Here's a Bruce Crowder quote from today's Globe: "I'm just disappointed for the people who work so hard to build up this program, for the students and for everyone who could hop on a bus and be in Albany in three hours. It just doesn't make sense. "All I know is I don't think people on the committee are going to bat for us. There are three Hockey East teams in the tournament and two of them are being shipped out." I couldn't agree more. ESPECIALLY when Jack Parker (who is on the selection committee) was quoted *after* the Hockey East playoffs that "it's impossible for Lowell not to be in Albany next weekend." When all three ECAC teams stay East -- ESPECIALLY two lower ranked ones than Lowell -- I can only conclude that the ECAC representative has bigger testicles than Parker. When the going gets tough, then Parker takes his BU bye and folds. Thanks for nothing, Jack. While the attractiveness of avoiding conference matchups is undeniable, didn't Comley say this past week that conference foes meeting each other in the second round was going to be a fact of life and we'd just have to deal with it? Why the reversal? In years past there wasn't much of a downside to ticking off the UMass-Lowell fans. All three of them. Two years ago I made self-deprecating reference to the UMass-Lowell Virtual Band. (They were the only semifinalist school without a band there.) But times have changed. In Mike Madden's article in the Globe about the UML-Maine game he referred to a Maine goal in the following way: "The deflection beat goalie Martin Fillion, and the Lowell fans in the FleetCenter, by far the loudest, suddenly were quiet." By far the loudest? With BU and Maine also playing? Yes, I know BU had the 5 o'clock game and it's a long Friday drive for Maine fans, but Lowell had *by far the loudest fans.* Lowell fans are no longer irrelevant and no longer a joke. And their team deserves that fan support. So for the second time in three years UMass-Lowell has gotten shipped West while lower ranked Eastern teams stay home. Tim Brule applauded the committee for "having the guts to send LSSU east and Lowell west." I'm applauding the committee too. With my middle finger. DaveH HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.