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WCHA Rocks!


BigChief

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So fun to see the WCHA doing so well with 5 of the top 8 teams!

Team (First Place) Record Pts Last Week

1 Minnesota (36) 10-3-0 596 3

2 Boston College (2) 6-2-2 527 4

3 Colorado College (2) 10-2-0 512 5

4 Wisconsin 10-4-0 503 2

5 Michigan 9-4-1 440 1

6 North Dakota 9-5-2 353 7

7 Denver 8-5-0 309 10

8 New Hampshire 8-3-2 307 6

9 Ohio State 9-4-1 282 9

10 Maine 9-6-1 267 8

11 Vermont 8-4-3 202 15

12 Cornell 5-2-2 151 14

13 Colgate 10-4-0 100 NR

14 Minnesota-Duluth 7-5-2 93 12

15 Northern Michigan 6-4-2 56 13

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Hey guys Poncho here, being a fan of the maize and blue it was scary to see Minneosota and Wisconsin play my boys like they did. For me its safe to say that the best the CCHA had to offer (Michigan) looks like St. Cloud of the last 5 years, they'll get to the tournament, but after that nothing will happen. So savor the flavor Michigan is giving u props.

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So fun to see the WCHA doing so well with 5 of the top 8 teams!

Team            (First Place)  Record    Pts  Last Week

1 Minnesota            (36)    10-3-0  596    3

2 Boston College        (2)    6-2-2  527    4

3 Colorado College      (2)  10-2-0  512    5

4 Wisconsin                      10-4-0  503    2

5 Michigan                          9-4-1  440    1

6 North Dakota                  9-5-5  353    7

7 Denver                            8-5-0  309    10

8 New Hampshire                8-3-2  307    6

9 Ohio State                      9-4-1  282    9

10 Maine                            9-6-1  267    8

11 Vermont                        8-4-3  202    15

12 Cornell                          5-2-2  151    14

13 Colgate                        10-4-0  100    NR

14 Minnesota-Duluth            7-5-2  93    12

15 Northern Michigan            6-4-2  56    13

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'd go so far as to say we have 5 in the top 7...

:D

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i'm just glad to see that there isn't a large amount of hockey east in the top 10. personally, i'm sick of them getting all the noteriety (cstv, espn). In the year of the NHL lockout, I'm patiently waiting for the best form of hockey to enter the forefront along side D1 basketball and football on the national level. The WCHA has been the dominant division in all of college hockey for the last decade and i feel like we are deserved the attention by national media. keep it up wcha and God Bless the Fighting Sioux

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This is going to be a very special season in the WCHA. Though not as prestigous both the McNaughton and the Broadmoor will be certainly as hotly contested as the NCAAs.

Due to Michigan's weak conference and BC being the only decent eastern team, we are going to see three WCHA number one seeds in the NCAAs. Rediculous. Why recruits would want to play anywhere else right now is beyond me.

While Michigan is a fine team and will likely adjust by playoff time, they did not appear to be the least bit prepared to deal with the speed they would see at least three times a month in the WCHA.

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I still think winning the league (WCHA), esp this year is a bigger feat than winning the NCAA where anything can happen in the one and done format. There are at least 6 teams in the WCHA that have a strong chance at winning not only the league, but are good enought to win the NCAA.

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I still think winning the league (WCHA), esp this year is a bigger feat than winning the NCAA where anything can happen in the one and done format.  There are at least 6 teams in the WCHA that have a strong chance at winning not only the league, but are good enought to win the NCAA.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The biggest problem with the WCHA regular season is that the unbalanced schedule may come into play in a close race.

UW has only two with MSU, MTU, SCSU and CC.

UM has only two with UND, UMD, DU, MTU.

Lets hypothetically (even though it won't happen) say the Badgers sweep the Gophers in Madison, but finish second to the Gophers by a single point in WCHA play. The only reason for that would have been the schedule. Of course I wouldn't shed a tear for Bucky because a similar schedule discrepency is what allowed them to finish third last year.

This is my absolute biggest problem with the WCHA. When playoff seeding means so much (playin game participants have no chance), the WCHA should either balance the schedule, have the playin game mid-week, or drop the bottom two teams from the playoffs.

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you mean there IS hockey west of Ohio/Michigan?  WOW!  Better go tell HAH-vahd!

Man, I hate the East coast BIAS!  Almost as bad as the liberal bias in the news!

WPoS

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ironically the liberal bias in the media is because a lot of it starts from the East Coast. Hum, one of the most liberal rags is in the same town as BU, BC, NE and Harvard...

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UW has only two with MSU, MTU, SCSU and CC.

UM has only two with UND, UMD, DU, MTU.

Lets hypothetically (even though it won't happen) say the Badgers sweep the Gophers in Madison, but finish second to the Gophers by a single point in WCHA play.  The only reason for that would have been the schedule.  Of course I wouldn't shed a tear for Bucky because a similar schedule discrepency is what allowed them to finish third last year.

This is my absolute biggest problem with the WCHA.  When playoff seeding means so much (playin game participants have no chance), the WCHA should either balance the schedule, have the playin game mid-week, or drop the bottom two teams from the playoffs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You have a point: I think the WCHA league schedule years favors some teams more than other teams because of the unbalanced schedule. For instance UND has Denver (2), UMD (2) and UofM (2), Giving UND an easies schedule. Toughest games in my opinioin are Wisconsin (home) and C.C. (away), UMD, the Sioux ussually play well there so I am not worried about it as much as the other two series. The rest of UND series are against lesser teams in my opinion. (4) UAA, (2) MSU-M (2) SCSU.

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UW has only two with MSU, MTU, SCSU and CC.

UM has only two with UND, UMD, DU, MTU.

Excellent point. To follow what Goon has posted, I tracked down the schedule information for the WCHA contenders. For this purpose, I consider the six top WCHA teams (UND, UM, Denver, CC, UMD, Wisco) to be basically equal.

UND has only two with MN, UMD, Denver, MTU ... so UND misses 3 top teams

Denver has only two with MN, UND, AA, MSUM... so Denver misses 2 top teams

CC has only two with UMD, Wisco, AA, SCSU... so CC misses 2 top teams

UMD has only two with UND, CC, MN, MSUM... so UMD misses 3 top teams

UW misses 1 top team

UM misses 3 top teams

Looks like UMD, UND and UM have the "easiest" schedules, and Wisconsin the toughest. Of course this stuff might not matter too much, as when you play your opponent (injuries, swoon, etc.) may be more important.

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Still, the discrepancy between WI's schedule and UND's or MN's is significant.

It does balance itself out from year to year, but within the year, it might not provide a good comparison team to team.

I think I agree now that it is time to find a way to balance out the play one way or the other.

I guess I'd be most in favor of finding a way to balance out the regular season schedule, so the McNaughton is fought for on equal terms. Someone else said it earlier, but with the WCHA so (apparently) strong this year, the team that outlasts the others for the McNaughton will have accomplished something. Better for that to be an even playing field.

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Still, the discrepancy between WI's schedule and UND's or MN's is significant.

It does balance itself out from year to year, but within the year, it might not provide a good comparison team to team.

I think I agree now that it is time to find a way to balance out the play one way or the other.

I guess I'd be most in favor of finding a way to balance out the regular season schedule, so the McNaughton is fought for on equal terms.  Someone else said it earlier, but with the WCHA so (apparently) strong this year, the team that outlasts the others for the McNaughton will have accomplished something.  Better for that to be an even playing field.

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to keep this thought going, you also have to take into account which of the better teams win the games they are supposed to against the UAA's the Techs, and St. Clouds of the league. splitting a series, UND vs. um is a good series, splitting a UND vs. tech is throwing away 2 points and making it that much tougher to be at the top. another big factor is when UND plays a high caliber team, even if it is only the one weekend series, is where they play it. that's what's unfair about the unbalanced schedule. U of M could have the worst record and UND could have the best record in the league and stilll get swept by the goooofers in mariucci.

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Still, the discrepancy between WI's schedule and UND's or MN's is significant.

It does balance itself out from year to year, but within the year, it might not provide a good comparison team to team.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Using statistical methods based on predicting outcomes based on KRACH, I strongly believe the difference of UND and UM's schedule vs. UW will be about 2-3 points.

I'll demonstrate it in late January when Krach becomes fairly stable.

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Looks like UMD, UND and UM have the "easiest" schedules, and Wisconsin the toughest. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hence, Wisconsin could drop out of the Top three as a result of having the toughest schedule. We will see. Believe it or not UND only has about 22 games left to see how this plays out.

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Using statistical methods based on predicting outcomes based on KRACH, I strongly believe the difference of UND and UM's schedule vs. UW will be about 2-3 points.

I'll demonstrate it in late January when Krach becomes fairly stable.

On the topic of the thread, here are the current top 5 ranked by Bradley-Terry:

1. Minnesota 256.8100 10-3-0 77.0429

2. Colorado College 189.8530 10-2-0 37.9707

3. Denver 148.5680 8-5-0 92.8551

4. Wisconsin 141.4880 10-4-0 56.5952

5. North Dakota 100.0000 9-5-2 60.0000

What's most interesting to me is how ridiculously lower the strength-of-schedule is for the CCHA/HE teams that appear in the top 10.

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Just because I complained doesn't mean I have a solution!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This may sound very elitist but how is this. We arbitrarily name "the big six" Minnesota, Nodak, Wisconsin, CC, Denver and Duluth. All these teams get 4 games a year with each other. Then we have an unbalanced schedule with the rest of them.

I know the "other" schools would hate it.

Just an idea.

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