two thoughts worth $0.01 each? wouldn't it be cool if a team winning a playoff game/series could pick one player from the vanquished team to join them for their run for the title? of course it would never happen in any sport at any level, but what about the canucks with fleury, modano, and gilmour? how about the rangers with turgeon, lemieux (via the caps-pens), and scott stevens (or bourque)? i suppose playoff games/series would take on an added sense of desperation (especially if the winning team got to keep the player for the following year). would it be more interesting if the top seeded team got to pick its playoff opponents for each round (with the 2nd seeded team then picking from the remaining teams, and so forth)? i really am upset about how little fine regular season performances mean come playoff time. the idea that a winner of a conference tournament is considered to be the conference champion really bugs me. i think it's fine that the winner of a conference tourney gets a bid to the nc$$'s, but the regular season winner should be the conference champion and imho undoubtedly worthy of a nc$$ bid. i suppose college hockey puts more of an emphasis on its teams' regular season performances compared to other sports in compiling its power ratings, but for other sports to play entire regular seasons just for conference tournament seedings (namely college hoops)... the idea really gnaws at my soul. back to the original topic of this paragraph... performance prior to postseason tourneys would really mean a lot more towards championship aspirations. michigan would not have played lssu in the 1/4's. they probably would have chosen to play unh, bu probably would have chosen ... i'm rambling and need to get some work done! suffice it to say that garnering one of the top two seeds as the result of fine play over the course of an entire regular season would do more to enhance one's chances for a title if they got to choose who they had to play along the way. dave bu 91 and 94, mich ??