A few things:  First, NC games vs Yale and QC are nothing to hang your hat
on.  Maine hosted Q in the first game last year and there was a ton of
grief for scheduling such a lightweight.  It turned out Q played in the
national championship.  Second, many of these games are @ western teams.
 Are they going to reciprocate next season?  Third, some of these games are
scheduled so western teams can beat up on their eastern brethren.  I'm
looking particularly at UVM @ ND and UMA and MC playing Denver.

A combination of factors combined to cripple Maine's NC schedule.  Most
publicly, the budget wasn't there for a western trip when they were already
traveling to Indiana and Florida.  In years past it wouldn't have been a
big deal but (as of 2011) revenues were flat while expenses were rising.
 The league expansion caught several teams flat-footed (thus so many of
them are playing each other in NC games) so getting to 34 was a challenge.
 The biggest reason, IMO, is the effect on pairwise.  Maine is not so bad
it can be counted on as two easy wins (especially at Alfond) but not good
enough to be worth RPI points even if a team loses to Maine.  If Maine
proves to be average or slightly below, a loss to Maine would be highly
detrimental in the RPI, whereas a win will be worth almost nothing either.
 Thus the only winning move is not to play and Maine's NC schedule blows.
 As a fan its very disappointing and makes it hard to justify ticket
prices.  Ironically, this works out very well for the team, as they can
rebuild amid games against Bentley and AIC rather than going to Minnesota,
Denver or Grand Forks to get the stuffing beat out of them.  Win these NC
games and finish even .500 in conference and Maine will be in the running
for an invite to the NCAA's next March.  Then the western teams will view
trips to Alfond as worthwhile, as even losses will mean something in the
pairwise (and wins will mean even more if the NCAA tweaks the formula
again).


On Thu, Aug 1, 2013 at 8:35 PM, Deron Treadwell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I got this e-mail today, and I thought it was interesting point about the
> Maine schedule and perhaps (my suggestion) that Maine has lost some
> "luster"
> in the college hockey world.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> UNH
> Michigan home for 2
> @ CC for 2.
> Union home for 2.
> Neb-Omaha home for 2
>
> Merrimack
> @ Denver 2
> @ Yale
> home/home with the Q
>
> UVM
> @ ND 2
> @ Penn State
> h/h St. Lawrence
>
> Lowell
> @ Michigan
> @Michigan State
> @ Penn State 2
> h/h Quinnipiac
>
> BC
> @ Michigan
> RPI
> @ Minnesota 2
> Wisconsin
> @ Penn State
>
> BU
> @ Michigan
> @Michigan State
> Wisconsin
> North Dakota 2
> @ Cornell
>
> UMass
> Michigan State 2
> @ Q
> @ Colgate 2
> Denver
> @ Cornell
>
> I'm sorry, but Maine's schedule is even more brutal when you look at these.
> Ok, I'll concede that UNH. BC and BU will play big boys because they are
> studly, but UMass, UVM and Merrimack drawinfg these impressive NC teams?
> Cmon Maine.
>



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dark side has fallen. Begun the Age of Austerity has."