Hi John, I'll only post my response to yours on Hockey-L, since you didn't post your reply there. Hockey-L'ers will have to speculate on what John said to generate this reply. O.k., did you see the game at B.C.? Mich. State did a great job of coming back in this one. I wouldn't call B.C. a mediocre team. Maybe it'll take a full season to convince the doubters, but B.C. is a highly skilled squad. Bowling Green certainly took it to them, but I suspect it was a case of early season problems ... the kind that dissipate and dissappear. Isn't Mich. State 5-0 excluding those Boston games? What does N.Dakota's 95-96 road schedule have to do with 96-97? Just because the WCHA HARDLY ever travels east, I'm not sure why they're performance in losing to B.U. last year contributes to the pollsters assessment this year. Any pollsters care to comment? I'll agree with you about LSSU's smart non-conference scheduling year after year. But, each year's performance should be considered for that year only. If that was the case, then Lowell should be in the top ten simply on their performance against MSU in the tourney games of 94 and 96. By the way, Northeastern's victory on Sunday may have something to do with those Lowell victories. Thanks for the reply. - Paul. HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.