>... I do understand the criteria where the conference tourny champions get a >spot automatically and that is how Providence and Harvard got in and BG didn't. For the record, Cornell won the ECAC tournament, not Harvard, and received the automatic bid. >I just think it's sad to see that a team like BG who did what they did at the >end of the season didn't get the chance to move on. I believe that Providence's upsets to win the Hockey East tournament are what did in Bowling Green. All of the other teams in the NCAA tournament were right up there in the rankings, and all of the other automatic bid recipients would have been reasonable at-large choices as well. It's difficult as a fan to have circumstances rather than ability determine the team's fate, but that's just the way things happen sometimes. Somewhere down the line, things will even out, and teams that caught unlucky breaks at one point will come out ahead (and vice versa). Howie ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Howard Stein Go Big Red! Cornell '91 Kill, Schafer, Kill! [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.