Greenie writes
 
> ... If the best teams beat up
>on each other, while the "weaker" teams develop season-ending records =
with
>single-digit-losses and one or two games against "top" teams, the =
"weaker"
>teams will end up with better records and comparable RPI ratings.
>
>A current example of this is Hockey East; a majority of the media and =
most
>of the ranking systems will rank HEA as the toughest division in Div I; =
yet
>the polls and RPI rankings of individual teams put only one or two HEA
>teams in the top 10.
 
I want to comment about this but I want to start by asking two =
questions.  Is this true about HE being the toughest conference?  And if =
in fact they are, does that help or hurt them at the end of the season?  =
I'm not intending to argue about it, I'm talking about the rating =
systems for the most part here.  They've certainly beaten us up in =
Fairbanks in the past, but otherwise I haven't seen any conclusive =
evidence that it is true this year, unless "toughest" means which I =
think it does and I agree that the teams in Hockey East may be more =
evenly matched and that it's easier to both move up and fall down (I =
partially retract my earlier response about the CCHA on this issue =
several weeks ago).  I don't think the bottom half of the CCHA and WCHA =
are bad teams.  On the contrary some of them are pretty good hockey =
teams and might be more successful elsewhere, but the entire top half at =
least of both conferences are very, very strong.  There don't seem to be =
as many really strong teams in the other conferences and that's why not =
as many are showing up in the polls and upper parts of the rankings.
 
Hockey East is actually somewhat penalized by having played so many =
games against ECAC teams which have a less than stellar 18-44-6 record =
against the other Division I conference teams and 12-25-5 against HE =
(they have however rallied to 6-6-2 in the last 14 games while =
continuing to fall to everyone else).  That makes the strength of Hockey =
East's schedule look worse than it actually may be and is hurting BU in =
the CHODR and likely the RPI as well.  I don't have the numbers but I'm =
pretty sure BU now shows as having played a weaker schedule than =
Colorado College to this point.  It definitely does in my own computer =
rankings.  A few weeks ago the common opinion was just the opposite.
 
The hard thing to this point is making any comparison between the WCHA =
and Hockey East.  They have played the sum total of TWO games against =
each other so far.  North Dakota beat Northeastern 7-5 and lost to BU =
5-8 on the road very early in the season and they are clearly not the =
best team in their conference this year.  Unless WCHA teams start =
playing HE teams which I think is unlikely given natural rivalries which =
all the teams are trying to maintain, we are going to end up in this =
position every single year.  I'm not even sure that's a bad thing since =
it gives us a lot to ponder and argue about, but perhaps Maine could =
invite one of the WCHA teams (other than Anchorage since they don't have =
any schedule openings although personally I wouldn't mind not playing =
them) to play in their tournament in Orono next time around.  I just =
don't know if any of them will come.  There just aren't many games =
available for them.
 
As for interconference records to this point, all the conferences are =
pretty even, except ECAC which has taken a pounding from the other =
conferences for the most part.  Ther other conferences are practically =
deadlocked.  IMO if any conference is going to lose a tournament slot, =
the ECAC is still the most likely candidate unless they can really step =
up the rest of the way and I don't know how many opportunities they will =
have left to do so.  I wish them luck anyway!   Maine's having pulled =
out may have just saved them that 3rd slot however.  It's all going to =
depend on whether we see upsets in conference tournaments.  I have a =
feeling we are going to see 4 from the CCHA or WCHA in the final 12.
 
Interconference records through 1/7/95
 
             CCHA   WCHA    HEAST   ECAC    TOTAL
CCHA           -    8-7-1   5-5-0  10-4-1  23-16-2
WCHA         7-8-1    -     1-1-0   9-2-0  17-11-1
HOCKEY EAST  5-5-0  1-1-0     -   25-12-5  31-18-5
ECAC        4-10-1  2-9-0 12-25-5    -     18-44-6
 
Eric Carlson
U of A (Alaska-Fairbanks) '78
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