mn@dscvax2.UUCP (Matt Noah) (01/12/85)
The polls are prejudiced to the Western teams? Ha Ha. The WCHA is top heavy with winning teams while Hockey East is replete with losing teams. Was is just last year that the 4 Eastern teams at the NCAAs lost in the first round? I could go on but you are obviously living in a fairy tale land where the story always ends with God, motherhood, apple pie and Harvard 4 Minnesota 2. I need only point to the standings and NCAA competition to prove my point that West is doing better than East. Where are you pointing? Matt Noah
ryan@fremen.DEC (01/18/85)
Matt, Where am I pointing? The ECAC, for one thing. Not counting Army (which is only a semi-member of the league), only two of the ECAC teams have losing records. That's about the opposite of the CCHA. Yes, the WCHA has a significant won-lost advantage over Hockey East. But I'm not concerned over the fact that the Denvers of the WCHA are beating up on the Maines of Hockey East. The question is, how do the best teams in each league compare? What are the inter-league records of the best teams in each league (include UNH among the best of Hockey East despite their 5th or 6th place standing - they're much better than their record indicates, as is show by their recent 4-1 tear against top 10 teams)? I think questions about the polls' open-mindedness are reasonable. This past weekend, #5 RPI won its games easily while the #2, #3, and #4 teams each lost a game. The polls response? The only change in the top 5 was that Minn-Duluth moved ahead of Minnesota and gained a first- place vote (someone obviously doesn't like Michigan State). RPI ought to move ahead of BC now, since they lost to UNH Wednesday (denying the BC coach his 500th victory), but they deserve more respect than they've been getting. They have the best record in Division I, they #2 ranked goalie in the nation, and Adam Oates is #3 in scoring nationally despite RPI's having played several less games than the teams in the other leagues. And Harvard and Clarkson are close behind. I've seen these players (several times last year, and against Harvard this year), and I'll say this: if there is any more talented college team in the country, they ought to join the NHL. I made made some mistakes in my last posting: Michigan States record was 22-3, and RPI's was 15-2 (so RPI actually has a better record). RPI hosts Michigan this weekend, and has a big series with Clarkson and St. Lawrence next weekend. I'm still interested in hearing more about Michigan State and their claim to #1. While I'm flaming about the polls, can someone tell me about the "other" poll? At RPI, and in the Boston Globe the only poll I've ever seen is the radio station coaches' poll - please explain who runs the other poll and who they poll. Does anyone know which coaches are polled by the radio station? Finally, a small update on the Michigan Tech forfeit. In an article about complaints about officiating in WCHA-Hockey East games (inconsistency and large home-ice officiating advantages), it was said that the Michigan Tech coach did not realize he had a three-minute time limit to get his players back on the ice, and was not warned by the officials. Followup reports were promised, but I haven't heard anything since. There is reason for concern; I saw the North Dakota- RPI series last year, where blatantly biased penalty calls by the WCHA official gave North Dakota the scoreboard win in a very closely played game the first night. That's not sour grapes, by the way; North Dakota outplayed RPI the second night and deserved to move on - but if the second game had gone like the first the (apparent) officiating controversy would have come a year sooner. Mike Ryan