ryan@fremen.DEC (02/20/85)
Well, Michigan State finally lost a game (7-4 to fifth-place CCHA team Illinois-Chicago). RPI, of course, beat Princeton (I didn't get the score, though). BC and Minnesota-Duluth have clinched their respective leagues' regular-season titles (as I'm sure Michigan State had done already), and RPI should follow this coming weekend (against Dartmouth and Harvard). Looking ahead to the playoffs, the ECAC and Hockey East quarterfinals will be two-game series, with the second game followed by a 10-minute mini-game in the event of a split. The quarterfinals for the WCHA, CCHA, and NCAA playoffs will be two-game total-goals affairs (with OT the second night in the event of a tie). The WCHA's playoffs begin March 1-2, while the other leagues begin a week later. League semi-finals and finals will be the weekend of March 15, NCAA quarterfinals a week later, leading to the Final Four playing in Detroit the last weekend of March. The NCAA quarter-final home teams will be the league champions, and the other four teams (and the matchups) will be chosen on March 17 by an NCAA committee. One additional team from each league will be chosen. The WCHA (cocky as always) is lobbying for the four visiting teams to be chosen at-large in future seasons. Meanwhile, back East, the Hockey East playoffs are sold out. It's been said that the ECAC needs to draw 8500 a night to stay in Boston Garden. In important ECAC games this past weekend, Cornell beat Harvard (their 10th win in a row) to move into a tie for second place (and clinch at least a tie for the Ivy League title). Clarkson beat Yale to move closer to home ice in the quarter-finals. Yale, though, is having one of its best years ever. They've already got more wins then they've had since 1951-52. Side note: RPI leads all Eastern teams with an average home attendance of 5000 (how does that compare to the West?). Hockey East teams have been complaining recently about the officiating in league games - nobody seems to have much respect for that bunch of refs. Anyway, Northeastern, New Hampshire, and Lowell are in a tight race for the last home-ice spot in Hockey East. Look for UNH to grab it (and maybe surprise some people in the playoffs). In the CCHA Bowling Green and Ill-Chi are looking for the last home ice sport while Miami and Ferris St. are just trying to get into the playoffs. In the WCHA North Dakota and Wisconsin are fighting for third with one week left. Here home ice seems to be pretty much wrapped up. Finally, the NCAA poll (the others haven't been in the paper this week). Somehow, I'm not surprised that even a Michigan St. loss didn't propel RPI to #1 (although they're only one point behind now). 1. Michigan State (1) 2. RPI (2) 3. Minn-Duluth (1) 4. BC 5. Minnesota 6. Lake Superior 7. BU 8. Wisconsin 9. Cornell 10. Harvard Here's a trivia question. I noticed today that BC made it back into at least one basketball poll (at #20). I was wondering (probably prematurely) if any schools have had their football, basketball, and hockey teams all finish in the polls in the same year before? I doubt it myself, but I suppose Michigan might have done it once. Mike Ryan