I'll be off-line for the weekend (travelling to the Boston area so I can only watch Lowell (:>)) so I wanted to get at least one non-seeding comment in before the games begin. The saying goes that it's defense that wins championships - how does that apply to this year's tourney field? Using CHODR's ranking of offensive and defensive preformance (and accounting for Maine) we see that Only 2 of the tourney teams are not in the top 13 for CHODR defensive ratings: Cornell (#16) and Lowell (#28). Five of the twelve teams are outside the top 13 in CHODR offense: Clarkson (#14), Cornell (#16), Michigan State (#19), Providence (#20), and Vermont (#23). The biggest offensive/defensive rank discrepancies are found with Lowell (#5 Offense - #28 Defense) and Vermont (#23 Offense - #4 Defense) which leads to two comments: Michigan State (#19 Offense - #8 Defense) should be pitting strength against strength with Lowell (and weakness vs. weakness). Vermont's Perrin & St. Louis have garnered a lot of attention for their offensive flair (justifiably - I'd love to see Vermont move on just so that all of you in Cincy could get to watch those two - they command attention more than any pair of players I've seen). Tim Thomas is a great goalie, but I don't think you can have a #4 ranked defense based solely on the goalie - there must be something else going on there. Robin Lock [log in to unmask] HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.