Arthur Mintz writes: > Talk of sending the four conference champions to the NCAA > tournament is nice, but remember that it is by accident, not by > design, that there are four conferences. When I started watching > college hockey, back in 1967, there were just two conferences, > the WCHA and the ECAC. Then the CCHA came along, then Hockey > East. What do you when the next conference (perhaps the Ivy > League, God forbid) comes along? Hmmm, let's see. There appears to be no way, or no good reason for that matter, to prevent the formation of new conferences. The four-team tournament does not pose a problem until a new conference is formed. If the four-team format is a great success, it could serve as a deterrent to the formation of new conferences. If the format becomes nonviable or less satisfactory than its predecessors, other formats should be explored. -- Erik