>It's just the way the ECAC West decided to handle it. Niagara is in its >first season of having a team and being in the ECAC West. The conference >just decided to count the games in the conference standings but not to >allow Niagara to be eligible for the playoffs this year. Any more than >that, I have not heard... I don't know if this is official ECAC policy, but it seems that each time a team joins a new conference by either moving up (Wesleyan from the ECAC N/C/S to the ECAC East) or by starting out (Buffalo State in the SUNYAC, Niagara in the ECAC West), the team can't participate in the playoffs the first year. And this goes back a ways - I remember RIT being ineligible their first year in the ECAC West (1981) as well. Can anyone from Union confirm if they were eligible for the ECAC playoffs their first season in D-I? Chris Lerch US College Hockey Magazine Color Voice of RIT Hockey HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.