A couple of points/corrections to Ken Johnson's recent post. It is not simply a matter of RPI's administration not wanting to compete against schools of supposedly lower academic caliber. What RPI's president ht has elected to follow is a system where the schools's hockey team must resemble the academic composition of the entire student body, the so-caled academic index. When RPI was involved in its HE mating dance, then ECAC Commissioner Laine Kennedy made an interesting statement: RPI's recruiting problem was of its own doing. The ECAC doesn't apply a uniform academic index to each of its constituent schools, rather the academic index for each campus is devised by that same university. In RPI's case, the Engineers actually abide by a more rigorous academic index than that used by most other ECAC members. In fact at that time, Byron Pipes made the statement that RPI might well further strengthen its index, even if it further impeded their recruiting efforts. Second, RPI's decision to remain in ECAC wasn't based solely on its reluctance to compete against "less academically rigorous" schools. Strong tradition ties to the ECAC definitely played a part. Also I suspect there was a recognition that many alumni and fans preferred being a bigger fish in the alledgedly smaller ECAC pond, than to be a perennial runner-up in the alledgedly big bad Hockey East. Supporters of the decision will undoubtedly point to the success of this year's team as proof of the rightness of the decision. Frankly it would have been virtually impossible for RPI to have secured an NCAA bid had it opted in for Hockey East. Regarding Buddy Powers--he didn't bolt the Engineers simply because they retained the academic index and remained in the ECAC. Perhaps it would have been a major motivation for his eventual departure, but Buddy was certainly more interested in growing professionally. Buddy obviously coveted the BC opening, at least historically one of the plum jobs in college hockey. The subsequent opening of the Bowling Green job proved irresistable. Buddy publically acknowledged that coach Bowling Green had been his dream, given his many personaly connections to the schools and the area. I think it is safe to say that Buddy would have departed RPI for Bowling Green even if RPI had elected to migrate over to HE. Regardless, the arguments that the ECAC pays the price competition-wise because it is superior acadmically are really irrelevant. The current edge that HE exhibits is likely to be highly correlated to the historical ebb and flow of both comferences. BC and BU were powerhouses when they were in the ECAC; it BU, and probably BC one day, continues to be strong in HE. Clarkson was always strong in the ECAC, with the HE schools, and now without. If the ECAC is suffering any disadvantage recruiting-wise currently, it is more likely that it is a product of the increased number of schools jockeying for a finite, if not shrinking pool of hockey prospects. Big time programs like Maine, LSSU, and in the near future UMass (Amherst) didn't exist when the ECAC was in its hay day. It's simply tougher to land the stars nowadays, no matter what league you play in. The advantage lies with the big-time programs, like BU, Maine, LSSU, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, who can attract the most talented players. The academic caliber of your league's constituent schools, simply, IMHO, doesn't play that big a role in your recruiting success. Nevertheless, it sure would have been nice to have that Kariya kid playing for the Engineers next year... ************************************************************************ [log in to unmask] RPI Engineers--1995 ECAC Champions [log in to unmask] Tenth Annniversary of the 1985 Champions