In response to Steve Christopher's question about the Independents and the NCAA tournament...This is the final year of the Independents' automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. In 1990 and 1991 the Independent entry was Alaska Anchorage. If my memory serves me correctly, previous Independent entries in the NCAA tourney were Merrimack and St. Cloud State...Last season (1990-91) we here at UAA began a post-season Independent tourney. Its primary reason was to help the NCAA selection committee decide which Independent team should go, if it was close at the end of the regular season. It should be noted, however, that it was never state or implied by anyone that the Independent tourney winner would be the one chosen by the NCAA selection committee for the NCAA Championships. It is true that UAA won the Independent tourney last year and was the Independent team selected. As mentioned before on the hockey-L, Alaska-Fairbanks is hosting this year's Independent tourney, March 6-7 at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks. Tourney participants are still TBA. When the four are chosen, they will be seeded in accordance with the final KBYR Independents Poll with 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Tim McDiffett