Dave Erickson's musings on the MAAC and his attempted parallel with UMass Amherst are rather interesting. I would submit that the level of play is going to be directly proportional to the number of rides offered by the schools in the MAAC. Of course, these are data that most of us simply do not have. But, if you go to the recruiting pages, you will see that most of the recruiting patterns for these schools have changed markedly. My (admittedly imperfect) recollection of the UMass Amherst experience is that in their very first year UMass was already playing at a level above the ECAC East and they hadn't even handed out all of their rides. I suspect that for some schools in the MAAC the experience will be similar. How well QC (shortly to be QU) does, for instance, will really be of interest. They seem to be the closest parallel to UMass Amherst. -- Dick Tuthill HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.