On Mon, 18 Mar 1996, Dave Hendrickson wrote:
 
> Here is what Comley said a week ago as posted by Keith Instone, straight from
> the archives:
>
>
>      Finally, he said they will try hard to avoid having two teams from
>      the same conference play in the first round. But he said they would
>      NOT fiddle around to avoid intra-league matchups in the SECOND
>      round. So, you could see Minnesota face a CCHA team in the first
>      round, with the winner playing Colorado College.
>
>
> Do I need say more?  Seems to me that sending the number 3 Eastern team
> kicking and screaming out of its region is doing A HELL OF A LOT OF FIDDLING
> AROUND, just to avoid second round intra-league matchups.
>
> Almost all of the controversy has involved the side-effects of the committee
> doing EXACTLY the kind of fiddling they said they wouldn't do.
>
 
Dave,
 
I meant to take issue with this when I saw it posted. I talked to John
Gilbert, who was also a part if this conference call, the same night as
the call. He said he asked Comley if they were going to avoid second round
intraconference matchups. He said that Comley said they would where
possible if it did not hurt the draw. As far as I can tell this is
exactly what happened.
 
Since I did not hear what Comley said I assumed Keith had it correct. But
I hinted at this several times to various people in private mails and to
the list. I further asked Gilbert this morning to repeat what he said.
His story did not change. Keith, if you further clarify this I think all
parties would be greatly appreciated.
 
IMHO Lowell did not EARN the third highest easten bid. Maine did. It was
Maine's self impossed sanctions that GAVE Lowell this high a bid.
Mass-Lowell SHOULD HAVE taken care of business this weekend against
Maine. Couple Lowell's performance this weekend with the strength of the
west and Lowell was seeded 8/9 overall. Very deserving of a 4 seed. If
you look at the way Lee Urton just posted, Lowell was then placed in the
West to avoid a second round matchup with BU.
 
Tim
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.