----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Doucette" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: Rankings


> As I posted to that "other" board, but with some interest in the thread
here
> (and with one spelling correction !):
>
> Two things overlooked in the thread on Maine's early successes:
>
> 1. These games are important for all teams when it comes to the end of
> season and the Tournament. Placement in the Round of 16, being "on the
> bubble" on selection, and even the seeding at a regional site, all are in
> the balance in EVERY game.
>
> The loss to Niagra for NH, ND for the Eagles or if Maine had lost to the
> Saints, the U-18 or the other little sisters of the poor they have had so
> far can come back to bite them in their RPI numbers or more arbitrarily
when
> the selection committee is faced with a non-numbers driven seeding
decision
> for March.
>
> 2. Placement in the polls is one of several valuable recruitment tools.
You
> and I might believe that early season polls don't mean much, but it could
to
> a young player who might look at the poll results as one indication of how
> "good" a program is. Also, you can't deny that some recruiters must use
"our
> team is consistently in the top 10" when telling a prospect that there is
a
> distinction between their own program and the competition.
>
> Personally, I don't want Maine as #1 either. While you wonder sometimes
how
> the voters in the poll are thinking, you surely must be relieved that
their
> majority vote isn't the seeding decision for the Round of 16 -- the ONLY
> poll that really counts..
>
> That being previously said out on USCHO...
>
> For us, convincing wins in Maine's first two games will loom large in
March
> on the calculation of PWR and RPI, and should factor positively in the
more
> subjective "strength of schedule" considerations before the selection
> committee.  Good news, especially if it means we might avoid being shipped

> away to an on-campus site in the Midwest or West.

Now it is time to pull for Sacred Heart, Wisconsin, the Saints and even
Minnesota to do well to improve our SOS.  I assume our opponentss records
work into the calculation of the RPI.

Bob Svec

GO BLACK BEARS!!!