From: utzoo!watmath!mebryant Newsgroups: net.sport.hockey Title: Re: Eastern powers Article-I.D.: watmath.4582 Posted: Sun Feb 20 12:29:13 1983 Received: Mon Feb 21 05:25:38 1983 References: 5941ux.194 In response to Ken Kretsch's article on ECAC hockey, the reason the "powers" such as Cornell are struggling is because of the efforts of teams like Northeastern and Providence, and not because of any changes in scholarship rules. For Northeastern, the big change came after they won the "Beanpot" hockey tournament in 1980 ( a tournament involving Boston University, Boston College, Harvard, and Northeastern). After that game, the school ( and the alumni ) decided to fix up the Northeastern Arena, and to put more time and money into their hockey program. It paid off, as they were ECAC champions last year. In past years, teams like Cornell were able to stay powerful because of their name. Now, with many of the former "doormats" greatly improving their programs, the "powers" are losing alot of quality players. The young players realize that schools like Providence and Northeastern are working hard to build quality teams. If the "powers" want to regain their status, they are going to have to work at making their hockey program strong again. As for Harvard, they have not fallen on hard times this year. Last time I looked their ECAC record was something like 11-5, leading the Ivy Division. Go NU! Mark Bryant University of Waterloo