-- [ From: Kepler * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] -- Great rivalries make sports deeper and richer. Move too many teams around, birfurcate too many times, and you get the collegiate equivalent of Anaheim vs. Carolina. The Great Divorce of '85 cost college hockey some of its best intraconference rivalries. 13 years down the road, none of the matchups involving post-split programs compare to the very best of the pre-split rivalries that were ruined. I know I am comparing a "best" to an "average" there and that is not fair. But my point is that the split was ultimately a trade-off of expansion at the cost of tradition, and whereas you can always add a program, you cannot just create a rivalry ex nihil. -- Greg R. Berge [log in to unmask] http://www.spiritone.com/~kepler "Ne te quaesiveris extra." HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.