Wayne writes:
>Unfortunately, changing college hockey standings calculations from the
>*traditional* 2-1-0 points will not happen because that's the way hockey
>*must* be scored (IMHO).  College Hockey doesn't want to diverge from
>traditional scoring, but wants the excitement of a shootout.
 
I don't know that this is true.  I think a very strong case can be
made for a 3-2-1-0 system because it then places the priority on a
regulation/overtime win, which most people seem to agree makes sense.
And each game is then worth the same number of total overall points.
 
I would also note that the 2-1-0 system in college hockey has not been
around all that long.  As recently as 1972-73, the WCHA awarded 4
points for some wins and 2 for others since not all teams played every
opponent an equal number of times.  Once you decide to have a shootout
and include the results of it in the standings, it's just another
small step to increase the worth of a "real" win.
 
Also, it is only recently that all of college hockey (DivI) moved to
the points system.  As recently as 1985-86, the ECAC was still going
on percentages.
 
And who is to say that a win *must* be worth twice as much as a tie?
That is just what most of us are accustomed to.  Less than a hundred
years ago, factory workers were accustomed to 16 hour work days and
miniscule wages, too.
 
>If college hockey really wants to attract new fans and TV
>exposure, it needs the shoot-out, IMHO.  I hope the HE experiment is
>somehow deemed a success by season's end!
 
I think that one of the things that will help make it a success is if
it seems to make sense.  On the face of it, it does not make sense to
consider a "real" win to be worth as much as a tie + SO win.
 
Here's how my system would address MikeW's scenarios.  Readers can
judge for themselves whether the results are what make the most sense
to them.
 
Mike Wheeler writes:
>SCENARIO ONE
>Northeastern plays UNH home and one and wins both in traditional fashion.
>BC plays UNH the next weekend, can manage only a tie each time, but is able to
>win both shoot-outs.
>According to HE rules both Northeastern and BC end up with four points.  Do we
>really think that those two teams had equivalent weekends with UNH?
 
In 3-2-1-0, NU picks up 6 pts to BC's 4.
 
>SCENARIO TWO
>UMass-Lowell goes up to Orono, wins the first night and loses the next.  It
>gets 2 hard earned points for its troubles.
>UMass-Amherst makes the same trip, has a hot goalie, and gets two ties.  As
>luck would have it, UMass wins one of the shoot-outs and loses the other.  It
>gets 3 points!
 
In 3-2-1-0, UML gets 3 pts, as does UMA.  But strictly on the basis of
this set of games, UML ranks higher, because one of the tiebreakers is
league wins.  UML picked up 1 to UMA's 0.
 
>SCENARIO THREE
>We're a couple of weeks into the season: Podunk is off to a good start, winning
>three of its first four games.  East Overshoe, by contrast, is winless in four
>attempts.  But check the standings:
>                East Overshoe   0 wins 0 loses 4 ties 4 SO   8 points
>                Podunk          3 wins 1 lose  0 ties 0 SO   6 points
>Do we really believe that four ties are better than 3 wins?  I doubt it, but
>that's what HE's scoring system implies.
 
And again, in 3-2-1-0, Podunk winds up with 9 pts to EO's 8.
 
The only adjustment needed to the current way of doing things, is to
make outright wins worth 3 pts and not 2.
 
Currently, if you go by percentages, a tie is considered to be worth
50% of a win.  In this new system, a SO win would be worth 67% of a
win, and a SO loss would be worth 33% of a win.
 
It will be interesting to see later on in the season how much of a
difference this method would have made.
 
BTW, in scenario 3 using 3-2-1-0, note what happens if in the teams'
next games, East Overshoe wins and Podunk ties, losing the SO.  Then
the standings are:
 
               GP W-L-T SOW PTS
East Overshoe   5 1-0-4  4   11
Podunk          5 3-1-1  0   10
 
I think we will find that some people will say this makes sense, and
some people will say it doesn't.  After all, EO may have only one win,
but they didn't lose a game and won all their SOs.
 
If Podunk DID win their SO, they'd take over first, winning the
tiebreaker of league wins over East Overshoe.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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