Mike writes:
 
>Maybe so...but that happened because the WCHA teams did not perform well
>enough during the reg season to get those byes.  He has no right to
>complain, IMO.  It was not unfair at all.  Sounds to me like he is looking
>for an excuse.
 
Perhaps, I might buy that (pun unintended) in another year. But,
the fact that two of the games were really close (Mich-Wisc went
to overtime and LSSU-UMD was one goal, I think) reinforces his (my)
argument. Let's face it, Maine was a lot better than Minnesota and
the score reflected that. BU was better than NMU and the score
reflected that. In very close games, fatigue certainly plays a role.
 
Perhaps they could strike a compromise like have one day in between
the first and second round, as someone suggested. That seems fair.
 
>> However, the NC$$ also wants to have as much parity as possible. That's
>> why they abandoned the best 2 of 3 format and the first 2 rounds on
>> campus format.
 
[...]
>Believe it or not, the NC$$ doesn't want parity (not IMO)...the last thing
>they wanted was for (i.e.) four stiffs to make the final four.  They like
>the excitement of the single elim format (one loss & goodbye) but they
>also want the best teams to get to the final four.  Having Maine there does
>more for the publicity of the sport and event than if Minnesota was there.
 
Well, I disagree. I think they do want parity. I don't think they want
everyone going into a series knowing that someone is going to win. That's
why there is a limit to the number of teams that can enter so there are
no Maine-Army matchups, for example. I refer you to a letter sent to me
from Phil Buttafuoco (Joe's cousin? :)  in which he stated that the
reason the best of 3, on campus format was dropped was because, "the
coaches felt that there was a tremendous disadvantage" for teams
without home ice. He referred to the fact that 14 of the last 16 teams
with first round byes (at the time it was written) advanced to
the final four. If they didn't want more parity, then why change it?
 
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