Keith sez:
>Hockey East has set a new schedule for 92-93. Instead of playing its 7 league
>opponents 4 times for 28 games, they will be using DIVISIONS to reduce the
>league schedule to 24 (unbalanced) games.
 
    Well, THIS was certainly a surprising bit of news to read over my coffee
break this morning, and only one day after I'd written a brief blurb for
the Friends of UNH Hockey newsletter explaining the *28-game* league schedule
for next year.  I hope they haven't sent it to the printers yet :-)
 
>There will be 4 teams per division. You play your 3 opponents in your
>division 4 times, plus you play your 4 opponents in the other division
>3 times (that's 4x3 + 3x4 = 24 for those ex-hockey players out there :-)
 
    I'd have to say that most UNH fans, at least, would be solidly in favor
of this arrangement.  I'd grown accustomed to hearing lamentations from
many long-time UNH fans on the rare appearances of many of the 'Cat's
traditional ECAC foes on recent schedules.  Now that Clarkson, SLU, RPI, UVM,
Harvard, etc. have made it back on the schedule on a semi-regular basis, no
one was eager to see them dropped again once the 28/34 scheduling restrictions
were put in place.  This new setup should insure ample opportunity to retain
many of the non-conference rivalries that have re-emerged now that the ECAC-HE
acrimony of the early years following the split has subsided.
 
>THESE DIVISIONS ARE FOR SCHEDULING ONLY. The standings will still be computed
>for the entire league - the playoff format will still be 8 vs. 1, 7 vs 2, etc.
 
>The two parts will be organized like this:
 
>BC, UM-Lowell, UNH, PC
>BU, Maine, Merrimack, N'Eastern
 
>(The coaches/ADs set up these divisions based on past performances
>of each team)
 
   Boy, what I wouldn't give to have been a fly on the wall when these
divisional alignments were set-up :-)  Let's see - UNH gets an extra game
against both of its HE rivals with ex-Cats as coaches (UMass-Lowell and PC),
Maine gets another regularly scheduled game in its *favorite* rink (Matthews
Arena at N'Eastern), and Walsh and Parker get an extra game to out-tantrum
one another !!  At first glance, they seem reasonably equitable, but now I've
got some questions:
 
1) Is this alignment set in stone for all time, or will the divisional set-up
   be adjusted each summer based on standings from the previous season (or
   even some running average of the preceding several seasons) ??
 
2) *IF* the divisions are realigned each season, how will this affect the
   current practice of rotating the odd-game out in three game series in
   alternate years ??  If UNH played PC twice at home in 1990, then they
   would play twice in Schneider Arena in 1991.  But if teams are rotated
   in/out of two scheduling divisions, how would the integrity of the home
   and away balance be maintained ??
 
2) Since geographically distant Maine will now have to play BU, Merrimack and
   N'eastern (or at least some combination of three teams) twice on the road
   (6 games) each season, will their road trips now be scheduled to avoid
   back-to-back games against the same opponent (e.g. schedule Maine at BU
   and N'eastern on successive nights rather than back-to-back at BU) that
   the coaches so deplore ??  [see M. Machnik's earlier analysis concerning
   the odds on winning the second night after losing the first]. If so, Maine
   will retain a significant edge, since teams traveling *TO* Maine have no
   other option other than to play back-to-back in Alfond Arena.
 
>OPINION: This is great for college hockey. With the NCAA cutbacks on
>games from 38 to 34, the non-league games were getting squeezed out in
>favor of league games. If college hockey wants to improve on its
>"national" exposure, it has to overcome its regionalism.
 
    Right on the mark.  This plan is a step in the right direction, but it's
not yet clear to me that the coaches/ADs have thought through all the details.
 
Jim Love
Go 'Cats !!