The reward for a strong regular season with a top seed means that a team won't have to face the stiffest competition until deeper into the tournament. Other than that, the games between any two teams should be played on as equal a basis as feasible. The current arrangement where the "better" team is likely to get a "tired" team is not fair competition - in the same way that it wouldn't be fair to slant the ice surface in one team's favor based on their regular season record. What are some solutions? The day-of-rest would help, but is clearly not economically feasible. Drop back to an 8-team field? It would be tough to stage in a regional structure (just two games per regional?). I know we've beat this horse before, but what about a 16 team field? Would attendence suffer much if Maine, LSSU, BU, and Michigan had had to play a first round match against say RPI, Michigan St., W. Michigan, and Lowell? (or whoever 13-16 might be). At least, everyone in the second round would be playing their second game. Robin Lock [log in to unmask]