Jeff Brune writes, regarding Minnesota having a greater
RPI value than Colorado College...
>There is no way that Minnesota, who finished a distant fourth in the
league,
>should have a better ranking than the team that finished far ahead in first
>place when both teams had the same league schedule. Pardon my French, but
>this is bullshit.
Jeff, you are way off base. First of all, CC and Minn did
NOT have the same league schedule. Minnesota played
a more difficult schedule facing Northern Michigan and
Alaska Anchorage twice and everyone else four times.
CC's two-game season series were against stronger
opponents, Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin.
And, you're forgetting that the RPI takes into account the
non-conference games as well. Minnesota looks much
better in that regard, IMO. CC split with Michigan, swept
Air Force and swept Alaska Fairbanks. A 5-1-0 record,
but the four games versus AFA and UAF didn't help them.
Minnesota defeated Michigan, Michigan State, Yale and
lost to BU. Only a 3-1-0 record, but a tougher schedule.
Of course, CC and Minn are close enough (.01) in RPI
value that they may be compared using the other criteria.
Head-to-head, they are 2-2-0. They may meet again in
the WCHA playoffs. From my calculations, CC is 8-7-1
versus teams under consideration while Minn is 8-8-3,
so a slight edge to CC. From Dave Naghski's posting,
CC is 13-6-1 in their last 20 while Minnesota is 10-6-4.
Edge to CC again. And, from my calculations, CC also
has the advantage versus common opponents, 25-10-1
to Minnesota's 19-11-5.
So, CC is looking good at the moment. However, if CC
and Minnesota meet again head-to-head, the winner
will likely get the higher seed (IMO, based on the above).
Personally, I've seen both teams and I wouldn't want to
run into either of them.
Fwiw...Michigan finished 3-2-0 in the WCHA this season.
(Split with CC, loss to Minn, wins over Wisconsin and MTU.)
John H
U Mich
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