First, reguarding hockey at the USMA & USAFA: given the large talent pool to draw from for football & squeekball, given the fact that these schools are not able to field competative teams(sorry no flame intended) in those sports how do you expect them to do it with the tiny pool for hockey? Their goal is vastly different from DivI schools, who imho are willing to sacrifice just about anything to field a winning team. The do an admirable job, given their restrictions. Second, at the risk of starting another round of Canada/Minnesota bashing, if as one poster suggested, it is possible to field a contending team using only US players, why are their so many Canadians playing college hockey in the US? Of the 44 teams that are in the hockey-l polls how many use mostly Americans? How many Americans are playing college hockey in Canada? I am a huge booster of US hockey, but would never suggest that it can turn out the quantity of quality players Canada does today. (To do so would take a commitment to do so). Third -- this is best if you can use the voice Nancy Kerrigan used -- why, why WHY? It seems to be a question that pops up every so often, this time about UML. My question is why worry about it? A regular reader of hockey-l has several polls to compare & often there is a difference between standings in each. Unlike football, hockey has a championship play-off & if you win against tough enough competition you can be invited to play. Yes, I know teams on the bubble can argue they should have gone ahead of "that team from a division we all know is weaker then the one we play in". Just win baby. The following was attributed to Bear Bryant(sp?) the Al. football ledgend & explains the state of college sports today: "90% of all college teams abide by the NCAA regulations . . . the other 10% go to bowl games." me ** Johnson Governors -- 1947, 1953, 1955 and 1963 STATE CHAMPS! ** These opinions were packaged by volume, not by weight. Some settling of contents may have occurred during shipping.