We are now down to 71 games remaining in the CCHA regular season and we =
still have one heck of a fight for the top five spots and by the =
remaining six teams for the last three playoff spots.  I have my own =
computer rating system which I have used to project the remainder of the =
season.  Mostly I was interested in seeing if we at Alaska-Fairbanks can =
hang on with only 3 very difficult games remaining on our home ice, but =
for anyone else interested in the CCHA here are the results through =
games of 1/14:
 
                              CURRENT       REMAINDER           FINAL
                            W  L  T PTS     W  L  T PTS     W  L  T PTS
  1 Michigan               13  3  0  26    14  0  0  28    27  3  0  54
  2 Western Michigan       13  4  2  28    10  0  1  21    23  4  3  49
  3 Lake Superior          11  4  1  23    12  2  0  24    23  6  1  47
  4 Michigan State         14  3  0  28     8  4  1  17    22  7  1  45
  5 Bowling Green           9  5  1  19     8  7  0  16    17 12  1  35
  6 Ferris State            5 10  2  12     3  8  2   8     8 18  4  20
  7 Alaska-Fairbanks        7 13  0  14     2  6  2   6     9 19  2  20
  8 Miami                   5 11  1  11     3  8  2   8     8 19  3  19
  9 Notre Dame              4 10  3  11     2 11  0   4     6 21  3  15
 10 Illinois-Chicago        4 12  1   9     1 10  2   4     5 22  3  13
 11 Ohio State              3 13  1   7     3 10  0   6     6 23  1  13
                                                                      =20
    PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS                                               =20
                                                                      =20
    Miami at Michigan                                                    =
      =20
    Alaska-Fairbanks at Western Michigan                                 =
                 =20
    Ferris State at Lake Superior                                        =
             =20
    Bowling Green at Michigan State                                      =
              =20
 
Games that are much too close too call (less than 1/2 goal margin) are =
marked as ties, but obviously a win in those games or one where a team =
is an underdog by any margin but particularly less than one goal would =
help.  For us at the bottom it looks like 18-20 points might get you =
into the playoffs this year.  More than that and you are looking very =
good.  For us at UAF that means we need to come up with 2 to 3 wins on =
the road and/or beat Western Michigan at home the last weekend of the =
season.  In interest of brevity, I won't pass on the projected scores =
for the remainder of the season, but if anyone is interested I will =
e-mail you privately so you can keep track of the important games and =
see which ones could make a difference in the final standings.  If there =
is any interest, I will continue to update and post this the rest of the =
way.
 
Eric Carlson
[log in to unmask]
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.