After a whirlwind courtship, Vermont’s move to Hockey East, effective for the 2005-2006 season, became official with yesterday’s news conference in Burlington.

With that, the ECAC Division I men’s hockey league went from 12 schools to 11.

“You’re disappointed,” Mazzoleni said when asked about Vermont’s move. “I think Vermont is a school in our league that has the capabilities to play on the national level. That hasn’t happened right now, and I’m sure it’s going to take Coach [Kevin] Sneddon [’92] a few years to get pointed in that direction.

“But they’ve been a big part of the ECAC … From a coach’s standpoint, there’s no malice [toward them for leaving]. They have to do what they have to do.”

It is hard to fault Vermont and athletic director Bob Corran for making the move.

Hockey East wants Vermont because it is one of the most storied college hockey programs in New England. Vermont wants to be in Hockey East because the schools in that league are a better fit with its academic and athletic profiles than those of the ECAC.

So Hockey East, the best Eastern league—right now, at least—has its sought-after 10th team. And the ECAC, which has slipped competitively since the creation of Hockey East in the mid-1980s, is without the team that was expected to be one of the leaders in the league’s return to national prominence.

What, then, can the ECAC do now?

One option is to find a 12th team, one that fits within its travel partner system and has similar academic and athletic profiles.

The name that keeps popping up is Holy Cross, which has been a solid, developing program in the Atlantic Hockey conference (formerly the MAAC) and has a 12-4-2 record this season.

Holy Cross has a good academic reputation, is a member of the Patriot League with ECAC hockey school Colgate, and would be a natural travel partner for Brown, with Harvard taking Vermont’s place as a partner with Dartmouth.

Wait, though. Before we go on a Crusade to include Woo-town in the company of New Haven as a be-sure-to-lock-your-car-doors ECAC town, let’s pose this important question: Does the ECAC really need a 12th team?

As a matter of fact, it doesn’t.

Here’s why. The ECAC could easily abandon its travel partner scheduling. Weekend series would consist of two games at one site, a departure from the current arrangement which includes a Friday game at one school followed by a Saturday game at the other. The two-game, one-site system would alleviate the scheduling problems that Brown and Yale have because their travel partners—Harvard and Princeton, respectively—break for exams in January while they want to keep playing.

The Crimson would play five road series and five home series a season. One year, for example, it would go to Cornell’s Lynah Rink for two games. The next year, the Big Red would come to Bright Hockey Center for a pair.