The Rat discusses the CCHA SOS.

This is an interesting article and I wanted Sioux fans to check it out. There is also a Zach Parise is God reference. I do find myself agreeing with what Elliot says.

Finally, something else that I had a mind to say in my previous employment, but didn't. It involves a pro wrestling reference, which I didn't want to make at CSTV, but this is my blog and mine alone, and I'll make as many wrestling references as I Zach-damn well please.

(Yes, I will make the "Zach Parise is G-d" jokes here, if for no other reason than that there's so much else going on in the world that I doubt The Genuine Article has time to worry about college hockey).

Anyway, this has to do with the subject of strength of schedule. I don't think it's meaningless by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think it means as much as it's being made out to by those who doubt Michigan, Miami, etc.

In the fall of 1996, with the cash cow known as the nWo having just been introduced, there was going to be a WarGames match between the nWo and a WCW team (WarGames: coolest gimmick match ever). Sting and Lex Luger proposed joining forces with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, who had been their rivals before the whole nWo business started.

Anderson, who is one of the best promo men who ever worked in wrestling, gave a long response that included a memorable (to me, anyway...sadly, it's not on YouTube) comment in the direction of Luger, who at that point had a real bodybuilder physique (not to mention better hair). He pointed at Luger's muscles and said that they were "show muscles," and no good in WarGames, but if Luger could bring the drive, intensity, and hard work that it took to get those muscles, that would be useful.

This is how I feel about teams that play "soft schedules." The record is like those "show muscles" that Arn Anderson talked about: it may look more impressive than it actually is, but the tools a team uses to win those games and amass that record? The skills, strength, speed, etc? Those are worth something, and just because those attributes have been tested against a less-than-impressive schedule, that doesn't mean that they aren't there.

I've seen Michigan, Miami, Michigan State and Notre Dame. I've seen what they bring to the table. Knock their schedules all you want, because it doesn't mean a thing about what kinds of teams they are.

I will say, however, that Miami will be much better off in the future if they can get out of the Ohio Hockey Classic. With Ohio State in its current condition as a program, that tournament does nothing for the RedHawks, and they should have gotten out of that instead of getting out of the Lefty McFadden.

If Miami is going to always be a road team in a holiday tournament, they'd do much better moving around, and going to the Denver Cup, Dodge Holiday Classic, one of the Florida tournaments, etc. At the very least, Ohio State should try to alternate Miami and Bowling Green as the second Ohio team in the tournament, so that each could move around in alternate years. Dartmouth is doing something like that since Vermont started hosting the Catamount Cup every year, as they host the Ledyard Bank tournament every other year, and are heading elsewhere at the holidays when they don't host.

There, I've said my piece on that.

Elliot is right about Miami. If the Miami RedHawks want to get more respect as a legitimate NCAA division one hockey program their university needs to start stepping up and playing some better teams during their non-conference play, they also need to win more than a game in the NCAA tourney.

Looking at Miami’s non-conference schedule; beating likes of Canisius, OSU (tourney), SCSU (tourney), Vermont and RPI is not all that impressive of a feat. Sure, Miami beat the people that they had on their schedule, however, there needs to be some meat to their schedule. Why not try to schedule some teams like B.C., UNH, UND, C.C., Wisconsin, and Minnesota? Wins against big programs helps in the pair wise rankings. I have a hard time believing these schools wouldn’t have some kind of a scheduling agreement with your school.

I read where one Miami fan said UNH and UND wouldn’t play MU. I am not sure how this guy came to this conclusion?

Or maybe no one else wants to play them. The scheduling philosophy at Miami is to play any one, anytime, anywhere. Look at our basketball and football schedules relative to the rest of the MAC. Its not Miami's fault if NDAK, UNH or other high profile hockey teams don't want to play us. And the CCHA isn’t that bad of a conference, very comparable to the other college hockey conferences. Miami may loose quickly in the tourney, but Michigan and every other team has an equal chance of bowing out early. Maybe you are the one that needs to get off what ever box you are standing on. Feb 14 2008, 2:09 pm by Justin, OXFORD, OH

I am all for Miami coming to REA for a two game series next season, in fact I would urge the University of North Dakota athletic department to schedule them as soon as possible. Why not? Actually I could imagine the Sioux traveling to Oxford, Ohio to play the RedHawks in the Goggin ice center, God knows that it would be on TV since most of us in the WCHA know that CSTV stands for CCHA TV. He, he, he...