Having ditched the two-games-plus-minigame format last season in favor of a single game quarterfinal, it appears that the ECAC will change the playoff format once again for next season. A notice from the league office states that next season's quarterfinal round will be a best-of-three affair, with the games to take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday if necessary (much like the CCHA and WCHA quarterfinals). I guess the ECAC has seen the light. Not many people were happy with the two-games-plus-minigame quarterfinal, and there have been calls for a real best-of-three since that format was instituted back in 1983. I never thought the ECAC would institute a best-of-three format (being the "academic league" and all), but apparently, there was a lot of pressure to do away with the minigame format -- due in part to situations like the RPI-Harvard series two years ago, when the Engineers were forced to pull their goalie during regulation of a TIE game -- and the single-game quarterfinal met with some disfavor as well. Now that three of the four conferences have gone the best-of-three q-final route, I wonder if the NCAA might consider going back to their best-of-three playoff structure of two years ago. I would bet that another factor pushing the ECAC into the best-of-three format was the extra $$$ that the longer series would generate -- and we all know how interested the NCAA is in money. Ah, well, the rationale doesn't really matter -- the important thing is that ECAC teams will have at least one more playoff game next season! :-) -- Bill Fenwick Cornell '86 and probably '94 LET'S GO RED!! Couldn't pass this one up... "I can't believe the prizes they have. I mean, how many ceramic dogs and velvet bullfighter paintings does one home need?" -- Rob Bartlett, about Wheel of Fortune