While on the subject of improving the Polar Bear...

bbikebbs, you did mention that you got paired with Assabet previously and managed to make it out of your bracket to play them again in the finals.

You were lucky to get that chance as often one loss and sometimes the 2nd best team in the tourney (as you turned out to be) is eliminated. This will happen when in other pools the top 2 teams tie, getting more game points than a team that loses one. Or sometimes 2 teams will be in a pool with several weak opponents allowing them to excel in period points and other tie breakers.

Sometimes I wonder if they should run that large of a tourney as a double eliminination (in the champion's bracket) and a runner's up bracket designed to guarantee the 4 games that teams want when they come to the tourney.

I'm sure that would be far more complicated than what they run today, however.

I like your suggestion since it would be transparent to most of us. The schedule doesn't come out until November(?) I think.

Thanks for the compliments. We switched from Madison a few years ago and haven't looked back! And obviously, we're familiar with the Wild. If you haven't been in touch with them for awhile, quite a bit of changes going on. If you're interested, I'd be happy to follow up with an email.

As to getting out of the bracket with Assabet, it was those pesky period points. We finally were able to take advantage of them. We ended up being the second wild card and didn't have to face them until the finals. Sometimes you win and others you lose!

And I shouldn't talk as if "I" was on the ice! It's just easier that way.

It just seems that the AA divisions are getting watered down with almost twice the number of the other divisions they need to make a better effort determining who is allowed in the AA. It would elliminate the blowouts and make the entire tournmant more competitive if they required new teams with poor showings to be "provisional" until November and be slotted in a lower division.

When the AA division is so weak on the lower end that a team that could do as good in it as they had in the B division last year, it is a clear indication that there are problems that need resolution. For the time and effort AA teams should expect competitive games each time they take the ice.