Mike wrote, in part..
>            ...  I don't see any reason to believe that you can consider
>the X games you might play in the HE tourney to be equivalent to one game
>for exemption purposes.  There is certainly nothing that explicitly states
>this.
 
I agree, Mike!  The Ice Hockey rules do not explicitly call any
post-season tournament equal to one game, so I see no basis for it.
 
IMHO, for Maine to defer the exemptions penalty to next year would be
pure folly, unless a definitive response could be had from the
appropriate arm of the NCAA.
 
I hope the Maine administration is not confusing ice hockey (D-I) rules
with basketball rules.  Maine had a brush with the latter, as many of
you may recall.  The women's B-ball coach scheduled 1 too many games a
few years ago and made itself ineligible for its own conference
tournament.  The basketball rules are different (see 17.5.5.1.1).
 
>Seems to me it is possible for Maine to win the postseason ban appeal and
>still not be allowed to appear on tv.  Then it would be up to HE and the
>NCAA Ice Hockey Committee to decide whether to let Maine compete given that
>turn of events.  I could actually see HE allowing Maine in and keeping the
>games off tv (IMO).  Not too sure about the NCAA though.
 
I don't know the principal's well in either the NCAA Selection Committee
nor HEA, but this could be a heck of a mess for everyone.
 
I can't find any tournament selection information in the NCAA Manual,
but perhaps it is there (sigh) or perhaps the Selection Committee has
written or unwritten guidelines.  That could be important.
 
Doesn't a certain 4-letter TV sports network have the rights to
broadcast the NCAA Championship Finals?  Doesn't the Selection Committee
have an obligation then to provide teams that can play on TV?
 
Let's say Maine wins an automatic qualifier to the NCAAs via an HEA
regular season or tournament victory.  How is the Selection Committee
going to deny Maine entry to the NCAA tournament?
 
From the HEA standpoint, the winner of the HEA tournament is an
automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament.  Would HEA want to
"jeopardize" that and give up TV exposure and revenue in the HEA
playoffs?  I suspect some of the folks in an HEA meeting discussing it
might not need a microphone in order to be heard.
 
This is all speculative, but the tie of the TV ban to the post-season
ban seems to me to be very important and not at all definitive.
 
No wonder Deron hasn't had a reply on his query of the NCAA!  :-)
 
Maybe Maine should decline the forthcoming restitution of this year's
post-season play.  OK, OK, nobody in their right mind thinks the appeal
will be "successful" nor that the above would happen :-)
 
Hope this has been entertaining,
wayne
 
Wayne T. Smith                         Systems Group -- CAPS
[log in to unmask]                    University of Maine System
Co-owner of the College Hockey lists - Hockey-L/Info-Hockey-L/Hockey3
 
P.S. Any Maine administrator care to chip in?