As several people have already pointed out, when I was making up my list of
schools in Mass I did forget a little old school by the name of Harvard.
No doubt this is a reflection of my years at MIT where Harvard is considered
the "other school in Cambridge".  :-)
 
Also, if I included Providence College as within the Mass "sphere" I could
have also included Brown.
 
Alan Harder responded:
>  > Well... yeah.  Massachusetts has Boston University, Northeastern,
>  > Boston College, Merrimack, UMass-Lowell, UMass-Amherst within its
>  > borders.
>
> Not that my list of Michigan Div 1 programs were all nationally-ranked
> teams, but you've named some arguably no-name (nationally-speaking)
> colleges here.  Or am I wrong on this?
 
Well, I just went ahead and listed Div 1 programs.  But if you look at it,
there are very few no-names.
 
BU - NC$$ finalist last year
Harvard - NC$$ semifinalist last year
Northeastern - NC$$ participant and arguably should have beaten LSSU
UMass-Lowell - NC$$ participant and came within double OT of the Final Four
Boston College - not currently a power, but has historically been one.  Not
                 too far back, BC enjoyed the status currently afforded BU.
Merrimack - no school that has Mike yapping about it can be considered no-name
            :-) but admittedly they have not yet attained national success in
            Division 1.
UMass-Amherst - their first year back in Div 1.  Give them time and they'll
            be there.
 
adding in my "border" teams:
UNH - NC$$ participant last year.
Providence - tough times now, but nationally recognized a few years back with
                Chris Terreri in goal.
Brown - NC$$ participant the year before last.
 
So if you add in the border teams, we talking 10 teams with eight of them
being nationally "significant".
 
> > UNH and Providence are barely outside its borders and
> > arguably feed on the same talent pool.
>
> Of course, Michigan is only a stone's throw from Ohio and Wisconsin,
> so I guess you could say Michigan programs have to fight it out with
> Wisconsin, Miami, Bowling Green, etc.  Of course, claiming that that
> might be somewhat of a stretch.
 
Well, UNH, Providence, and Brown are all within a half hour ride of the Mass
border.  They're not just in neighboring states.
 
Happy Thanksgiving to all,
 
DaveH