Here's one for the ECAC historians out there: Prior to the formation of Hockey East, the 17-team ECAC was divided into 3 groups. Was it EVER true that the best team from each group (or perhaps from the Ivy group alone) was guaranteed a top-4 seed? I seem to recall that in the early 80's Harvard had about a .500 conference record and yet was seeded #4 in the ECACs, ahead of squads with much better records. (I was just thinking of how useful this would have been this year, with Cornell having a very good chance to finish with the best ECAC record among the Ivies but having a real dogfight for finishing even in the top 5, let alone top-4.) Greg R. Berge CU '85 and maybe '99 (now there's a spread) Let's Go Red! HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.