As noted everyone has an agenda - from defenders of Canadian Junior Hockey-
to someone referring to the NCAA as NC$$.
I suppose someone can dream up a defense of the Junior system and the style
of clutch and grab hockey that flows from the major juniors to the NHL.
As to the ECAC - it is from my neutral bias- just not as strong as Hockey
East. I think that CHA and MAAC will impact the quality of ECAC- as the coach
of Valparaiso ("Valpo") hoops who recruited 4 European starters noted- in
Europe they do not know from UConn or Carolina. Give a Canadian kid a free
ride to a US school and I wonder how discriminating they might be vs. pay or
borrow 50-100k to go to most ECAC schools or endure financial aid packages
etc.
Now let us all not get bent our of shape- the 2 new conferences (Niagara can
play with anyone and Qp will soon); Junior rules relaxed; and we will have a
brace new world and if something goes up- CHA/MAAC something else goes down.
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