Ken wrote:
 
>4. I'm finding this history of the WCHA, ECAC, CCHA, and HE history
>   interesting, since I was out of the college hockey loop from 1980
>   until discovering Hockey-L last year. In my day (late 70's) there were only
>   the WCHA and ECAC. The ECAC consisted of about a dozen schools then. I
>   don't remember RPI, St. Lawrence, Maine, Princeton, or Union; but Clarkson
>   and Cornel were powerhouses, and the league included Vermont, UNH,
>   Providence, BU, BC, Yale, Northeastern, Dartmouth, and Harvard.
 
RPI, St. Lawrence, and Princeton were definitely in the ECAC in the
late 1970's.  Union definitely was not.  I don't remember when Maine
joined the ECAC, but I think that you are correct.   Brown and Colgate
were also in the ECAC at that time.  It is hard to remember Army's
status in any given year, as they seem to change it every four or five
years.
 
>There
>   were no divisions within the ECAC. There was no sophisticated scheduling
>   algorithm then (i.e., home-and-home weekend series) but rivals managed
>   to play each other several times.
 
Definitely correct, but the unbalanced scheduling meant that the
playoff teams chosen (only 8 made it) and the seedings were very
controversial.
 
>Also, there were few tournaments during
>   the year, and east never played west, until the NCAAs (to the detriment
>   of the east, usually).
 
My recollection is that there actually were more tournaments then than
now.   As to east vs west, it seems to me that meetings were easier to
schedule in the 60's and 70's because league schedules were not so
confining as they are now.
 
>     Generally, the NCAA final four consisted of the finalists
>   of each leagues' playoffs.
 
Yes.  The tournament victors were guaranteed a place and the other two
teams were one eastern and one western--not necessarily the playoff
runnersup.
 
>The one exception was in 1978. BU had a monster
>   season that year, losing only two games, as I recall, and was ranked #1
>   all season. However, they lost the semifinals to Providence; the game
>   was played the day after Coach Parker's wife passed away from cancer.
>   PC then lost to BC in the finals. Normally, PC and BC would have gone to
>   the NCAA's but the league had PC and BU play another game to decide the
>   second team. BU won that game, then beat Denver and BC to with the
>   championship.
 
Not the only case.
 
>     I'm thrilled to see how much college hockey has grown in the past
>   15 (whew!!) years. Now, if only we can get some games in the Meadowlands
>   or the Madison Square Garden.
 
There used to be an ECAC Xmas Tournament in the MSG (and another in
Boston).  I do not remember when these stopped.  I do remember going to
the one during the 69-70 season and seeing RPI getting killed in both
games (against Cornell and I think Clarkson).  Although RPI had been
invited several times, this was the only time that they were able to go
because usually there was a conflict with their own tournament.  I
don't know if there has ever been a Div-I Hockey game in the
Meadowlands.  I wish that someone would schedule one at the Capital
Center (oops, USAir Arena).
 
Ralph Baer  RPI '68, '70, '74