NoDak is impressive, and I don't see any particular reason to call anybody
daft for picking them #1. They are #2 in the PWR right now, just behind
UNH, and for my money, I honestly think the Wildcats are the best team in
the country right now. But distinctions that fine come down to intangibles,
not statistics, so arguing somebody's opinions or asking them to "justify"
a #1 pick just seems a little silly. If it doesn't end up getting settled
on the ice, it won't be settled on hockey-l. :)
On another note, a snippet of the praise for NoDak caught my attention:
At 11:36 AM 1/30/98 -0600, Brian D Helland wrote:
>The Sioux [snip] >have the #1 goaltender in the nation (Karl Goehring),
best line in the country (Jeff Panzer, Jay Panzer, David Hoogsteen),
Hmmmm....
Rank Player, pos., class, team G A P
2. Martin Laroche , F, Sr., MC 18 24 42
Kris Porter, F, Jr., MC 28 14 42
4. Rejean Stringer , F, Jr., MC 7 34 41
Totals 53 72 125
Dave Hoogsteen, F, Jr., NoDak 13 15 28
Jeff Panzer, F, Fr. , NoDak 10 11 21
Jay Panzer, F, Jr., NoDak 9 11 20
Totals 32 37 69
While Merrimack is not winning and is not playing well as a team, if there
was some kind of arcane award for "best line in the country" Merrimack
might get that one. And while the Hoogsteen line may be NoDak's best and
undoubtedly excels in phases of the game other than scoring, Merrimack's
top line has also been solid defensively.
And lest these numbers seem inflated due to a weak schedule, here are the
OppWinPer numbers from the PWR:
Merrimack: 0.5017
NoDak: 0.5372
While NoDak's schedule strength is higher, it doesn't seem so far off as to
invalidate that line's scoring statistics.
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