1. Miami
2. Denver
3. Wisconsin
4. Yale
5. St. Cloud State
6. Colorado College
7. Cornell
8. Michigan State
9. Minnesota Duluth
10. North Dakota 1 The Fighting Sioux power play, which had failed to score in each of its last 32 man-advantage opportunities entering last weekend’s series at St. Cloud State, connected five times in 10 chances against the Huskies. 14-11-5 (9-10-3 WCHA) LAST WEEK: L at St. Cloud State, 4-3; W at St. Cloud State, 8-1. THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota Duluth, vs. Minnesota Duluth
11. Boston College
12. Bemidji State
13. Union
14. Ferris State
15. Maine
16. New Hampshire
17. Nebraska-Omaha
18. Rensselaer
19. Boston University
20. Northern Michigan
Dropped out: St. Lawrence, Michigan, Massachusetts
Bubble-licious: Alaska, Northeastern, RIT, St. Lawrence
Interesting fact I learned on NBC last night: gold medalist Hannah Kearney's brother plays for Yale.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting tidbit here I heard on NBC: there are 24 million residents in all of Canada, and roughly half of them were watching the WJC gold medal game between USA & Canada. Man, those Canadiens sure do love their hockey. Word is that Yale is pretty decent. Maybe not #4 caliber in the country, but they put up a darn good fight at Madison for the Badger Showdown, and certainly the Badgers are championship caliber, especially in their own barn. New uscho.com poll out: Beavers plummet to #9 after losing to Robert Morris!
ReplyDeleteTwo comments - I watched Yale on Friday and came away pretty impressed. No, they wouldn't win the WCHA, and haven't played as tough a schedule as say Miami, but I tought they were a pretty good team.
ReplyDeleteSecond, yes BSU "plummeted" to 9th in a meaningless poll that has nothing to do with selection for the NCAA tourney. Whop-de-freaking-do. They split with Bobby Mo and guess what? They are t4 in the PWR with guess who? Your very own SCSU Huskies (actualy,they technically moved up from a tie for 5th)! Unless BSU loses every game the rest of the season, they're getting an at-large. And even if they do, they may get an at large as a #4 seed... Get over it, the Beavers are a good team.
I know. Can't argue against it anymore. Better just to get the autobid by winning the CHA tournament though just to be safe.
ReplyDeleteTo be safe from what? This ain't 2000, and the NCAA isn't gonna take a team that made the Frozen Four LAST YEAR and move them from #5 PWR to a #12 seed just for the heck of it like they did to Niagara...
ReplyDeleteJohn good points, not going to happen. BSU is better than people are giving them credit for.
ReplyDeleteRemember the Wisconsin-Mankato debacle a few seasons ago? That was a conspiracy and everyone knows it. More fans = more money for the NCAA.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to also bring up a point that has been made about BSU and RMU (and the CHA for that matter) that tends to get overlooked. The Beavers and Colonials have played each other THIRTEEN times in the last 55 weeks. Think about that for a minute:
ReplyDeleteSix times last year, starting January 30-31, then again February 14-15 (all four in Moon Twp., PA, and then again March 6-7 in Bemidji. The Colonials then SPENT SPRING BREAK IN BEMIDJI before the CHA Tourney, where BSU played the Colonials again March 14. On to '09-'10, and starting with November 6-7, before four straight games January 29-30 and February 12-13.
So, let me ask you - any chance Derrek Schooley just might have a better idea than most coaches how to play against BSU (or for that matter Danton Cole and Dave Burkholder)? Even with that, BSU is 8-4-1 vs. Bobby Mo in that stretch (4-2-1 last year, remembering that besides BSU, RMU was the second "hottest team" in the country at the end of the year, finishing 5-1-3 before their season ending loss to BSU, and were the only team besides Miami to beat BSU after last January 23; and 4-2 this year).
I guess my point ends up being, that a four team conference makes life more difficult for everyone. These teams see each other so often that they get sick of each other, but learn enough to be a thorn in each others sides. In that respect, It's easy to look at the microcosm of one loss to "lowly" RMU or Niagara or UAH and say BSU isn't that good - it's easy to criticize a team for one loss. Look at CC losing to UAA, or UMD losing to MTU... Could you imagine if those teams played UAA or MTU six times a year (and I'm not talking about play-offs)? I'd imagine they would go 4-2 more often than they would go 6-0. On that note, it's importaint to not ignore BSU's accomplishments out of conference this year either instead of focusing on a single loss to a CHA team.
In the end? Thank goodness the CHA is into its last few weeks. It served its purpose, but ultimately, failed. Bigger and better things lie ahead for three of the programs, and I just hope that UAH can land on its feet...