Question on the Maine forfeits: assuming the Black Bears aren't banned outright from the 1994 NC$$ tournament (and you would think that if they were, the NC$$ would have announced that along with the 21 forfeits), how will the forfeited games be treated when the tournament rankings are drawn up? IMHO, it would be unfair to simply treat them as Maine losses, because that would result in a fairly significant strength-of-schedule hit for those teams that have played the Black Bears, especially their fellow Hockey East members. Here's a thought. (Maybe they already plan on doing it this way, I dunno) Keep Maine's record at its non-forfeit level of 16-12-4 with a winning per- centage of 0.5625, as it is currently in RPICH. Calculate all the oppo- nents' and opponents' opponents percentages as normal (RPICH is similar, if not identical, to the rankings the selection committee will use). Then when compiling the final ranking, change Maine's winning percentage from 0.5625 to 0.1719 for their forfeited-games record of 5-26-1 and do the Black Bears' rating with this number. In other words, all the winning, opponents' win- ning, and opponents' opponents winning percentages stay exactly the same as the current RPICH, except that Maine's winning percentage drops. I doubt the Maine folks are going to like this idea, since it would drop Maine from #5 in the rankings all the way to #36! Would that reflect Maine's true strength as a team? Of course not -- but it would reflect that Maine had to forfeit 21 games for using an ineligible player. Although it was not the fault of the team, I can't see the NC$$ ordering forfeits and then turning around and ignoring them when it comes time to figure out who gets the at-large tournament bids. -- Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are strictly those of: Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to: Cornell '86 and '94 (.5) | [log in to unmask] LET'S GO RED!! Reporter: "What do you think of the team's execution?" John McKay: "I'm in favor of it." -- an exchange that occurred while McKay was coaching the 0-14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976