Leopard_Balcony_Booster
Registered User
Hee hee of course. AQ's for "lower tier" conferences are the seedlings to help build those conferences to be competitive in the future.Was mainly poking fun at the suggestion that low lying conferences (MASCAC, MAC, etc) should be excluded from an AQ bid. That and if a school like Curry ends up missing out on a CNE AQ and an at-large bid, they can just jump ship to the easiest conference imaginable(but seriously Curry please don't do that).
And it'd be cool to see a changing of the guard in the CNE. At the very least, the top 3 have consistently been some of the most competitive teams in recent years for D3 and keep things interesting to watch. But if a team like Suffolk can make some waves, or if a former contender like Wentworth can make a comeback, it'd be a fun shakeup.
Yes, 2nd half now commences in the CNE and in Suffolk's case, their 3rd conference litmus test against the established 'Big 3' comes up Jan 9-10 with home and homes vs UNE. They have already proven they can go toe-to-toe with Curry (who no longer has the impenetrable, Shane Soderwall) and may be nudging Endicott out of the CNE penthouse as evidenced by a convincing road win in Beverly and close shoot-out loss in East Boston but it is too early to tell. How the Rams perform against UNE should be very informative to what things look like in late Feb. At the very least, the ice has not been in the least tilted and Suffolk's Frosh goalie, Austin McNicholas, has been doing a great job filling the shoes of the departed CJ Hapward.