At some point, effusive sentiment must be checked by reality and fairness. The playoffs should be a reward for a job well done during the regular season, and even the most kind-hearted cannot make the case that the last place team should be in the playoffs.

This year, Brown finished dead last with just two wins, two less wins than it had in 2000, when it finished last with four. Since 1985, the average win percentage of the doormat has been .160.

This amounts to a golden protection policy for the first couple seeds in the tournament. Vermont became the first team in the ten-team qualification format to knock off a No. 1 seed this year in the first round by eliminating Clarkson. How much less of a chance would Brown have? How embarrassing will it be for the league to trot out its doormats as “playoff-ready” teams?

Moreover, from a travel perspective, the Lake Placid experience has just become more burdensome. While there always will be the solid contingent of great hockey fans from the North Country at the tournament, Lake Placid is nine hours away from Princeton, five-and-a-half from Boston. The six-team format will now induce another set of fans to try and make the long trip, with now two supporters guaranteed to face a major disappointment in hauling out all that way to see their team play once. At least now, four-of-five sets of fans are guaranteed to see two games.

While the league will increase attendance at the play-in games by moving them from Thursday to Friday night, it creates an additional headache, by putting the championship game on Sunday. Because teams will be playing Saturday night in the semis, the finals cannot start any earlier than the late afternoon out of fairness to the student-athletes. Now fans will face a long haul back from Lake Placid late on Sunday with work Monday morning looming large. By its mountain location, Lake Placid creates a brutal travel schedule for fans and student-athletes alike, the new weekend format only enhances that.

Ideally, the ECAC ought to drop two more teams from the tournament and make its playoffs an eight-team affair. This would make the first round ultra-competitive. Harvard saw just how good an eight-seed could be when it eliminated Jeff Hamilton and the good ol’ Elis this year in the first round. Lake Placid then becomes an elegant four team, mini-Frozen Four, for the ECAC Championship and the right to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

However, there is one factor that has gotten buried somewhat in the discussion of playoff expansion-money. Another first round series and another game in Lake Placid means more revenue for a conference that some have said are struggling. How much this factor has to trump competitive interests will be a judgment reserved for when the conference decides to release some data on its financial health. Certainly, the ECAC needs every possible advantage as it falls further behind the other three major D-I conferences