the former any day.
 
Just my two cents.
 
William Sangrey
Cornell '87&'94
Let's Go RED!!!
 
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