It is the off-season, so I might as well stir things up a bit.  Feeling
hockey deprived, I was rummaging through the archives comparing conferences
based on teams that had won the regular season or post-season tournaments.
Going back to the often debated, "competitiveness" of the leagues, I present
the following data (since 1990):

League      Teams winning
 (members)      at least one RS         at least one Tourney        Either RS
or Tourney

WCHA (10)           6                       6                       8
CCHA (12)           4                       3                       4
ECAC    (12)            6                       7                       9
HE (9)              4                       4                       5

Each league has at least one team that has not competed every year since
1990, but the data still seems clear.  Two conferences seem more competitive
internally, giving each team a better chance of winning a title, while the
other two seem to have definite haves/have nots.  The question of how we rank
leagues may come down to whether you value having the NCAA champs, or value
having a chance for any league member to have a "season to remember."

Just some off-season fodder.

William Sangrey
Cornell '87 & '94
Let's Go RED!!!!