>>> Paul Gentile <[log in to unmask]> 07/30/97 12:06pm >>> What kind of league shift do you think we'll see? HockeyEast takes Vermont and ECAC takes in Niagara makes about the most sense. === This year notwithstanding, the ECAC losing UVM will be a blow to their league power index. How about the ECAC Div 1 restructuring into a Premier division and a 2nd division. You'd take the top 7 teams and play a round robin schedule and they play for the ECAC title and the NCAA bid. The remaining 7 play in the 2nd division. Natural rivalries that are between teams in separate divisions (Princeton - Yale) would be played and count in the standings. I'd see teams 1-5 make the playoffs with teams 6 & 7 playing teams 2nd div teams 1 & 2 in a best 3 out of 5 (2 there 3 here) playoff to decide who moves up and who moves down for the next season. Let's see what we get for a mythical season Premier 2nd Div Clarkson St. Lawrence Cornell Colgate UVM Dartmouth RPI Yale Union Brown Princeton Niagara Harvard Canisus (1-7 based on last year's standings. I went blank on 7&8. If I goofed, sorry, but you get the drift.) 24 games in your division + 2 outside = 26 The final 5 @ the Pepsi would be like the WCHA final 5. I'd figure out a way to avoid that Thursday night - Friday afternoon scenario, though. Question: would the relegation playoffs make $? Would losing a weekend of playoffs be a blow to the school coffers? What about 2nd Div teams 3-7? Pipe dream, but the ECAC is getting too big with up to 14 teams in the league. Joe PS What's going on with Quinnipiac and the rest of the new Div 1 league??????? HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.