Arthur Berman mentions that the ECAC made its own bed, and has to sleep in it.
I am not quite sure what he means.  Perhaps it was my fault--the sentence should
have read ""It wasn't always that way," the point being that in the first years
of HE, the Garden tournament drew more fans to the ECAC event than HE's.
 
At the time there was a significant difference in the self-characterization of
the student athlete in the E
ECAC vs. HE.  HE increased the number of games they were going to play
significantly, and went to the interlocking WCHA schedule when they were unable
to fill all their expanded dates.  IMHO the interlocking schedule was an
impossible schedule, and truly inconsistent with the goals of the ECAC.  Of co
course that was in the days before there were Division I teams in Alaska.
 
All in all I think the split has benefitted Eastern hockey, and helped to grow
the sport.  But I still miss playing those HE teams during the regular season,
but even that is changing in recent years.
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Brian Morris             Nothing to Lose.  Go RPI!
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