AND YOU THOUGHT IT COULDN'T GET WORSE! -- CROSSPORTS: Holy Cross Crusaders Sports Message Board

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Date Posted: 18:37:12 07/14/04 Wed
Author: Zipp
Subject: AND YOU THOUGHT IT COULDN'T GET WORSE!

Premature venom? It's just getting started.

ECAC to Take Quinnipiac?
Compiled by USCHO Staff

The ECAC appears to have all but finalized a decision regarding the league's membership.

USCHO has confirmed that Quinnipiac has been recommended for admission, and will get the spot, pending imminent approval by the ECAC's Policy Committee. However, according to sources, Holy Cross, despite some support among ECAC ADs, is out of contention because it will not commit the same kind of financial aid packages to its women's program as it does to the men's.

That contradicts an earlier report in the New Haven Register, which indicated that Holy Cross has been tenatively admitted pending a sufficient upgrade to its women's program. According to sources, Holy Cross is not willing at this time to commit the same kind of resources to its women's program as the men's.

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The ECAC has been contemplating what to do, if anything, since Vermont announced earlier this year its intention to leave the league for Hockey East in the fall of 2005. The decision had been down to Holy Cross and Quinnipiac.

"Nothing beats a good rumor," Quinnipiac athletic director Jack McDonald told USCHO. "There seems to be some fact that other [schools] have been told they're out of it."

Previously, Niagara and Mercyhurst announced they were told they were out of the running. Sources also confirmed that Sacred Heart was out of the running as well. ECAC officials made on-site visits to those three schools, plus Quinnipiac and Holy Cross, last month.

The Register said all five schools were already informed of their fate last Friday. But McDonald denied that he has any information about the ECAC's decision.

The concern all along was how any changes in the ECAC would affect the other conferences. If Atlantic Hockey, of which Quinnipiac and Holy Cross are a part, loses one or two top teams, would it survive? Likewise for the CHA, which houses Niagara and needs to maintain its current six-school membership for NCAA tournament automatic bid purposes. Quinnipiac's women's team is slated to play in the CHA this coming fall.

A 12-team ECAC would maintain the status quo. A 13-team league with 24 league games would help the non-Ivy schools fill more dates, but hamper the Ivy schools, which are limited to just 29 overall games per season.

"To me, personally, college hockey is going through a significant redefinition of itself," said McDonald. "If things happen with membership, you have to look at it as good.

"There are still a lot of good things going on [for Atlantic Hockey], with schools like Robert Morris, Navy and St. Anselm's [all considering membership]. I remember how disappointed I was when the ECAC broke up 20 years ago, but college hockey is better because of it."

Quinnipiac's bid to the ECAC was reportedly strengthened by the school's commitment to build a new arena slated to open during the 2006-07 season. The college hockey rumor mill has been flooded by comments that the arena won't open on time or may not receive enough funding to be built.

That, though, is something that McDonald strongly denies.

"We're planning to start cutting some trees in September," McDonald said, noting that there is still some permitting necessary to begin construction. "We've been planning this building for five years. Our plans were well in place before [the ECAC] candidacy.

"I know people are taking shots at us that the building isn't going up tomorrow, but I can assure everyone this building will happen."

McDonald did not know what the ECAC's timeline is for making the official announcement, but should Quinnipiac ultimately be admitted, it would mark the first time that Quinnipiac and current ECAC member Yale would compete in men's hockey. The two schools are just a handful of miles away from one another in New Haven, Conn., and Hamden, Conn., respectively.

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Replies:

[> Re: AND YOU THOUGHT IT COULDN'T GET WORSE! -- sader1970, 19:12:23 07/14/04 Wed

They certainly seem excited about a Yale-Quinnipiac rivalry in New Haven. I wonder if Yale is as excited as the Quinnipiac folks are? Maybe HC should resume our basketball rivalry with Assumption and thrill the Worcester folks?

This is still rumor stacked up on top of rumors and I, for one, am starting to get sick of all this.

IF, (a BIG, "if"), HC isn't willing to commit to a ladies D1 team in hockey and give them equal footing with the men, then we probably don't deserve to be in the ECAC. But that would seem very inconsistent with my impression of the direction of HC athletics (not just title IX by the letter, but the spirit as well).

But if the ECAC equates QU and HC, not just from the academic angle but discounts HC's the long term rivalries with the other ECAC schools in other sports and is willing to assume that QU will build an arena that they've been planning on for 5 years and are now committed to "start cutting some trees in September" but still have to get permits, then I'm pretty sick of the ECAC too.

You guys wake me up when the dust settles and there is something factual to report.

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[> Re: AND YOU THOUGHT IT COULDN'T GET WORSE! -- Quinnipiac????, 19:17:41 07/14/04 Wed

Penny wise, pound foolish!!! In its own way, this decision by HC re hockey is similar to the snubbing of the Big East
invitations in the late '70s and early '80s. The shift in leagues (perhaps with games at the Centrum) quite likely could create the incremental revenue necessary to support the increased aid to both the male and female pucksters. Is there anyone with a whit of business acumen in the admin
mking these decisions?

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[> Re: AND YOU THOUGHT IT COULDN'T GET WORSE! -- this is an unfathomable embarassing decision, 19:31:41 07/14/04 Wed

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[> Well.... -- Rick, 20:32:13 07/14/04 Wed

....ya have to admit this makes for a lively board and great 'theatre'....

CROSSPORTS hit count monitor must be like that Applause-O-Meter thing !

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