Thanks to Beeeej for responding to Brian's Nat'l Realignment
Plan in more detail than I have time to.  I thought I'd just add that
geography makes Eastern league-engineering somewhat different from the
Western sort.  If the ECAC had far-flung outlying teams that
neccessitated two-game weekend series, then twelve teams might be an
inconvenient number, since the only completely balanced schedule would
have each team playing each other one four times.  But since all pairs
of ECAC schools are less than 400 miles apart (and a couple of them
are in neighboring towns), we have a two-games-per-pair-per-season
travel partner system that runs quite smoothly.  And likewise,
everyone is close enough together that there's no problem with leagues
overlapping in their geographical footprints.
 
        Aside from that, I also take exception to the thought that
*anyone* is in a position to tell leagues how to re-shape themselves
to form a national structure.  If the CCHA and WCHA want to get
together and work out a plan for Western realignment, or the five or
six Big Ten schools want to form their own conference, that's their
prerogative, but if the teams and leagues involved don't consider
their piece of the national structure broke, no one else can fix it.
 
                                         John Whelan, Cornell '91
                                               <[log in to unmask]>
                      <http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jtw16960/joe.html>
 
Attention ECAC:   Eight is Enough--Flush the Final Five!
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.