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[ Mankato State goes Div. I, joins the WCHA, and ralphs up the scheduling ] G. M. writes: >Actually, the problem has pretty much already been solved for you, if you >take a look at what the CCHA has done with 11 teams where one is based in >Alaska. Now, I realize that the distances involved in the WCHA are much >larger than those in the CCHA, but cutting back from playing each conference >opponent 4 times (with 2 exceptions per year) down to 3 each would free up >at least 2 more games for non-conference opponents (more if you have to go >to Alaska for 3). Sounds good, but if I were a betting man (which, OK, I am), I would not bet on the WCHA doing this. They had a chance to do something similar when Alaska-Anchorage joined the league a couple years ago, but they stuck with the 32-game league schedule, with each team playing seven opponents four times (28 games) and the other two twice (4 games). My guess would be that if, in fact, Mankato does join the WCHA, the league will stick with the 32-game schedule, altering it so that each team will play four games against six opponents (24 games), and two games against the remaining four opponents (8 games). Which will make the schedule even more unbalanced than it already is. Imagine the effect on league standings if one team has to play the toughest three or four opponents four times in a season, and another team lucks out and only has to play those same teams twice. This is, of course, assuming that the NC$$ doesn't do something like drop the limit on games from 34 to 30 in the meantime (1/2 :-) -- Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are strictly those of: Bill Fenwick Cornell '86 and '95 LET'S GO RED!! Rebuild the Tradition DJF 5/27/94 "And now that you're a father, you have to clean up your act, 'cause you can't drink any more. You can't come home drunk and go, 'Hey, here's a little switch -- Daddy's gonna throw up on YOU!'" -- Robin Williams HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.