In regards to Maine in the HE playoffs, I will put in my $.02.
 
First, I will assume for the sake of arguement that Tardiff was ineligible
for all 30 games.
 
Secondly, if I misstate something, please forgive me, I am just trying to
be philosophical, not hateful.
 
 
My view of the situation.
 
I think Hockey East has no option other than to force Maine to forfeit all of
the games in which Tardiff was ineligible and award the points to the other
teams.
 
It's not a case of what is the best thing now, it's a case of precident.
 
Since it was decided that Maine would forfeit the games Tory played in and
award the points to Providence, HE must do the same here.
 
Consistency is more important than fairness here.  If we don't like the
results of this situation, we can make a new rule in the off-season to handle
such situations in the future, but for now, you can NEVER change the rules
in the middle of the season just because you don't like the circumstances.
 
 
 
Although as a BU fan, I do not think it is fair for BU to have worked so hard
to get the top seed in the playoffs only to face Maine in the first round, I
do not see any other option.
 
Other options people have given are to give BU the choice of who to play or
simply keep Maine out of the postseason, giving BU a bye.
 
The problem with the first one is two-fold.  #1, Lowell, NU, UNH, and
Providence were not going to be given a choice of who to play after the
Tory incident was worked out, Maine was dropped down and that was that, so
we can not give that choice to BU.  #2, whoever BU choze would only have
fuel for their fire, "Hey, BU picked us because they thought WE were the
worst."  Thank you... no.
 
The problem with giving BU a bye again comes back to precident.
 
When Maine was found to have been using an ineligible player that Walsh
*might* have known about (please, I'm not saying he did, but there was an
accusation or two), Maine was not being kicked out of the postseason, so
how could we kick them out when they used a player that we are pretty sure
they did not realize was ineligible.  That would be inconsistent.
 
 
So, I do not see any other option.  Maine drops and everybody else moves up.
 
Besides, from the perspective of a BU fan, if BU's goal is to win the HE
tourney, then does it really matter who they play.  If BU can not win a
2-out-of-3 in their own rink than they do not belong in the Garden.
 
 
Tony  BU'92'93
Former Ogre