Mike Machnik wrote:
 
> However, the alignment as described would mean that each team would have 32
> league games against a total of 21 opponents, plus any NC games.
>
> For comparison, in 1995-96, RPI played 11 ECAC opponents (22 games) plus 8
> NC opponents (10 games) for a total of 32 games against 19 opponents.
>
> The "WCCHA" alignment would seem to go a long ways towards answering the
> suggestions many people have made.  I thought the point made by those
> people was that playing more opponents would be good for the various
> ratings and NCAA selection.  "WCCHA" teams would play more different
> opponents than probably any of the teams in the two Eastern conferences.
 
My first thoughts, as I was going through the Hockey-L digest were the
same as Mike's, but then I continued to think about it, and now I lean
in a different direction.
 
First of all, the WCCHA, if I understand things correctly, will consist
of three Divisions with either 7 or 8 schools in each Division.  It
wasn't clear from the description if the 8 games to be played outside of
one's Division would be against 8 different teams or 4 sets of two games
or something else.  But let's assume that it is indeed against 8 different
teams.  Thus each team would play against 6 or 7 teams in its own Division
and 8 others for a total of either 14 or 15 opponents.  Actually, it would
not surprise me if the 8 outside games would be against only 4 teams making
the total 10 or 11 opponents in the WCCHA.  They won't play those 21
different opponents that Mike speaks of each year -- it will take at least
three years to see them all.
 
To me the question is what will the WCCHA teams do with the remainder of
their schedules?  If they play those games against eastern teams things
will improve.  If they play more games against WCCHA, in tournaments or
elsewhere, it won't.  I fear the latter is what will happen.
 
Looking at the Divisional setup, it seems to me that some teams will be
losing their traditional rivalries and will end up using their
nonconference games to keep these going.  This too would be bad for college
hockey in general.
 
It is also possible that the WCCHA will be the first step to forming
three independent western leagues after intra-Divisional rivalries a
well-established.
 
Ralph Baer
RPI '68, '70, '74
 
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