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Has anyone given any thought to having the "A" & "B" division champions play each other the following year? Could be a fun and interesting game I think.

Lax_Stats wrote:Has anyone given any thought to having the "A" & "B" division champions play each other the following year? Could be a fun and interesting game I think.

why. it wouldn't be a good game.

the pncll all-star game should fly though. shogan and i are also looking at putting together another legit alumni team if you're interested. pm/email either of us.

You don't know that for a fact Steve and it might be a great experience for the "B" to learn some things to take their game to a higher level. Besides, I bet the "B" champs could beat a lot of the "A" teams. Anyway, no big deal; it was just a thought.

Sure, many B teams can beat many A teams. . .but the #4 team in the nation in division B (Montana) would not be able to beat the #4 team in the nation in the A division (Oregon). If they played 10 times Oregon would probably win all 10. . .which is EXACTLY why we split the conference into A and B divisions. By the same token. . .I don't see USD (#1B) giving Colorado State (#1A) a very good game.

For the same reason, you aren't going to see Virgina (#1 NCAA div. I) lose to Salisbury State (#1 NCAA div. II). . .even though Salisbury is unbelievable, they can't compete with Virginia.

Do I think it would be a good experience for Montana to play Oregon? Absolutely. I just don't think the game would be all that competitive over the full 60 minutes.

Montana and Oregon are free to schedule one another next season if they'd like.

Thanks for everyones replies. I wasn't for a second trying to say that Montana would beat Oregon, just that it might be an interesting game. I hope just for fun that this years "A" and "B" champions will schedule games against each other for the 2007 season. I cant wait until we have a league that is just so unbelievably amazing that we will have no idea who our champions will be until the very end of the season. I don't think we are that many years away from this happening.

3 years ago we had exactly that. . .when SFU finally lost a PNCLL game in 2002 (for the first time in 6 or 7 years to PLU). . .and then had their season taken away - the thing was wide open with PLU, UW and Oregon battling for the trip to Nationals. PLU lost a thriller in OT to Oregon, and then in the finals UW Goalie Dylan Myers dominated the championship game allowing UW to make a trip to St. Louis. . .but honestly that season the 4 top teams were all very, very evenly matched.

I love it that Oregon is playing at an unbelievable level right now and really garnering national respect. It is great for our conference. . .I just hope the other A division teams can find a way to get to that level so our league has 2, 3 or maybe 4 teams every year battling for at-large bids to the national tournament.

And truthfully, you can make the argument that last year was even up for grabs at the PNCLL tournament. Oregon was defeated by SFU in the regular season, and UW absolutely crushed SFU in their regular season game. . .it just turned out that Oregon turned it up a notch at the PNCLL tournament and really handled GU and SFU on their way to Blaine.