This is the first week of the 1997-98 Hockey-L Poll.  A total of 17
people responded to this week's poll, with almost an even split between
East and West.  I certainly hope that more people will submit in the
coming weeks.  Thanks to all who contributed this week.
 
In brief, its almost a tie between MSU & BU, with N. Dakota not that far
behind.  Even amongst the top 3 there is a lot of inconsistency among
voters.  There is no clear winner.  What surprise me the most is that with
almost a third of most teams' seasons being complete, only 2 teams
appeared on all the ballots...!  WOW!   Also real quick... I guess 7 goals
in 8 games can do a lot for you (or Yale, in this case).
 
East/West appeared to play no major role, and I would thank everyone who
has contributed so far for being courteous and mature.
 
 
                                Place Votes       Ballot
    Team         Points   1st  2nd  3rd  4th  5th Apprncs  Avg.   Range
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1)  Mich State    185      8    4    2    2    0    17     2.12    1-6
2)  Boston Univ.  184      6    5    4    1    1    17     2.18    1-5
3)  No. Dakota    154      2    5    2    5    0    16     3.94
4)  Miami-OH      134      1    1    2    5    1    16     5.12
5)  New Hamp.     119      0    0    3    2    3    16     6.00
6)  Wisconsin     108      0    1    1    0    4    16     6.65
7)  Colorado       84      0    0    1    1    6    12     8.06
8)  Boston Col.    81      0    0    0    1    0    15     8.24
9)  Yale           61      0    1    1    0    0    11     9.41
10) Cornell        54      0    0    1    0    0    14     9.82
11) Maine          45      0    0    0    0    0    12    10.35
12) Michigan       31                               14    11.18
13) St Cloud       30                                7    11.24
14) No. Michigan   15                                5    12.12
15) Colgate        13                                5    12.24
 
 
Others receiving votes:  Providence 9, Mass-Lowell 6, RPI 6, Merrimack 4,
Princeton 2, Harvard 1.
 
 
ABOUT THE NUMBERS:  Not very hard.  Voters submitted a list of 12 teams in
order that they felt were the top 12 teams.  Each 1st place vote received
12points, 2nd place received 11 points, etc.  "Place Votes" describes how
many votes each team got in 1st-5th place.  "Avg." is found by subtracting
the quotient of points by votes cast from thirteen (thus allowing no team
to have an average higher than 1).
 
 
Any questions or comments about the format are welcomed, including what
you would like to see added or removed.  I'll try to adopt to what people
want to see, as long as I can work it out...
 
=)
Marcus
 
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