Paul Gentile wrote:
 
> Is there some sort of WCHA-biased voter (probably one of the 13
> beat-writers) who always votes for Minnesota? This really hurts the
> legitimacy of the poll when some guy actually places Minnesota (4-7-2) in
> the #10 spot.
 
Paul, if they catch a guy voting that way I hope they burn him, but I think
there's a reasonable explanation other than favoritism.  Could it be that one
voter actually considered the strength of Minnesota's schedule?  That 4-7-2
record includes six games against teams ranked 1-2-3 in this week's poll, which
accounted for 5 losses and a tie, two overtime games and an average goal
differential of only one per game (total goals 18-24).  Though they lost both
games to #7 in Colorado Springs (total goals 2-4), they split with #12 in Boston
and swept the only team they've played that didn't receive votes in the current
poll.  Each result seems about right for a tenth place team.  Has any other team
played a schedule that even approaches Minnesota's for difficulty?
 
I'd be more concerned about the conspiracy of 33 Upper Peninsula beat-writers
who gave 10th place votes to Northern Michigan (10-3-1) and none to Minnesota.
Five wins were against Michigan Tech and Ohio State, this year's doormats of
Division I.  Otherwise, they've only managed to sweep Ferris, couldn't sweep
Nebraska-Omaha in Marquette (1-0-1) and split with Western Michigan.  They were
swept in Marquette by Clarkson and they've played no team that received any
votes.
 
I know how I'd bet if Minnesota and Northern played next weekend.  I'll bet #6
Michigan (3 losses to teams receiving no votes, no wins against any team
receiving votes) and #4 Michigan State (2 losses to a team receiving no votes,
no wins against any team receiving votes) would prefer to see that too, and that
neither are presuming they'll have fatter records after Minnesota comes to town
this weekend.
 
boB
 
 . . . hoping Michigan doesn't fully deflate this weekend
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.