two thoughts worth $0.01 each?
 
wouldn't it be cool if a team winning a playoff game/series could pick one
player from the vanquished team to join them for their run for the title?
of course it would never happen in any sport at any level, but what about
the canucks with fleury, modano, and gilmour? how about the rangers with
turgeon, lemieux (via the caps-pens), and scott stevens (or bourque)?
i suppose playoff games/series would take on an added sense of desperation
(especially if the winning team got to keep the player for the following
year).
 
would it be more interesting if the top seeded team got to pick its playoff
opponents for each round (with the 2nd seeded team then picking from the
remaining teams, and so forth)? i really am upset about how little fine
regular season performances mean come playoff time. the idea that a winner
of a conference tournament is considered to be the conference champion
really bugs me. i think it's fine that the winner of a conference tourney
gets a bid to the nc$$'s, but the regular season winner should be the
conference champion and imho undoubtedly worthy of a nc$$ bid. i suppose
college hockey puts more of an emphasis on its teams' regular season
performances compared to other sports in compiling its power ratings, but
for other sports to play entire regular seasons just for conference
tournament seedings (namely college hoops)... the idea really gnaws at
my soul. back to the original topic of this paragraph... performance prior
to postseason tourneys would really mean a lot more towards championship
aspirations. michigan would not have played lssu in the 1/4's. they
probably would have chosen to play unh, bu probably would have chosen
... i'm rambling and need to get some work done! suffice it to say that
garnering one of the top two seeds as the result of fine play over the
course of an entire regular season would do more to enhance one's chances
for a title if they got to choose who they had to play along the way.
 
dave
bu 91 and 94, mich ??