Although I still believe that Croce's article is simply blind speculation,
I will comment on Dave's observation.
 
>IMHO, RPI would be a nice addition to Hockey East.  Although from HE's
>position, if they had their pick of ECAC teams to invite, it strikes m
>that they might want Harvard (have no idea what they'd think of that).
>That would put all four DivI hockey schools in the same league, making
>the Beanpot an all-HE game.  It also means no significant changes in
>travel plans for anybody (except for Harvard- and in their case it
>probably represents an improvement!)
 
Harvard would NEVER join HE.  Their self-image is totally incongruous with that
of the other schools in HE.  Face it, Harvard is probably one of the top three
schools, if not the best, in the country.  Academics/research/policy is its
raison d'etre--athletics is an afterthought.  The fact that they can field a
team that is almost always competitive, even to the point of winning a national
championship, only underlines the fact that Harvard has no need for HE.
 
Also, Andy asks:
 
>It seems to me, however, that Bob Croce's article was mainly focused on
>their (RPI's) academic index. I'm not sure I understand why RPI would want
>to switch to HE based on the academic index. Is Croce saying that since the
>other ECAC schools have a high index, then they don't have as high quality
>players as RPI, just better students? Can somebody help me on that?
 
>At the end of the article he mentions the possible added revenue & exposure
>for RPI along with the idea that playing in HE would put RPI back into the
>"fertile" recruiting pool.
 
I discussed this point with Croce at length.  Croce maintains that RPI was
forced to increase their academic index at the time of the HE/ECAC split.  The
addition of the Ivy's altered the index of the old ECAC member schools.  I
noted that RPI won a national championship in 1985 as a member of the new ECAC,
but Croce believes all those players were recruited under the old RPI academic
index which reflected the original ECAC (no Ivies.)  He even went on to name
players on that team who could never be recruited by RPI currently.  Frankly I
don't think his information was credible, and won't repeat the names here.
 
I responded that some Ivy teams have done very well competition-wise, and
they don't even grant scholarships.  His response was even more outlandish--
the Ivies have an ADVANTAGE over RPI since RPI can only grant 18 scholarships.
The Ivy League schools offer grants-in-aid, which are virtually unlimited since
EVERYONE at an Ivy school has some kind of financial assistance--otherwise no
one could afford to attend.  Thus RPI has been strapped in its recruiting by
boosting its academic index to reflect that of the Ivy League schools, and
further hindered by its specialization as a math/science school.
 
I discussed several specific examples with him to see how it fit with his
thesis.  Colgate, he alledges, has a much lower academic index than RPI's--all
those social science kids I guess (I must have picked the wrong major.)
Clarkson knows how to "manage" its academic index, Mark Morris is able to get
certain less-qualified kids to attend.  Cornell, as I noted previously, also
has a lower academic index, again because of the breadth ofits course
offerings.
 
On the subject of recruiting, he disagreed with my statement to him that RPI's
entry into HE would not grant them additional access to the Massachusetts
pipeline.  He thinks that the better marketing of HE, the NESN contract (which
isn't picked up in the Capital District), the national "prominence", etc.
would spell recruiting opportunities for RPI.  Croce also discounted my
observation that not all HE teams have done that well competitively, such as
Providence, Merrimack, (sorry Mike, and I did note the pre-HE team to him) and
New Hampshire.  (please, no flames--I'm only talking historically).  His
argument broke down at this point, both in terms of facts, and in his penchant
for belittling certain teams in the HE.
 
Croce is an OK guy, and good for the Capital District.  He is probably one of
the nicer media guys who follow college hockey, certainly nicer that Laura
Vecsey, whose RPI hockey columns can be classified as smear jobs.  He does
project energy and certainly is an asset in the marketing of college hockey
in the Capital District.  And I also think his opinions reflect those of a
great many RPI fans, maybe the majority.  But, and he would not dispute this,
they do not reflect the opinions of the administration at RPI.
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