ECAC Playoffs

[Jim Hyla]

From ECAC Site

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FIRST-ROUND (Friday, March 7 - Sunday, March 9 - Best-of-three)
No. 12 Princeton at No. 5 Clarkson
No. 11 Harvard at No. 6 Yale
No. 10 Dartmouth at No. 7 Rensselaer
No. 9 Brown at No. 8 St. Lawrence

QUARTERFINALS (Friday, March 14 - Sunday, March 16 - Best-of-three)
TBD at No. 1 Union
TBD at No. 2 Colgate
TBD at No. 3 Quinnipiac
TBD at No. 4 Cornell

FRIDAY, MARCH 21 (SEMIFINALS)
Semifinal No. 1 - 4 p.m.; Semifinal No. 2 - 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 22 (CHAMPIONSHIP GAME)
Championship Game - 7:30 p.m.


[Trotsky]

There is no Dana (4th).  Only Zuul (3rd).

[gatefan]

From ECAC Site

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FIRST-ROUND (Friday, March 7 - Sunday, March 9 - Best-of-three)
No. 12 Princeton at [b]No. 5 Clarkson[/b] 2-0
No. 11 Harvard at [b]No. 6 Yale[/b] 2-1 (OT Game 3)
[b]No. 10 Dartmouth[/b] at No. 7 Rensselaer 2-1
[b]No. 9 Brown[/b] at No. 8 St. Lawrence 2-1

QUARTERFINALS (Friday, March 14 - Sunday, March 16 - Best-of-three)
Dartmouth at No. 1 Union
Brown at No. 2 Colgate
Yale at No. 3 Quinnipiac
Clarkson at No. 4 Cornell

FRIDAY, MARCH 21 (SEMIFINALS)
Semifinal No. 1 - 4 p.m.; Semifinal No. 2 - 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 22 (CHAMPIONSHIP GAME)
Championship Game - 7:30 p.m.


My picks so far.

P.S. Any idea on when they decided to eliminate the consolation game? Thank God they did. Being a consolation veteran, there's nothing worse than having to play it. Even if an NCAA bid is on the line, as will probably be the case this year if the top 4 seeds make it to Placid.

[Trotsky]

P.S. Any idea on when they decided to eliminate the consolation game? Thank God they did. Being a consolation veteran, there's nothing worse than having to play it. Even if an NCAA bid is on the line, as will probably be the case this year if the top 4 seeds make it to Placid.

1. Risk of injury or DQ.
2. Risk bubble team loses to Cinderella and costs ECAC a bid.
3. Losing coaches and players can lick their wounds (or whatever) at home.
4. Extra rest day for NCAA.

tl;dr: the only consequences of this otherwise inconsequential game were bad consequences.

[billhoward]

Long ago, Wisconsin sent several dozen busloads of fans to the NCAAs at Boston Garden and wound up playing in the consolation game where their fans numbered in the thousands, beating IIRC Denver whom Cornell had clobbered 7-2. The exuberant Wisconsin fans (that may have been when the Massachusetts drinking age was 18) stomped and cheered Best in the West maybe a thousand times in the third period. So there is a reason for a consolation game. Does anyone recall a similar show of enthusiasm for consolations since

[Scersk '97]

The Vermont fans seemed pretty enthused in 1996. They even marched to the rink. Of course, they had had to reschedule the start time for the march...

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

A similar thing happened in 1981.  

Clarkson played Providence in the first semi.  Clarkson had a 3-1 lead with about a minute left and a lot of their fans left.  Providence pulled the goalie twice, scored twice, then won 4-3 in OT.

When a lot of the Clarkson fans showed up Saturday night, their game was almost over.  Tee hee.

[RichH]

A similar thing happened in 1981.  

Clarkson played Providence in the first semi.  Clarkson had a 3-1 lead with about a minute left and a lot of their fans left.  Providence pulled the goalie twice, scored twice, then won 4-3 in OT.

When a lot of the Clarkson fans showed up Saturday night, their game was almost over.  Tee hee.

It's beyond the realm of my comprehension why you would pass up an opportunity to hear the horn sound and celebrate a win in a big playoff game.  It's a little more understandable to explain "beat-the-traffic" fans if things aren't going well.

[ugarte]

A similar thing happened in 1981.  

Clarkson played Providence in the first semi.  Clarkson had a 3-1 lead with about a minute left and a lot of their fans left.  Providence pulled the goalie twice, scored twice, then won 4-3 in OT.

When a lot of the Clarkson fans showed up Saturday night, their game was almost over.  Tee hee.

It's beyond the realm of my comprehension why you would pass up an opportunity to hear the horn sound and celebrate a win in a big playoff game.  It's a little more understandable to explain "beat-the-traffic" fans if things aren't going well.

Not beyond comprehension: Clarkson fans not buying a newspaper.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

A similar thing happened in 1981.  

Clarkson played Providence in the first semi.  Clarkson had a 3-1 lead with about a minute left and a lot of their fans left.  Providence pulled the goalie twice, scored twice, then won 4-3 in OT.

When a lot of the Clarkson fans showed up Saturday night, their game was almost over.  Tee hee.

It's beyond the realm of my comprehension why you would pass up an opportunity to hear the horn sound and celebrate a win in a big playoff game.  It's a little more understandable to explain "beat-the-traffic" fans if things aren't going well.

Not beyond comprehension: Clarkson fans not buying a newspaper.

+1

[Trotsky]

One of the Colgate posters was playing the PWR and determined that winning their QF in 3 would force them to win the auto in order to qualify.  Assuming the ECAC nuked the Consy due to NCAA effects, I wonder if they would go further and restrict the playoffs to the top 8, or return the QF to single game.

IMHO putting the 9-12 outside is long overdue but will never happen ($$$).  Returning to single game QF is a bad idea but won't happen for the same reason.

[jtwcornell91]

P.S. Any idea on when they decided to eliminate the consolation game? Thank God they did. Being a consolation veteran, there's nothing worse than having to play it. Even if an NCAA bid is on the line, as will probably be the case this year if the top 4 seeds make it to Placid.

1. Risk of injury or DQ.
2. Risk bubble team loses to Cinderella and costs ECAC a bid.
3. Losing coaches and players can lick their wounds (or whatever) at home.
4. Extra rest day for NCAA.

tl;dr: the only consequences of this otherwise inconsequential game were bad consequences.

I always thought of the consolation game as a bonus for the fans, particularly when the tournament was in Placid.  You trek up into the mountains for the weekend, it's nice to know your team is going to play twice.  (The 4/5 play-in game was awful for that reason.)  On the other hand, the coaches and players seemed to generally hate playing in them (case in point: Cornell vs Colgate in 2000), so I guess it's just as well they got rid of it.

[KeithK]

IMHO putting the 9-12 outside is long overdue but will never happen ($$$).  Returning to single game QF is a bad idea but won't happen for the same reason.

How much money can the first round playoff series really make?  Attendance is always pretty abysmal from what I recall. Assuming $10 a ticket it's probably something like $20k/game gate less operating expenses.  On second thought, in the world of small time college athletics that's probably a big chunk of change.

[Josh '99]

IMHO putting the 9-12 outside is long overdue but will never happen ($$$).  Returning to single game QF is a bad idea but won't happen for the same reason.

I think it's silly that everybody makes the playoffs but giving all the student-athletes the opportunity to play in the postseason seems like a reasonable case for doing so (or, at least, a plausible cover story for greed).  In the scheme of problems to be fixed, it's not the biggest in the world.

[Chris '03]

IMHO putting the 9-12 outside is long overdue but will never happen ($$$).  Returning to single game QF is a bad idea but won't happen for the same reason.

I think it's silly that everybody makes the playoffs but giving all the student-athletes the opportunity to play in the postseason seems like a reasonable case for doing so (or, at least, a plausible cover story for greed).  In the scheme of problems to be fixed, it's not the biggest in the world.

I remember back in the day, there was a women's lax ECAC tournament (cornell won it in 2001?). It was kinda like the NIT and was for teams that didn't make the NCAA tournament.  Why not let the bottom four in the ECAC and HEA playoff for bottom feeder bragging rights? The "title" game could replace the consy and alternate venue. That would create some odd rooting interests from a PWR perspective and the games would be more competitive...  (yes I know that this is entirely unrealistic... but so is moving away from everyone making the playoffs).