Let's throw out some stats for the ECAC dominance over HE this season and see if there is anything that can shed some light on this years ECAC series win. And remember, this is all hypothetical, and this is not a who's better and who's not debate, this is just some numbers to see if it can stimulate a possible reason. Feel free to point out anything and criticize it, or better yet, take the analysis one step further. ECAC vs. HE Overall Record: 26-10-2 Let's break that down shall we? Vs. HE Cornell 2-0-0 W:Prov, Merr Princeton 1-1-0 W:UMA L:Maine Harvard 1-1-0 W:NE L: BU RPI 3-2-1 W:Merr,UMA,NE L:BU,UML T:NE Colgate 4-2-0 W:UNH,Prov(2),Merr L:Merr,Maine Clarkson 3-0-0 W:BC(2), BU St. Lawrence 2-1-0 W:NE,BU L:BC Yale 0-0-1 T:BU Union 1-2-0 W:Prov L:Merr,UNH Dartmouth 4-0-0 W:Merr(2),UML,UMA Vermont 5-1-0 W:UNH,BU,UMA,Prov,UML L:UNH Brown 0-0-0 Vs. ECAC UNH 2-2-0 W:Vt,Union L:Vt,Colg BU 2-3-1 W:RPI,Harv L:Vt,Clark,SLU T: Yale UML 1-2-0 W:RPI L:Vt,Dart BC 1-2-0 W:SLU L: Clark(2) Prov 0-5-0 L:Union, Corn,Colg(2), Vt UMA 0-4-0 L:RPI,Prin,Vt,Dart Maine 2-0-0 W:Prin,Colg Northeastern 0-3-1 L:RPI,Harv,SLU T:RPI Merrimack 2-5-0 W:Union,Colg L:Colg,RPI,Dart(2),Cornell Let's take it a step further. I am going to split the two conferences into two for both the ECAC and for Hockey East. Let's do this by total wins. Not to disrepect Union, but I am going to move them to the second half of the ECAC, even though they have eight wins, enough to wualify for the first half. So I have split it this way: ECAC: 1) Cornell, Princeton, Vermont, RPI, Colgate, Clarkson 2) SLU, Union, Dartmouth,Harvard, Yale, Brown Hockey East: 1) UNH, BU, Lowell, Maine 2) Providence, Amherst, Boston College, Merrimack, Northeastern Let's do a comparison of: ECAC(1) vs. HE(1) ECAC(1) vs. HE(2) ECAC(2) vs. HE(1) ECAC(2) vs. HE(2) ECAC(1) vs. HE(1): 5-4-0 ECAC(1) vs. HE(2): 13-2-1 ECAC(2) vs. HE(1): 2-2-1 ECAC(2) vs. HE(2): 6-2-0 What can one draw from this analysis? Well, it seems to me that one possible reason for the ECAC winning the season series is that the ECAC is beating up on the second half of Hockey East. Against the top half of HE, the ECAC is only 7-6-1, while against the other half, it is 19-4-1. So when you pit the "powers" of each conference against each other, you have it even. When you pit the "weak sisters" against each other, the ECAC wins the series. When you have the "powers" play the "weak sisters", the ECAC "powers" dominate, and the Hockey East "powers" are even. So does this mean that the "powers" of each conference are equal, while the "weak sisters" of the ECAC could be "powers", and the "weak sisters" of Hockey East are really "weak"? Of course, this could all be mumbo jumbo because of the line that I have drawn. Or is it? **************************************************************************************** Jayson Moy RPI '89 '93 * One of the Voices of Rensselaer Engineer [log in to unmask] * Hockey, Football, Baseball and Basketball The "Asian Invasion" * on 91.5FM WRPI, Troy *EASM* **************************************************************************************** Check out the WRPI Sports Home Page: http://www.rpi.edu/~stuttk/wrpispts.html ECAC Correspondent for U.S. College Hockey Online http://www.uscollegehockey.com **************************************************************************************** HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.